Cynthia Guttman, UNESCO Courier journalist
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Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson
Mandela, South African |
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The 1990 Jomtien conference established six key goals .
expansion of early childhood care and development, especially for the poor |
Voices are rising up
around the world to make governments keep their word on basic education in the years
ahead
Enough is
enough. Around the world, NGOs are on the campaign trail to pressure governments
and donors into keeping the promises they will make at an upcoming international
conference on education in Dakar (Senegal)1.
Their concern: progress since the World Conference on Education for all held at Jomtien
(Thailand) in 1990, where governments committed themselves to an expanded vision
of education and a set of goals (see box), has fallen short of targets set. “Whereas
we emerged from the Cold War and the risks of military conflict decreased compared
to the 70s and 80s, we did not use this margin of manoeuvre as we could have. History
gave us this opportunity and we did not take it,” says Elie Jouen of Education International,
one of the world’s largest teachers’ organizations and a partner in the campaign.
Spelling
out solutions
“We are worried that
Dakar is going to turn into another talking shop where everyone reaffirms things
already agreed, sets new targets and then, as after Jomtien, goes home, cuts the
aid budget and allows debt problems to continue undermining education systems of
Third World countries,” says Kevin Watkins of Oxfam International, author of a hard-hitting
report on education and poverty (see box p. 36). “For these conferences to work,
you need to create a public perception that there is a serious problem which people
have to tackle. And you have to come up with solutions.”
The campaign reflects not only the rising involvement of NGOs in education, but also
their emerging role as a watchdog with formidable advocacy tools. And they have realized
that to be effective, they have to act in numbers. The founders of the campaign launched
last October encompass a broad range of interest groups: Education International,
the Global March against Child Labour, and development aid agencies ActionAid and
Oxfam. At the grassroots, initiatives from rallies to media campaigns and consultations
with ministry officials are being conducted in over 60 countries. Community organizations
are working on national reviews to ensure that the voices of civil society groups
are heard. More broadly, the campaigners are urging governments to take a hard look
at their education strategies and spell out the steps required to meet commitments.
At the international level, the campaign is lobbying for deeper and quicker debt
reduction, reform of structural adjustment policies and increased aid. In some countries,
it may be a question of reallocating resources. In others, especially in sub-Saharan
Africa, countries cannot fill the resource gaps alone. Best estimates suggest that
it would cost about $8 billion extra a year to achieve universal primary education,
a sum equivalent to about four days’ global military spending.
While praising the advocacy powers of this coalition, many caution against singling
out the resource issue. “In many countries, it’s just as much a question of good
governance and making better use of existing resources,” says UNESCO’s
Sven Osttveit. Aïchah Bah Diallo, director of the division of basic education
at UNESCO, stresses that governments who have made a difference
are those with an education policy “that sells.” This, she asserts, can only come
about through partnerships not only with other ministries but with the society at
large, especially teacher trade unions and the media. Next, “you need transparency,
and for this, a stop to corruption.” That being said, Osttveit regrets that the Jomtien
Declaration failed to specify global financial targets. Nor will Dakar. The danger
is that pledges without resources run a high risk of ringing hollow. Hence the critical
role of public opinion in defending basic education as a right and a key to escaping
the trap of poverty.
1. The World Education Forum, to be held April 26-28, 2000.
