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Economic
crisis bites into education gains in eastern Europe
By Yojana Sharma,
Inter Press Service |
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 BERLIN/WARSAW,
10 March (IPS) - The great upheaval in the politics and the
economy of Eastern Europe over the last 10 years -- since the
end of the Cold War -- has had a major impact on education,
which was one of the success stories of communism. |
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| The
system of education in Eastern and Central Europe has been brutally
shaken, notes UNESCO in its review of the last decade. |
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| It
has had to be reorganised to provide citizens with the knowledge
to make democratic choices, while in the coming decade they
will need to learn the skills that will keep them competitive
in a wider European Union common market. |
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Overall,
while basic education remains more or less accessible to all,
its quality and functioning have been critically affected,
says UNESCO in a review of the nineties.
|
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| ''Under
communism, quality free education was a major success throughout
the region. That is why its decline is all the more difficult
to accept today,'' said the report presented at a regional conference
in Warsaw in early February in preparation for the World Education
Forum to be held in Dakar. |
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The transition has meant large falls in production over the
1990s. GDP rates fell sharply during the 1990s, especially in
the countries of the former Soviet Union. By 1998 only Poland,
Slovakia and Slovenia recorded higher levels of GDP than in
1990. |
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| ''Most
countries in the region have less money now than in 1990,''
said Albert Motivans, an expert on Eastern Europe who drew up
the synthesis report for UNESCO. |
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| Governments
therefore confront the challenge of revamping their economies
with diminished public resources. In addition, growing differences
in household income and greater inequality in income distribution
means families have less money for education. |
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| In
Russia alone the jobless increased from two to eight million
between 1994 and 1997 and almost everywhere else in the former
Soviet bloc purchasing power has dropped drastically. |
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Now only the children of the rich benefit from a system
which was previously free and available to all, says UNESCO.
Teachers are unpaid for several months. ''To continue teaching
often resembles heroism,'' UNESCO notes. |
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| ''Because
their salaries are among the lowest of any professional category,
most teachers are obliged to have a second job to have a decent
income. Consequently they no longer have enough time to guarantee
quality education.'' |
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| Yet
the demands on the school system have grown, and will only continue
as the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have applied
to join the European Union. |
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| They
have realised that to compete in a wider European economy they
not only have to restructure their economies away from a concentration
on heavy industry, they must revamp their education systems
to ''provide the relevant skills needed to support national
and European competitiveness in a period of rapid technological
change and globalisation of markets.'' |
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| In
some cases ''this has meant practically rebuilding the education
system, producing an entire set of textbooks for every student,''
Motivans said in a recent interview in Warsaw. |
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| ''Progressive
curricula have the potential to strengthen democratic values,
to foster social cohesion, and to promote participation in the
construction of civil societies that are slowly being nurtured,''
the report for UNESCO points out. |
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| In
addition young people have to be provided with the skills to
find jobs in the changing labour market, and ''for self- development
and civil participation -- the latter is particularly important
in Eastern Europe.'' |
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These changes would present challenges to governments in any
circumstances, but for the countries in transition from communism,
the demands are huge, and in the case of the weakest economies,
have little chance of being met even with increased resources
for education. |
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| Moreover
decentralisation of education, giving local authorities increasing
responsibility, has meant that discrepancies between regions
are beginning to emerge. |
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| Many
local authorities, particularly in the rural areas, are not
allocated the financial resources to meet their new responsibilities
and have few means to raise additional funds. |
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| ''The
near-universal provision of basic education seems to have been
protected. However ... maintaining wide access to basic education
has come at the expense of educational quality,'' UNESCO points
out. |
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| For
instance, the Romania country report notes the ''deterioration
in education quality (has been) reflected by schools in poor
condition, insufficient number of teaching staff and ... insufficient
supply of learning materials.'' |
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| At
Dakar, governments in Central and Eastern Europe will have to
commit themselves to rebuilding education. |
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| This
article is free of copyright restrictions and can be reproduced
provided that Inter Press Service is credited. |
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