It’s like Christmas in March!
Early this morning, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released the 2011 Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR), entitled The hidden crisis: Armed conflict and education. It’s quite a mouthful, and at over 400 pages long, it’s going to take me a while to take it all in. UNESCO has published the report annually since 2002, and it’s my go-to report for everything related to education. As the title suggests, this year’s report focuses on how children’s education is affected by conflict. The GMR estimates that armed conflict is robbing 28 million children of an education due to everything from sexual violence to attacks on schools. The insecurity and fear in conflict areas keeps children, especially girls, out of school. Of the 67.5 million children who are still out of school around the world, 28 million live in poor countries affected by conflict.
Unfortunately in many of the 35 countries affected by conflict between 1999 and 2008, classrooms, teachers and pupils are seen as legitimate targets. In 2009, there were 613 attacks on schools in Afghanistan. Armed conflict also diverts funds from education into military spending. The report estimates that if the 21 countries that spend more on the military than they do on basic education cut military spending by 10%, they could send 9.5 million more children to school.
But it’s not all bad news. There has been significant progress in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in primary school enrolment. 46.5 million African children went to school for the first time between 1999 and 2008. The report emphasizes the link between education and health, specifically child mortality and preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Impressively, secondary school enrolment ratios have increased by 40% in sub-Saharan Africa since 1999 – the most rapid growth rate in the world. This is especially important because there are clear links between a mother’s secondary education and her child’s survival. In Kenya, children born to mothers who have completed secondary education or higher are half as likely to die before their fifth birthday as children born to mothers who have not completed primary education. The GMR estimates that universal secondary education for girls in sub-Saharan Africa could save as many as 1.8 million lives every year – a reduction of 41%. There is also a strong correlation between education and prevention of transmission of HIV from mother to child. For example, in Malawi, only 27% of uneducated women are aware that the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV can be reduced if the mother takes drugs during pregnancy; for women with secondary education or higher the share increase to 60%. Check out this graph showing the correlation between education and HIV testing:
There is a lot of great news in this year’s GMR, and UNESCO is already planning for the 2012 report, which will focus on skills development. Looks like it’s time for me to reset my countdown clock!
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March 1, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Such a good and informational blog post I now want to get my hands on this report and read it cover to cover myself! Let’s just hope that the next report can be filled with even more positive news to come instead of the unfortunate and all to still realities that much of the world faces. Those of us with the chance to go to school, onto university and even onto masters’ or phd’s, what an unbelievable privledge.
Thank you Lauren for encompassing such useful information and inspiring others to dive right into this report and see how they themselves can make a contribution to our future!
March 7, 2011 at 6:05 pm
The newly released 2011 Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) details how the humanitarian community is failing to provide critical educational needs to 28 million children around the world. This year’s report sets out a comprehensive agenda for change, including tougher action against human rights violations, an overhaul of global aid priorities, strengthened rights for displaced people and more attention to the ways education failures can increase the risk of conflict.
To read an article on the 2011 GMR and UNICEF’s role in strengthening access to and quality of education, please visit http://www.educationandtransition.org/resources/new-report-details-armed-conflicts%e2%80%99-toll-on-education-and-calls-for-a-boost-in-international-aid/.