education in the millennium development goals: an impossible dream?
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"Education in the Millennium Development Goals: an impossible dream?"Isa BaudDiscussion of the two Millennium Developmental Goals related to Education and Education for all in a global context. Presented at 2nd UNAWE International Workshop.(Date: October 2006)TRANSCRIPT
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Education in the Millenium
Development Goals: an
impossible dream?Isa Baud
Department of Geography, Planningand International Development Studies
University of Amsterdam
What are the specific targets?
• 8 MDGs, 2 related to education
• Goal 2:
Achieve universal primary education
- Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primaryeducation
• Goal 3:
Promote gender equality and empower women
- Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary educationpreferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015
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Complementary to MDGs, 6 EFA targets
1. Expanding and improving early childhood care and education,especially for the most vulnerable;
2. Ensuring that by 2015 all children have access to a compulsory freeeducation of good quality;
3. Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults aremet through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skillsprogram;
4. Achieving 50% improvement in adult literacy levels by 2015;
5. Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education;
6. Improving all aspects of quality of education
Regional differences in enrollment
Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2005.
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• Enrollment
Key facts…• Enrollment in primary cycle increased but:
- 100 million children still not enrolled in primaryeducation
- Many drop out before completion
- Existing rural-urban education gap
- Gender differences
- Only 5% disabled children completed primaryschooling
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What are the issues –?
• Quantity versus quality
• Access to post-primary education
• Gap between education skills and local labormarkets
• Local education governance
• Funding
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UvA IS-Academe program
on quality of education
• Linking research and policy at different levels:
- Ministry, Dutch embassies, partnership IIEP/UvA/Minbuza
- through internships and policy recommendations
* Teaching:
Integrate education issues in BA and MA programmes
* Research:
Several research themes
Foster academic exchanges with leading academics
Favor interdisciplinary approach
Issues for research
• Multiple, contextualised meanings of quality of
education
• Processes of learning and teaching
• Inclusion of the most marginalized groups in
education
• Decentralization, privatization, processes of re-
centralisation
• Policy negotiation and advocacy
• Opportunities of change -
Improving education in war-affected areas
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Links to UNAWE?
• Addresses quality of education by spurringinterest in new subjects
Beauty and Scale of the Universe
• Uses non-traditional methods of promotingsuch interests
• Bottom-up approach
• Addresses marginalized children
• South-south and north-south learningpatterns
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