Strong Foundations: a must to reach Education for All

by Koïchiro Matsuura

Learning begins at birth as over 150 countries affirmed in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990 at the World Conference on Education for All. Ten years later, in Dakar (Senegal), the crucial relevance of the child’s early years became the subject of the first Education for All goal. This goal addresses access, quality and equity by explicitly calling for “expanding and improving early childhood care and education especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.”

The reasons are compelling: too many young children today are at risk. A child born in the developing world has a one in four chance of living in extreme poverty. About 10.5 million children die each year before age five, most from preventable diseases. Chronic hunger, deprivation of care and poor treatment directly affect a child’s ability to learn, with repercussions often felt into the adult years. If countries are serious about making primary education universal by 2015, public policy must pay heed to what happens before a child walks through the door of the primary classroom for the first time.

The six EFA goals adopted in 2000 cannot be addressed in isolation. Good quality early childhood care and education has immediate benefits in addition to favourable repercussions on all the other goals. Children who participate in early childhood programmes, particularly when they come from disadvantaged backgrounds, are more likely to make the transition to primary school and to complete the primary cycle (goal 2: universal primary education). Older sisters or other female kin are relieved of care responsibilities, a common barrier to girls’ enrolment in primary school (goal 5: gender parity). Programmes can work closely with adults to improve their parenting and other skills and to integrate these into literacy programmes (goals 3 and 4: life skills and literacy). Finally, ECCE is linked to future academic achievement and contributes to the overall efficiency of education systems (goal 6: quality). At a broader level, ECCE programmes have an uncontested impact on reducing poverty, the overarching aim of the Millennium Development Goals.

Despite these multiple benefits, ECCE programmes are not a priority across most of the developing world. Children between ages 0 and 5 account for 11% of the world population – some 738 million – and their number is expected to reach 776 million by 2020 driven by growth in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab States.

The 2007 edition of EFA Global Monitoring Report* published by UNESCO draws a detailed picture of the state of early childhood care and education and makes a substantive case for policy to focus more systematically on the first eight years of a child’s life.

Where do we stand?

The Report finds that the youngest children are the most neglected: almost half the world’s countries offer no formal programmes for children under age 3, a time of remarkable potential and extreme vulnerability. Ministries of education tend to view education at this age as the sole responsibility of parents, private associations or non-governmental agencies. Yet whether in formal or non-formal settings, interventions targeted at the youngest age group can significantly compensate for disadvantage. India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), for example, provides a package of services to some 23 million vulnerable children under age 6 in city slums, tribal areas and remote regions.

The picture is different for children above age 3. Over the past thirty years the number of children enrolled in pre-primary education has increased threefold. Among developing countries, about 1 child in 3 is enrolled in a pre-primary institution, compared with 1 in 10 in 1975. In the Commonwealth countries for which data are available, 38.7 million children were enrolled in pre-primary education in 2004 **. Huge regional variations prevail. While in Latin America and the Caribbean three quarters of countries have gross enrolment ratios (GERs) above 75%, half the countries in sub-Saharan Africa have ratios lower than 10%. In South and West Asia most countries now enrol between one-third and one-half of their children in pre-primary education. In the Commonwealth countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Mauritius and the Seychelles have GERs close to 100; so do Malaysia in Asia and Guyana and St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean. At the other end of the scale, six countries (Cameroon, Gambia, Nigeria, Uganda, Bangladesh and Fiji Islands) have a GER of less than 20 per cent.

Long-term benefits from starting early

Moving ECCE up on policy agendas is not only urgent for the well-being of children but also to improve educational prospects across the board. Even in the context of tight budgets and competing priorities, there is a very strong case for increasing investment in ECCE programmes. Such programmes yield impressive educational and economic returns, especially for children from poor families. Landmark studies in developed countries stand as proof, while growing evidence from developing countries also points to high cost/benefit ratios.

In short, education policy requires a long-term vision: it is more cost-effective to institute preventive measures and support for children early on than to compensate for disadvantage as they grow older. The trend, however, is for countries and the donor community to rally behind the goal of universal primary education, largely neglecting early childhood and adult literacy programmes. In this context, how can we generate stronger awareness and commitment to ECCE?

Top-level commitments

Political endorsement at the highest level is the first step towards creating a favourable policy environment. ECCE must be recognized as essential to children’s present welfare and future development. Ghana is expanding basic education to include two years of kindergarten, partly in response to the number of children living in deprivation. The country’s early childhood policy has led to the opening of kindergartens, the encouragement of local language as the main instruction medium and the integration of early childhood development as a compulsory subject in teacher training. Jamaica, which has achieved near universal preschool coverage, is now focusing on improving the quality of programmes, reaching the most disadvantaged children, and launching a national parenting policy.

Policy at this level is particularly challenging because an integrated approach rhymes with coordination – not only between ministries responsible for education, health, social affairs and women – but also with private actors, non-governmental organizations and communities themselves. Several African Commonwealth countries, including Mauritius, Ghana and Namibia, have ratified national ECCE policies that adopt an integrated approach by addressing issues related to health, nutrition, water, sanitation and child protection.

An increasing number of countries are consolidating responsibility for all forms of ECCE under one ministry to increase policy coherence. Experiences in several suggest that a properly resourced inter-ministerial body can help promote coordination. Partnerships with international organizations or aid agencies can provide technical assistance for national planning and generate seed money for projects. Finally, integrating early childhood into poverty reduction strategy papers – as in Ghana, Uganda and Zambia – is a strategic way to leverage resources for early childhood.

ECCE is not a luxury: it is a right and the foundation of subsequent learning. Such recognition implies financing choices. Yet commitment to expanding early childhood care and education is more the exception than the rule. Spending on pre-primary is less than 10 percent of public spending on education as a whole. The burden often falls on parents. This untenable situation automatically excludes children from the poorest families. In contexts where the private sector plays a prominent role – as in sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab States, the Caribbean and East Asia – public policy must ensure that regulations exist that apply to all settings.

The EFA early childhood goal places special emphasis on reaching the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children. Developing a universal policy applicable to all children that clarifies issues related to governance, curriculum, learning and quality assurance offers an overall national framework. But in the context of many developing countries, this policy may be best implemented through a phase-in approach whereby resources are targeted towards the most disadvantaged children, either geographically or by income group.

The equity yardstick

This focus on access, quality and equity must guide all our initiatives in favour of EFA. Education systems can be judged by the extent to which they give all children access to learning opportunities and enable success in educational achievement. There has been significant progress in access since 2000: enrolments in South and West Asia grew by 19% and in sub-Saharan Africa by 27%. The number of children enrolled in primary education in Commonwealth countries increased from 213 to 253 million between 1999 and 2004, with nearly 90% of the total accounted for by five countries (India, Nigeria, United Republic of Tanzania, Mozambique and Kenya). The fastest progress is being made in countries furthest from universal primary education. This provides a measure of how much can be accomplished when countries and the international community join forces for concerted actions. But we are also faced with considerable challenges.

Overarching challenges

First there are still 77 million children out of school – of which 27 million in the 41 Commonwealth countries with data. Six Commonwealth countries are home to more than one million out-of-school children (Ghana, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Pakistan). Just over 60% are girls. Again, there are highly encouraging indications of change, notably in India, where the number of out-of-school children dropped sharply between 2002 and 2004. In a majority of countries, those most likely to never attend school or to drop out early live in rural areas and come from the poorest households. Abolishing school fees is an essential measure to allow all children to attend school, a step taken by several Commonwealth countries, including the United Republic of Tanzania and Kenya.

Second, the 2005 target date for achieving gender parity in primary and secondary education has been missed. Although two-thirds of countries have achieved gender parity in primary education, disparities at the expense of girls remain significant at this level in many countries, often those with the lowest enrolment ratios. Out of the 49 Commonwealth countries with data, 22 have not achieved gender parity in primary education. Failing to achieve gender parity in education is a major obstacle to development, making girls more vulnerable to poverty, hunger and exploitation.

Third, too many children who start school fail to reach the last grade of primary – fewer than two-thirds in half the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Household poverty, the need for domestic child labour, the loss of parents from HIV/AIDS represents one facet of the problem. The other is the poor quality of teaching and learning, overcrowded classes, lack of learning materials, insufficient instructional time and inadequately trained teachers. Sub-Saharan Africa alone needs to recruit at least 1.6 million teachers to achieve universal primary education by 2015.

Fourth, 781 million adults – one in five – lack basic literacy skills, a formidable barrier to making informed choices and improving livelihoods. Over 50% of these adults live in the Commonwealth countries, concentrated in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Adult literacy rates remain below 70% in South and West Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab States and the Caribbean. On current trends, this figure will only decrease by 100 million by 2015.

Finally aid to basic education must support country efforts, be predictable and long term. Bilateral aid for education increased from US$4.6 billion in 2000 to US$8.5 billion in 2004, of which US$3.9 billion goes to basic education. A negligible amount goes to early childhood. It is estimated that US$11billion are required to deliver universal access to primary education, expand adult literacy and early childhood programmes.

UNESCO, in its role as the global coordinator of Education for All, aims to provide support to national leadership and to strengthen international cooperation to reach the EFA goals. Three specific initiatives are in place: the Teacher Training Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa; EDUCAIDS to globally scale up educational programmes on HIV and AIDS; and the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment, part of the United Nations Literacy Decade.

Education is a human right and plays a crucial role in poverty reduction. Countries and the international community have the responsibility to extend this right to all children, youth and adults, starting in the earliest years of life. Peace, human security and sustainable development depend to a large extent on giving people the capabilities to shape their future, a responsibility that begins in the very first years of life.


Koïchiro Matsuura
Director-General of UNESCO


----
* UNESCO 2006. EFA Global Monitoring Report. Strong Foundations : Early childhood care and education. Paris, UNESCO.

** Aggio, C. Packer, S. The Performance of Commonwealth Countries in Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Education and the Dakar Education for All Goals. Commonwealth Secretariat, London, 2006. Data quoted in the Report and reproduced in this article are from the 2007 EFA Global Monitoring Report, op. cit.

• Source:Commonwealth Finance Ministers Reference Report; Commonwealth yearbook 2007
• 30-09-2007