ISSN 1993-8616
2008 - Special Issue
Education: roads closed
© UNESCO/Akhtar Soomro
Poverty, geographic isolation, gender, language, ethnicity - these are some of the main obstacles blocking the road to school. They all have a common denominator: unequal opportunities.
If we continue to turn a blind eye to the glaring inequalities that still persist in education, then the goals set by the international community will not be met, and, in some cases, on a spectacular scale, according to the 2009 Global Monitoring Report on Education for All, which was presented in Geneva (Switzerland) on 25 November. Millions of children throughout the world risk seeing themselves condemned to live in poverty, with limited horizons.
This UNESCO Courier dossier takes a closer look at some examples.
Education: the other global emergency
Western countries have pulled together multi-billion dollar plans to save their banking systems from catastrophe. The same determination, says the 2009 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, Overcoming inequality: why governance matters, is needed to tackle failing education systems. More
Public support for education in Ecuador
A public sector programme being implemented in Ecuador, where families are given cash to send their children to school, has led to a noticeable increase in attendance, while reducing child labour. More
Scholarships make children hopeful
Nepal's innovative programme to expand primary education has proven successful. More than 1.7 million children get government support in the form of a scholarship so they can go to school... and get an education that improves their daily life. More
Illiteracy: impossible to hide
According to the latest UNESCO global report on education, more and more people know how to read and write, but 776 million adults are still illiterate. This phenomenon affects industrialized countries, where a minority of the population faces daily difficulties. More
