Education

The Issue

Muhamadso, 10, at a UNICEF-assisted Secondary School, Bokhtar District, Khatlon Province, Tajikistan.

With crumbling schools, deteriorating quality of education and falling enrolment among girls in some areas, education is a top priority for UNICEF in CEE/CIS.

Education in the poorest countries in the region is being undermined by lack of resources for such basics as textboooks, heating and school maintenance and by the exodus of demoralised teachers. Education quality is falling in many countries and outdated methods raise concerns that children are not being prepared for life in a post-Soviet climate. The traditional approach known as “factology” still dominates, with pupils more likely to learn by repetition than EU pupils and less able to apply their knowledge to real life.

And there are concerns about a “hidden crisis”, in girls’ education. While rates for girls’ enrolment and attendance remain high, there are reports of more girls dropping out of school. In the poorest parts of Turkey, for example, less than half of the girls aged 7-15 are in school. Those girls who miss out are often the most disadvantaged. In Serbia and Montenegro, girls who suffer discrimination due to poverty or ethnic origin, such as Roma, have drop out rates that are 80% higher than for boys in the same situation. Equality in enrolment does not, however, mean equal education. In Azerbaijan, a survey of children leaving primary school in 2002 found that only 52% of girls passed the literacy and numeracy tests, compared to 100% of boys.