Basic education
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© UNICEF/EAP01895/YR |
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Child-friendly teaching leaves children smiling in Thailand |
The Issues
Increased access to basic education is one of the cornerstones of our region’s economic prosperity and relative security. But we still need to overcome social and economic disparities, gender discrimination and poor education quality before we achieve universal basic education.
- At the primary school level, poverty, discrimination and economic upheaval shut out millions of children. These include ethnic minorities and children who are displaced, those with a disability and/or those living in remote areas.
- Gender biases are pronounced in secondary schools. Across the region, 6 million fewer girls than boys are enrolled in secondary school, although in some countries, there are far fewer boys studying in post-primary levels. Once in school, girls regularly encounter gender stereotypes and discrimination and may experience harassment from male students. Walking to and from school may involve further harassment from other males.
- Education quality is a serious concern. Schools in poorer, more remote areas are more likely to be overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded. In Cambodia, average classroom size is 50 students per teacher, compared to 20 students per teacher in Japan, Malaysia and New Zealand.
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© UNICEF/KOR00001 |
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Rallying children for an early school start in DPR Korea |
UNICEF in Action
In our region, UNICEF acts on a number of fronts to get more children into school and keep them there. Key activities in basic education are:
- Implementing the Child Friendly School Framework, which seeks to make schools inclusive, child-centred, protective, safe, healthy, gender sensitive and engaged with communities and families; China, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vanuatu have embraced the framework while other nations are implementing it;
- Improving the quality of teaching by helping governments and communities introduce more effective training, support and supervision of teachers;
- Developing local curricula to ensure the relevance of education;
- Providing mainstream learning opportunities for children with a disability;
- Developing local language textbooks and materials for ethnic minorities;
- Addressing gender discrimination through advocacy, public awareness campaigns and the development and dissemination of best practices in gender equality; and
- Collecting and assessing data on schools to guide future plans and strategies. One pilot project, the East Asia Learning Achievement Study, will issue its results in 2006.
