Goal of Universal Education

One of the sad truths of life is the fact that our larger population is still buried under the weight of destitution- limited access to the supply of food, drinking water, healthcare and other basic necessities. Basic prosperity existed even during the prehistoric civilizations of Mesopotamia or Indus Valley. Men used to live in caves thousands of years back and they were equipped enough to survive with dignity. Tell me why should I not compare the life of the poor countrymen from the African countries with those cave-men from prehistoric times. 

Having said that, it's imperative to lay stress on the fact that various institutions across the world are working harder to find solutions to all such problems. They have found success in many of their initiatives. But is that enough. May be or may be not. What's important to analyse is whether the progress is on the right track.

One such global initiative is the objective of achieving universal education. In my opinion this is one area where the progress has been concrete. Education can become the sound base for the next level of solutions.

As per 2011 data there were still about 57 Million children of primary school age who were not in school. It is a known fact that children with no quality education are exposed to physical as well as mental exploitation. The situation is severe for female children as they are exposed to a greater risk at different time points in their life. However data suggests that this problem, that has been a part of world's millennium development goal, has shown good progress and the world is likely to achieve the goal of net enrollment ratio of 100%. The improvement is particularly encouraging in the Sub-Saharan African countries where in a period of 5-6 years, the net enrollment ratio has increased from 65% to 77%. Overall this figure hovers around 88-90%. 

The root-cause of the problem is quite evident. It is nothing but the existence of sheer poverty and marginalization that is responsible for poor state of primary education. Digging deeper into the source of disparity would reveal three major factors: Income, Gender and Location e.g. the children from the poorest households are at least three times as likely to be out of school as their richest counterparts, rural children are nearly twice as likely to be out of school as urban children. Statistically, the largest income & gender disparity is seen in the South Asian and Sub-Saharan countries while the rural-urban disparity exists in all the countries. 

Different forums at the world level have come together and have embraced the mission of global education as one of the top most development priority. Countries like India have launched development schemes such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to attain the goal. Some of the actions that are being taken by all the institutions, in particular UNICEF, to reach to the goal are: 

• Awareness Campaigns: UNICEF has committed $233 million to stage global awareness campaigns on the importance of children going to school. Different campaigns also highlights the issues of gender discrimination and forced child labour. 

• Investment on improving facilities at school: In many places, schools are safe haven for children where they can find latrines, clean water, meals and possibly health care. "UNICEF has a strong presence in school-based water, sanitation and hygiene projects, supporting initiatives in 73 countries such as supplying hand pumps to primary schools and training teachers in hygiene education".

• Ensuring 'Right to Education': The support is being provided in the area of community-based early child care, parent education, nutrition, hygiene and other intervention initiatives.

The world is in the right path and pace of achieving the goal of universal primary education and would be achieved if various institutions keep implementing different initiatives on a mission mode basis.