UN SR Education – Right to Education & Education for Girls
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: March 12, 2006
Education for the UN
WUNRN will post
UN.
Education is:
Rapporteur on the Right to Education,
and gender disparities in education.
Education is a Human Right,
Not an Economic Good – UN Expert
INTERVIEW – UN
Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Vernor Munoz Villalobos
Geneva – There is a need to
recognize education as a human right rather than an economic good, and member
States have an obligation to implement this right, according to UN rights expert
Vernor Muñoz Villalobos.
Muñoz Villalobos, the
Special Rapporteur on the right to education of the Commission on Human Rights,
said in an interview that the human rights dimension of education needed to be
strengthened without looking at education from an utilitarian perspective that
guarantees an economic result.
“I have noted that a lot of
people see education as a service, business or a way to improve the economic
struggle against poverty”, he said.
“But the aim of education
is linked to human dignity and to the realization of the individual’s rights
that Member States have an obligation to implement”, Muñoz
added.
According to Muñoz, the
main obstacle to progress on the right to education is that it has been
“de-linked” from a culture of respect for human rights.
“In order to overcome this
obstacle human rights learning and education are mechanisms that could allow us
to transform patriarchal practices that reduce education to a mechanism that
perpetuates existing social and cultural traditions and practices, regardless of
their impact on human rights”, he said.
The other areas the Special
Rapporteur identifies as hurdles to the enjoyment of the right to education are
tuition fees, lack of teachers and poverty, combined with the inferior position
given to education in national budgets.
The Rapporteur has focused
much of his work on primary education.
“Primary education is the
foundation of the whole system. If we can improve it, improve access and avoid
drop outs at primary level, we will have a strong basis to ensure continuation
to secondary level.”
In his last report to the
Commission the Special Rapporteur noted an increase in school attendance in
Kenya, Malawi, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda following the abolition of
tuition fees.
However he also stated that
education is regarded more as a cost than an investment and is often relegated
to second or third place in the budget priorities of medium income
countries.
“It is a combination of
poverty and lack of commitment. In some countries military budgets are given
priority over the education budget”, Muñoz said.
The lack of teachers also
poses a major problem in increasing access to primary education. According to
the United Nations Development Programme, the estimated number of additional
teachers required by 2015 ranges from 15 to 35 million, including more than 3
million in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Special Rapporteur is
particularly concerned that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the area
of education will not be achieved by 2015.
“I am afraid we will not
reach the goals set forth by the Millennium Development Summit, particularly in
the area of education for girls. I would like to carry out research that would
allow us to understand why”, he said.
According to the
Rapporteur’s report the total cost of meeting the MDGs by the year 2015 in
low-income countries alone will be in the region of $ 9,700 million a year
until.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the
lowest proportion of students completing primary education, followed by South
Asia with 70 per cent of students doing so. The rates in the Middle East and
North Africa are around 74 per cent. In Europe and central Asia it is at 92 per
cent, with 85 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean and 84 percent in East
Asia.
Gender disparity is also a
major concern as in many countries girls have lesser access to education than
boys. Patriarchal structures, cultural and traditional roles and poverty are
among the factors that prevent the education of girls.
The Rapporteur, however,
cited Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Gambia, Sri Lanka and Tunisia as countries
that have made impressive progress on girls’ right to
education.
One of the Rapporteur’s
strategies to identify the obstacles to the enjoyment of the right to education,
especially gender disparity, is to develop human rights indicators to facilitate
and formulate policy.
“The problem is a complex
one, and its gender dimensions are not always visible”, he said. “That makes it
very important to develop quantitative and qualitative indicators and collect
disaggregated data”.
“I intend to focus my next
report on the right to education of girls as a way to achieve the MDGs”, he
said.
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