Global Action Week campaign, Rights from the Start: Early Childhood Care and Education Now!
We are delighted to give you an update from GCE members all around the world who have engaged millions of people to help realise the rights of young children everywhere. Their efforts to achieve national and global change have been incredible – and you can still join them! On 25 May 2012 we will be presenting drawings by children, images from national campaigns and our international petition to UNESCO as part of our global effort to achieve education and care for every young child.
You can join by visiting www.globalactionweek.org and signing the petition, or adding your own drawing or photo to support the campaign. We will be collecting all images and names on 21st May so make sure you take part now!
200 million children are still being denied their right to early childhood care & education
Rights from the Start, a new report released today by the Global Campaign for Education
The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) has launched a new report, Rights from the Start, as part of a move to highlight the disastrous impact of neglecting early years care and education. The report was written on behalf of GCE by Vernor Muñoz, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, with contributions from Emeritus Professor Peter Moss of the University of London and Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova.
Rights from the Start is intended to highlight a truth that should be uncontroversial: that every person is entitled to the right to care and education from birth. However, the shocking fact remains that 200 million children do not receive these rights at all: the report examines government planning and budgets (including donor assistance) to show that many do not prioritise or even include early childhood in the education or national strategies.
Barely half of the countries included in the UNESCO Global Monitoring Report on Education For All are confirmed as having official programmes which provide for children aged three or younger, and many of these reach only a minority of children. Average regional spending on pre-primary education ranges from 0.5% of GDP in Central and Eastern Europe to close to 0 in South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Early childhood care and education is Goal 1 of the six Education For All goals, agreed by 164 governments in Dakar in 2000, and is affirmed as an individual right in numerous international and regional treaties. But the Rights from the Start report clearly shows that it is a goal that is far from being achieved.
The Global Campaign for Education is calling on governments to commit to:
ECCE for all children, without discrimination: Governments must ensure availability of ECCE for all children, taking measures to overcome all forms of discrimination and reduce inequalities in access to and quality of ECCE.
Teacher and curriculum development: Governments should ensure that ECCE teachers are trained and supported as professional teaching staff, and that ECCE programmes encompass children’s educational, developmental, nutritional, health and individual needs, including through parenting support.
Increased investment and improved coordination in early childhood care and education
Governments must adopt a single, coherent ECCE policy, which may include work carried out across different ministries and agencies (e.g. education, health), but which has one clear lead agency.
Governments should ensure that at least 1% of GDP is spent on early childhood services.
Donor governments must honour commitments to support all countries to achieve Education for All, especially Goal One.
There are 1 billion children aged under eight years old in the world, more than 10% of the world’s population. The neglect of these children’s rights – and the consequent impact on their other rights, their opportunities and their societies – is too devastating to continue. The Global Campaign for Education is urging governments around the world to take action to ensure the realisation of these rights – right from the start.
Privatisation in Education Research Initiative (PERI)
PERI is a global research and networking initiative that seeks to animate an accessible and informed public debate on alternative education provision. In particular, it examines the social justice implications of changes in the coordination, financing and governance of education.
The website, www.periglobal.org, is a space where people can interact and share resources on privatisation in education. In addition to this, it will be publishing research that has been commissioned on the privatisation in education from around the world.
GCE welcomes this timely development and is keen for education campaigners particularly concerned with this area of work to join the site and use the wealth of information that is already available at www.periglobal.org.
Children in school is not enough – they must learn something there
The Guardian, 23 April 2012 David Archer, Head of Programme Development, ActionAid and GCE Board Member
Literacy has become a hot issue in the UK and internationally, with growing outrage that many children fail to learn to read and write. Globally, there are about 50 million more children in school today than there were just over a decade ago. There are still challenges in achieving universal access – more than 67 million children are still denied this basic right – but it is important we now also focus on ensuring that children in school actually learn. It is a violation of children's rights if they are in school year after year yet fail to develop basic skills.
Reaffirming the right to education: Seventh Assembly of the Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE)
Held in Quito, Ecuador in mid-April this year, this regional assembly, under the slogan "Social struggles, human rights and education for strengthened democracies and active citizenship in Latin America and the Caribbean", saw 89 representatives of national coalitions and regional networks discuss the challenges for the next two years, adopt the Charter of Quito and elect the new Executive Committee of CLADE.
89 delegates from 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean discussed the main issues associated with the protection and extension of the right to education. The discussions focused on the persistence of privatisation policies in most of the countries of the region, the criminalisation of social movements and organisations fighting for the defence of public education and the repressive action by the military and police against teacher and student demonstrations.
The Charter of Quito reaffirms and summarises the demands of all members united under CLADE.
GCE Africa Regional Member ANCEFA organised this civil society workshop prior to the Conference of Ministers of Education of the Africa Union (COMEDAF) with the following objectives:
to identify policy issues and advocacy priorities and strategies around achievement of 2015 education goals in Africa
to discuss and reach consensus on post 2015 education agenda and ways of accelerating civil society monitoring and advocacy from 2012 to 2015
to formulate policy demands and recommendations to education ministers attending COMEDAF V on Africa education policy priorities pre-and post 2015.
A CSO round table was also organised as part of the COMEDAF V on the 25th April. ANCEFA was represented at the Experts’ meeting and at the Ministers’ meeting.
You can download the ANCEFA COMEDAF V communiqué, the conclusions of the CSO roundtable and the official recommendations of the COMEDAF V on ANCEFA website: www.ancefa.org
UNESCO Supports Global Action Week
UNESCO has been working with its international network and the Global Campaign for Education for the campaign for early childhood care and education. Following the World Conference on ECCE in Moscow, September 2010, organised by UNESCO, Global Action Week presents an opportunity for UNESCO to mobilise its full network of governments, NGOs and national offices alongside the national coalitions of GCE.
Asia-Pacific Photo and Drawing Contest 2012: What is a good early childhood?
One of the major activities already announced is a major drawing competition in the Asia-Pacific region to tie in with the Big Picture activity. UNESCO Bangkok, Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC), GCE Regional Member Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE) and UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO) invite participants to send photos or drawings on “What is a good early childhood?”All entrants will have their submissions exhibited by the competition hosts with winners being given international profile.
Arab Regional ECCE Policy Meeting and Launch of the Arab ECCE Working Group
Another major activity already announced for Global Action Week is the Arab Regional ECCE Policy Meeting. The UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States, in cooperation with UNESCO Cairo Office, Global Campaign for Education and other partner organizations in the Arab region, will hold a regional ECCE policy meeting from 24 to 25 April 2012 in Beirut, Lebanon. This will be a follow-up to the Damascus and Moscow Conferences on ECCE in 2010, and will also launch the new Arab ECCE Working Group.
Stop the execution of Professor Abdolreza Ghanbari
The Global Campaign for Education calls on its members and supporters to request the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran to stay the execution of Professor Abdolreza Ghanbari, a university lecturer, who has been sentenced to death for ‘enmity towards God’.
GCE member Education International and its member organisation in Iran, the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA), have launched an online campaign in partnership with LabourStart.
About Professor Abdolreza Ghanbari’s case Abdolreza Ghanbari, a 44-year-old lecturer of Payam e Nour University, was arrested at his home in Pakdasht on 4 January 2010. He was charged with ‘Moharebeh’ (enmity towards God) for receiving unsolicited emails from an armed opposition group, to which he does not belong. While in detention at the notorious Evin Prison, Prof. Ghanbari was interrogated for 25 days in a row and forced to confess under duress to unproven charges. Nasrin Sotoudeh was his lawyer until he was himself condemned to a six year sentence in Evin Prison for ‘propaganda against the regime’ and ‘acting against national security’. In 2007, Prof. Ghanbari had already been detained for 120 days and sentenced to a six-month suspension from teaching and exiled from Sari to Pakdasht. Prof. Ghanbari has no known political connections. He was previously involved in teacher union activities until his union ITTA was dissolved in 2007. Prof. Ghanbari’s death sentence was confirmed by Tehran's Appeal Court, Branch 36 in April 2010. He has since been waiting on death row. A request for pardon was rejected on February 28 by the Commission of Justice in Tehran. It means that authorities are allowed to proceed with the execution.
What has happened so far EI and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) have requested a direct intervention of the Director General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to request that Iran annul the death penalties for trade unionists. EI has continued, with its affiliate in Iran, CCITTA, to inform the international community about the denial of union rights for public teachers. Together allegations were submitted to the UN ECOSOC International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as to the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran. In December, in resolution 66/175 adopted by 89 member states (30 votes against, 64 abstentions), the UN voiced deep concern at Iran’s “serious on-going systematic restrictions of freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of opinion and expression”. EI has requested the Iranian authorities to cease putting state pressure on trade unions and to release detained union activists, as well as to formally acknowledge the legitimacy of the Coordinating Council of ITTAs. EI has specifically raised concerns about the detention of teacher unionists Abdolreza Ghanbari and Rasoul Bodaghi. A number of detained teacher unionists have been released on bail in December 2011. EI has also continued to engage in the international campaign ’Justice for Iranian Workers’ which is a network of trade union rights activists from the Global Unions and Amnesty International. EI also shared information with the Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR).
What you can do: In addition to signing the appeal, you can write your own emails directly to the leaders of Iran:
Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Republic:
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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:
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His Excellency Mohammad Javad Larijani, Director, Human Rights Headquarters of Iran:
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Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, Head of the Judiciary:
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The major demands are:
Stay the execution of Prof. Abdolreza Ghanbari and revoke the death sentence
Drop all charges against all detained trade unionists and release them immediately
Compensate the individuals for the damages suffered as result of detentions
Register the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA) and allow it to hold trade union activities and reach out to members
Stop the harassment and repression against teachers, unionists and human rights defenders;
Comply with the international labour standards and respect the rights of Iranian workers to freedom of association, assembly and expression
Engage in a peaceful dialogue regarding the professional concerns of teachers in Iran.
Netherlands: 50,000 teachers protest cuts to the education budget
An estimated 50,000 teachers and other staff members from over 3000 primary schools gathered in the Amsterdam Arena on Tuesday 6 March to protest to cuts to the education budget. On the same day the Netherlands Parliament discussed a proposal made by the Minister for Education to cut down the budget for inclusive education by €300 million per year.
Most of this money is currently used by schools to hire more and specialized teachers to enable children with special needs to attend regular education. A 300 million cut to the budget for inclusive education would mean the loss of thousands of jobs, a larger number of pupils per class and less time and expertise to support children with special needs in regular schools.
The demonstration was a combined protest of teachers’ unions, expert organizations and associations of parents of children with special needs. The teachers called upon the Minister to withdraw a proposal for a newly-reserved budget of €250 million a year for incentives for outstanding teachers and use this money for inclusive education instead. Although the final outcome of the parliamentary debate is not yet certain, the Minister and the coalition partners in Parliament seem to persist with their plan.
Initial results of GCE’s Gender Discrimination in Education survey highlight shocking disparities for girls and boys
Girls around the world are experiencing gender discrimination from the age of just seven years old, with one in ten primary schoolgirls reported being unhappy being a girl, doubling to one in five by the time they reach secondary school. This contrasts with less than 1% of boys at primary school and less than 3% of boys at secondary school. The figures have been published today in an interim report from the Global Campaign for Education (GCE).
Reasons cited by the girls include restrictions on freedom, a lack of opportunities compared to boys and a feeling that they were less safe or faced more harassment. In some cases, girls cited parental preference for their male siblings.
Gender Discrimination in Education: The violation of rights of women and girls draws on the initial results of an ongoing gender survey conducted in schools internationally by GCE. Its aim is to highlight the disparities between girls’ and boys’ experiences of school and encourage the international community and national governments to achieve gender equality in schools and bring about an end to gender discrimination. Results have been received from 10 countries so far including Bangladesh, Bolivia, Nepal, Peru, Viet Nam, Pakistan and Cambodia.
The interim report is to be presented by GCE to the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) at a briefing to the committee in Geneva on Wednesday 29 February.
Other startling results include:
Nearly four in 10 girls reported being made fun of because they are a girl, compared to under one in ten for boys
Girls were generally seen as better at ‘soft’ subjects such as languages, history, art and music, and boys better at sports, mathematics and computing
Pupils felt that male teachers are ‘more intelligent’ than female teachers, but female teachers were ‘more caring’ than male teachers.
The survey also questioned teachers on their perceptions of gender discrimination, with one highlight result showing that female teachers were four times more likely than male teachers to state that they had experienced discrimination because of their gender. Overall, one third of female teachers from the survey said they had experienced gender discrimination, compared to 7% of male teachers.
GCE President, Camilla Croso commented: "The GCE's report shows that gender discrimination and stereotyping are embedded in education systems. Not only must there be no gender discrimination in education but we must pressurise for education systems that foster overall gender equity in broader society." GCE is seeking support from CEDAW to include all-age education as part of CEDAW’s own reporting requirements from UN Member States on gender discrimination as well as to develop specific, education-focused recommendations to States. The report also seeks the full support of the UN and its Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, to use the women and girls section of its education initiative to ensure gender equity and non-discrimination are tackled in all UN institutions.
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GCE Statement on UNESCO's recognition of Palestine as a full member
On 31 October 2011, UNESCO recognised Palestine as the 195th.member of the organisation. This was the outcome of voting at UNESCO's General Conference, where 107 nations voted in favour of Palestine's membership, while 14 voted against and 52 abstained. The US, which voted against, immediately announced that it would withhold a scheduled contribution of 60 million dollars from UNESCO in 2011. US officials justified this by referring to an existing law that bars the United States from funding a UN organization that accepts members that don't have the "international recognized attributes of statehood.
The GCE celebrates UNESCO´s General Assembly´s decision to accept Palestine as a full member and strongly opposes the recent cuts in funding to UNESCO by the United States. The GCE stands on the assumption that education is a fundamental right to which everyone is entitled and that it is also the foundation on which strong democracies and just societies are built. The decision taken by the US is a move away from multilateralism, international cooperation and joint efforts towards the realization of the right to education. The withdrawal of funding from UNESCO will damage efforts to achieve Education for All across the world and demonstrates US neglect towards international, regional and national commitments in favour of universal education. The move sidelines the US and aggravates problems for present and future generations.
The decision to withdraw funding allegedly comes from a 1990 legislation that prohibits funding "the United Nations or any specialised agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organisation the same standing as a member state", and another from 1994 banning payments to "any affiliated organisation of the United Nations which grants full membership as a state to any organisation or group that does not have the internationally recognised attributes of statehood".
The GCE understand that US Congress must immediately review this set of legislation and halt any other norm that comes to aggravate this regressive scenario, and which contradict all efforts towards the promotion of human rights. The GCE furthermore understands that there is scope within the Obama Administration to pressure towards a revision of such norms and consequently of the decision taken regarding the withdrawal of funding from UNESCO, which can expand to the withdrawal of funding from other UN agencies.
The GCE has worked over more than a decade towards the respect, protection and realization of the rights of children, youth and adults. According to the UNESCO Global Monitoring Report, 22% of children living in the West Bank and Gaza are out of school. International agencies such as UNESCO have a key role to play in guaranteeing that all children with no exception be entitled to education and in promoting peace across the globe, cornerstones for strengthened citizenship, democracy and dignity.
RT @DuncanRights: Right to Education Project Internship opportunity. Joint project of @actionaid @amnestyonline @globaleducation http:// ... - 15 May 2012, 11:18 am - View »
RT @PERIGlobal: Video debate: Has the #privatisation of #education in India brought down the quality of education? http://t.co/xFOt0uSL - 8 May 2012, 8:07 am - View »
@PERIGlobal no problem - thanks for doing all that work - great to have a platform for this growing issue! - 8 May 2012, 7:44 am - View »
