Innledning i Litteraturhuset 8.

mai 2013

HOW CAN EDUCATION REDUCE INEQUALITY?

and
HOW TO ACHIEVE EQUAL RIGHT TO EDUCATION?

Social inequality, and unequal access to education, are clearly interlinked. It is

hard to distinguish between cause and effect. So I will start by taking a look at
what we already know:

(The positive return on investment in education)

In a review of developing countries enjoying high levels of growth over a period
of 25 years or more, the “Commission on Growth and Development” (a World
Bank/UN project) concluded that: “Every country that sustained growth for long
periods, put substantial effort into schooling its citizens and deepening its human
capital”. This states clearly the role of education in achieving sustainable
economic development,
The long-term economic advantage of education has been measured quite
precisely in affluent societies like ours – in OECD countries. The personal
economic advantage of a university degree can be as much as USD 175 000.
The net return for society on supporting such a person through higher education
is USD 91 000. Although these figures cannot be directly transferred to the
situation in poor countries, the economic benefit of education is
unquestionable – all over the world. So, we know for sure how important
education is as an investment, for the individual as well as for society.

(Policies matter!)
However, we also know that there is no clear link between per capita income
and investments in education. A report published last month by UNICEF –
Report Card 11: Child well-being in rich countries – argues that the link is weak
between per capita GDP and overall child well-being, including children’s
access to education. In that report, Portugal was ranked higher than the United
States. Seven of the wealthiest countries in the world fall into the bottom third of
the further education league table.
What is the lesson to be learned here? That wealth per se does not give social
benefits, and that the GDP figure says little about a country’s capacity or
willingness to provide services to its citizens. The report shows that child
poverty is not preordained or inevitable, but rather is policy susceptible.

Only policies of redistribution determine the social outcomes of a country’s

economic situation.

1
Innledning i Litteraturhuset 8. mai 2013

(Education as a right)
We all know also that education is a human right. So why some governments
still ignoring their duties? Poverty is a valid excuse – I admit that – but only up
to a point. We need to distinguish more clearly between those who are actually
unable, and those who are unwilling, to take this responsibility seriously.

I believe that if you put the respect for human rights at the centre of public
policies in any country, greater equality will more likely result. The respect
for human rights tends to empower the disadvantaged, and the focus will be on
the entitlements of people – for instance their right to education. The people –
the ‘rights holders’ – will be empowered to claim their rights. This, in turn, will
focus attention on the state’s obligations. Focusing on human rights therefore
helps to improve the accountability of the state, as its responsibilities and
obligations are clarified.

Development assistance interventions that are designed from a human rights

perspective are also more likely to address the relationship between the ‘rights
holders’ and the ‘duty bearers’. This approach addresses fundamental questions
of inequality and access, and will contribute to a more sustainable development.

(Redistribution)
In other words, it is my profound belief that in order to answer the question
‘How to achieve an equal right to education’, we can start by using human
rights as our means of exerting leverage. Many countries, even some of the
poorest, are assigning a greater share of their public budgets to education, and
they are paying a larger share by using the proceeds from their own economic
growth.

This shows that aid does not displace national resource mobilisation. We as
donors need to support this positive trend and encourage the countries that show
that they are taking responsibility for the rights of their own people. We need
economic distribution between countries, but we also need redistribution
within countries.

(How does education contribute to reducing inequality?)

According to the UN Secretary-General’s Global Education First initiative, if
all students in low income countries had gained basic reading skills, there would
be 171 million fewer poor people in the world today. This relates to the second
question in the title, namely, ‘How education can contribute to equality’.
Let’s look at the role education plays in other sectors of society. For example,
education has a documented effect on women’s health. In Ethiopia, 74 per cent

2
Innledning i Litteraturhuset 8. mai 2013

of women aged 15–49 have undergone some form of genital mutilation. Truly a
disturbing figure. Although prevalence rates vary moderately by place of
residence and wealth, significant differences are seen with respect to the level of
education: only 5 per cent of women with secondary or higher education support
genital mutilation, compared to 41 per cent of women with no formal education.
It is twice more likely that girls will suffer genital mutilation if their mothers
lack formal education. We see the same pattern in infant mortality rates and
children’s health: educated mothers are 50 per cent more likely to immunise
their children than mothers with no schooling.
In short, children of educated parents are better off. Education weakens the
effects of poverty – and inequality is reduced. Both between rich and poor,
and between the sexes.

(Marginalised groups)
This may all sound easy on paper. However, those of us who are discussing
these issues here today know how much remains to be done. UNICEF is one of
the strongest advocates for children who are still not being granted their right to
education, let alone their right to a voice in society.
How can we bridge the gap between human rights on paper and universal access
to education in real life? I believe one fundamental key is to focus on fair
distribution: more equitable distribution of wealth puts economic and
political power into the hands of more people, who will then contribute both
to the wealth of their country and to its governance. In turn, their needs are
more likely to be addressed. As we all know, when any family in the world is
asked to prioritise its wishes, education for its children is a top priority.
Another challenge lies in the demographic development in the poorest areas of
the planet. Despite exceptionally strong figures for increased school enrolment
over the last ten years in many African countries, the demographic explosion of
young people exceeds the increased capacity in the school systems. In this case
it is not the will of the national governments to prioritise education which is
lacking.
Other important challenges for us as donors and agencies relate to the most
vulnerable groups of children, who often live in societies that are not themselves
capable of providing services for their people. We have a clear duty to support
these children – the refugees, the handicapped, the excluded girls, the ethnic
and religious minorities. The international agencies, first and foremost
UNICEF, do a tremendous job in this field, and we need to continue to equip
and fund the NGOs that are able to reach out to these most vulnerable children.

3
Innledning i Litteraturhuset 8. mai 2013

To conclude: investment in the education sector is profitable for society; rights-

based public policies reach deeper into society; and if public policies are
founded on principles of equitable distribution, investments in education can
reach even the most marginalised groups.
Education does reduce inequality, and education for all is possible. More
importantly, the more equitable the access to education, the greater the
positive impact on society as a whole.

(Quality in education)
It is not enough to count children in school - we need to look at what they bring
home from school. Having worked on the MDGs on access to education, we
have achieved quantity at the expense of quality.
As many as 250 million children cannot read or write when they start fifth grade
(!). 94 percent of children in Mali in 2nd grade cannot read a single word.
Very large youth cohorts in many of the poorest regions of the world face a lack
of high-school and other training programs, as well as a severe shortage of
employment. Young people need a variety of educational programs, ranging
from basic training in reading and writing, to secondary and higher secondary
school, vocational training or further academic education.)
The challenges in education are individual in each country: some lack qualified
teachers, some are in post-conflict situations and lack the infrastructure; many
lack funding and struggle to bridge the gap between urban and rural
communities. Nearly all, however, share a common lack of data. Without
reliable statistics and baselines, it is hard to establish where efforts should be
focused.
One very interesting initiative we have decided to support in order to develop
method and statistics to support policy development, is the project the OECD
calls “PISA for development”. Rich countries profit from the PISA (Programme
for International Student Assessment) evaluations of our education systems. We
hope that the OECD together with donors and partner countries will manage to
redefine and adapt the PISA studies to become as useful for developing
countries as it is for us. This would be a very useful tool for addressing not only
‘access’ issues, but clearly also quality and content issues.