QUALITY EDUCATION

(ISSUES)

"Education is a powerful tool to change the world," said Nelson Mandela. However,
about 250 million children worldwide are not going to school. Recent UNESCO data
shows a rise of 6 million out-of-school children since 2021, bringing the total to 250
million ("250 million Children Out-of-school: What You Need to Know About UNESCO’s
Latest Education Data," 2023).

As Martin (2023) states, education is the key to achieving many Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs). Quality education can help people break the cycle of
poverty. Progress toward quality education was already slow before the pandemic, and
COVID-19 made it worse, causing learning losses in four out of five countries studied.

Without more action, an estimated 84 million children will stay out of school by 2030,
and around 300 million students won't have the basic skills they need for life.

Various reasons keep children from getting an education, with poverty being a major
barrier. Children in economically fragile areas, facing political instability, conflict, or
natural disasters, are more likely to miss school. This is also true for those with
disabilities or from ethnic minorities. In some places, girls have limited education
opportunities.

According to the World Population Review (2023), African countries often have the
poorest education quality. Nigeria has the lowest adult literacy rate at 28.7%, while
Angola has the highest at 70%. The Philippines ranked 77th out of 132 countries in the
2022 Global Knowledge Index (Garcia, n.d.). This challenge affects not only students
but also educators. Lack of trained teachers, insufficient materials, and poor
infrastructure make learning difficult. Some teachers struggle with hunger, illness, or
exhaustion from work or household tasks.

While many countries recognize the importance of education for sustainability, progress
has been slow. Charles Hopkins identifies twelve major issues hindering Education for
Sustainable Development (ESD), including awareness, curriculum structure, economic
viability, and developing policies.
Issue 1 - Increasing Awareness: ESD is Essential (When people understand that education
can make it more likely to put national policies, regional land and resource management plans,
and local programs into action, then education can be changed to help achieve sustainability.
This understanding is the crucial first step in the process of change.)

Issue 2 - Structuring and Placing ESD in the Curriculum (Countries must decide whether to
add sustainable development as a separate subject or integrate it into their entire education
system. It's crucial to clarify if educators should teach about sustainable development or change
education goals and methods to make them sustainable.)

Issue 3 - Linking to Existing Issues: Educational Reform and Economic Viability (The
widespread recognition of the need for educational reform might support the progress of ESD. If
ESD is connected to key priorities in educational reform, it stands a better chance of success.)

Issue 4 - Facing the Complexity of Sustainable Development Concept (Scholars and

practitioners have spent years defining and planning how to achieve sustainable development at
national and local levels. Teaching sustainable development is tough because it's hard to define
and implement. It's even more challenging to completely change an entire education system to
make it sustainable.)

Issue 5 - Developing an ESD Program with Community Participation (In the absence of
ready-made models, governments and schools must develop a process to define what
education for sustainability means in their local context. Public participation processes, where
stakeholders assess the needs and wishes of a community and identify crucial elements of
basic and secondary education, can be adjusted for various communities. In some cultures, the
novel concept of seeking input from parents and workers to shape their children's education
might be entirely new.)

Issue 6 - Engaging Traditional Disciplines in a Transdisciplinary Framework (ESD, being

holistic and interdisciplinary, is hard to teach in traditional schools where subjects are separate.
In countries with detailed curriculums, it's tough to implement ESD. In places with general
content descriptions, it's easier, but creative teachers skilled in teaching across disciplines are
still needed.)
Issue 7 - Sharing the Responsibility (Every part of the government linked to sustainable
development can help with ESD. At a UN meeting, environment ministries highlighted that
education, awareness, and training are vital for sustainable development.)
Issue 8 - Building Human Capacity (To help implement ESD worldwide, we need international
programs for administrators, curriculum developers, teacher educators, and lead teachers.
These programs should make the most of existing knowledge and strengths.)

Issue 9 - Developing Financial and Material Resources (Making education sustainable

requires more money. The challenge with ESD is keeping regular education going while
creating a new curriculum. This means hiring more teachers, training new ones, and retraining
current teachers to focus on sustainability.)
Issue 10 - Developing Policy (For ESD to succeed, governments need to strongly support it
and create policies. Without this support, similar efforts in the past failed. Successful education
reform needs both top-level officials making policies and local leaders adapting them for their
communities.)
Issue 11 - Developing a Creative, Innovative, and Risk-Taking Climate (For ESD changes,
we need a safe environment. Policymakers, administrators, and teachers should feel secure
trying new things and challenging the norm. Teachers need support from the administration if
their ideas are questioned. Policies should allow introducing new topics and methods at all
levels, with checks and balances in place.)
Issue 12 - Promoting Sustainability in Popular Culture (A challenging hurdle in ESD
implementation is its lack of popularity. Even though many countries recognize its importance,
sustainability themes are not widely seen in popular cultures or government policies.)

Addressing these issues at every level, especially nationally, is crucial for successful
ESD implementation and curriculum reorientation for sustainability.
(Interventions: internationally and locally)

What progress have we made so far?

While progress has been made towards the 2030 education targets set by the United
Nations, continued efforts are required to address persistent challenges and ensure that
quality education is accessible to all, leaving no one behind.

Between 2015 and 2021, there was an increase in worldwide primary school
completion, lower secondary completion, and upper secondary completion.
Nevertheless, the progress made during this period was notably slower compared to the
15 years prior.

Furthermore, there are many examples of developing countries successfully expanding

access by providing universal free education:

 In Uganda, removing direct costs through universal primary education increased

enrollment by over 60 percent and significantly lowered cost-related dropouts.
 In Malawi, free primary education increased enrollment by half, favoring girls and
poor people.
 In Ghana, in September 2017, after fees for senior high (upper secondary)
school were dropped, 90,000 more students walked through the school doors at
the start of the new academic year.
 Sierra Leone’s government has made primary and secondary education free and
is increasing tax collection from the richest.
 Ethiopia is a poor country, with around the same per capita income as Canada’s
in 1840. And yet it is the fifth-largest spender on education in the world as a
proportion of its budget, employing over 400,000 primary school teachers.
Between 2005 and 2015, it brought 15 million more children into school.
WBG Education Financing for the Poorest Countries

 The World Bank Group (WBG) is a long-standing member of the Global

Partnership for Education (GPE), which was established in 2002 as the
Education for All-Fast Track Initiative.

 Over the past decade, the WBG has provided more than US$17 billion in
International Development Association (IDA) financing for education in the
 poorest nations. During the same period, the WBG managed US$3.3 billion in
GPE grants, a fourth of which was co-financing for IDA operations.

 To respond to the devastating impact of COVID-19 on education, GPE supported

a consortium composed of UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank with a $25
million grant to leverage their expertise, develop teaching and learning solutions
with the potential to be scaled up globally, and generate fresh evidence to inform
the policy response.
 The WBG works with GPE and other partners to increase equity by addressing
the needs of the poorest and most disadvantaged children, particularly girls,
ethnolinguistic minorities, children with disabilities, and children living in contexts
of fragility and conflict.
 The WBG is the largest external financier of education in developing countries,
from pre-primary and primary education through higher education. Since 2000,
the WBG has invested more than US$45 billion in education.

Locally, programs like Book Nook – a moving library by Oyo Uy is a bus with free books
for kids to read inside. It travels through around the city and neighboring municipalities,
bringing the joy of reading to children. The bus has shelves filled with diverse books,
creating a welcoming space for young readers. The moving library ensures that all
children have access to books. It not only promotes reading but also builds a sense of
community. Children can enhance their literacy skills and develop a love for learning
through this initiative.
 LINKS:

Garcia, N. (n.d.). Philippines ranks 77th out of 132 countries in 2022 Global Knowledge Index.

Philstar Life. https://philstarlife.com/news-and-views/744576-philippines-77th-out-of-132-

countries-2022-global-knowledge-index#:~:text=Philippines%20ranks%2077th%20out

%20of%20132%20countries%20in%202022%20Global%20Knowledge%20Index,-By

%20NICK%20GARCIA&text=The%20Philippines%20placed%2077th

%20among,technology%2C%20and%20research%20and%20development.

Challenges and Barriers to education for Sustainable development. (n.d.).

http://www.esdtoolkit.org/discussion/challenges.htm

250 million children out-of-school: What you need to know about UNESCO’s latest education

data. (2023, September 21). UNESCO. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/250-million-

children-out-school-what-you-need-know-about-unescos-latest-education-data

Martin. (2023, October 19). Education - United Nations Sustainable development. United

Nations Sustainable Development.

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/

The Global Partnership for Education and the World Bank Group: The Facts. (n.d.). World Bank.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/brief/the-global-partnership-for-education-

and-the-world-bank-group-the-facts