Unequal Access: Not All Children can Get to School

September often brings newness to children (in the northern hemisphere, anyway). It is the start of a new term and a new school year. This often comes with new school items, and new uniforms. And how will children get to school on the first day of the new term, and throughout the year? They may be able to walk or cycle, or if they live further away, use public transport, or get a lift from a parent or carer. They may have a school bus. In all honesty, this was not a topic I gave much thought to until recently. A South African organisation, that I do legal research for, asked me to look into transport as part of the child's right to education.

New things for school: Last month, my charity, Children's Helpers Worldwide supported a local organisation, Refugiu, 

so it could provide school items for some Roma children, living in a poor village. 

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a legally binding international treaty, ratified by nearly all the countries in the world, states that all children have a right to primary education and that this should be free. One of the Millennium Development Goals is to achieve universal primary education. How are we going to achieve this if there are children who are unable to safely go to and from school, due to a lack of transport? This seriously interferes with their right to an education.

Some courts have recognised transport as being being a necessary part of realising a child's right to education. The Right to Education Project reported that a Brazilian court decided that free and compulsory education as an individual public right has been interpreted to include free transport if children cannot otherwise attend school.

In a Colombian case, a girl of five had been placed in a school in another neighbourhood, due to a school quota system. The Court ordered the Government to relocate the girl to a closer school and said that, in acknowledging the transport costs in getting the child to school, the system had not taken into account the mother's lack of income and the time required to bring her daughter to the assigned school.

Image courtesy of Rawich at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sometimes schools or charitable organisations will try to help with transport. My charity, Children's Helpers Worldwide, works with an organisation in Ghana, called New Life. New Life runs a children's home and school. Children from the surrounding villages attend the school, alongside the children who live in the home. The director of New Life wants to fundraise to buy a minibus. New Life could then provide safe transport for children who live far away. This would help children who currently have to walk a very long way to attend the school and would also reach children who do not go to school at all, as the distance to travel is too far.

School Assembly at New Life, Ghana.

It may be that children and teenagers take it upon themselves to find ways to get to and from school, or to get money for transport, as shown by this disturbing article from South Africa, entitled "Dressing "sexy" to get a lift to school". Ground Up News spoke with schoolgirls in the township of Khayelitsha, in Cape Town, who were trying to get back to their homes in Mfuleni. They explained that, by dressing sexily, they can either get a lift, or get money for transport, from passing drivers. One explained that this was better than the alternative:

"When we [hitchhike] and the driver talks about sex or touches you and you get uncomfortable, you have a choice to react in a certain way. But when you are walking and someone strangles you, there is little you can do, especially when you are in an open field like the one near Mfuleni."

It is unbelievably sad that adults would take advantage of children who are just trying to get to and from school.

Children's access to education is  greatly affected by their access to transport. Children should not be prevented from getting an education because the nearest school is too far away. They should not be harassed and abused whilst simply trying to travel to and from school. If we want to achieve the Millennium Development Goal, to ensure all children have access to primary education (at least!), then we must ensure that children can actually get to school, and obtain an education. This is their right.


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This post is my contribution to Blog Action Day, taking place on 16 October 2014. The theme is inequality. Use the twitter hashtags #BAD2014 and #BlogAction14 to follow all the action and to find more bloggers posting about inequality!

Some Reflections on #DGD2014: Digital Media and Children's Rights

It has been interesting following today's Day of General Discussion (DGD) held by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, on the topic of "Digital Media and Children's Rights". You can follow the discussion which took place on twitter, by using the hashtag #DGD2014.

The discussion has just drawn to a close and here are a few, brief reflections.

The UNCRC in the Digital Age

This morning, I wrote a post and asked this question: Created in a world without social media and selfies, can the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child keep up with digital and technological issues faced by today's children?

This great tweet from EU Kids Online, of a slide from speaker, Sonia Livingstone, shows how various articles of the Convention can be effectively used to protect children and their rights with respect to digital media:

What are children's rights in the digital age? see my slide - happy to add/amend. http://t.co/jADSwBFee5 #DGD2014 pic.twitter.com/HTqLgcWw7d
— EUKIDSONLINE (@EUKIDSONLINE) September 12, 2014

The Digital Divide 

I referred to the digital divide in my post this morning. John Carr of EPCAT spoke about this issue, saying that it is common to think about the digital divide being between the Global North and Global South, but that internet access is not equal across the North. There is less access in poorer parts of the North and there are disparities within the same country. For example, poorer people in the USA have less access to digital technologies.

The digital divide does not just occur along economic lines. Some speakers stated that certain groups are particularly excluded from access to the internet, such as girls, children with disabilities and children living in institutional care. In the closing session, it was said that digital resources should be available in all parts of the world and that universal access is a goal to work towards. States should be asked to ensure equal access to digital media, and provide free or low-cost access in all areas.


Negative Impacts of Using the Internet

Concerns were expressed by various speakers about children's privacy, their digital footprint and the fact that they may post things online during "experimental times of their lives" and that they do not realise the permanence of this, as these posts, picture and videos will then remain online.

Cyber-bullying and sexual exploitation are major issues. A moving account was given by one speaker of the terrible impact cyber bullying and harassment had on her life when she was a teenager.

Protection 

The above issues all illustrate the need for protection. John Carr stated that it is important that we do not think of all children as the same. Some groups are much more vulnerable than others online. Rabi Karmacharya of One Laptop per Child said that we cannot rely on parents to protect children online. Parents may be illiterate, or may simply be at work and so are not around when children are using the internet at home. I tweeted that last quote, and got this reply from Child to Child:

So true @_Catti: children must be actors in their own protection, be it online or #irl as it's their right to #participation
— Child to Child (@ChildtoChild) September 12, 2014

This tweet from Child to Child echoed the sentiments of some of the speakers during the day, who said that children should play a key role in protecting themselves and their peers against harm and that the empowerment of children in digital media is essential to "maximise beneficial effects and minimise harm". Education in digital literacy - of children, parents, teachers and others working with and for children - will help. 

Protection versus Control

Sonia Livingstone said that protection is key, but that this cannot be a priority which is used to reduce child participation online. Other speakers emphasised the fact that "we must not confuse protection with control". One speaker highlighted the issue that many see children as "becomings" - growing into future adults - but they are "beings" and active agents in this world right now, both online and offline, and they should be part of the solution in ensuring protection online. There must be a balance between protection and the child's right to participation.


Advertising

This was not an issue I had mentioned in my earlier post, but it is an important one. One speaker made the point that digital advertising has an impact on children's rights. For example, she spoke about the impact on babies' right to health in the context of online advertising and campaigns from companies selling breast milk substitutes. It would also be interesting to further explore what regulation there is, or could be, with regards to advertising aimed at under-18s using the internet.


Guide to Human Rights for Internet Users

This Guide, published by the Council of Europe was referred to by one of the speakers. It has a section dedicated to children and young people. You can find the Guide here.


All in all, it was a very interesting day, with much discussion around a very relevant topic in today's world. Many other great points were made, but those I have included above are the ones which stood out the most for me. Please do add to this, or let me know which points you felt were most interesting in the comments below. It would be great to hear your opinions!

Digital Media and Children's Rights: A Day of Discussion

Have you used the internet as part of a school project? Were you, or one of your classmates, ever in trouble for using a mobile phone in class? If you were a child or teenager in 1989, your answer would have to be 'no'.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which sets out the rights that all children have, was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989, at a time when technology was not so advanced, nor as widely accessible, as it is today. Created in a world without social media and selfies, can the Convention keep up with digital and technological issues faced by today's children?

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is responsible for reviewing progress made by States parties to implement the UNCRC. Today, it will be holding its Day of General Discussion (DGD) and the topic is "Digital Media and Children's Rights".

The Committee has asked children and teenagers for their views on the internet and how they use it. Children and teenagers are the ones who can give us all an insight into this and can help us understand their experiences online. In any case, child participation is one of the guiding principals of the UNCRC and children and young people should be part of discussions and dialogues on issues which affect them.

There are many issues children face online, including cyber-bullying, "sexting", having access to adult content and being exposed to sexual exploitation. While there are many threats, children and teenagers can benefit greatly from having access to the internet, when it is used in a safe way. It can enhance their education, be used for communication, make information more accessible and allow for collaboration with other students. Children and teenagers will also have more opportunities later in life if they have access to, and understand, how to use computers and the internet as many jobs rely on this knowledge.

This picture, from UNICEF Malaysia  illustrates how positive, and what potential there can be, for children using technology:

There are great concerns about children who do not have the opportunity to access technology. The term, "digital divide", refers to the gap between those who have ready access, and the skills to utilise, information and communication technologies and the internet, and those who do not.

My own organisation, Children's Helpers Worldwide, supports locally-run children's projects around the world.  Two education centres we support in South Africa and Romania have computers and an internet connection. Most of the children who attend the South African centre come from townships, whilst the majority of the children at the Romanian centre come from poverty-stricken Roma communities. Without these centres, they would not have the chance to familiarise themselves with this technology. One of the areas to be discussed at the DGD, is the inequality children face in accessing these resources and how this affects their rights.

There are many issues surrounding children's use of the internet, but one thing we can all agree on, is that it is here to stay. Advances in technology often occur more rapidly than the time it takes to make policy and pass legislation, making it challenging for law-makers to keep up. It is very positive that today's DGD will focus on Digital Media and Children's Rights and this will clarify how the Convention can protect children and their rights online in today's world. The discussion should be an interesting and a fruitful one.


Watch the discussion, taking place in Geneva, live here.
Join in the discussion on twitter, following the hashtag #DGD2014 or by leaving comments on this facebook event page.

If young people were actively engaged in all aspects of society...

If children and young people were really actively engaged in all aspects of society, how do you think the world would change?

Screenshot from a slide shown at Michael Furdyk's Taking IT Global session, during the
Global Education Conference.

A major barrier preventing children and young people becoming actively engaged in all aspects of society, is that adults may not see their input and participation as valuable. Their engagement will then not be encouraged. In this sort of atmosphere, it is unlikely that children and young people will see themselves as being "community leaders, problem-solvers, role models, mentors and key "stake-holders"." Society is missing out on a great opportunity when it excludes young people. As one teenager said, at the Annual EuroChild Conference last week, older people have more experience, but younger people can contribute fresh ideas. This seems like a great combination! 

Excluding young people means that they may be denied a sense of belonging. The implications of this can cause issues impacting the whole of society. If a group of people gets the feeling that nobody wants to listen to them, then dangerous, or anti-social behaviour may become appealing - because these excluded people might not feel a sense of responsibility to a society that does not respect them, or maybe they want to try to make a statement, in an attempt to be heard by everyone else!

A group of young people giving a presentation on youth participation at the Annual Eurochild Conference, November 2013.

Another issue is that governance systems across the world are structured in a way that constrains youth participation and leadership. Whilst addressing young people at a youth leadership forum, called Youth 21, former South African President, Thabo Mbeki said:

"It would obviously be unnatural that I, a member of the older generation, would easily and willingly accept that younger people, my own children, should, at best, sit side-by-side with me as co-leaders, fully empowered to help determine the future of our people."

However, he encouraged young people to organise and ready themselves, to take up leadership roles and to overcome the attitude of older generations. 

I think the world would be a better place if we made the effort to enable children and young people to participate, and to become actively engaged in all aspects of society. How do you think the world would change if we did this?

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The picture of the quote above, was taken from a session at the Global Education Conference. This conference is online and is free to attend. Live sessions are taking place until the end of tomorrow (22 November) and there are recordings from earlier session this week. If you are interested in education issues, I definitely recommend taking a look at the conference site.

Sad Statistics on Sanitation, released on UN World Toilet Day

Today has been declared World Toilet Day by the UN. The aim is to highlight the lack of access to proper sanitation faced by many around the world. As the UN's website states:

"While a vast majority of the world's population has access to mobile phones, one third of humanity (2.5 billion people) do not have access to proper sanitation, including toilets or latrines... The lack of improved sanitation largely contributes to the fact that almost 2,000 children die every day from preventable diarrhoeal diseases...Lack of private toilets in schools is a major reason why girls do not continue their education once they enter puberty." 

The South African organisation, Equal Education, today released the results of their audit of sanitation at secondary schools in Tembisa, in Gauteng. Here are some of their findings:

• At over half of the schools surveyed, it is commonplace for more than 100 boys or 100 girls to have to share a single working toilet.
• In some schools, there are days where there are no functioning toilets for students to use.
• No students reported having regular access to toilet paper or soap.
• Many schools have broken or non-functioning taps; sometimes there is no water supply.  
• Long lines at bathrooms keep students from class and bad smells from nearby toilets distract them in class.
• One student said, “My dignity is not there anymore because of the dirty toilet I have to go to every day.”  

Equal Education has presented the findings of their audit to the education authorities in the area and has asked them to release a timeline for developing a plan to address the crisis. You can read Equal Education's full press release, with more details about both the findings, and ideas of what the plan should include, here, and also more about their sanitation campaign in general, here.

Equal Education has also produced infographics, based on their findings, which I have downloaded them from their facebook page to share them with you:

 
I would definitely recommend following Equal Education, either on facebook or twitter to keep up with their news. I had the opportunity to attend Public Hearings, held by Equal Education, in Cape Town, earlier this year. I wish there could be more organisations like this, advocating for quality, and equality, in education systems for children.

Thank you, Equal Education, for drawing our attention to this sad, and pressing issue on UN World Toilet Day. Wishing you much success in achieving improved access to sanitation for these students.

Why Children Need the Internet!

Given that you are reading this post, I can safely assume that you have a computer, laptop, tablet, smart phone, or some other device for accessing the internet. This means you are one of the 2.7 billion people who are online. Just under 60% of the world's population, however, does not have access to the internet!

I actually got the idea for this post because I am taking part in the NaBloPoMo challenge, to write a blog post each day in November. I read this post, on the yeah write site, about computers and technology, by another blogger Cynk, who is also taking part in NaBloPoMo. It made me think about how accustomed I am to using the internet. It is a part of my everyday life. For many others around the world, this is not so. Children who are not taught how to use computers, and the internet, will find it harder to get decent jobs as adults, in an increasingly interconnected, digital world. They cannot experience the benefits of having access to the internet.

Computers for the Children!

Yesterday, I blogged about a Homework Centre in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. They have a couple of computers there, and really want to teach the children how to use them, because they can see how useful such skills and knowledge will be for the children's future. They would like more computers. I am hoping that my charity, CHW, will be able to help with this in the future, or that I might be able to find someone else (either an individual or an organisation) who can help with donating computers to the Centre. This would not be the first time we, at CHW, have helped children's projects with computers. We raised funds to repair the computers at an education centre, run by the Atelier Sacelean Association, in Romania, and also raised the funds for a new classroom to be built for a school run by New Life Orphanage in Ghana. The new classroom became a computer lab. (The computers were donated by another organisation, but the room had to be built for the new lab!)

Computer Lab at New Life, in Ghana

The 'Digital Divide' and Children
 
The 'digital divide', ie the gap between those who have access to the internet and those who do not, is  a huge issue and one that will greatly impact a child's future opportunities in life. Often the 'digital divide' is looked at in international terms. Of all the people in the world who are not connected to the internet, 90% are in developing countries. Expense is a big problem. The founder of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has said:

"...the majority of the world's people are still not online, usually because they can't afford to be... In Mozambique, for example, a recent study showed that using just one gigabyte of data can cost well over two months' wages for the average citizen. The result of high prices is a widening digital divide that slows progress in vital areas such as health, education and science..."

The problem is not just an international one though. Access to computers and the internet varies within parts of the same country, meaning some children will have access and some will not. The quality of their resources will vary too.

This article by Laura Dimon, brings up the point that New York's digital divide is holding young New Yorkers back. She shares a quote from Manhattan's Borough President, which states that over 75% of school facilities have a maximum download speed which is 100 times slower than the target speed in the National Broadband Plan. These students will not have a fast enough connection speed to have access to all the educational resources they need.

Crowding around the computers at the Atelier Sacelean Association, Romania

What can be done?

Whilst organisations such as A4AI and Internet.org are looking to get more people connected to the internet, there are things which everyone can do to help. If you have any computers or laptops that you no longer use, or if your office or college will be getting new equipment, it is possible to donate the old computers to certain charities.  These charities can refurbish the old computers, if necessary, and will then distribute them to schools, education centres or other children's projects. It would be best to try to look this up, to find a charity close to you where you could donate electronic equipment (see how useful the internet is!). As well as helping children, this is also an environmentally-friendly way to get rid of old equipment.

Here is a useful list of ten tips of things to do before donating an old computer.

Also, if anyone has any ideas on getting some computers or laptops to the Homework Centre in South Africa,  please let me know. I would really appreciate it!

Children at the Homework Centre, South Africa

Thank you for taking the time to read this post... I am grateful that I have a laptop and access to the internet and can do things like take part in NaBloPoMo! I just hope I can use all the resources I am lucky enough to have, to help children around the world to get online too, and to open up more opportunities for their futures.

A chance for children to complain about violations of their human rights

This year's theme for Blog Action Day is Human Rights, so I will take this opportunity to blog about a new chance for children to be able to complain about violations of their human rights at an international level. 

Image courtesy of africa at freedigitalphotos.net

There are nine UN human rights treaties. Each of the nine treaties has its own treaty body, or committee of experts, which monitors the implementation of the provisions of these treaties, by the states which have ratified them. One of these treaties is dedicated to children's human rights - the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC sets out children's most basic human rights, such as their right to survival, and protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation. It also sets standards in healthcare, education, and legal, civil and social services for children. Its treaty body is the Committee on the Rights of the Child. 

Currently, seven of the treaty bodies may, under certain conditions, receive and consider complaints or communications from individuals. This does not include the Committee on the Rights of the Child. This means that a child cannot complain to the Committee about violations of their human rights. This situation could change though...


A complaints mechanism for children's rights violations

In December 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the CRC on a communications procedure. So what does this mean? An optional protocol can either make provisions for procedures with regards to a treaty (in this case the CRC), or it can address a substantive area related to the treaty. States which are party to the main treaty can sign and ratify optional protocols. 

The communications procedure is the third Optional Protocol to the CRC. (The other two are the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.) The third Optional Protocol is not yet in force, because ten states have to ratify it first. After this, it will become international law. Children in states which ratify this Optional Protocol will then be able to submit complaints to the Committee on the rights of the Child, if their rights have been violated, and if they have exhausted all domestic remedies to seek justice. So far, eight countries have ratified the third Optional Protocol.


What sort of human rights violations would children be able to complain about?

Children would be able submit complaints to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, if their rights under the CRC had been violated, so long as their country had ratified the CRC. If their country had also ratified either or both of the other two Optional Protocols, children would also be able to submit complaints if their rights under these had been violated too.

Most countries in the world have ratified the CRC. In fact, only the USA, Somalia and South Sudan have not. Fewer countries have signed the first and second Optional Protocols. The ideal situation would be for all states to ratify the CRC and the three Optional Protocols, to give greater protection to children's rights globally, and to allow children to complain about human rights violations at an international level.


What happens next?

On the day the UN General Assembly adopted the third Optional Protocol, Save the Children made this statement: 

"Save the Children with over 80 international and national NGOs have been campaigning for many years to offer children a level of protection equivalent to that provided to adults by other core human rights treaties. Now that the international legal framework is created, the NGO coalition is dedicated to campaigning for the widespread ratification of the Protocol and making sure it is used to make a real difference in the struggle to protect children around the world."

It is important for as many states as possible to ratify the third Optional Protocol. Firstly, so that it will come into force (and just two more states need to ratify it to make this happen!), and secondly, so that as many children as possible will have access to the communications procedure and can complain about violations of their human rights. 

An international coalition concerned with the communications procedure, called Ratify OP3 CRC, has provided material which explains more about the Optional Protocol itself, including a child-friendly leaflet, as well as an advocacy toolkit and template letters you can send to your government, to urge them to ratify this Optional Protocol. All of these resources can be found on this page. 

Children are one of the most vulnerable groups in society. Giving them a way to speak out and complain against violations of their human rights at an international level, is an important and empowering thing to do.

Call for help in editing children and youth's statement on sustainable development!

Below is a message from the UN CSD Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) about editing a statement to be presented on behalf of children and young people on sustainable development. It is a really nice chance to be involved as the statement will be read out on behalf of all children and youth, under the age of thirty, in the world. If you are under thirty and want to help out with editing this, read the message from MGCY, which I have pasted below, and follow the link.

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Dear Children and Youth,

Please find attached our statement for the High Level Political Forum.

This statement will be read on behalf of all young people...therefore its important that you take a few minutes to read it, make comments, edits or suggestions so that it adequately reflects ALL of you.

You can make the changes using this google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K9yb2aQWqnhHUKYp7lAYcy4bTKr3TiuXZQvjoO8E01Q/edit

Please circulate it to your networks, members and friends so that as much feedback as possible is given.

Please make sure that you edit aspects that you don't like...we need to make this concise and effective. We also only have 3 minutes for this statement.
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Back from Ghana!

I have spent part of the summer in Ghana, and am now back in London.

With some of the school children at New Life

It was really good to visit CHW's projects in Ghana. This was the first country where I set up links for the charity and started to fundraise. The projects CHW supports there are close to Cape Coast. The children had all grown so much and it was just so great to see them again! However, it was also a very difficult trip for me, as the founder of New Life, Madam Ruby, had passed away in June. She was someone who had truly inspired me. I met her when I was eighteen and I think I would have taken a different path in life if it wasn't for her. I was able to spend time with her family, which I am grateful for, as I stayed with them during my trip. Madam Ruby's vision and inspiration live on, as the children she was so determined to help continue to have shelter and an education due to her work.

As well as spending time in Cape Coast, I also went to Accra, and caught up with some former colleagues. I did some legal research there, and in the past, I have also worked in a law firm and at an advocacy centre. I visited the Human Rights Advocacy Centre. If you have studied, or worked in, human rights, it is possible to do internships there. They do very interesting work. 

A lot of my colleagues were talking about issues raised from the Care Reform Initiative (CRI). Currently, children's homes usually accept abandoned children, as well as orphans. As a result of the implementation of the CRI, more children living in homes are being reunified with their families, if possible. This may be with parents, or with other family members. Some people who work with the children say that the children's families often want them to stay in homes (or orphanages), as the children live in better conditions and are guaranteed to get regular meals and have access to an education. This is a very big issue - globally, not just in Ghana - as ideally every child should have a family, and there are serious problems regarding institutionalisation, which will have lifelong effects. At the same time, struggling families may see children's homes as a way to give their children more opportunities in life. Further problems are raised as some homes may have different standards, and if not registered, may not be regulated. It seems that the policy-makers, those working on the ground, and parents have very different views. Ultimately any action must be in the best interests of the child. I would like to explore these issues further and I invite anyone to get in touch with me if they would like share their views on issues of children's homes and reunification (not just in the Ghanaian context, but in general. I am interested in hearing about all regions and countries, and how people are working to solve these problems for children.).

I now hope to post more regularly as I am back home! Wishing you all a nice weekend!

Including Young People in the Post-2015 Process

The world now has its largest generation of young people ever! It was highlighted at a recent event at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), that half the world's population is under the age of twenty-five. In Tanzania, half the population is under 15! It is vital that young people are included in setting the development agenda.

The Millenium Development Goals, a set of eight development goals, agreed upon by the international community, will expire in 2015. Back in July 2012, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, appointed a group of twenty-seven people, known as the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons, to advise on the global development agenda beyond 2015. The Panel includes leaders from civil society, private sector and government and is co-chaired by the Presidents of Indonesia and Liberia, and the Prime Minister of the UK. The Panel released a report today, presenting their recommendations to Ban Ki-moon and the UN. You can read the report here.

Ban Ki-moon praised the Panel for its inclusive approach and extensive consultations over the past year. As ODI points out, young people have been a visible presence in the emerging post-2015 process, from taking part in participatory consultations and 'tweet-ups' to participating in roundtables with the High Level Panel. The two reports released at ODI's event show the importance of making the voices of young people count in setting the post-2015 agenda. Both reports are now online:

1. Youth and international development policy: the case for investing in young people, by the ODI.
2. Youth Voices on a Post-2015 World, by the DFID-CSO Youth Working Group.

Tomorrow (31 May), a number of stakeholders and UN Agency Groups will hold a discussion on the High Level Panel Report. The UN CSD Major Group for Children and Youth forwarded this useful info sheet, with details of the discussion. The discussion will take place at the UN Headquarters and you can participate online.
You can watch a livestream of the discussion here, on the World We Want platform, from 10 am to 12 pm EDT.
You can follow the conversation on twitter using, #Post2015HLP, @WorldWeWant2015, @unngls, @2015on.

Please do pass this on to young people, so they can participate on 31 May. We cannot have a discussion about them, without them!

A Short Message from CHW on Universal Children's Day

Here is the facebook message from Children's Helpers Worldwide, marking Universal Children's Day 2012:

"Today is Universal Children's Day! Our hope is that all the children in the world will have food, water, shelter, healthcare, an education and everything else they need. We wish all the very best to people, around the world, who are working to achieve this. Keep up with your good work! Thank you to those of you who support projects through CHW to help the children."

Picture from a creche we help in South Africa

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To get more updates, you can "like" CHW's facebook page: facebook.com/ChildrensHelpersWorldwide or follow CHW on twitter: @CHWchildren

A Good Education is Essential for a Bright Future

"I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way..."

Attention had been drawn to the failures of the UK education system following the row over the marking of GCSE English grades this summer. Exam boards may face a legal challenge after changing grade boundaries between January and June. This meant that pupils who sat the exam in January were marked more generously than those who took the exam in June. This is awful for all the young people personally affected by what has happened this year, but there has been concern about inadequacies in the British education system for a while now, and perhaps the public outrage over this will finally bring about change. The Head of one school said that GSCEs are "insufficiently rigorous" while Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Head of Ofsted stated that this is an opportunity to look at the UK's education system and ask "whether it stands up with the best in the world." International tests have shown that it does not.

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

UK Standards have Slipped

Back in 2010, it was reported that UK schools had slipped down in world rankings, following the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests in 2009. These tests, held every three years by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), are taken by fifteen year olds in participating countries and economies. British school children were ranked 23rd in the world, down from 12th in 2000. In an increasingly globalised world, this is worrying for the future prospects for the children and young people educated in Britain. As Sir Michael Wilshaw observed:

"Our youngsters, when they leave school, will be going into a global marketplace, they have to compete not just against competitors here but against the rest of the world."

So who are the children who are receiving the best education today, that will allow them to compete the most successfully when they enter the workforce tomorrow? 

Leading the Way 

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The late Whitney Houston sang the lyrics which are at the top of this post as part of her song, "The Children Are Our Future." The children who are taught well will be able to lead the way. According to a BBC News article, those children are likely to be from China. The article, entitled 'China: The World's Cleverest Country?' states that Shanghai came top in the 2009 Pisa tests. The results from this round should be published late next year. 

The article showed the leaders in previous years. Other than Finland, all of the top performing pupils are from Eastern Asia. The following are the results in three areas tested: reading, maths and science, respectively.
           

• 2000: Finland, Japan, South Korea
• 2003: Finland, Hong Kong, Finland
• 2006: South Korea, Taipei, Finland
• 2009: Shanghai, Shanghai, Shanghai

It was questioned whether Shanghai's results would be representative of other, less prosperous areas of China. However,  Andreas Schleicher, the head of Pisa, said that unpublished test results from nine provinces in China show that pupils in other parts of the country are performing strongly, including those from rural and disadvantaged backgrounds. This is an important point, which I will come back to.

Investing in our Children; Investing in Our Future

Investing in an education system will have long-term benefits for a state's economy, as it will lead to producing skilled workers, who are able to compete in a global economy. President Obama has said that: 

"...countries who out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow. Businesses will hire wherever the highly-skilled, highly-trained workers are located."

Some countries give greater priority to investing in their education systems than others. On a recent trip to a poor province in China, Schleicher saw that schools were often the most impressive buildings, whereas in the West, these were more likely to be shopping centres. He said of China: 

"You get an image of a society that is investing in its future, rather than in current consumption."

Subsidising consumption, whilst cutting funding to areas such as education, is a pattern journalist and author, Fareed Zakaria, has noticed in the US. He said that decisions and policies made in the 1950s and '60s, which led to the development of a great public education system and to massive funding for science and technology, were some of the important factors which allowed America's economic growth. Now, Zakaria said, countries including Germany, South Korea and China are making large investments in education, science, technology and infrastructure. If the US continues to cut investments in these areas, it will fall behind.

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So how is the UK doing in terms of expenditure on education? National budget cuts in response to the recession have affected the education system. Last year, the Institute for Fiscal Studies released a report, "Trends in Education and Schools Spending" which looked at proposed cuts and their impact. Last month, a Guardian article expressed worries over cuts to the Department for Education's capital budget. It is not just investment itself in the education system that is a concern, but the ability to invest wisely. After the Pisa assessment in 2009, Toby Young, a Telegraph blogger, pointed out that the UK was ranked 8th when it comes to spending per pupil, but its position in the league table was 23rd. The UK spent an average of $60,000 per pupil, between the ages of six and fifteen, compared to $40,000 in Poland and Estonia, but Poland and Estonia were both ranked higher than the UK in the league table. Only seven other OECD countries spent more per pupil than the UK, showing there are more factors to take into consideration than funding alone.

Improving the Education System

Keeping Standards High

Long before the issue of the grading of GSCEs this summer, people have argued that there has been a "dumbing down" of exams in the UK. A report by Ofqual, released in May, which investigated certain subjects at GCSE and A Level showed that they had become less demanding over the last decade. Professor Jonathan Jansen, the Dean of the University of the Free State, South Africa, said in a CNN interview, that in South Africa, the standards are low, with pupils being able to pass some subjects with thirty or forty per cent, all the way up to grade twelve. He commented:

"... it's like we don't get it that in a modern interconnected economy you better be up there playing with the best"

Lowering standards and "dumbing down" exams degrades a country's education system and affects the future of everyone who goes through it. 

Another issue is where educational standards are lowered for part of the population. As I mentioned above, results in China showed pupils were performing strongly, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. A problem in the UK, the US and some other Western countries is that expectations have been lowered for pupils from underprivileged backgrounds.  Demanding high standards from pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds allows these pupils to do well, despite their difficult circumstances. In various countries, including China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Finland, OECD researchers found that more that 40% of disadvantaged pupils excelled at school, exceeding expectations, given their background. The UK, however, was found to have a greater variation in reading standards, due to class differences, than almost any other country in the OECD. In this area, just 24% of pupils in the UK performed better than would be expected given their backgrounds. Schleicher has said that accepting lower expectations for poorer children was - 

"the big trap in the 1970s. It was giving the disadvantaged child an excuse - you come from a poor background, so we'll lower the horizon for you, we'll make it easier. But that child has still got to compete in a national labour market."

Lowering standards has long-term detriments for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, ultimately making it more difficult for them to succeed in the future.

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Good Examples

Other factors also come into play, with regards to increasing the standard of an educational system overall. South Korea, for example, has done well in the league tables. South Korean pupils attend school 220 days per year, compared to the US's 180. South Korean pupils also study at least three hours more than those in the US, per school day. South Korea may be well ahead of the UK and the US in Pisa's rankings for its test scores, but it comes 24th out of thirty developed countries for "study effectiveness". Finland is ranked at the top for study effectiveness, but has the least number of school hours in the developed world. 

Some distinctive elements of the Finnish system include: 

• the fact that children of all abilities are taught in the same class; 
• there are no school league tables and only one set of public exams; 
• children usually have the same teacher from year to year; 
• the state prescribes the curriculum but teachers are free to decide how to teach a subject; and 
• the high standard of teaching, with teachers being drawn from the top 10% of graduates and also being required to have a master's degree.

You can see more facts about the Finnish education system here. The UK Government has been reported as being inspired by the Finnish system. The OECD has said that the quality of teachers is key to raising education standards. Schleicher stated that teachers need to be given "status, pay and professional autonomy." Finland and Singapore recruit high-achieving students to the teaching profession and have two of the most successful education systems in the world.

Another of Schleicher's recommendations is to partner top-performing schools with less successful schools in the area. In the UK, some schools are "coasting" along and "doing so-so." There is room for improvement and partnering with schools that are performing well has proved to be a very successful strategy in Shanghai.

A Good Education

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A good education will equip children and young people with the skills to compete in the global market, but we must not forget the other aims of education too. Martha Nussbaum reminds us in her book "Not for Profit" that:

"Anxiously focused on national economic growth, we increasingly treat education as though its primary goal were to teach students to be economically productive rather than to think critically and become knowledgeable and empathetic citizens. This shortsighted focus on profitable skills has eroded our ability to criticise authority, reduced our sympathy with the marginalised and different, and damaged our competence to deal with complex global problems. And the loss of these basic capacities jeopardises the health of democracies and the hope of a decent world."

This will now be a big challenge to achieve, but it is so important to be able to give young people the skills they need for the future and the tools they need to be good citizens and productive members of the global society. As well as improving the quality of education so that it teaches these qualities, all pupils must benefit from the education system. Commenting on the success of the Chinese system,  Schleicher said:

"Anyone can create an education system where a few at the top succeed, but the real challenge is to push through the entire cohort."

I, along with others, are hoping that this row over the GCSEs marking can act as a springboard for Government to take action to improve the quality of British education and to ensure that all children in the UK will benefit from this. We are talking about our future.