EQUITY, QUALITY AND RIGHT TO
EDUCATION;
A REFLECTION FROM
THE TASK UNICEF
Based on a preliminary working document TACRO UNICEF and
Education Equity 2011
Cartagena de Indias, september 2011
The
right
to
education
in
three
dimensions
(UNESCO/UNICEF,2008)
• the right to access and permanence,
• the right to quality education – or right to learn
• the right to non-discrimination in education
involving a review of the 'stellar concepts'
(Brasvalvsky, 1999) in the education debate in the last 20
years, namely, equity and quality.
EDUCATION AND SOCIAL EQUITY: ¿HOW
DOES EDUCATION CONTRIBUTE TO THE
COUNTRY’S EQUITY ?
• Education saves lives of the poorest boys and
girls.
• Education is key to escaping poverty and it
increases productivity and economic growth:
• Education increases democratic governance,
equity and social cohesion
•Education is a right which enables other rights
EQUITY IN EDUCATION: ¿DOES EDUCATION
REACH ALL BOYS AND GIRLS, WHILE
TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THEIR OWN
CHARACTERISTICS?
In its basis, the educational inequity is related to social
exclusion, and it is manifested by a combined set of
deprivations and discriminations which interact. It is
to say material deprivations -monetary and no monetaryas well as social capital deficits can coexist, and often
overlap, with a wide range of discriminations, such as
those based on ethnicity or gender.
Areas of inequities
Areas of inequities
Geographic location
The group of belonging
Gender
Family conditions
Other
Manifestations of inequity
Sub national disparities
Urban/rural disparities
Ethnic and racial disparities
Disparities based on religion.
Disparities based on displacements.
Disparities in the access to services.
Disparities in the quality of services and education
outcomes.
Household socio-economic disparities
Disparities linked to type and structure of families
(single parent, women as head of household)
Disparities linked to disability
Disparities linked to HIV AIDS
Disparities linked to early pregnancy in young girls.
Forms of inequities in education
Not in preprimary school
Pre-primary
age children
Dimension 3
Dimension 2
Dimension 1
Attended
but
dropped
out
Will never
enter
Will enter
late
Primary age children
Attended
but
dropped
out
Will never
enter
Will enter
late
Lower secondary age children
Dimension 4
Dimension 5
At risk of
dropping out of
primary school
At risk of dropping
out of lower
secondary school
Primary school students
Out of
school
In
school
Lower secondary school students
Conceptual and methodological framework Global Initiative on Out of School children UNICEF/UNESCO, 2010
Ejemplo de datos sobre la participación escolar
y dimensiones de exclusión
Fuente: Marco Conceptual de la iniciativa Global sobre niños/as fuera de la escuela UNICEF/UNESCO, 2010
AN APPROPRIATE CONCEPT OF QUALITY
Defining Quality in Education, Working paper series education section UNICEF, 2000
IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY
Guidance
• Education as fundamental right
• Education as a public good, with an high return
• The aims of Education
• Guaranteeing the right to education under all
circumstances
Strategy
• Reduce deprivations and overcome discriminations
• Universal policies with attention to exclusion
THANKS
Daniel Contreras
dcontreras@unicef.org