OneWorld.net (U.S.)

(page 2 of 5) Reality Check

According to a report from the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), at least some secondary education is compulsory in 144 of the 183 countries for which data are available. But, the term “compulsory” must be taken lightly. In many countries, such rules are not enforced and it is often common for those who manage to complete primary school to end their studies there simply because there aren’t opportunities to continue. The report notes, for example, that the industrialized countries of Western Europe and North America have reached nearly universal secondary education, that such education is well advanced in Central and Eastern Europe, and that it is reached by a few countries in East Asia and Latin America. Vast majorities of youths in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia, however, have far less access to education beyond primary school. © Liko Chikhladze / UNESCO / ASPnet

While non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, and international institutions can help fill educational voids in some underserved areas, only governments have an ethical obligation to provide every young person with broad-based educational opportunities. George Ingram, an education specialist at the Academy for Educational Development (AED), notes, for example, that there just aren't enough available places in secondary schools in developing countries. Governments, Ingram says, need to create more schools, get young people through schools, and make the curriculum more relevant to what is needed in society at large and in the workplace. Advocates in the field emphasize that both developing country governments and the international community must increase the level and nature of their financial and political commitments, and use resources more efficiently.

But where resources have been committed, are students being taught the skills they need to improve their own situations as well as help develop their communities, countries, or the wider world? The answer to that question is as diverse as the people answering it. Most working in the field of international development note the importance of governments consulting with parents, teachers, and local communities to define their own needs. Nonetheless, international institutions, like UNESCO, assert the importance of combining academic knowledge with vocational skills. There are also trends towards service learning (see page 5) and project-based learning, in which students work with local companies or organizations to discover how the subjects they study in school can be relevant in the workplace.

From the private sector perspective, Henry Hang, the CEO of the Singapore-based PSB business consultancy corporation, emphasizes the need for basic skills in literacy, languages, and numeracy as well as for professional training, but also for the development of “new economy” skills. He defines those as skills “related to how to operate in the global economy more in the domain of people, management, or leadership skills such as skills for communication, negotiation, innovation, and coping with change.”

With regard to preparing students for a globalized economy, some educators see shortfalls in many industrialized countries too, and particularly at the university level. “The report card on the United States as it pertains to international education is far from promising,” notes William Brustein of the University of Pittsburgh. He says that students need to emerge from universities with “global competence”—the ability to work effectively in international settings, adapt to diverse cultures and approaches, and understand the major currents of global change. Without that, “our students will be ill-prepared for global citizenship, lacking the skills required to address our national security needs, and unable to compete successfully in the global marketplace,” Brustein warns.

But again with higher learning, it’s often a question of who has access. More students than ever are completing postsecondary education. Enrollments doubled or tripled between 1995 and 2003 in some middle-income countries, such as Brazil, China, Malaysia, and Egypt. But opportunities remain far more limited in poorer countries, and women are even less likely to reach these grade levels in many places. In developing countries, there are substantially more men than women enrolled in institutions of higher learning too.

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