A United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) report issued this week revealed that 84 million children around the globe were at risk of still being out of school by 2030 due to the effects of COVID-19.
Global Education Monitoring Media Specialist, Dimitra Dafalia issued a media statement that said if additional measures are not taken, only one in six countries will meet Sustainable Development Goal 4 and achieve universal access to quality education by 2030.
The report said the pandemic has exacerbated the global education crisis, so much so that school closures resulted in significant learning losses.
It said in low and middle-income countries 70 per cent of 10-year-olds are unable to understand written text up from 57 per cent in 2019. The World Bank also reported that 40 per cent of low and middle-income countries reduced their education spending during the pandemic. The average reduction was 13.5 per cent.
“When public funding decreases, families have to increase their financial contribution. And the more financial burden for education falls on families, the greater the risk of increasing inequality,” the statement read.
Last year, Namibia’s education ministry reported that over 30 000 pupils did not return to school following the 2019 COVID-19 lockdown.
The presidential adviser on youth matters and enterprise development, Daisry Mathias, in April this year said although primary and secondary education is mostly delivered at the government’s cost, more than 10 000 pupils drop out of schools annually.
Mathias at a discussion on the state of early childhood development hosted by Capricorn Foundation said this leads to a high attrition rate and that two out of three pupils from rural areas were unable to proceed to secondary and tertiary education.
According to the UNESCO report based on data provided by nine in 10 UNESCO member states, countries anticipate that the percentage of students achieving basic skills in reading at the end of primary school will increase from 51 per cent in 2015 to 67 per cent in 2030.
“Despite this progress, an estimated 300 million children and young people will still not have the basic numeracy and literacy skills they need to succeed in life.”
Dafalia said this report was discussed at the Transforming Education Pre-Summit in Paris, attended by more than 150 ministers from 28 to 30 June 2022.
Furthermore, the report said despite the promise of universal secondary school completion, only one in six countries aim to meet this target by 2030, and just four in 10 youth in sub-Saharan Africa will be completing secondary school.
The majority of governments have now set a national benchmark for progress towards this crucial education goal.
The report calls for strengthening regional and international cooperation, so that countries can draw inspiration from its peers in developing countries and implement solutions.
Participating countries at the summit identified their targets for 2025 and 2030 relative to six key SDG 4 indicators on, early childhood education attendance, school attendance, completion, minimum proficiency in reading and mathematics, trained teachers and public education expenditure.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
