La Déclaration Universelle des Droits de l'Homme

Access To Education

I - Facts and stats about the current situation

Legal Basis

 The right to Education is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

 It is also stated in article 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

 It has been reaffirmed in the 1960 UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education and the 1981 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

Today, education remains an inaccessible right for millions of children around the world. More than 72 million children of primary education age are not in school and 759 million adults are illiterate.

For many children who still do not have access to education, it is because of persisting inequality and marginalization.

In developing and developed countries alike, children do not have access to basic education because of inequalities that originate in sex, health and cultural identity (ethnic origin, language, religion). These children find themselves on the margins of the education system and do not benefit from learning that is vital to their intellectual and social development.

Factors linked to poverty such as unemployment, illness and the illiteracy of parents, multiply the risk of non-schooling and the drop-out rate of a child by 2.

Undeniably, many children from disadvantaged backgrounds are forced to abandon their education due to health problems related to malnutrition or in order to work and provide support for the family.

II - Less/Least-developed countries

Universal primary education is a major issue and a sizeable problem for many states.

Many emerging countries do not have the financial resources necessary to create schools, provide schooling materials, nor recruit and train teachers.

Funds pledged by the international community are generally not sufficient enough to allow countries to establish an education system for all children.

Equally, a lack of financial resources has an effect on the quality of teaching. Teachers do not benefit from basic teacher training and schools, of which there are not enough, have oversized classes.

This overflow leads to classes where many different educational levels are forced together which does not allow each individual child to benefit from an education adapted to their needs and abilities. As a result, the drop-out rate and education failure remains high.

As a result of poverty and marginalization, more than 72 million children around the world remain unschooled.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected area with over 32 million children of primary school age remaining uneducated. Central and Eastern Asia, as well as the Pacific, are also severely affected by this problem with more than 27 million uneducated children.

The lack of schooling and poor education have negative effects on the population and country. The children leave school without having acquired the basics, which greatly impedes the social and economic development of these countries.

Today, it is girls who have the least access to education. They make up more than 54% of the non-schooled population in the world.

This problem occurs most frequently in Arab States, in central Asia and in Southern and Western Asia and is principally explained by the cultural and traditional privileged treatment given to males. Girls are destined to work in the family home, whereas boys are entitled to receive an education.

In sub-Saharan Africa, over 12 million girls are at risk of never receiving an education. In Yemen, it is more than 80% of girls who will never have the opportunity to go to school. Even more alarming, certain countries such as Afghanistan or Somalia make no effort to reduce the gap between girls and boys with regard to education.

Although many developing countries may congratulate themselves on dramatically reducing inequality between girls and boys in education, a lot of effort is still needed in order to achieve universal primary education.

Developed countries (Théo)

There are marginalized children even among the more developed countries countries. In France for instance, 10 % of the 17 years-old are categorized as mediocre readers.

These differences between children growing in the same education system is partially due to their parents social and professional origins. According to a study of the UNESCO, the development of the children is clearly affected by its social environment. There are also other factors in the school development such as the overpopulation of the housing, the fact of sharing its sleeping room, of living far from school …-

Another problem about education in more developed countries is the access to advanced studies (university).

The examples of the United States and Quebec perfectly illustrate the inequalities between students.

It is almost impossible to study for a young American given the cost of studies.

The average tuition fee to enter an " undergraduate " program, an American will have to pay $6000, in a famous university he will pay $25 000 (to $50000 for Harvard). Without counting the spending for housing, transport, and personal spending… There are scholarships but they are rather rare and are only given to the "most deserving" students.

The example

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