UNICEF calls on nations to overcome hurdles to gender equality in education

Acknowledging that HIV/AIDS, conflict and deepening poverty have eroded gains in enrolling more girls in school in many countries, the head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called on nations to respect promises made to ensure that girls and boys receive the same educational opportunities.

"We must not allow the promise of education for all to become another broken promise," Executive Director Carol Bellamy told the high-level meeting on Education for All, convened annually by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and its partners, yesterday in Brasilia, Brazil.

"We come up with a plan of action to make a radical breakthrough in countries where efforts are failing, and we must implement them as rapidly as possible," she added, outlining a five-point agenda.

The five points include: sending supplies and services to those countries where enrolment levels have been stagnating for decades; urging governments to abolish school fees and other costs where deepening poverty combines with a rising populating of children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS; and establishing standards for quality experiences and quality learning as an integral part of the new education systems, "so we do not have to continue fixing schools without water or toilets, schools that do not provide the necessary resources for teachers and learners, or schools that fail to create a welcoming environment for quality learning."

The other points are: anticipating and pre-empting crisis, as well as addressing emergencies and dealing with post-conflict situations in countries that are sliding towards crisis, are actually in a state of emergency, or in transition from emergency to development; and identifying countries which appear to be doing well but in which national averages mask pockets of serious discrimination and give rise to complacency in the form of wider gender discrimination in society.

UNICEF considers eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005 an essential step toward education for all children.

"All children have a right to schooling and all the opportunity that education provides," Ms. Bellamy said. "Children must no longer be denied an education simply because they are girls, or live in rural communities, or are from poor families or belong to minority population groups."