Global Campaign for Education welcomes progress on girls but warns DfID is forgetting disabled children and other minorities
The UK government needs to rethink its education programmes to better support marginalised children and young people in accessing education in poorer countries, according to a report published by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) UK on Wednesday.
The report, Equity and inclusion for all in education (pdf), analysed 14 of the Department for International Development's (DfID) operational plans. It found that, while the department has a clear mandate to ensure girls attend school, there is little evidence that it is addressing barriers to education faced by young people with disabilities, or those from particular religious minorities or ethnic groups. The needs of children living in vulnerable situations or locations, such as on the streets or in informal settlements, are likewise receiving too little attention, according to the study.
Getting more girls into school has been a priority for donors to achieve the second and third millennium development goals, on universal primary education and gender equality respectively. The UN girls' education initiative was established in 2000 to accelerate progress in these areas.
But the report noted that, while "some of DfID's education work appears to tackle some aspects of marginalisation beyond concerns around gender", this was "not the same as ensuring that all education initiatives prioritise addressing the rights of all marginalised groups in a comprehensive and co-ordinated way".
The GCE is calling on the department to develop a clear strategy to ensure equity and the inclusion of all marginalised groups across all the countries in which it works; invest in research and programmes that promote inclusion; support civil society groups in their work with marginalised young people; and ensure that support for private sector initiatives does not undermine young peoples' right to education.
The report examined DfID in Bangladesh, Burma, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, although researchers noted that some information about the programmes could not be downloaded on the DfID website. This, they said, "raises concerns in regard to the transparency of DfID's project implementation and dissemination of results".
The GCE found that in some countries, including Zambia, Tanzania and Vietnam, DfID programmes that had improved attainment for girls had also improved outcomes for other vulnerable groups. But the absence of a comprehensive strategic approach meant outcomes were fragmented.
The report questioned DfID's support for private-sector involvement in education, querying how this approach promoted inclusion. The researchers found no direct evidence from the operational plans that support for private-sector involvement in education had a positive or negative impact on marginalisation. But they questioned how DfID regulated the private sector, and asked what evidence the department had to justify this approach.
"Arguments against the promotion of low-cost private education note that it is less likely to ensure equity, sustainability and accountability, or offer scaled provision of education," said the report. "Private education is also likely to lead to rural areas becoming increasingly marginalised in a scenario whereby profitability begins to determine the location of schools; poor families are likely to become more marginalised as school fees begin to divert income from other priorities."
Sunit Bagree, Sightsavers policy adviser and co-author of the report, said Britain's policy needed a rethink. "Although DfID's focus on increasing the number of girls in education is welcome, government policy is failing other marginalised groups such as disabled children, ethnic minorities, street children and those living in very remote areas," he said. "For example, being disabled more than doubles the chance of never enrolling in school in some countries, yet we know that education is a fundamental route out of poverty. Unless DfID urgently reviews its policies and starts meeting the needs of marginalised children, progress on reaching the goal of universal primary education by 2015 will stall."
A DfID spokeswoman said the UK government is committed to helping all poor children get a good quality education, including the most marginalised, adding that by 2015, it would be supporting 9 million children to go to primary school, more than half of them girls.
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