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Schools 'fail' in ex-Soviet bloc
BBC
2007/09/20
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian <[email protected]>
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Millions of children in the ex-Soviet bloc have suffered a
"catastrophic decline" in access to education since communism
collapsed, the UN has warned. More than 14m children in the region
reach adulthood each year with little or no formal schooling, a report
by the UN children's fund (Unicef) says. Education policy in many
countries is inadequate and can reinforce social and economic
divisions, it says. Georgia, Tajikistan and Moldova are among the
worst-affected nations. Much of Central Asia and eastern and Central
Europe had attained universal access to education under communism,
Unicef said. But despite the transition to democracy, economic growth
and an increase in education spending in many countries, access to
education has fallen, the report said. Racial inequalities Some 12m
youngsters do not make it to secondary school, and 2.5m do not even
attend primary school. The report, Education for Some More than
Others?, found that inequality between rich and poor families was
particularly marked. Co-author Phillipe Testot-Ferry said: "Families
with higher incomes get disproportionate access to pre-school.
"[They] ensure good basic education for their children [and] hire the
best private tutors, all paving the way to higher education and better
jobs." In contrast, children from poorer families tended to stay away
from school or drop out early because they did not expect to reap the
benefits of a good education. Racial inequality was also a problem in
countries including Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, where a large
proportion of Roma (Gypsy) children received no schooling at all.
Unicef regional director Maria Calivis called the area's progress a
"story of increased disparities". She said the problem would
"undermine the capacity of governments to develop globally competitive
economies based on skilled labour rather than cheap labour". Unicef
found that in the region's poorest countries - Armenia, Georgia,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan - less than 50% of children were in
secondary education. And the report warned that the former Soviet
republics of Georgia, Moldova and Tajikistan are not on track to
achieve the Millennium Development Goal that all children are able to
complete primary school by 2015. The report, which also covered
Turkey, called for an increase in education spending to at least 6% of
their Gross Domestic Product - the regional average is currently about
3%.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe /7005446.stm
Published: 2007/09/20 18:00:29 GMT
BBC
2007/09/20
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian <[email protected]>
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
Millions of children in the ex-Soviet bloc have suffered a
"catastrophic decline" in access to education since communism
collapsed, the UN has warned. More than 14m children in the region
reach adulthood each year with little or no formal schooling, a report
by the UN children's fund (Unicef) says. Education policy in many
countries is inadequate and can reinforce social and economic
divisions, it says. Georgia, Tajikistan and Moldova are among the
worst-affected nations. Much of Central Asia and eastern and Central
Europe had attained universal access to education under communism,
Unicef said. But despite the transition to democracy, economic growth
and an increase in education spending in many countries, access to
education has fallen, the report said. Racial inequalities Some 12m
youngsters do not make it to secondary school, and 2.5m do not even
attend primary school. The report, Education for Some More than
Others?, found that inequality between rich and poor families was
particularly marked. Co-author Phillipe Testot-Ferry said: "Families
with higher incomes get disproportionate access to pre-school.
"[They] ensure good basic education for their children [and] hire the
best private tutors, all paving the way to higher education and better
jobs." In contrast, children from poorer families tended to stay away
from school or drop out early because they did not expect to reap the
benefits of a good education. Racial inequality was also a problem in
countries including Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, where a large
proportion of Roma (Gypsy) children received no schooling at all.
Unicef regional director Maria Calivis called the area's progress a
"story of increased disparities". She said the problem would
"undermine the capacity of governments to develop globally competitive
economies based on skilled labour rather than cheap labour". Unicef
found that in the region's poorest countries - Armenia, Georgia,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan - less than 50% of children were in
secondary education. And the report warned that the former Soviet
republics of Georgia, Moldova and Tajikistan are not on track to
achieve the Millennium Development Goal that all children are able to
complete primary school by 2015. The report, which also covered
Turkey, called for an increase in education spending to at least 6% of
their Gross Domestic Product - the regional average is currently about
3%.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe /7005446.stm
Published: 2007/09/20 18:00:29 GMT