FINANCIAL CRISIS THREATENS TO SET BACK EDUCATION WORLDWIDE, UNESCO REPORT WARNS

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.01.2010 16:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The aftershock of the global financial crisis
threatens to deprive millions of children in the world’s poorest
countries of an education, warns the 2010 Education for All Global
Monitoring Report. The Report, published by the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
will be launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and UNESCO
Director-General Irina Bokova on January 19 at UN Headquarters in
New York, the organization said in a press release.

"We are on the brink of breaking an important promise made by
governments in 2000 – the promise of Education for All by 2015,"
said Report director Kevin Watkins.

According to him, "the aftershock of the financial crisis threatens
to stall or even reverse progress in basic education in some of the
world’s poorest countries, creating a lost generation of children
denied an opportunity for the schooling that could lift them out of
poverty. Governments must act decisively to avert that risk."

The 2010 Report evaluates overall progress towards the Education
for All Goals, with a special focus on ‘the education poor’ – the
tens of millions of children still excluded from schooling. The
Report examines who these children are and why they are being left
behind. It also examines the cost of providing Education for All, which
is much higher than previously estimated, and makes recommendations
for putting education back on track.

The Global Monitoring Report is developed annually by an independent
team and assesses progress towards the six Education for All goals
to which over 160 countries committed themselves in 2000.

UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established
on 16 November 1945. Its stated purpose is to contribute to peace and
security by promoting international collaboration through education,
science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice,
the rule of law, and the human rights and fundamental freedoms
proclaimed in the UN Charter.

UNESCO has 193 Member States and seven Associate Members. The
organization is based in Paris, with over 50 field offices and many
specialized institutes and centers throughout the world. Most of the
field offices are "cluster" offices covering three or more countries;
there are also national and regional offices. UNESCO pursues its
objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences,
social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information.

Projects sponsored by UNESCO include literacy, technical, and
teacher-training programs; international science programs; the
promotion of independent media and freedom of the press; regional
and cultural history projects, the promotion of cultural diversity;
international cooperation agreements to secure the world cultural and
natural heritage (World Heritage Sites) and to preserve human rights;
and attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide.