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Education
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Background: Education – A Human Right
Education is a human right and provides the foundation on which individual and collective cultural identity can develop. Education is essential for sustainable human development and for enabling people to live together in peace. Every child has the right to a school education and every adult has the right to meet his or her basic learning needs.
Although the number of illiterate adults has dropped by 100 million worldwide since 1990, there are still around 776 million young people and adults who cannot read or write – two thirds of them women. At least 75 million primary school-aged children have no opportunity to attend school. These figures published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) are based on official surveys carried out by individual countries – and it is feared that the actual number of children that have not been included in the statistics is much higher.
In the Millennium Declaration, among other documents, the international community pledged to improve education worldwide. By 2015, all children should have access to primary education, and gender disparities are to have been eliminated at all levels of education. Concerted endeavours are under way to achieve these goals. Germany's development policy activities in the education sector are geared towards these internationally agreed targets. The promotion of education is one of the priority areas of German development cooperation.
What does education mean for the individual?
Education should encourage learning, facilitate the ongoing learning process, and promote problem-solving skills. Besides literacy and numeracy, people must also acquire life skills, for example self-help skills.
A good basic education increases self-confidence and autonomy; knowledge is a prerequisite for self-determined action and participation. Education is therefore also the basis of a functioning democracy.
What does education mean for the economy?
Education empowers people to improve their social, cultural and economic status. It increases opportunities for economic growth and is therefore a key prerequisite for poverty reduction.
Studies by the World Bank show that just four years of education help people to increase the productivity of their agricultural smallholdings. Basic education is the prerequisite for developing a population's creative and productive capacities. A well-trained workforce enhances the quality and quantity of a country's labour productivity.
Higher education and research deliver new know-how and innovations. They in turn help to increase a country's competitiveness and consequently to create new jobs.
What does education mean for society?
Education helps people develop a rational understanding of causal relationships. It promotes environmental awareness, encourages the sustainable use of natural resources, and improves the status and living conditions of girls in particular.
Education helps improve health and reduce birth rates. According to a study by the World Bank, women who attended school for more than four years have around one third fewer children than women without any schooling. The mortality rate of their children is also 50 per cent lower than among children born to illiterate mothers. Children whose own mother attended school are twice as likely to be sent to school themselves.
