Ethiopian: Education: Key to resilience, sustainable development

Ethiopian: Education: Key to resilience, sustainable development

Ethiopian/ 07 Jun 2016/ The Ethiopian Herald

Resumen: La educación juega un papel importante en la obtención de los derechos de los ciudadanos, garantizando la equidad, la igualdad y la justicia para los ciudadanos en los más de todo el desarrollo económico de un país. La educación de calidad, como una oportunidad para todos, es esencial para el desarrollo del país y para garantizar la paz y la seguridad. Por lo tanto, muchos países están trabajando para ofrecer una mejor educación para todos. Garantizar el acceso equitativo a la educación es clave en el alivio de la pobreza, así como para abordar las causas profundas de los conflictos y la inestabilidad en África. Y es con esta visión en mente que los interesados en asistir al Simposio Panafricana sobre la Educación, la resistencia y la Cohesión Social, que se celebró aquí en Addis Abeba recientemente subrayó la necesidad de un programa de educación que está destinado a la construcción de un desarrollo sostenible a través de la construcción de la paz y la seguridad. Educación para el Desarrollo Sostenible se refiere al acto de incluir las cuestiones clave para el desarrollo sostenible en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje; por ejemplo, el cambio climático, la reducción del riesgo de desastres, la biodiversidad, la reducción de la pobreza, El Simposio panafricana sobre la Educación, la resistencia y la Cohesión Social tiene como objetivo determinar las implicaciones de políticas y programas para África sobre la base de las lecciones de los programas de consolidación de la paz, educación y promoción de UNICEF en Este, África del Sur, África Occidental y Central Regiones.

It is a well known fact that education plays significant roles in securing the rights of citizens by ensuring equity, equality and justice for citizens on the over all economic development of a country. Quality education, as an opportunity for all, is essential for nation’s development and to secure peace and security. Hence, many countries are working to offer better education for all.
Ensuring equitable access to education is key in alleviating poverty as well as in addressing the root causes of conflict and instability in Africa. And it is with this view in mind that stakeholders attending the Pan- African Symposium on Education, Resilience and Social Cohesion that was held here in Addis Ababa recently underlined the need for an education program that is meant to building sustainable development through building peace and security.
Education for Sustainable Development allows every human being to acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. Education for Sustainable Development refers to the act of including key sustainable development issues into teaching and learning; for example, climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, and sustainable consumption. It also requires participatory teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to change their behaviors and take action for sustainable development. Education for Sustainable Development consequently promotes competencies like critical thinking, imagining future scenarios and making decisions in a collaborative way. All these necessitate far-reaching changes in the way education is often practiced today. And to do that education system should have great contribution for peace, stability and poverty eradication and economic advancement.
Conflict and insecurity are the development challenges of our time; as a result, there are considerable barriers to realizing the right to education for all children and young people in many countries. Access to quality education is a right that should be sustained even in the most difficult circumstances. Education has the potential to build the capacities of children, parents, teachers and community members in general to prevent or reduce conflicts and to promote equality and peace.
Education has crucial linkages to a society’s social, economic and political spheres. And it is central to promote cohesive societies and contribute to state-building. On the other hand, inequitable provision of services or biased curriculum and teaching methods as well as poor governance of the sector can reinforce existing exclusion and stereotypes. Thus, education needs to be delivered effectively and equitably to ensure that it is a driver of peace and development.
The role of education in poverty eradication, in close co-operation with other social sectors, is crucial. No country can succeed if it has not educated its people. Education is not only important in reducing poverty but also a key to wealth creation. Within this context, one of the pledges of the Dakar Framework for Action – Education for All: was to promote better education policies within a sustainable and well-integrated sector framework that is clearly linked to poverty elimination and development strategies.
The role of education in this process is particularly achieving universal primary education and adult literacy. Fighting against poverty will only be realized through educating citizens and investing a lot on that regard. In fact, education is the social institution that reaches the largest segment of the population with the goal of guiding them through a systematic learning process.
Recently, The Ministry of Education of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has underlined that education is a powerful contributor towards building peace as it creates a crucial link between humanitarian and long-term developments so as to develop the right conditions for social cohesion and community resilience.
On a three days symposium co-organized by the Ministry of Education of Ethiopia, UNICEF, Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and Inter-Country Quality Node (ICQN) on Peace Education participants stressed that the moment countries need to share evidences and best practices from the UNICEF’s peace-building, education and advocacy program through assessing how inclusive, equitable and innovative education policy and programs can contribute to sustainable peace and development across the continent.
According to Shiferaw Shigute, Minister of Education, his ministry is working with a due commitment and focus towards peace building and quality education. The government of Ethiopia has a clear pro-poor growth strategy focused around guaranteeing full access to basic social services and infrastructures. The ministry has identified peace building, equity, equality, quality, early childhood care and education as well as improved learning outcomes as key components of its current Education Sector Development Plan (ESDP).
Recent reports from the ministry shows that over 27 million Ethiopian children are now attending schools across the country in more than 37, 000 schools. And the number of teachers have currently increased to 530,000 from what it was 82,000 twenty and five years before.
Though some 230 million people around the globe and half of the school age children live in countries that are affected with crisis, education should be a birth right that should be given prime attention by countries of the world as it is a means to addressing poverty and helping in preventing instability.
Brenda Haiplik, Senior Education Adviser, UNICEF Head Quarter, told that more than 327 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa live in fragile contexts with the majority of the estimated 29 million primary school aged children out of school in fragile settings; and they are particularly at risk of conflicts.
Education can catalyze economic, social and political transformations to support peace and prosperity in Africa and it will also support to achieving Sustainable Development Goals. And access to quality education can minimize inequalities or grievances among conflict-affected communities; and it can strengthen skills, attitudes and values that support peace.
Martial De-Paul Ikounga, African Union Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology, speaks of the 2020 as “all guns will be silent”. And a culture of peace and tolerance would nurture in Africa’s children and youth through quality education and peace building.
The goal areas of the continent that member states should be giving a due consideration are in the areas of human capital, human development and creating a friendly environment for African people. For that to happen, better policies, issues of equality, equity in education, and more importantly promoting education for peace through avoiding conflicts in the continent are mandatory. Investing on the youth through education is the central point that we should be going through with a due consideration.
Ministers, technical experts and stakeholders from across 16 African countries have taken part on the three days symposium hosted in Addis Ababa. All the participants have finally agreed that quality education which is accessible for all is crucial for securing peace, stability and rapid economic growth in the continent.
The pan- African Symposium on Education, Resilience and Social Cohesion aims to determine policy and program implications for Africa based on lessons from UNICEF’s peace building, education and advocacy programs in Eastern, Southern Africa, Western and Central Africa Regions.
Fuente: http://www.ethpress.gov.et/herald/index.php/technology/item/4941-education-key-to-resilience-sustainable-development