Quality Education for Gender Equality

Dr. Nitya Rao, Co-chair UNGEI Global Advisory Committee XIth Meeting of the Working Group on EFA Paris, 2-3 February 2011

Engendering quality education: A gender & social justice framework

Enabling Environment Democratic Educational Process Quality Education Relevant & Meaningful Education 2

Enabling Environment: What does evidence tell us?

• • • • Resources matter: financial and human; infrastructure; instructional material and time; however quality goes beyond inputs Teacher recruitment, deployment, training and professional development essential to address the emergent diversity of the learners/classroom Local school environment central to quality education: child-centred pedadogies, safety, parent teacher associations etc.

Wider institutional environment to support quality, such as linkages between early childhood education, different levels of schooling and lifelong learning opportunities, as well as gender units and regulatory mechanisms to monitor non-state providers that tend to reinforce a hierarchy of access.

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Relevant & meaningful education: What does the evidence tell us?

• • • • • School as a microcosm of the larger community/ society as such can either reproduce or challenge existing stereotypes; Curriculum reform – often limited to “add women & stir approach”; essential to unravel the “hidden curriculum”; Adolescence, construction of sexual identities and gender-based violence in schools; Engagement with gendered subjectivity of students/teachers – focus on process critical to understand how they experience school/teach gender equality – need to move beyond learning outcomes to include transformative elements of learning processes; Language of instruction and textbooks legitimate and privilege dominant knowledges and practices.

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Democratic processes: What does evidence tell us?

While, decentralization is expected to create accountability, transparency and flexibility through participation, however: – limited to mostly managerial and administrative autonomy of schools/parents, with a focus on cost effectiveness (raising resources locally) rather than control over teaching-learning process; – Unequal social contexts increase risk of “local elite/male capture” of School Management Committees, with mothers lacking access to legitimate institutional spaces; Evidence shows a positive correlation between participation and mother’s education/ literacy levels; with potential for changing socio-cultural norms that constrain girls’ education, and addressing human rights violations at all levels.

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Gender & conflict: What does evidence tell us?

Heightened inequalities: – Being female, poor and living in a country affected by conflict are three most pervasive risk factors for being out of school. – In long-running conflicts, attacks on school children and teachers used to ‘punish’ participation in state institutions. – Rape and sexual violence remains the most under- reported. Fear of such violence often results in girls staying home Gender-responsive education should be an integral part of humanitarian response.

Quality Education is the key to long-term recovery: – Developing a culture of peace, tolerance and psycho-social support through education; – Integration of protection strategies within educational strategies.

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Summing Up

• • • • Gender parity in education is necessary but not sufficient to attain gender equality Need to move beyond enrolment and gender parity: – Enhancing focus on equitable educational outcomes for empowerment of all children – Negotiating the burden/challenge of intersecting inequalities, heightened in conflict/post-crises situation Engendering quality of education – from a gender and social justice perspective by addressing critical issues of power, diversity and participation Role of partnerships to harmonize multiple global initiatives to address the above. 7

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© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-1474/Noorani 8