• MDGs and education

MDGs and education

This book focuses on transforming policy and practice to promote equitable processes in education, in response to the need for equality, quality, and justice for all. It considers the significance of gender equality in education, and the ways in which gender inequality relates to other sources of division and conflict in society.

The book first examines the extent of inequality and the nature of the challenge to achieve gender equality in education. It provides a picture of what has been learned, and identifies some changes that are needed if gender equality is to be achieved.

The second part presents accounts of government policies and their intended and unintended consequences for women’s empowerment. They examine the dynamics of policy making and policy implementation, and pose questions about how policy promotes and secures gender equality in education. Examples discussed include learning to improve policy for pastoralists in Kenya and pastoralist schools in Mali, exclusion of rural girls in Peru, and purdah in India.

The third part examines a range of local settings where gender-equality initiatives have flourished, and raises questions about the policy implications of different forms of practice. The examples in this section present work for gender equality in education by an HIV/AIDS drama group, a faith-based organisation, and a girls-only private school. These are settings outside the remit of conventional work with State institutions and large NGOs, and these chapters raise some key issues that are still unaddressed in policy declarations.

The concluding chapter considers the challenges that remain for policy makers, practitioners, and researchers if they are to advance concerns for gender equality in education as part of work to promote the MDGs.

In summary, the main highlights, and identified needs, for learning about transforming policy and practice include:

• the participation of women and girls in decision making about their own education is vital
• transformational education needs transformed teachers
• there is a need to look beyond the confines of the school or the literacy class and understand the bigger social, cultural, economic, and geographical environment in which it is embedded
• there must be good partnerships between practitioners, policy makers, and researchers
• NGOs and civil-society actors have an important part to play in influencing the policy and practice of government
• strong political will and leadership in a range of social sectors and settings is important, and there is evidence that political commitment is beginning to achieve change.

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