Accountability missing among stakeholders, says report
KEY FINDINGS The annual report published by UNESCO examines the state of accountability in educational institutions across the world with respect to the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
NEWDELHI: The Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report 2017-18, which was earlier known as the Education for All Global Monitoring report was published by UNESCO recently. The report focuses on accountability in education highlighting the gaps in engagement between the various stakeholders in the sector. The report states that as different countries look for urgent policy solutions for problems plaguing their respective education systems, accountability is a concern across countries.
The report calls accountability a process that helps individuals reach goals as “individuals or institutions are obliged, on the basis of a legal, political, social or moral justification, to provide an account of how they met clearly defined responsibilities.”
It identifies the key stakeholders of the system, namely, schools, students, teachers, parents, the government, the private sector and civil society.
While reiterating that accountability starts with governments, it also suggests factors that create inequality within the education system.
Identifying adequate resource allocation as a necessity, the report calls an expenditure of at least 4% of GDP on education, or an allocation of 15% of total government expenditure even though one in four countries are unable to achieve these goals.
Further, while the global adult literacy rate has increased from 81.5% to 86% between 2000 and 2015, it continues to be below 60% in low-income countries.
Similarly, while the number of youth with no literacy skills has declined by 27% since 2000, more than 100 million youth are illiterate.
Interestingly, the report also discusses the role played by civil society in disseminating crucial information related to education that contributes to policy analysis. Citing the example of India, it highlights the role played by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) with the report being the source for over 70 ques- tions asked in the Parliament from 2006 to 2017 on issues pertaining to low and declining learning levels, dropout rates and teacher absenteeism among others.
Emphasising on the need to create capacity for local engagement and community monitoring, the report calls for effective teacher monitoring by ensuring parents have adequate information to enable monitoring.
Calling the report a refreshing take on the issue of accountability, Angela Taneja, technical director, education, CARE India, said the report was particularly important for India where there has been a historic community engagement with education.
“The school management committees which are mandatory in government schools are tasked with monitoring teachers though asymmetrical power structures may mean that parents with limited economic sources are unable to exert any power over teachers and are also unable to reach out to other organizations, like municipal corporations,” she added. “Even in private schools where a large number of students are now enrolled, parents struggle to hold the teachers and management accountable.”
The country report for India is scheduled to be launched on 9 November in Delhi.