The Right to Quality Education – European Development Days Special Event

47% of countries today have achieved universal primary education. Since 1999 an extra 50 million children have been enrolled in schools. For example in Ethiopia the number of children in school has increased from 37 % to 87% of the population. “This is huge progress and girls have benefitted immensely from it. But this is not enough we still have many challenges,” said Veronique Lorenzo, Head of Education, Health, Research and Culture in DEVCO.

Ms Lorenzo’s unit is organising a session on the Right to Quality Education at the European Development Days 2015. The session aims to raise awareness of what Ms Lorenzo believes is quickly becoming a neglected sector with many donors not sticking to financial commitments: “we need everybody to listen and we need from now on to put our money where our mouth is.”

In the following video she presents the topics to be discussed, the speakers and what she would like to see achieved from the discussion.

Ms Lorenzo also discussed the current challenges for education.

The first challenge is achieving universal education: the equity agenda. “The more you make progress the more difficult it gets to make progress. Why? Because the last 10% of the population that needs to be reached is the most difficult. Because they are the poorest, the most marginalised and therefore they are the most expensive to cover for a government,” explained Ms Lorenzo.

The second challenge is the quality of education. Too often the focus is on the number of children in school, but the teachers are also important. Teachers need to be well trained and qualified to ensure that the quality of education doesn’t diminish as the number of students increases.

Ms Lorenzo concluded with a reminder that education is not just learning to read and write. It goes beyond this providing a transformative voice: “education is what makes a child a responsible citizen, a productive citizen and a creative human being who will contribute to the betterment of his own community and this is the message that we must pass.”

The session will take place on 4 June at Tours et Taxi from 09:30 – 11:00. You can register on the European Development Days website up until 25 May.