literacy for life; EFA global monitoring report, 2006 - Institut de ...

COUNTRY EFFORTS: INCREASING MOMENTUM / 91
salary increases in recent years, a junior
teacher’s pay has not even reached the national
average wage (Koke, 2005). Similarly, inadequate
teacher salaries in Latin America fail to attract
the best candidates (Box 3.7). While teachers may
be ‘perhaps the most important constituency in
education reform’, overall in many regions they
continue largely to be ‘ignored in policy dialogue,
monitoring and implementation’ (World Economic
Forum, 2005). Some countries are trying to
improve teachers’ status, though. In China,
salaries have been increased and a National
Teachers Education Network has been launched
to provide a ‘lifelong learning platform’ for
strengthening professional skills (Bernard, 2005).
Women teachers and the gender goal
The proportion of teachers who are women is a
potentially crucial indicator for gender outcomes
in schooling. In general, women predominate
among teachers, the proportion being highest in
pre-primary education and somewhat lower at the
primary and secondary levels. Important regional
differences exist (Figure 3.14): the proportion of
women teachers is lowest in South and West Asia
and in sub-Saharan Africa, where men
outnumber women teachers at both primary and
secondary levels. In Benin and Chad, less than
one-fifth of primary teachers are women. In
countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, the
Comoros, the Congo, Eritrea and Senegal, less
than 15% of all secondary teachers are women.
Female teachers are fewest in countries where
overall enrolment levels are lowest and gender
disparities in favour of boys are highest.
Equalizing gender balance among teachers will
promote girls’ enrolment in these countries
(UNESCO, 2004a). Moving to a very high proportion
of female teachers, however, can work to the
disadvantage of boys, a phenomenon that also
characterizes several Caribbean countries as well
as Mongolia, Nicaragua and the United Kingdom.
The need for inclusion
As Chapter 1 noted, Education for All is about all
six goals, not just about schooling. It is also about
all people – children, youth and adults; women
and men; rural and urban residents; the poor and
the better-off; ethnic and linguistic minorities and
majorities; the disabled and the able; the sick as
well as the healthy; the HIV-positive and the HIVnegative;
and the chronically hungry and the
Figure 3.14: Median share of female teachers in various levels of education
by region, 2002
Share of female teachers (%)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Sub-
Saharan
Africa
Arab
States
Central
Asia
East
Asia
and the
Pacific
Preprimary Primary Secondary
Source: Statistical annex, Tables 10A and 10B.
South
and West
Asia
Latin
America
and the
Caribbean
malnourished as well as those with enough to eat.
At school level, given the considerable (albeit
insufficient) progress that has been made towards
the primary enrolment and gender parity goals in
many countries, the EFA challenge now concerns
enhancing quality (focus of the 2005 Report) and
extending enrolment to include everyone. Among
youth and adults, the lack of literacy largely
affects excluded groups, and particularly women
members of such groups. Chapter 7 discusses
literacy among indigenous peoples, migrants and
people with disabilities, while this section
examines three other types of exclusion that are
particularly relevant at school level: the exclusion
of unregistered children, rural children and girls.
Unregistered children
According to UNICEF, some 48 million births
were not registered in 2003 worldwide – over 30%
of all estimated births. In South Asia and sub-
Saharan Africa, 63% and 55%, respectively, of
total births went unregistered. Reasons for not
registering birth vary : it is often not perceived as
a fundamental duty and right, it can require a fee
that families find hard to afford (e.g. in Indonesia),
it sometimes involves travelling far (e.g. in parts
of Albania) and it is often especially difficult for
ethnic minorities and particular indigenous
groups (e.g. Kurds in the Syrian Arab Republic)
(UNICEF, 2002 and 2005c). Finally, in many
countries concerned by this problem, systems
of registration are either not in place or not
functional.
North
America/
Western
Europe
Central
and
Eastern
Europe
The proportion
of women teachers
is lowest in South
and West Asia and
in sub-Saharan
Africa