Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

0120CHAPTER 3Education for All Global Monitoring ReportStigmatizationanddiscriminationalso fuelmarginalization ineducation,locking childreninto cycles of lowexpectation andunderachievementGetting left behindIntroductionChildren at risk of marginalization in educationare found in all societies. At first glance, the livesof these children may appear poles apart. The dailyexperiences of slum dwellers in Kenya, ethnicminority children in Viet Nam, a blind girl froma low-income home in Pakistan and a Roma childin Hungary are very different. What they have incommon are restricted opportunities to developtheir potential, realize their hopes and build abetter future through participation in education.The first part of this chapter identified some of themost marginalized social groups. It documentedmutually reinforcing disadvantages linked topoverty, gender and ethnicity. This part looksbeyond the data to the processes and powerrelationships that diminish opportunity. Itconcentrates mainly on primary school agechildren in developing countries, while recognizingthat early experience tips the balance againstmany children before they enter school and thateducational marginalization continues intoadulthood (see Chapter 2).Unravelling the threads behind marginalizationin education can be difficult. Many factors areinvolved. Poverty often makes educationunaffordable and pushes children out ofclassrooms and into employment. Genderintersects with low income to create forces ofmarginalization that are less tangible and lesseasily measurable than poverty but no lessdamaging. The low value placed on girls’ educationcan make them the last into school and the first outwhen poverty strikes. Cultural attitudes and beliefs,stigmatization and discrimination also fuelmarginalization, locking children into cycles oflow expectation and underachievement. Moreover,many of the processes leading to marginalizationin education can be traced to deeply entrenchedpower relationships that perpetuate poverty andgender disadvantages and group-based inequalities.of the chapter documents, acts of commission andomission in education policy can place good-qualityschooling far beyond the reach of the marginalized,reinforcing wider social divisions in the process.The interaction between marginalization ineducation and wider forms of social exclusiondoes not follow general rules. The national andsubnational context matters, as does the specificform of disadvantage that marginalized childrenexperience. Even so, recurrent themes cut acrossdifferent environments and experiences. This partof the chapter looks at these themes, identifyingthe global drivers that fuel the local patternsof marginalization explored in the previous part.The first section looks at poverty as a barrierthat perpetuates disadvantages in education,partly by pushing children into work. Thesecond examines issues behind group-basedmarginalization, tracing the routes throughwhich ethnicity, language, stigmatization andpoverty often interact to create vicious circles oflow expectation and low achievement. The thirdsection considers location-specific factors thatintersect with livelihoods, highlighting problemsfaced by slum dwellers, remote rural communitiesand conflict-affected regions. The fourth examinesdisability and the fifth HIV and AIDS – issues thathave a marked impact on education.Poverty and child labourHousehold poverty is one of the strongestand most persistent factors contributing tomarginalization in education. The transmissionmechanisms are well known. Poor householdshave fewer resources to invest in their children’sschooling, health and other assets. Poverty isalso a source of vulnerability. When poor peopleare hit by economic shocks, droughts or healthproblems, they often lack the resources to copewithout cutting spending in key areas, includingchildren’s schooling. Education can act as apowerful catalyst in breaking cycles of poverty.But poverty itself is a strong constraint onopportunities for education, fuelling thetransmission of disadvantage across generations.The interaction is two-way. Marginalizationin education is in part a consequence ofmarginalization in other areas. But it is also acause of marginalization. Education systems havethe potential to mitigate social disadvantage, yetoften they either fail to utilize that potential or theyactually magnify underlying problems. As this partGlobal poverty trends: a mixed recordThe sheer scale of global poverty makes it aformidable barrier to Education for All. In 2005,nearly 1.4 billion people were living on less thanUS$1.25 a day. More than half the population ofsub-Saharan Africa and 40% of people in SouthAsia fell below this absolute poverty threshold.164