Schools 'fail' in ex-Soviet bloc
Millions of children in the ex-Soviet bloc have suffered a "catastrophic
decline" in access to education since communism collapsed, the UN has warned.
More than 14m children in the region reach adulthood each year with little or
no formal schooling, a report by the UN children's fund (Unicef) says.
Education policy in many countries is inadequate and can reinforce social and
economic divisions, it says.
Georgia, Tajikistan and Moldova are among the worst-affected nations.
Much of Central Asia and eastern and Central Europe had attained universal
access to education under communism, Unicef said.
But despite the transition to democracy, economic growth and an increase in
education spending in many countries, access to education has fallen, the
report said.
Racial inequalities
Some 12m youngsters do not make it to secondary school, and 2.5m do not even
attend primary school.
The report, Education for Some More than Others?, found that inequality between
rich and poor families was particularly marked.
Co-author Phillipe Testot-Ferry said: "Families with higher incomes get
disproportionate access to pre-school.
This situation will lead to intergenerational cycles of poverty
Maria Calivis
Unicef regional director
"[They] ensure good basic education for their children [and] hire the best
private tutors, all paving the way to higher education and better jobs."
In contrast, children from poorer families tended to stay away from school or
drop out early because they did not expect to reap the benefits of a good
education.
Racial inequality was also a problem in countries including Bulgaria, Hungary
and Romania, where a large proportion of Roma (Gypsy) children received no
schooling at all.
Unicef regional director Maria Calivis called the area's progress a "story of
increased disparities".
She said the problem would "undermine the capacity of governments to develop
globally competitive economies based on skilled labour rather than cheap
labour".
Unicef found that in the region's poorest countries - Armenia, Georgia,
Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan - less than 50% of children were in
secondary education.
And the report warned that the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Moldova and
Tajikistan are not on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goal that all
children are able to complete primary school by 2015.
The report, which also covered Turkey, called for an increase in education
spending to at least 6% of their Gross Domestic Product - the regional average
is currently about 3%.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/7005446.stm
Published: 2007/09/20 18:00:29 GMT
© BBC MMVII
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