Global Agenda Council on Education & Skills 2013
Issue Overview |
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Improving education worldwide is essential for encouraging productivity, innovation, job creation and ultimately, economic growth. Such improvement requires identification and adoption of new short- and long-term policies and practices. Appropriate investments in education can achieve the desired results, but this outcome depends on awareness of the changes that are needed at global and local levels. Political support and substantial public and private resources will be required. Fortunately, the evidence base needed to identify necessary reforms is becoming more widely available. Closely interlinked with the essential discussion around education is that of the "skills gap", particularly its existence, nature, policy approaches, skills mobility and skills employment.
- Between 1999 and 2009, the overall number of children enrolled in primary or secondary education increased from 84% to 90%.
- Most illiterate persons are female. In over 20 developing nations, illiteracy rates among women exceed 70%. Disparities between males and females in access to secondary education remain a challenge.
- A good basic education is among the most effective and cost-effective means to prevent HIV/AIDS.
“Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.”
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26
“In a globalized world, education at all levels is more important than ever. Education deficits can hinder a society in isolation, but in a globalized world these deficits can be even more detrimental to a country’s economy and development.”
David E. Bloom, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and Demography, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, USA. Education in a Globalized World, 2006
“There are 300 million completely illiterate people in India, while there are another 300 to 400 million who are functionally literate but cannot read fluently. Our experiments in same language subtitling have proved that by playing Hindi-subtitled Hindi songs for half an hour everyday, reading skills improve.”
Brij Kothari, Director, PlanetRead, India. dnaindia.com
Global Education Digest 2011: Comparing Education Statistics Across the World, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Education in a Globalized World, David E. Bloom
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE)
13-15 November 2012
Qatar
Global Education For All Meeting
21-23 November 2012
Paris, France
With a lineage to the former Council on Education Systems and the Council on Skills & Talent Mobility, this new Council on Education & Skills offers leaders an opportunity to take their education and skills agenda to the next level, by raising global awareness on the need to improve education systems. The Council plans to be solution-oriented, with a focus on accountability for progress. By leveraging the multistakeholder platform provided by the World Economic Forum, the Council aims to make a difference by bringing the private and public sectors to the table.
While the topic of education and its related challenges is broad, the Council has already explored a series of potential areas of work for the coming term. The first one is the skills gap: looking at its nature, existence and the different policy approaches needed to address this issue. A second area of interest focuses on the various steps and levels within educational systems, from early childhood to lifelong learning, and the identification of respective challenges associated with each. Another focus area for the Council is recognizing the benefits of global partnerships, both in addressing common challenges in education and appreciating close working relations with existing endeavours. Joining forces in a “global education fund” (in a similar manner to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria) could significantly advance responses to challenges in the field of education worldwide. Finally, significant interest exists in the use of information technology to create distance-learning opportunities, for example, due to its potential to create innovative solutions for addressing existing gaps, particularly in developing countries.
Research Analyst: Marc Caverzasio, Global Agenda Councils, marc.caverzasio@weforum.org
Council Manager: Ciara Browne, Associate Director, Global Benchmarking Network. ciara.browne@weforum.org
Forum Lead: Michele Petochi, Director, Academic Networks. michele.petoch@weforum.org
