As a global initiative that advocates for people’s rights to quality education worldwide, The Right to Education Index (RTEI) brings a lot of things to the table. We bring our partnership with civil society and research institutions, we bring our expertise in international development. We also bring data.
RTEI aims to ensure that all people, no matter where they live, can enjoy their right to a quality education. And the way we strive to accomplish such a goal is the perfect example of how data can be used to influence global education.
The #MeToo movement, which took the world by storm last year gave women a platform to discuss the abuse or injustices that they have experienced in their lives. For many young women and girls it has been an opportunity to speak out and demand change. But which voices are still silent and who do we still need to listen to?
At the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York, world leaders gathered to meet and discuss many pressing topics. Thanks to your advocacy, global education was front and center. Here are highlights from the 72nd UN General Assembly:
Tom Sabella - International Inclusive Education Advocate,
GCE-US member and disability-inclusive education advocate Dr. Tom Sabella went to the 10th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In this blog, he notes his observations and insight from the conference.
Learning the sciences enhances a student’s success and has a powerful impact in particular on girls. Africa Schoolhouse recently raised funds to assist communities in Tanzania to add three new science laboratories and sanitary composting latrines in secondary schools.
Bidil Abdulahi has experienced joy and heartbreak in his attempt to send his children to school.
Every day, Bidil Abdulahi would farewell his oldest son, sent off on a one hour walk to the nearest school. “It was a long walk for a child,” he says, “but I didn’t want my child to be as illiterate as I am.”
The decision paid off, with his son Yunus now in college.
The theme of this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign was ‘make education safe for all.’ Over the course of the 16 days, Women Thrive Alliance shared the work – campaigns, capacity building techniques, and achievements – of our Alliance members that work relentlessly on gender-based violence that restricts girls from getting an education. Unfortunately, in many instances, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and rape were the common culprits preventing a girl from continuing her education. In the case of Afghanistan, however, a girl’s mere chance of being allowed any education at all was the baseline.
That’s not so remarkable, until I tell you that she is only 25.
No matter how you calculate the math and circumstances that result in a young lady becoming a grandmother at age 25, it is horrific. There is no instant panacea that will make instances like this history. In this particular case, I can point to a long civil war, with its attendant atrocities, as well as child marriage, poverty, and other factors as contributory, but I really started the story this way to make the point that in our drive for accurate statistics with which to make decisions, we must never lose sight of the fact that those statistics point to real people, with real stories, and with very real barriers to overcome.
