The Tool Kit is a contribution to UNICEF’s renewed focus on reaching the most disadvantaged children by taking stock of what they already know in education in South Asia from a number of publications produced by UNICEF ROSA, research groups and other organisations over the last few years.
This Resource Tool Kit has been developed for UNICEF Education Officers in South Asia, and presents a synthesis of key issues related to disparities in education in the region and potential strategies to overcome or reduce these disparities. The document also includes references for further readings.
The aim of this Resource Tool Kit is to synthesize this body of work, as well as other key publications by other organizations and research groups, in order to provide a brief overview of disparities in education in South Asia and the potential strategies to reduce disparities, and propose further reading on these issues to guide them in their continued work.
The brief but composite account of dynamics which challenge the fulfilment of the right to education for all children and examples of interventions to help alleviate it provides a basis for reflection on equity in UNICEF’s current work in education. The synthesis also includes the voices of children, parents, teachers and education workers through direct quotes collected through qualitative research.
The Tool Kit is also meant for people working in education in other UN agencies, government and NGO partners. It has six chapters, each of which has a list of resources for further reading at the end of the chapter. The resources included in this Tool Kit are not exhaustive and UNICEF ROSA welcomes submissions of additional resources for future consolidation. The resources can be accessed on the internet, and UNICEF ROSA publications can be accessed through the UNICEF ROSA website.
- Chapter 1: Overview of disparities in education: Based on UNICEF’s human rights approach to education, Chapter One introduces the complexity of equity in access to education, equality of opportunity when in school, and quality teaching to ensure enhanced learning outcomes and successful progression through education. The Chapter provides an overview of profiles of children who are out of school in South Asia, and illustrates disparities across factors of gender, wealth and location.
- Chapter 2: Access to Education: It presents a selection of interventions used to address different barriers to access to education such as financial and attitudinal barriers, barriers specific to girls, and structural barriers in the formal school structure.
- Chapter 3: Equality of Opportunity in Education: Getting disadvantaged children into school is not sufficient unless they are also treated equally while in school leading to equitable opportunities through education. Chapter Three provides an overview of how schools can be made into protective, non-discriminatory environments.
- Chapter 4: Equality in Access to Quality Education: While the two previous chapters look at disparity of access to education and inequality within education, Chapter Four looks at how disparity in learning outcomes can be addressed.
- Chapter 5: Access to Education in Emergencies: Emergency and conflict throughout the South Asia region provides one of the key reasons for children not being in school. Chapter Five focuses specifically on the obstacles to access to education for children in emergencies, but also highlights the opportunities that can be created in crisis situations.
- Chapter 6: Effective Planning – Internal and Cross sectoral: It consolidates a number of resources on good practice examples of effective crosssectoral work of education SWAps in the South Asia region.
You can download this toolkit for free here.
