Former Prime Minister of India - Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

PM's inaugural speech at the third High-Level Group Meeting on Education for All

~I extend a warm welcome to all of you for this Third Meet of the High Level Group on ~Education for All~. I would like to congratulate UNESCO for setting up this monitoring mechanism to ensure that the ~Education for All~ movement not only remains on track, but also gains momentum.

True education is that unique key which can open many doors simultaneously – individual’s all-round development, economic progress of the family and the nation, harmony and kinship among diverse groups in a society, and peace and cooperation among members of the international community. In modern times, the importance of education has increased immensely. This is because of the realization among developing countries that non-achievement of the goal of universal education is one of the principal reasons for their poverty, unsatisfactory performance in human development, and inability to engage with the developed nations on equal terms.

Those countries that have acted on this realization have found that literacy and education have a direct role in human development and are instrumental in facilitating other achievements. To use a terminology from economics, the return on investments in education has been found to be one of the highest.

However, the goal of universal education cannot be seen to be the concern of individual countries and their governments alone. It is accepted as one of the paramount goals of the global community. Right to Education was articulated as far back as in 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Most recently, the United Nations showed a new sense of urgency when, at its Millennium Summit three years ago, it adopted the goal of ~Halving Global Poverty by 2015~.

This sense of urgency is fully reflected in what we in India have been doing in the field of education. A revolutionary step was taken last year when free and compulsory education was made a Fundamental Right by amending the Constitution with the universal support of Parliamentarians and the civil society. To translate this commitment into action, we have launched a comprehensive programme called ~Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan~ for education of all children in the age group 6 to 14 years. It is the largest and the most ambitious educational programme in India since Independence. It not only aims at getting all the 190 million children spread over one million habitations into school, but also retaining them there for eight years once they come to school.

India has achieved a significant success in reducing illiteracy – especially female illiteracy – in the past decade. Our mission is now moving much faster than ever before.

In our effort to achieve the goal of ~Education for All~, developing countries have to determine how to overcome several old constraints and how best to deal with certain new realities. The biggest constraint is poverty itself. Education reduces poverty. But poverty also reduces access to education.

Making elementary education free is no doubt a necessary step, but it is not sufficient. We have to properly implement other useful interventions such as the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. Experience has shown that wherever this scheme is effectively implemented, the dropout rate has come down and children have performed better.

Another constraint that the movement for ~Education for All~ has faced is social in nature. Owing to a number of historical and cultural factors, certain sections of society in many developing countries have lagged behind in education. We in India have attempted to undo such wrongs through affirmative action. We have achieved positive results. However, both governmental and societal efforts have to be intensified to reach education to scheduled castes and tribes, certain minorities, and children with disabilities.

Similarly, serious and sustained attention has to be paid to education of the girl child. Gender gaps persist in those countries that have shown major gains in enrolment and retention. A number of socio-cultural, economic and school-related factors are responsible for this. We have to address parental indifference towards girls' education. Even though governmental initiatives have brought down the cost of educating girls, it is the opportunity cost of sending girls to school that is acting as a major deterrent to their education. Girls are employed in a variety of economic activities, which are crucial to poor families as it has a bearing on family livelihood. Within the family, a girl child often has the responsibility of sibling care and household work. Therefore, our educational programmes have to be so designed and implemented that they cover all girls, in spite of these factors.

There is another factor, which is often overlooked. In many rural areas and urban slums, the school environment is still not conducive to learning. Absence of clean drinking water, toilets, and boundary walls tend to keep children, especially girls away from school.

We need to address each of these issues in a focussed manner and come up with solutions for each of the inhibiting factors. Only then would half of the world’s population be in a position to enjoy the right to education. In India we have kept this in mind and introduced a number of gender-specific schemes. Even our general schemes like the ~Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan~ have a strong gender focus. With these interventions, our gender indicators are showing improvement and we are confident of achieving the ~Education for All~ goals well before the 2015 deadline.

All the requirements that I have mentioned require funds. While social and philanthropic contribution to education should be fully encouraged, it is obvious that governments have to bear the main responsibility of funding school education for the poor. A programme for ensuring that all children have access to education cannot be allowed to suffer from lack of funds. The donor countries and institutions made a commitment at Dakar in the year 2000 that ~no country seriously committed to basic education will be thwarted in the achievement of this goal by lack of resources~. Now is the time to redeem this pledge.

However, I am afraid the ~Fast Track Initiative~ started by the international funding agencies in 2002 has so far been neither fast nor adequate. We need to accelerate the process if we wish to ensure that we do not slip on the deadlines set at Dakar in 2000.

I mentioned that we have to recognize the new reality in which the goal of universal education is being pursued. And that is the reality of the growing awareness about quality in education. Even poor families are no longer satisfied with their children merely going to any school. They want them to go to a good school and get a good education. Hence, the poor are right in demanding not simply ~Education for All~, but ~Quality Education for All~.

However, realization of this right is becoming increasingly difficult in the fast-changing economic scenario. Market forces are shaping the growth of all layers of education, including elementary education. Over the past few decades, economic barriers preventing access to quality education for the masses have tended to rise. The difference between the poor man’s school and the rich man’s school is becoming starker with each passing year. Since quality education is crucial for capturing the opportunities in the emerging ~Knowledge Economy~, this difference will further widen the already unacceptable divide between the haves and have-nots.

This provides an added reason why governments have to continue to play a major role to ensure that quality education is brought within the reach of the common man. The rights of poor children have to be protected from the working of market forces. I would like this meet to deliberate on how best to achieve this objective.

I am told that there are also certain issues relating to the WTO negotiations under General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which adversely affect the campaign to realize the goal of ~Education for All~. Perhaps the High Level Group needs to flag these issues for detailed discussion.

The Third High-Level group is meeting at the right time in our march towards the goal of ~Education for All~. We need to review the progress we have made so far, analyse the problems and obstacles, and chart a reliable path for faster progress in the future. I am confident that your deliberations over the next two days would be fruitful. I wish you the best in this endeavour.~