Dear all,

We have arrived to the end of theme 4 and, in order to close de seminar, I would like to share with you an analysis of the first part of the seminar made by Imelda Arana of REPEM-Colombia that I think constitutes an interesting effort for this ending stage. We will soon share other thoughts too that will try to give a comprehensive view of the contributions received.

We thank you all for the interest and the follow-up given to the seminar, as well as the contributions that you shared and that undoubtedly have enriched us all. The outcome of this seminar will be an excellent material for analysis by the Board of Directors of ICAE that next week will be holding a Thematic Seminar together with colleagues experts on the themes addressed, and will undoubtedly constitute a new step towards de elaboration of regional and global agendas for Confintea VI.

We seize this opportunity to announce also that there are new documents that have just arrived on different themes and for organizational reasons could not be included in this seminar. They are available, by the moment on the original language received, at the ICAE Website, www.icae.org.uy, and the translations will soon be available too.
They are:

Theme 1 on literacy: “Gender, Literacy and Women´s Empowerment in India: some issues” by Malini Ghose - NIRANTAR - New Delhi India. (Only in English by now)

Theme 2 on Migration and Adults’ Education: “Migration and Adult Education” by William Gois, Regional Coordinator Migrant Forum in Asia (Only in English by now)

Theme 3 on Poverty: “THE STATUS-Poverty, Work, Education and Gender” by Jack Shaka de Nairobi, Kenya (Only in English by now)

Theme 4 on Financing: “Calls for explicit Legislative and Financing frameworks for Adult Education Elicit Lukewarm Audience; a justification for debate and strategy shift?” by Jjuuko Robert, IALLA III Graduate - Uganda Adult Education Network, Kampala Uganda (Only in English by now)

Best wishes,

Cecilia Fernández
 

 

At this point in the discussion, it’s encouraging to notice the connections between the different issues we’ve dealt with; and, although the central papers on the last issue still have to be revealed, the subject has already been tangentially discussed in many papers and comments posted. Thus, I won’t refer to any of the texts in particular, but I’ll share some ideas about what has been discussed during the debate process so far.

1. Adult education is intimately related to poverty, and they are both endemic problems of the model of human society developed to this date. The existence of illiterate adults, or people who have not finished their education process before adulthood, shows that something failed for these persons, but these failures aren’t necessarily theirs. Unquestionably, society has failed them for not having developed favourable conditions so that, “under equal conditions”, they could face the challenges imposed by education, since achieving success in any kind of formal education, adjusted to contents, times, spaces, and standardized forms for society, has always been difficult, and has always required many sacrifices which not every man and woman are willing and able to undergo.

Adults who must, or try to, complete their formal education while carrying out tasks typical of their age (productive activity, citizenship, social service, care for the defenceless, etc.), face inequalities in relation to other people of their same age. Worldwide, most of these persons have faced poverty, in the terms pointed out in the papers by Ana Agostino and Julia Preece, among others; education systems that were exclusive or indifferent to individual needs, that have simply left them out; violent socio-cultural conditions that affect possibilities, will, and the wish to know; discriminatory, segregationist, and exclusive ideological contexts. These are all conditions included in the prevailing model of society and political civilian nature.

Under the present circumstances, knowing how to read and write means accessing the abc others have already accessed, and getting an education as an adult means finishing processes others have already finished. Since in many regions of the world more than 60% of the population has this need (in some other regions the percentage is a little lower), the task is huge and must be faced collectively, with actions by every social agent, including the affected persons, but, since it’s an endemic problem, there are different levels of responsibility and action. The local, national, and global centres of economic and political power are the first responsible agents and the ones that can act more efficiently because they control the necessary resources to carry out significant actions.

Members of ICAE, UNESCO’s Lifelong Learning Institute, and other actors within the education field already have enough responsibilities trying to develop awareness on the issue in every social circle, getting wills together, and disseminating the reality faced by the international community in relation to the absences, lacks, and failures in action for education.      

The different reflections and an analysis of the seminar show an urgency to straighten the prevailing model of society, as an issue for humanity and the society of nations in particular. To this aim, civil society must provide initiatives, have an impact, and exert some pressure. Only then, advances in achieving literacy, developing more significant learning offers for adults, and achieving EFA’s goals shall contribute to eliminate backwardness in education, and to close the cultural gap between people, countries, and regions. 
       
2. Education as a universal and inalienable Human Right is a goal still to be achieved.  

From what has been discussed in our seminar, we also see that education hasn’t always been a universal and inalienable asset for humanity because it can be said that, with the exception of Europe, education systems worldwide have established different levels of accessibility, quality, and temporality, based on social class or level, gender, ethnic group, origin, and other social differences.

It’s clear that there’s an education system for the most favoured sectors and another one for the rest, i.e. the somehow “excluded.” For the first ones, it’s all about education allowing them not only to enjoy socially developed cultural assets, but mainly, the bases to access the last advances of science and technology, and the exercise of power; for the rest, whatever they can achieve as a result of personal efforts, community and collective actions in social communities, the impact of these communities, and the mission of some international agencies; all this after huge efforts with little achievements. 

Efforts to offer in the next few years -¿2015?- the abc and a basic training to some 800 million adults who cannot read nor write, to a minimum of 70 million boys and girls still attending school, and to those who, though educated, don’t enjoy favourable conditions to stay in school, shall be big, and  shall imply only offering them a basic education so that they can position themselves and communicate with their peers worldwide; signals reading and understanding; professional training for better paid informal jobs; access to some basic technologies; community and political participation at a local level; i.e. “whatever they can achieve” in a rapidly transforming world.

We face a reality excluding a good number of persons worldwide from access to fundamental rights, the first of which is the right to education, considered in every national and international legislation as one of the most important rights, because it’s a right to which everyone must have access since childhood, and along with it comes the possibility to enjoy most of the other rights, as has been stated since Confintea V. 

The agenda to be developed towards Confintea VI must consider key aspects for a global action of power agents, along with the possibilities offered by the action of civil society organizations, both regarding alternatives and innovative  experiences that facilitate the future adoption of policies and programs.  
 
See data of the Planning Package for the Global Action for Education Week, 2008