THE EFA GLOBAL MONITORING REPORT 2012 - YOUTH AND SKILLS: PUTTING EDUCATION TO WORK
Tue, 18/06/2013 - Tue, 18/08/2015
The 10th edition of the Education For All Global Monitoring Report showed the importance of ensuring that all young people have the skills they need to thrive in society and find decent jobs.
However, many young people around the world are leaving school without those skills. There is a lost generation of 200 million young people, who are leaving the school without skills they need. As well as thwarting young people’s hopes, these education failures are jeopardizing equitable economic growth and social cohesion, and preventing many countries from reaping the potential benefits of their growing youth populations.
The 2012 Education for All Global Monitoring Report describes how governments can give young people a better start in life, so they can greet the world of work in confidence. Different skills development programmes can be improved to boost young people’s opportunities for decent jobs and better lives.
The evidence based-analysis in this report is an indispensable tool for policy-makers, researchers, development specialists, media etc., in tapping education’s power to build more equitable and more prosperous world. The EFA Global Monitoring Report 2012: Youth and skills: Putting education to work is available on the website link http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002180/218003e.pdf.
Education For All Seminar Programme, University of Jyväskylä, 8 – 9 November 2012
Launching of the Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report 2012 happened at University of Jyväskylä, Finland. The aim of the international seminar was to increase knowledge about the global EFA process among higher education students and staff.
The two-day seminar was organized by the Faculty of Education, University of Jyväskylä, in collaboration with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education and Culture, Finnish National Commission for UNESCO, Centre for International Mobility (CIMO) and the Finnish University Partnership for International Development (UniPID). The seminar linked local challenges with global education policies and processes, and engaged the local civil society, public and private agencies, schools and education offices.
Vice-rector Helena Rasku-Puttonen opened the EFA seminar and briefed the participants on the roots of the Finnish teacher education. Presenters were invited from other universities and collaboration partner organisations.
In addition to the Global Monitoring Report (GMR) launch, the seminar programme consisted of participatory theatre, presentations, roundtable discussions, Dark Café, theme group discussions, learning café and seminar dinner. Participation of all was emphasised.
The seminar provided a variety of perspectives on the GMR topic, such as views of African, Asian and Finnish Youth; roles of higher education, technical and vocational education; inclusive education and educational leadership in enhancing skills and the situation of youth. Students from different countries presented their views on youth unemployment and suggested some solutions. In the Dark Café, refreshments were served in complete darkness, in a world, where eyesight is useless. For many specialists who design equipment to help everyday life of people with limited vision this experience is eye-opening.
The launching of the UNESCO Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report 2012, Youth and Skills: Putting Education to work was the highlight of the seminar. The EFA Global Monitoring Report (GMR) is an annual publication that monitors progress toward the six targets to which over 160 countries committed themselves in 2000. Every year the report focuses on a specific theme. Dr. Kwame Akiyeampong, Senior Policy Analyst of the UNESCO Global Monitoring Report Team, presented the findings illustrating links between education, skills, labour markets and poverty.
The world’s youth population in urban areas is larger than ever before. The vast majority of the world’s poor and least educated live in rural areas. There are 250 million children of primary school age today who cannot read or write, whether they’re in school or not. 71 million teenagers are out of secondary school, missing out vital skills for future employment. They need alternative pathways to acquire basic skills for employment and prosperity.
One in eight young people is unemployed and over a quarter are trapped in jobs that keep them on or below the poverty line. The effects of the economic crisis continue to squeeze societies worldwide, the severe lack of youth skills is more damaging than ever. Acquiring a lower secondary education is a minimum today for young people to gain the foundation skills they need to find decent jobs.
More information, seminar programme and the video recorded presentations are available on the seminar website: http://moniviestin.jyu.fi/ohjelmat/edu/en/efa2012/launching-of-the-education-for-all-global-monitoring-report-2012.
The University of Jyväskylä has its roots in the teacher education college that was established in 1863 and celebrates its 150th anniversary in year 2013. The theme of the 2013 EFA seminar will be teacher education. The next EFA seminar is planned for 6 - 7 November 2013.
Aulis Mäkinen
(Source: https://www.jyu.fi/edu/en/international-seminar-on-the-education-for-all...)
