Providing Quality Education to Young People

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Providing Quality Education to Young People

The issue concerning quality of education has become increasingly important, in view of the persistent problems of drop-out and repetition. The poor quality of teaching staff, physical environment and teaching materials often discourages students from regular attendance at school and serves to increase drop-out rates. National education programmes often concentrate on enrolment figures, and fail to implement remedies for absenteeism, drop-outs and students repeating their grades.

In order to tackle both the quantitative and the qualitative challenges of attaining universal primary education, more resources need to be geared toward primary schooling. The numeracy (ability to make numerical calculations) of the general population in particular has been suggested by many development studies as a prerequisite for economic development.

The formal primary school is the principal vehicle for primary education, but other complementary non-formal and flexible approaches are required in ensuring universal primary education. Two examples are community-based approaches aimed at enhancing educational understanding and support of parents and other caretakers; and on "second chance" primary education for out-of-school children and youth.

A major concern related to quality of education is the efficiency and effectiveness of the education system in providing adequate productive manpower to meet the requirements of the rapid socio-economic and technological changes taking place in the region. Throughout the ESCAP region, and particularly in South Asia, external inefficiency is reflected in high unemployment rates among the educated. Inefficiency sometimes takes the form of “mismatch” between qualification of workers and the types of work opportunities available to them. For example, tertiary-educated workers are sometimes employed in jobs that do not require their qualifications.

Under the present rapidly changing needs of the labour market, workers have to be equipped with marketable skills that can be readily acquired. Advances in technology and communications, coupled with demand for improved productivity, present new challenges and new opportunities for employment. Young people are among the most severely affected by these developments. In that regard, close links with, and direct involvement of, the private sector in skills training have proven to be effective. Through the development of close links with the employers, the mismatch of skills in labour supply and demand could be effectively mitigated through reducing the time lag between the education and training of the potential labour force and the demand of the labour market.

Another important aspect of quality of education, quite apart from the relevance of education in the work place, is the role of education as a means to empower young people. The purpose of education should be beyond employment generation; it should be used to promote democracy and good governance and the building of civil society. Youth education is therefore a major instrument for constructive change. Youth education is a binding factor in achieving progress in the areas of health, employment and participation. Further, education, particularly for youth, can contribute to empowerment of women through gender sensitization at various educational levels. There should be a continuous effort to review the quality of education in order to ensure that the full potential of youth can be developed.

Taken from the publication: “Review of the Youth Situation, Policies and Programmes in Asia and the Pacific”, ESCAP, 1997