Falling behind schedule - The Hindu Editorial with vocab - September 26, 2016
Current educational attainments remain far from adequate
for the enhancement of personal well-being and social progress, according to a
report of the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development. Immigrant populations are especially
disadvantaged, an area that deserves particular attention given the recent scramble for shelter and succour among millions of refugees. The
findings in the OECD’s Education at a Glance 2016 report make for sober (serious and calm) reading all round, viewed against data on the
many rewards individuals and societies are able to reap when endowed with higher qualifications. For
instance, people with a master’s degree stand a close to 90 per cent wage
advantage in the 35 countries of the OECD. Correspondingly, their governments
receive over a lifetime about €100,000 in taxes and social contributions more
than they invest on a graduate. There has been a 4 percentage point increase in
the rate of enrolment in tertiary education in the decade ended 2014. These are
encouraging facts; the logical case therefore should be for greater public
investment in this sector. But across the spectrum the trend is clearly in the
opposite direction. While the report shows an 8 per cent rise in real-term
spending per child in the five years up to 2013, it also notes a 14 per cent
increase in private expenditure in the region in the same period. Private
spending by students and households is estimated at some 30 per cent in the tertiary (higher level/third level) education
sector alone. This has to be viewed against the backdrop of the relentless regime of economic austerity in the years following the
financial crisis, with serious implications for equity and the knowledge
economies of the future.
A broader issue mentioned in the report, which covers besides
OECD members, partner-countries including India, is the likelihood that states
may not be able to realise the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal pertaining to
the provision of quality education. This concern is echoed in the Unesco 2016
report. The need to achieve the targets relating to SDG 4, to ensure inclusive
and equitable quality education, cannot be overstated, given that it is the
pivot on which the realisation of several other fundamentally important
developmental objectives remains. Indeed, almost the entire success of the 2030
agenda rests squarely on the education target. The objectives of reduction of
poverty, alleviation of hunger, expansion of employment, empowerment of women
and gender equality are all influenced by the qualifications and skills that
men and women possess. And of course at another level, without an educated and
empowered populace, the dream of an enlightened, more tolerant and peaceful
world would forever remain elusive.
attainment / noun - the act of achieving something:
[ C usually
plural] UK formal -- Someone's
attainments are the things they have done and the skills they have learned.
adequate / / adjective - enough or satisfactory for a
particular purpose
scramble - to
compete with other people for something there is very little of
succour / noun - help given to someone, especially
someone who is suffering or in need
endow / / verb- to give a large amount of money to
pay for creating a college, hospital, etc. or to provide an income for it
relentless / / adjective - continuing in a severe or extreme way
austerity / / noun - the condition or practice of living without
things that are not necessary and without comfort, with limited money or goods,
or a practice, habit, or experience that is typical of this
elusive / / adjective - difficult to describe, find, achieve, or
remember
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