Education is important for everyone across the world. For this, education is given emphasis in every country. Consequently, access to education and the literacy rate have notably increased — along with a remarkable increase in the number of persons with higher education — across the world in recent decades. But millions of boys and girls are deprived of education and quality education, which indicates an education that focuses on the social, emotional, mental, physical and cognitive development of each student regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status or location, across the world. Most of those who are deprived of education are in developing and less developed countries. In terms of quality education, the situation is not promising in many countries.
Definitely, many do not get educational and quality education opportunities in terms of quality education conditions, content and processes across the world, although notable improvement has been visible in recent decades globally. But some countries and localities are more vulnerable to providing education and quality education. Children in fragile, conflict-affected countries are more than twice as likely to remain out of school. Many children in conflicting countries including Syria and Yemen cannot go to school mainly due to conflict. According to available sources, around 40 percent of children with disabilities are out of school at the primary level and 55 percent at the lower secondary level. Moreover, children in remote and marginalized communities are deprived of education and quality education in many countries.
Notably, there are policy-based, resource-driven and other barriers to education and quality education in many countries. Lack of a well-devised education policy, inadequate focus on quality content, low level of public funding, a lack of educational facilities, overcrowded classrooms and family constraints are some of the crucial causes of the deprivation of education and quality education. Notably, public funding for education is still low in many less developed countries, though it is increasing in recent years. A lack of up-to-date course materials is also an important hindrance to quality education. A lack of learning materials, an absence of classrooms, a lack of quality teachers and ill-equipped teachers are —among other barriers — crucial. Many students attend the classroom learning without any classroom.
Definitely, there are global and national efforts to provide education and quality education. Putting the emphasis on quality education in the sustainable development goals (SDG 4) for all is an important global step. Also, countries including developing and less developed countries have increased allocations for education in recent decades. Intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations provide financial and other support for education and quality education across the world. But global and local efforts are not adequate to desirably deal with diverse challenges to both education and quality education in many countries including in many less developed countries. Also, global and local efforts are less for vulnerable and marginalized populations, though they deserve more opportunities.
To provide education and improve the quality of education, challenges need to be addressed across the world. Definitely, access to education and quality education needs to be increased with more educational facilities. Improved classrooms are needed in many educational facilities in the world. Updating educational policies by reflecting quality education and securing their implementation — along with updating educational content reflecting social, emotional and other development aspects — are imperative. But training needs to be given to teachers to update their knowledge and skills needed for providing quality education. Public funding needs to be increased for quality education. Performance tests may be considered in some cases. Also, the attack on educational facilities needs to be ended in any war.
Definitely, an emphasis needs to be increasingly given to quality education for all across the world. But the emphasis on quality education needs to be given to developing and less developed countries. Public funds for both education and quality education need to be increased in less developed countries. Along with national efforts, global cooperation is crucial for many countries. But global cooperation is imperative for those countries where resource constraints are high. Programmatic measures for education need to be continued and increased for marginalized groups of children across the world.
