“Education”: One thinks of school lessons, classwork, and homework. It doesn’t always feel good – even if everyone knows how important it is to know a lot.
In fact, education is one of the most important things in life: Those who can go to school and learn to have a better chance of living without poverty. Because with a school leaving certificate it is easier to find a job to earn money for yourself and your family. And well-trained workers are urgently needed all over the world.
Education is a human right
The math booklet of an Indian student living in a slum
Because education is so important, it is a human right to be able to go to school to learn a trade or study. Education is therefore on the same level as other general human rights – for example, the right to freedom of expression or the right to equality between women and men.
You don’t have to “earn” human rights, you only have them by being human, without any consideration. And this applies to everyone – regardless of where you were born in the world, whether you are male or female, poor or rich, disabled or not. This is what the United Nations laid down in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Guaranteeing the right to education is, therefore, an important duty of all states.
Education – for a lifetime!
Teaching has not at all been significant as it is these days. Opportunities for women and men to achieve their full extent over the course of their lives will be shaped more than before by the level of education and qualifications achieved.
Education means securing the future
Education means securing the future on both the individual and the social level. Demographic development, economic structural change and the internationalization of the markets require an educational system that counteracts social, cultural and gender-specific inequalities and promotes the individual potential of all girls and boys at every educational level.
Towards equality in education
there is still a lot to do! This includes the systematic and overarching anchoring of gender mainstreaming and gender-conscious pedagogy in educational policy and educational institutions, increasing gender competence among teachers and educational staff, as well as creating a balanced relationship between women and men at the different hierarchical levels of the Educational system.
In early childhood education, in addition to increasing the participation of children with a migration background, the acquisition of language skills, as well as scientific and mathematical skills, must be promoted. Developing potential through improved access and learning opportunities, especially for children and adolescents from poorly educated backgrounds and with a migration background, can be seen as an overarching goal in school education. The task will be to promote and support in addition to increasing the level of qualifications, acquiring social skills, overcoming gender stereotypes and reducing gender inequalities. From the first levels of the education system, incentives are necessary to enable education and career choices that are independent of traditional gender roles.
