Education is the basis of equality, prosperity and human rights

it is a child's right to be educated

October 5th marks international world teacher's day, which has been celebrating, since 1994, the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. It also stands as a global reminder that education and supporting teachers to excel the level of education around the globe is Sustainable Development Goal number 4 in the 2030 outline for the global agenda.

It may seem obvious to many of us, but free access education, at least on the primary and elementary levels, is a human right and a child's that we need never stop fighting for.

Education is the door to social mobility. It is the gateway to personal growth and achievement. But beyond the right that is education, learning shapes who we are; the world's we know and understand to be true. Education can help reduce the hate and racism so prominent in our world – it can bridge the gap between our cultural, economic and even political differences.

And so World Teachers Day celebrates those who dedicate their lives to education – to giving their time in order to nurture a generation that will soon take their place.

This October 5th, we celebrate those teachers; those hard-working individuals who believe in younger generations and want to equip them with the tools to build a better world for the future. This year's theme is 'Young Teachers: The Future of the Profession'.

Read. Debate: Engage.

The good

more people have access to education than ever before

There are many ways to measure access to education around the world. Levels of literacy are one of the fundamental aspects that are measured in order to gain insight into global education – both its levels and its availability.

Another is the enrolment to primary school. The graph below, taken from the data research and visualisation organisation Our World in Data (OWD) uses information gathered by the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis to visualise current and also future predictions of the world's share of individuals with no formal means of education. As written by OWD "we should see rates of education increasing as the world develops – and by 2050, only five countries are likely to have a rate of no education above 20%: these are Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali and Niger."

projections-of-the-rate-of-no-education-based-on-current-global-education

The bad

Education can help reintegrate the world's inmates

Lack of education is inherently associated with crime, and serving prison time is too often the tragic side effect of this. Locked away behind bars, the education – whether that be understanding your rights or preparing a skillset for a future outside of incarceration – is a key aspect of rehabilitation and the restoration of dignity.

African Prisons Project (APP) is a nonprofit organisation working with prisoners across East Africa and beyond with a mission to uplift some of the world's most vulnerable and marginalized prisoners.

APP operates in prisons across Uganda and Kenya, working to put “the power of the law in the hands of the poor” by providing education, training, and legal services to prisoners as well as prison personnel.

Support APP as they uplift Africa’s most vulnerable inmates

by Yair Oded

African Prisons Project is bringing justice to East Africa's most vulnerable prisoners and puts the power of the law in the hands of the poor.

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Education the world over

Peter Tabichi - the world’s best teacher about the role of science in ending poverty

by Bob Koigi

Peter Tabichi, a science teacher in rural Kenya who won this year’s Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize, (nicknamed the Nobel Prize for education), has dedicated his profession to provide space and mentorship to children from poor backgrounds.

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University of the People: changing the world, one student at a time

by Yair Oded

Established in 2009, the University of the People is the world's only tuition free online university, which now offers degrees in Business Administration, Computer Science, Health Science, and Education to students from all across the globe. Their diverse student body is comprised primarily of individuals who would have either limited or no access to education otherwise, as well as of members of vulnerable communities, such as refugees and undocumented persons.

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Country focus

Thailand

South-east Asian Thailand, or The Kingdom of Thailand, has been heavily shaped by Buddhism, its monarchy and military. With a population of 69 million, Thailand has experienced domestic political trouble since 2001 when Thaksin Shinawatra took office as prime minister until he was ousted by the military in 2006.

In regards to education, Thailand went from a 31 percent illiteracy in 1990 to 78 percent in 2011 respectively. While the country develops economically and in many ways socially, the media in Thailand is almost entirely controlled by the state and military. And while technically the media are free to report on corruption, human rights abuses and policies, according to the the BBC, "A strict lese majeste law prohibits media in Thailand from reporting anything that could be deemed critical of the royal family, and journalists tend to exercise self-censorship regarding the military, the judiciary and other sensitive issues."

All stories about Thailand

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