Resolution number: 09
Title:
Submitted by: International Federation of Liberal Youth on 08 August 2012
The Congress of the Liberal International, convened in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on 20 October 2012
Noting that over 115 million primary-school-age children do not attend school and large numbers of children drop out before they reach any degree, that there are 882 million illiterates in the world, and that more than two thirds of the governments in the world allocate less than the minimum of 6% of their GNP to education;
Concerned by the persistence of the gender gap in education, which is reflected by the fact that nearly two thirds of the world’s adult illiterates are women;
Concerned by insufficient basic education aid to low-income countries and conflict-affected countries;
Concerned by the inability to fully include education as part of humanitarian policy and response;
Considering that through empowering the individual, education is the most effective form of development aid, and that literacy, especially functional literacy, and quality education represent a lifelong necessity for all;
Affirming that, in accordance with the commitment made in the Dakar Framework for Action, all governments have a responsibility to fulfill their obligation to human rights by providing, free and compulsory basic education of good quality for all children, including girls, youth, immigrants, indigenous students, children with special needs or in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities;
Recognizing that it is not sufficient to improve enrolment figures without considering the quality of education, and that partnerships between organizations is a key concept for the achievement of education for all;
Calls upon governments to put in place a mechanism for information, consultations and negotiations aimed at improving teachers’ excellence and working conditions, learning materials and equipment in schools, as well teacher education;
Acknowledges that schools should be based on democratic participation and accountability to civil society, by elaborating new ways of co-operation between school and parents, and between schools and different sectors of the community;
Notes that, without putting into question the priority role of formal education, complementary forms of educations, such as non-formal education provided by NGOs, can play a role in the context of the objectives of education for all;
Pleads for a detailed plan of action by international institutions, such as the UN, the World Bank, IMF, UNESCO and UNICEF, targeted towards the universal commitment to education for all, including a policy and programme for debt reduction and increased allocations to public education at all levels in the development co-operation budgets of the industrialised countries.
