An Education NGO, or Education Non-Governmental Organization, is an organization that focuses on educational initiatives and programs outside the realm of government or state-run education systems. These NGOs often work to provide educational access to students who may not have access to state education, advocate for government policies that promote education for all, offer non-formal education programs, and support small and rural schools. Education NGOs play a role in addressing educational disparities, promoting inclusive and equitable quality education, and advocating for lifelong learning opportunities for all individuals.
The UN Education and Scientific Council (UNESCO) stated “education for sustainable development is a broad task that calls for the full involvement of multiple educational organizations and groups in bureaucracies and civil societies. These include Non-Governmental Organizations or NGOs.
The language of education used by nation-states, as well as international intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations (both transnational and national), and agents of civil society (many of which belong to the aforementioned categories), contributes heavily to the self-identification of individuals. NGOs can be defined as "formal organizations, and as such, they emerge when a group of people organizes themselves into a social unit that was established with the explicit objective of achieving certain ends and formulating rules to govern the relations among the members of the organization and the duties of each member" (Blau and Scott, 1970).
Historical background Influence of Education An article published in The Nation, a Pakistan newspaper, on July 2, 2018, described education as crucial to the development of all individuals. Education nurtures a person's way of thinking, inculcates values, and teaches the skills needed to succeed in life. At the same time, it helps boost the social, economic, and political progress of nations. It said governments that establish an efficient education system reaps benefits in the long-term.
The Role of NGOs, Non-State Actors, and Globalization in Education
Effects of Globalization on Education Education is rapidly becoming essential to attaining social mobility and economic stability, especially in an increasingly globalized world where technical skills and knowledge are necessary to participate in the economy.Brissett, N., & Mitter, R. (2017). For function or transformation? A critical discourse analysis of education under the Sustainable Development Goals. Journal For Critical Education Policy Studies (JCEPS), 15(1), 181-204. Considering this reality, more educational institutions are seeking to incorporate more STEM courses and career training into their curriculums. However, these educational opportunities are not widely offered, which many scholars have argued has led to greater global inequality.
Globalization has also generated a greater push for common, global educational standards such as the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, some critics argue that these standards pushes a Westernized concept of quality education and focuses on economic benefits rather than the goals of sustainable development and global equality.
Where education has been the role of the nation-state, globalization has created new institutions including global regulatory organizations, global mass media and the aforementioned global flow of populations,[Spring, Joel H. How Educational Ideologies Are Shaping Global Society: Intergovernmental Organizations, NGOs, and the Decline of the Nation-state. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004. p.10] which have contributed to the weakening of the nation-state in education. Global regulatory organizations include the intergovernmental organizations, such as membership organizations like the World Bank and World Trade Organization that regulate the world economy, as well as other international organizations such as the United Nations. These organizations operate within a context of global norms that are established, and laws that are passed, with the influence of non-state actors, or non-governmental organizations. While global regulatory organizations focus on the establishment and enforcement of policies by exerting influence over the conditions of monetary loans, NGOs attempt to establish and enforce norms through exerting a certain sense of moral authority.[Spring, Joel H. How Educational Ideologies Are Shaping Global Society: Intergovernmental Organizations, NGOs, and the Decline of the Nation-state. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004. p.28]
The governments of some African countries do not fully welcome the idea of NGO contributions towards education; thus such governments tend to be constantly involved with activities of NGOs in the education sector. However, governments regulate the activities of NGO's based on their economic standing, "administrative standing" and "historical relationship" with NGO's. Instead of direct funding, government relationship between with NGOs and non state actors in education is focused on promotion of non state actors.
Millennium Development Goals In 2000, the United Nations formed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - eight goals that sought to address global poverty, educational disparities, gender inequality, and health crises. The 191 member states of the UN committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.Nwonwu, F. (Ed.). (2007). Millennium development achievements and prospects of meeting the targets in.
Goal 2 specifically focused on providing "universal primary education," for children in every nation. The UN Education and Scientific Council (UNESCO) determined primary education to be "the beginning of systematic apprenticeship of reading, writing, and mathematics." In order to measure the progress towards achieving Goal 2, UNESCO utilized three gauges; the literacy rate of the 15 - 24 year old demographic, the net total enrollment in the primary education system and the number of students who start first grade and reach the fifth grade.
In a 2003 Education for All report, data revealed that the progress towards Goal 2 in Sub-Saharan Africa had been unsuccessful. The report disclosed that 58% of students in the area were enrolled in a primary school and that there was a 15% rate of repeating school grades in half of the countries within the region. However, research also indicates that the MDGs were in fact attained if measured on the overall, global scale. The rate of children of primary school age not receiving an education was reduced from 100 million to 57 million between the years 2000 to 2015 During this same period of time, the global literacy rate of people between 15 and 24 years old increased from 83% to 91%.Campbell, D. A. (2017). In Focus: An Update on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Journal Of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, 46e48-e55.
Sustainable Development Goals In 2016, the United Nations enacted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - a set of 17 global goals to be accomplished by 2030. Through Goal 4 (SDG 4), the United Nations seeks to "ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all."Sustainable Development Goal 4. (n.d.). [United Nations]. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg4
As of 2017, the UN reported that despite that more children in the world are attending school than ever before, millions of children still do not meet standard levels in math and reading. According to the current reports, less than half of students in 9 out of 24 sub-Saharan African nations and 6 of 15 Latin American countries had achieved proficient standards in math by the time they finished primary school. Additionally less than half of the children in a quarter of sub-Saharan African countries, who completed a primary education had reached proficient, reading standards. Due to the low achievement rates in these areas, the UN stressed that efforts in educational attainment must be increased in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia as well as "for vulnerable populations, including persons with disabilities, indigenous people, refugee children and poor children in rural areas." The UN claimed that the main factors that have contributed to these disparities were the deficient states of schools in developing areas, inadequate training for teachers and the lack of access to electricity and potable water in a majority of schools in the regions. To address these issues, in 2015, nations of the UN contributed $1 billion to the official development assistance (ODA) for scholarships.
The table below provides some historic and modern roles of NGOs in education: Role of NGOs in Education Historic roles of NGOs in Education:Spread of western education, led by religious organizations in late 19th and early 20th centuriesPlayed a key role in the inclusion of education development in international organization projects after the second world war - Development of education initiatives, outside state actors (1950s and 70s) More recent roles of NGOs in Education: - Provision of educational access to students without access to public/government education - Advocacy for government to provide access to education for all - Provision of non-formal education - Provision of support for small and rural schools
Actors in education that operate outside and across national boundaries are categorized as members of a global community.[Akira Iriye, Global Community: The Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002)] Although this does not greatly distinguish between international/transnational actors, other scholars have developed the term global civil society, including a network of NGOs that function in contrast to and sometimes competing with, the actions of nation-states. "The emergence and growth of Civil Society over the past two decades have been one of the most significant trends in international development. The World Bank recognizes that civil society plays an especially critical role in helping to amplify the voices of the poorest people in the decisions that affect their lives, improve development effectiveness and sustainability, and hold governments and policymakers publicly accountable. The purpose of this web site is to provide Civil Service Organizations (CSOs) with information, links, and materials on the World Bank's evolving relationship with civil society in Washington and throughout the world".["The World Bank and Civil Society," http://wbln0018.Worldbank.org/essd/essd.nsf/NGOs/home .] Furthermore, the World Bank is the single largest external financier of education in the world, with "Education...at the heart of the World Bank's mission to reduce global poverty" (according to their own reports).[The World Bank, Education and Development, (Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2002), p.2] The World Bank also adopts educational standards established by other international intergovernmental organizations, such as their implementation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)'s "Educational Sector Strategy", which establishes specific international targets for "primary education, adult literacy, and gender parity in basic education with the Education for All initiative" as well as the OECD's Development Assistance Committee goals".[World Bank Education: Education Sector Strategy(Washington, DC: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, 1999), p.vii]