Lack of accountability risks jeopardizing progress, says

UNESCO

New Delhi, 4 December – On the 4

th

December 2017, UNESCO New Delhi hosted the

National Launch of UNESCO’s 2017/8 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report:

Accountability in education: meeting our commitments, followed by a Panel discussion. Mr.

Shigeru Aoyagi, Director and UNESCO Representative

 gave the welcome address and Mr. Shailendra Sigdel UIS Statistical Advisor

moderated the Panel discussion, while Ms Satoko Yano, Chief of Education, shared the

highlights of the GEM report findings. The imminent panelists included Ms Avani Kapur,

Director, Accountability Initiative, Centre for Policy Research and Dr Shamika Ravi of

Brookings India. The media Q&A session was moderated by Mr Rajiv Chandran, UNIC

Officer-in-Charge.

The event was attended by over 100 participants, which included experts, academicians,

researchers, teachers, media, NGOs, as also other UNESCO partners working in the field of

education.

UNESCO’s 2017/8 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report highlights the

responsibility of all education stakeholders primarily government to provide universal

quality education and stresses that accountability is indispensable in achieving the goal of

Sustainable Development on Education. The Report, warns that disproportionate blame on

any one actor for systemic educational problems can have serious negative side effects,

widening inequality and damaging learning.

“With millions of children still not going to school, and many not achieving minimum

proficiency levels at school, indicates that education systems are not on track,” says Mr

Shigeru Aoyagi, Director and UNESCO Representative. “The 2017/18 GEM Report shows

the entire array of approaches to accountability in education and provides clear evidence on

those accountability tools that are working and those that are not.

Accountability in education: meeting our commitments he second in the GEM Report

series, which monitors progress towards the internationally agreed Sustainable Development

Goal for Education (SDG4), looks at the different ways people and institutions can be held

accountable for reaching that goal, including regulations, testing, monitoring, audits, media

scrutiny, and grass root movements.

“Education is a shared responsibility between us all– governments, schools, teachers,

parents and private actors,” said former UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

“Accountability for these responsibilities defines the way teachers teach, students learn, and

governments act. It must be designed with care and with the principles of equity, inclusion

and quality in mind.”

Whereas transparency would help identify problems, only one in six governments publish

annual education monitoring reports globally. Strong independent bodies such as

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