Brussels, 03/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - In her report on basic education in developing countries in the context of the extraordinary session of the UN General Assembly devoted to children, during September in New York, British Labour member Glenys Kinnock recalls that all children up to the age of 15 are entitled to free, good quality education, as affirmed during the world conference on education held in Dakar in 2000. She calls for a world initiative on education to be launched as a matter of urgency.
The report mainly calls on: 1) the European Commission to work in close coordination with the national governments, the civil society, NGOs, UN partners and international financial institutions in developing national indicative programmes and cooperating with national governments in order to share out responsibilities and avoid duplication; 2) the EU to take the initiative of setting up innovative partnership between the governments and the private sector, in order to release EUR 1 billion annually in favour of education for all; 3) the community of donors to encourage the teaching of information and communication technologies where the level of basic education allows.
The report also stresses that schools should be "safety areas" where children's rights are respected and where the cases of sexual harassment and acts of violence in and around schools are noted and taken seriously. It also considers that people of all categories of age, including those who have left school very early, should have the possibility to benefit from lifelong learning programmes and even have access to primary education that they may have missed during their childhood. Ms Kinnock also hopes that special attention will be granted to reinsertion with the society of former child soldiers, through specialised teaching programmes.
The Kinnock report will be examined on Thursday 9 September by the EP plenary in Strasbourg.