Earlier in this unit, you read about alarming UNESCO (UIS) statistics on number of children and youth who are out of school (59 million children of primary school age, 62 million of lower secondary school age and 138 million of upper secondary age11). You also read about the extent of youth unemployment in the different regions of the world, a problem that is getting worse in many countries. This problem is also linked to the challenge of low participation in school by girl children, which you have just read about above. The traditional brick-and –mortar model for providing education cannot address the problem of access to education, neither can it provide enough training to redress the growing problem of youth unemployment. Open schooling has great potential to reach more learners and provide more resilient education systems in more cost-effective ways than the traditional brick and mortar model. As Kanwar observes, existing open schooling initiatives in developing contexts in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific, as well as in developed contexts such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, clearly demonstrate that it is possible not only to open the doors of learning for all, but to keep them open even under the most trying circumstances, (Kanwar, (2020)12 . It can be demonstrated that an integrated schooling system, with physical, distance and online learning components, can be both more resilient and more inclusive, (COL, 2020)13 . To achieve universal primary and secondary education by 2030, there is a compelling reason for developing countries to mainstream open schooling.
This activity should take you about 15 – 20 minutes to complete.
Think of your context and the out of school children and youth who are not in employment, education or training. Identify key stakeholders who should play a part in supporting open schooling in your country and explain the role any three of them should play. Post your answer in the discussion forum.
Feedback and comment on Activity 5
Key stakeholders you identified may include the following:
Government
Government is the major player at national level responsible for creating an enabling policy environment for open schooling to thrive. It also funds open schooling.
Schools (including teachers)
Schools have the human resource expertise to design open school courses and to deliver them effectively enough for open schooling to be attractive. They are responsible for designing and implementing effective learner support mechanisms.
Communities
Communities can provide support in cash or in kind – by building infrastructure, by ensuring its security and by encouraging young people to participate in the open schooling curriculum. In some cases, community people with relevant skills support the actual learning process.
The private sector
The private sector supports government by providing resources needed, especially for particular disciplines. In some instances, the private sector can establish and run open schools. Also, Internet Service Providers can be encouraged to zero-rate data used for educational purposes.
International organisations
International organisations like COL, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank provide both financial and technical support to establish open schools. They also support the running of such schools by providing resources to develop high quality materials, by training staff, and by providing the technology needed.
