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PRIORITYMEASURE9
“Invest in youth, through specific public policies and differentiated access, especially through the provision, without discrimination, of universal, free, public,
secular, high-quality, intercultural education inorder to ensure that this stage of life is full and satisfactory, to enable them to develop as autonomous
individualswitha sense of responsibility and solidarity andwith the ability to tackle creatively the challenges of the twenty-first century.”
Possible lines of action
1. Guarantee universal coverage of free, secular, intercultural and non-discriminatory public education, ensuring all the resources this
implies; 2. Institute comprehensive programmes of support for public education designed to boost its quality, ensure it is secular and
intercultural, and promote retention at all levels; 3. Improve school management at all levels, from the ministry or sercretariat to the
classroom; 4. Bring the curriculum into line with the technological revolution; 5. Facilitate access to ICTs for school performance by
students; 6. Take advantage of new technologies to improve teaching and learning; 7. Update school curricula; 8. Promote good learning
practices in classrooms on the basis of comparative international experience, considering the specific features of each national and
subnational situation; 9. Improve teacher training; 10. Improveworking conditions conditions for teachers; 11. Attract the highest skilled
to the teachingprofession; 12. Introduce systems formonitoring and evaluating coverage andquality.
Targets
1. All public education institutions offer, without discrimination, instruction that is secular, intercultural, free andof highquality; 2. All children,
adolescents andyouthhave access,without discrimination, topublic institutions that are secular, intercultural, free endof highquality; 3. Reduce
gaps, particularlyqualitygaps, betweenpublicandprivateeducation, especiallyat theprimaryand secondary levels.
Tentative indicators
1. Percentage of the school population attending educational establishments that offer free, secular, intercultural and non-discriminatory
education; 2. Investment in public education per student, by educational level and type of education (at least public or private); 3. Quality of
educationby level and typeof education (at least publicorprivate).
Related instruments,
forums andmechanisms
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 26; Ibero-American Convention on the rights of youth, article 22, “Right to Education”;
SDGs, targets 4.1, 4.2 and 4 .3. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has an accountability mechanism, the “Universal Periodic
Review”, based on reports from countries and rapporteurs. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and its accountabilitymechanism
could also be important, as noted under Prioritymeasure 7, although in this case the most relevant provision is article 28 on the right to
education. Because it deals with education issues, UNESCO has an obvious role in promoting andmonitoring this Prioritymeasure. The
Organization of Iberoamerican States for Education, Science andCulture has established a set of targets in this area for 2021 (see [online]
http://www.oei.es/metas2021.pdf).
Comments
This PM contains several points that are complicated to measure, such as the secular, intercultural and non-discriminatory nature of
education and its quality. For themoment, specificmeasurement of these points remains an unresolved challenge.Whatevermeasurement
method is chosen, the indicators should be disaggregated by age, sex, area of residence, socioeconomic level and ethnicity.
