A classroom in Iwokrama rainforest, Guyana

The Secretariat’s work focuses on the six Action Areas adopted by the Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Edinburgh, UK, in 2003:

• achieving universal primary education
• eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education
• improving quality in education
• using distance learning to overcome barriers
• supporting education in difficult circumstances
• mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS on education systems

The Action Areas constitute a shared commitment between Commonwealth governments, the Secretariat and civil society organisations (CSOs) working in education. These include the 20 Commonwealth associations belonging to the Commonwealth Consortium for Education and other CSOs, many of which have been involved in implementing the Edinburgh Action Plan.
In monitoring progress, the Secretariat is holding three regional mid-term review ministerial meetings in 2005.

Achieving universal primary education

In many Commonwealth countries, the migration of teachers, coupled with teacher deaths from HIV/AIDS, is seriously threatening governments’ ability to provide even basic education.
To help create the enabling conditions to widen access to education and improve quality, the Commonwealth developed a Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol. This aims to help manage the voluntary migration and organised international recruitment of teachers without creating severe teacher shortages, especially in small states and in critical subject areas.

The Commonwealth Group on Teacher Recruitment, which helped develop the Protocol, included many CSOs and Commonwealth associations. This helped ensure that the Protocol was relevant for education professionals.

The Secretariat sees an important link between early childhood education and efforts to achieve universal primary education. It mobilised support for a Caribbean conference on early childhood education in 2004. Similar support was provided in Pakistan in 2005.

Gender disparities in education

Efforts to mitigate gender disparities in education have focused on identifying good practices in girls’ education. These include:

• setting up schools targeting girls from disadvantaged communities;
• community mobilisation to discuss girls’ access to and retention in schools;
• empowering women teachers;
• gender-sensitive education monitoring;
• early childhood education;
• scholarships for secondary schooling for the most disadvantaged children;
• abolition of school fees and uniforms;
• strengthening girls’ legal rights; and
• addressing sexual maturation in relation to girls’ education.

The Secretariat has developed a scorecard for tracking girls’ education. It is also working with the Commonwealth of Learning to study the extent of boys’ under-achievement at schools in selected member countries, and the causal factors behind it.

Improving quality and access

The Secretariat and its partners, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and the World Bank, co-operated in developing a set of multi-grade teacher training modules. These will address issues of improving quality in teaching mixed classes, and also help countries overcome shortages of teachers, especially in rural areas.

The Commonwealth’s work on using distance learning to overcome barriers is carried out by the Commonwealth of Learning. An intergovernmental organisation based in Vancouver, Canada, COL works with Commonwealth developing countries to improve access to quality education and training. It assists governments in achieving the MDGs and Commonwealth priorities.

Education in crisis and post-conflict circumstances

Education in crisis and post-conflict circumstances was addressed at a conference in Kenya in June 2004. Organised jointly by the Secretariat and ADEA, with support from other agencies, the conference brought together Commonwealth and other African education ministers. A Best Practice publication emerged from the conference, which also produced specific commitments relating to the delivery of education in such situations.

To promote good citizenship and observance of human rights the Secretariat supported Cameroon and Sierra Leone in developing appropriate citizenship education curricula.

HIV/AIDS and education

The Secretariat and UNESCO have jointly established a Chair for HIV/AIDS and Education at the University of the West Indies (UWI). The Chair will address specific HIV/AIDS and education issues in the region, and reinforce current regional initiatives being undertaken by UNAIDS and other agencies.

The Secretariat supported curriculum development on HIV/AIDS and education in India in 2005 to help teachers and education authorities address HIV and AIDS in a more sustained way. A special meeting of 25 ministries of education and 20 civil society partners in health and education took place in Stoke Rochford, UK, in September 2004 to discuss the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the 32 small states of the Commonwealth. Ministers agreed the Stoke Rochford Statement on HIV/AIDS.