Equality in Education creates tension :
Jasmine Bolton
Today at Uckfield College, Year 12 students are participating in a Model United Nations debate discussing potential resolutions to the world's biggest problems. The atmosphere n the Kofi Annan room was tense as debates on the subject of education commenced. The debate was chaired by Mr Ben Mclachlan and the two assistants , Mr Simon Webster and Miss Clare Brown ,they were surrounded by a collection of representatives from each country.
The meeting began with a strong introduction where the chairs emphasised the importance of education, many countries claiming that “Education is essential” in their societies. During this speech, shocking facts and statistics were revealed such as only one in twelve children in low income countries will have educational skills to help them in the future. It was clear that each country had different opinions on clause 1 which calls upon all countries to provide equivalent education for girls as well as boys, this was clearly targeting Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Australia, the sponsors of the debate, claimed they “Passionately believed that the education system should be equal , it increases happiness and creates a safer environment for everyone.” South Korea agreed, explaining that their “children are guaranteed free education up to 15 “. Conversely Afghanistan admitted their “education system is not the strongest however from since 2001, the amount of children in education has gone from 1 million to 9 million”. The United Kingdom told the fellow countries that “education is a fundamental part of our country and we fund all gender education up until the age of 18, we believe it is important for all countries to come together through this topic.
Saudi Arabia were the only country who refused to participate in the joint education of their children, they announced they don’t believe in coeducational beliefs but are trying to improve equality in education, they asked Afghanistan to voice their opinions on the matter clearly expecting support. Afghanistan claimed they have no gender discrimination and 33% of their females are in school. They said they were happy with the wording but would be more happy if , with reference to clause 7, they were teaching faith and religion to all in schools. Bouncing straight in after this statement was the United Kingdom saying they strongly disagree with Afghanistan and said religion should not interfere with education unless you were following guidelines. South Korea also involved themselves with this debate , when they challenged Afghanistan saying all children in education should be given equal opportunities and experience. After all the disagreement with their statement , the delegate from Afghanistan claimed students in education should be able to choose whether they want to practise their religion in schools.
The debate intensified as the USA referred delegates to the human rights act, they claimed religion should not interfere with education. France also spoke out against Afghanistan, they stated that they respected their religious opinion however if they believe they have improved the gender equality they need to show it. Once this heated discussion had come to an end another suggestion was given by Pakistan stating they think it is “unfair to call upon all Muslim countries in the clause , it should be changed to certain” however this suggestion wasn’t very popular with the fellow delegates.
During the voting process some changes to the resolution were agreed. The first wording change that was asked for by the Palestine delegates was to change ‘All’ countries to ‘Certain’ countries in clause 1, which called for equivalent education for boys & girls. However this change was not passed. The second change that was asked for was by the Afghanistan, they wished to add the phrase “whilst respecting the religious beliefs” to the end of clause 1, this change was passed.
It was clear that the delegates in the meeting held vastly contrasting ideas & this key topic of education would require far more debate.