Just listening to “The Hurricane” by Bob Dylan. Quite appropriate for these days.
Well the Gorilla glue solution for the vine support seems to be really good. I always thought the TV adds oversold it, but it really does work very well.
Decided that my next hoarding target is Marmite (why do I think that should be said with a Somerset accent?).
Tonight the SDG is number 4 – Quality Education.
I had a look at my ancestry. I spotted that my grandfather had marked a certificate with an X and a note beside it said “his mark”. It meant he couldn’t write his name. We had a deaf man in the village I grew up in. I remember by dad talked about teaching him how to read – the education system had failed him. He went on to speak in public – I guess the education system just didn’t cope with people that were not “normal”.
Education is the great leveler. If people care about BLM then education is one of the answers. You can legislate racism away, but you can’t legislate racists away. A generation of education is needed to do that.
The targets for this goal are:
- By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes
- By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and preprimary education so that they are ready for primary education
- By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university
- By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship
- By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations
- By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy
- By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development
- Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all
- By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries
- By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing states
The bias in education still exists. Two thirds of illiterate adults are women. There is very little progress for this goal – one of the most important goals for long term change. Australia, France, Japan, UK and the EU provide 2/3 of the support for education overseas.
Today the government announced that it was going to radically change how overseas aid was managed. So one of the things we can do right now is write to our MP to ask them to make sure the good work we have done in supporting education is continued.
Around a billion students are missing education during the coronavirus crisis (2/3 of all students). UNESCO is working to respond to that through something called the Global Education Coalition. Organisations like Microsoft and the BBC World service are members providing support. Large scale support could be offered to COVID19taskforce@unesco.org
At a local level what can we do? Well, there a lot of people that are becoming unemployed, and there a lot of parents struggling to cope with education. One thing I’ve done is to put together a worksheet for my friends kids. We can all do that.
But if you are really desperate to de-bloat your bank account you could support work with street children.
I also wonder about the initial stages of recovery from coronavirus in this country. Should churches take the hit and provide additional space for schools as the re-start, or should they focus on their own well-being?