AIN and National Campaign for Education (NCE) is jointly organizing one-month long campaign on education. Excerpts from interview with Deergha Narayan Shrestha, Coordinator of Education Working Group, about the campaign.
What is the campaign about?
This is a part of the global campaign started on October 2009. It is supported by World Leaders like Ban Ki Moon, Hilary Clinton, Prime Ministers from Spain and Australia, footballers and celebrities.
The campaign is about ensuring children''s rights to education. As the government has already ratified the United Nations Convention of Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and Education for All Goals, there is a need of strong commitment not only from the government but also from the stakeholders concerned and civil society. Any campaign cannot be successful unless and until there is active involvement of civil society. So the campaign tends to draw attention of not only the government but of people working in different sectors of society.
Why is there a need for this campaign in Nepal?
The Education for All Goal aims to provnews_ide education to all children and adults by 2015. We have only four years left and there is less possibility to meet the goal. There are a good many issues to be addressed before the goal could be realized. The list might be long. However, we have focused especially on three key issues to draw attention of the government as well as of donors, civil society and people of different social sectors. To address such issues, we have three policy demands.
1. Financing in education: Allocate at least 20% of national budget for education sector.
2. Maintain transparency on educational policy, program and budget from centre to the grassroots.
3. Declare and promote School as ''Zone of Peace''.
This is a campaign through which Association of International NGOs (AIN) together with the National Campaign for Education, Nepal (NCEN) would appeal to people in different social sectors for their support. We already got support from high-ranking officials of Ministry of Education, Department of Education, Ministry of Sports,footballers, first women Everest summiteers and many others.
What activities will be carried out in the campaign?
We launched it on June 10th, 2010 on the eve of the FIFA World Cup, and it will continue till the closing of the event. A PSA will be aired very soon through the media before the World Cup matches. The campaign will also move forward in the form of emails and email signatures using the ''GOAL: Education for All'' logo. We are in the process of linking this campaign with the in-country football tournaments. Visual materials will be developed. We will be campaigning in the slum areas too. At the end, there will be a rally featuring several celebrities and representatives of civil society.
Deergha Narayan Shrestha
Coordinator
Education Working Group, AIN
The past chair Mr. Chij Kumar Shresth addressing the 1 Goal campaign lunch program.
The past AIN Chair signing the petition for education for all.