Planet Repair Access To Education

Individuals

Even though it is not easy as an individual to influence government policies and to bring in innovative solutions in Education, there are a few ways that we can all contribute:

Let's first, if not already, make ourselves aware of the situation that exists in terms of lack of access to education in your neighbourhood, country and in the world, visit the Summary Report at: Access to Education
Let's try and spread that knowledge within our community, our circle of friends, family and colleagues.
Let's put together a team of like-minded, concerned individuals and start to raise funds for a local school or learning centre or for a TF project.
Let's try and visit nearby villages, schools to find out where there may be a lack of school facilities and equipment and then contribute or raise funds to help those villages and schools.
Join up with TF to help children get access to healthcare in the Himalayan villages
Let's donate our used books to children and/or schools.
Join up to mentor/teach online for a few hours in a week.

Governments & Policy Makers

Education provides both individuals and society as a whole with a wide range of benefits. Besides driving greater productivity and economic growth, access to education also enhances the standard of living and leads to better health outcomes and more peaceful and resilient societies.
Unfortunately, the world is currently in the midst of a major learning crisis, with more than 263 million children and youth worldwide out of school. Out of those who are in school, a staggering 387 million fail to reach minimum proficiency levels in reading and maths. The reasons for this are manifold, ranging from the lack of books and other learning materials to the shortage of qualified teachers and instructors.
Governments and policy makers can play a major part in addressing these issues and ensuring that every child receives the education they need to become productive members of society.
According to the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity, it will take $3 trillion in annual education spending to close the learning gap in low and middle income countries, 97 per cent of which will have to come from governments.
It’s important to point out that investments in education will deliver positive public returns in the long run. Better educated people will earn more money, pay higher taxes, and reduce the social entitlements and welfare costs for the governments.
Policy makers can begin to address this by drafting master plans that refuse to tolerate even one child being out of school. This process must be ongoing, and dedicated task forces of lawmakers will need to stay on top of such policy implementation.

Such master plans have to ensure:

Funding for new Schools & learning centres and improving existing schools in every village even if in remote locations.
Increasing funding for hiring teachers, particularly in low-income areas - since many teachers choose to work in affluent areas because of the potential for better pay or working conditions, the quality of teaching in poorer schools suffer. Policy makers and school officials need to work together to attract and retain teachers at such schools.
Ensure all schools have the basic amenities like toilets, electricity etc. and the requisite school supplies.
Provide financial assistance and/or free education for those who cannot afford.
Ensure parity in public and private spending on primary, secondary and higher education.
Educate parents on the importance of providing education to their children
Pay special attention to education for girls in all policies to bring down the gender disparity in education.

Innovation & Industry

Innovation in education is imperative to bring about qualitative changes, in contrast to the mere quantitative expansion. This will lead to more efficiency and improved outcomes in quality and equity of learning opportunities.

International surveys have found that digital technologies have not yet been fully integrated in teaching and learning. Teachers do not feel sufficiently skilled to use ICT (information & communications technology) effectively.
ICT, use of the internet and even availability of computers in village school is quite rare in the low to middle income countries.
Technology-based innovations in education reshape the environments in which schools operate. In general, they tend to open up learning environments, both to the digital world and the physical and social environment. They also bring new actors and stakeholders into the educational system, not least the education industries.
Despite fears of “marketisation”, the education industry could be an essential partner in any education innovation strategy. Instead of being considered just as providers of goods and services, different relationships between schools and industry could foster an innovation-friendly environment, with a greater focus on methods over technologies.
Only when there is an innovation-friendly culture in education systems, supported by an innovation-friendly business environment and government policies, will industries start to engage in working towards providing access to education in the rural and remote areas. Governments can support this by fostering a climate of entrepreneurship and innovation in education.

Five Ways Innovation & Industry Can Help In Providing Access To Education

Developing Skills - Cultivate a breadth of skills for children and youth to compete in the 21st century economy. As it stands today, some 40 percent of employers find it difficult to recruit employees with skills like critical thinking and communication. Cultivating a breadth of skills requires education systems to capitalize on opportunities to innovate at all levels of the ecosystem.
Expand and strengthen the education workforce - Much can be learned from the health sector here, which has helped expand access to care by diversifying the roles of health workers. Expanding the roles of teachers could enable them to become facilitators of learning rather than transmitters of content, or leverage community members to help unburden tasks. Tools such as the Stanford Mobile Inquiry-based Learning Environment platform could also play a critical role in unburdening teachers by giving them options to easily engage and simultaneously assess students while encouraging critical thinking.
Apply Innovation & Technology to learning - From enhancing learning to improving data collection to driving down costs, there should be strong focus towards technology and innovation in learning. Examples like Can’t Wait to Learn show the massive potential of gamified tablets to reach children in conflict and help children acquire 21st century social and analytical skills. Other platforms like KA Lite offer offline versions of Khan Academy to provide content where internet access is limited.
Partnerships with non-state actors to improve educational capacity - Delivering quality education is a team effort, which requires the full participation of a diverse set of organizations. In fact, the majority of innovations are delivered by non-state actors. Therefore, it encourages governments to turn to the full potential of the education ecosystem to meet the challenges ahead. With appropriate regulation and effective partnerships, civil society organizations, businesses, and employers can work closely with governments and educators to play an important role in building a learning generation.
Flexible accreditation systems - Ultimately, investments in alternative learning pathways like open educational resources such as open online courses must be supported by the entire environment to achieve results. To support the delivery of innovations, governments, policy makers, industries and employers need to broaden their approach to skills verification. In order to match the diversity of flexible learning opportunities, “employers—individually or by sector—should be encouraged to endorse and certify pathways of online learning, including through recognition mechanisms such as badges.