SUMMARY
G LO B A L E D U C AT I O N M O N I TO R I N G R E P O R T 2 0 1 6
Education also has a positive social impact, particularly in reducing crime. In England and Wales (United Kingdom),
prolonging compulsory schooling has led to a major reduction in crime and violence. In the United States, investing in
early childhood education has had long-term effects on reducing crime in adulthood.
Education can improve awareness of environmental challenges and responsibilities in cities. Educational tools have
been important in the mass adoption of bus rapid transit and cycling. In Lagos, Nigeria, an extensive communication
programme on a new bus rapid transit system helped reduce implementation delays. In countries with cycling cities,
such as Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, education is woven into an integrated approach with children
receiving extensive training from an early age.
… BUT CAN ALSO CONTRIBUTE TO URBAN INEQUALITY
To ensure that education does not exacerbate social stratification, governments need to balance education-related
activities that can improve a city’s competitiveness with those that can improve social inclusion.
F I GURE 5:
Developing countries have rural–urban disparity but also very high
intra-urban disparity
100
90
80
70
Urban rich
60
50
Rural rich
40
National
30
Rural poor
20
Urban poor
10
Palestine
Jordan
Egypt
Viet Nam
Thailand
Philippines
Syrian A. R.
India
Sudan
Nepal
Pakistan
Honduras
0
Cambodia
Lower secondary completion rate (%)
Disparity based on location (rural–urban) and wealth (bottom and top
quintile) in lower secondary completion rates
There is as much – if not more – substantial
inequality in education within urban areas
as between urban and rural areas. The
potential benefits of being in an urban area
can be undermined by a lack of policies
addressing inequity. Discriminatory
policies and practices, such as inequitable
distribution of good teachers, can also
exacerbate inequality. In the Concepción
metropolitan area of Chile, major
differences were found in the distribution of
schools of good quality.
Private schools, often resulting from poor
government provision, can both alleviate
and exacerbate inequality. School choice
– allowing parents to choose between
public, private, charter or other non-state
institutions – is often both a cause and
consequence of demographic stratification.
Source: GEM Report team analysis (2016) based on Demographic and Health
Surveys, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and national household survey data.
Inequality in education can be perpetuated
by negative attitudes. Teachers routinely
exhibit discriminatory attitudes towards
children of migrants and minorities, which
can contribute to their social marginalization. In Shanghai, first-grade teachers were more likely to report that
migrant students performed below their grade level in language, even after controlling for background characteristics.
Education can also perpetuate social exclusion if schools serving the disadvantaged are violent.
Segregation by ethnicity, social class or race is a dominant feature of education in cities in the United States, much
of Europe and countries with legacies of troubled race relations, such as South Africa. Education-based segregation
is greater in high tech, knowledge-based metropolitan areas. In 90% of the 30 largest US metropolitan areas,
segregation between upper and lower income households has increased. Research from 13 major European cities
indicates that socio-economic and spatial segregation is rising as more educated populations fuel the growth of
knowledge-intensive industries.
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