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Hype or Hope?
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In the mid-1990s a number of agencies located in Bangkok, including the UNICEF
Regional Bureau for Education and the Save the Children Alliance, started working on
what a school based on the (until then) rather abstract notions of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child would look like. Knowing that a programme focused on "rights-based
schools" might make some countries of the region a bit allergic, the name of "child-
friendly schools" (CFS) came into being. Eventually, through many discussions,
workshops, iterations, and pilot projects, the concept of the CFS became clearer and
now, in one form or another, is being implemented in (at last count) over 40 countries
around the world - in Asia, among other countries, in Cambodia, Thailand, Mongolia,
China, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
A child-friendly school is, as one might expect, a child-centred school. But it is also
child-seeking, actively looking for children not in school - girls, the poor, those with
disabilities or who speak a different language - instead of being satisfied with those who
knock on the school door and trying to develop a programme that will keep each of
them in school. The basic definition of a CFS, adapted easily to different contexts, is a
school that is, first of all, inclusive of all children. It therefore does not exclude,
discriminate against, or stereotype on the basis of difference; provides education that is
free and compulsory, affordable and accessible, especially to families and children at
risk; respects and welcomes diversity and ensures equality of opportunity for all children
and responds to diversity as an opportunity and a resource (not as a problem or a mere
factor of inequality) and meets the differing needs of children. It is also academically
effective with children (usually where definitions of "quality" education stop), healthy and
protective of children (both physically and psycho-socially), gender-sensitive, and
encouraging of the participation of children, their parents, and the larger community.
Several challenges remain, of course. How to make sure that reaching child-friendliness
is considered a process rather than a product - in other words, a never completed
process rather than just a label? As with other major innovations, how to ensure that a
CFS innovation moves from a project basis, funded by UNICEF or UNESCO, to a
programme firmly embedded in national plans and budgets? And despite its apparent
simplicity, it is basically about fundamental change in how schools and education
systems operate and how people behave. How to ensure, therefore, that continual
learning and change, both institutional and individual, take place and that the necessary
consolidation and institutionalisation of the innovation (e.g., in pre-service teacher
training) occur.
References
"Child Friendly Schools in East Asia and the Pacific: How friendly can they
be?" Joint UNICEF EAPRO & UNESCO Bangkok publication, May 2004