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UNESCO Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report 2020: Inclusion and Education

IN NEWS

• Recently, the Global Education Monitoring Report, 2020 was released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in line with its mandate, towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education.

ABOUT GEM REPORT

• The Education 2030 Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action specifies that the mandate of the Global Education Monitoring Report is to be “the mechanism for monitoring and reporting on SDG 4 and on education in the other SDGs.
• The Report explores the challenges holding us back from achieving this vision and demonstrates concrete policy examples from countries managing to tackle them with success.
• These include differing understandings of the word inclusion, lack of teacher support, absence of data on those excluded from education, inappropriate infrastructure, persistence of parallel systems and special schools, lack of political will and community support, untargeted finance, uncoordinated governance, multiple but inconsistent laws, and policies that are not being followed through.
• During the lockdown for COVID-19 school closures in April 2020 was maximum, almost 91% of students around the globe were out of school.
• To complement its online database on education inequalities, the Worldwide Inequalities Database on Education (WIDE), in January, 2020, the GEM Report launched a new online monitoring tool, Scoping Progress in Education, (SCOPE)

CONCLUSION

• It has never been more crucial to make education a universal right and a reality for all. Our rapidly-changing world faces constant major challenges due to COVID-19– from technological disruption to climate change, conflict, the forced movement of people, intolerance and hate.
• In the face of these challenges, the messages of the 2020 GEM Report on inclusion in education are poignant.

PM Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM-FME) Scheme

IN NEWS

• Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal launched the PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM FME) scheme.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The scheme, called as Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Enterprises (PM FME), aims to bring in new technology, apart from affordable credit to help small entrepreneurs penetrate new markets along with reduced food wastage, increase farmers’ income, push for investments in the food processing sector and create employment opportunities
• The PM FME scheme will be implemented over a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore.
• The expenditure under the scheme will be shared in 60:40 ratio between the Central and state governments, in 90:10 ratio with the North-Eastern and Himalayan states, 60:40 ratio with UTs with legislature and 100 percent by the Centre for other UTs.
• The scheme adopts One District One Product (ODODP) approach to reap benefit of scale in terms of procurement of inputs, availing common services and marketing of products.
• FPOs/SHGs/producer cooperatives would be provided credit-linked grant of 35 percent for capital investment along the value chain.

WAY FORWARD

• There are about 25 lakh unregistered food processing enterprises which constitute 98% of the sector and are unorganized and informal. Nearly 66 % of these units are located in rural areas and about 80% of them are family-based enterprises.
• This sector faces a number of challenges including the inability to access credit, high cost of institutional credit, lack of access to modern technology, inability to integrate with the food supply chain and compliance with the health &safety standards.
• Strengthening this segment will lead to reduction in wastage, creation of off-farm job opportunities and aid in achieving the overarching Government objective of doubling farmers’ income.

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