Lack of emphasis on basic education

Rapid economic and social development in any community requires that residents be equipped with a wide range of vocational and social skills, yet in many small communities the attitude towards basic education may be characterized as casual. Home environments may not encourage study or intellectual enrichment; the only secondary education available to students is focused on academic curricula and offers few employment-oriented courses; students are 'streamed' into specific courses which limit their later educational options; curricula are designed neither to hold the students' interest nor to deal with their everyday needs; for some students, instruction may not be in their mother tongue, and community structures are insufficient to pass on supplementary instruction in traditional languages. Many people reach adulthood without having completed their secondary education or met the minimum requirements for obtaining well-paid jobs.

Basic education includes both essential learning tools (such as literacy, oral expression, numeracy and problem solving) and the basic learning content (such as knowledge, skills, values and attitudes) required by human beings to be able to survive, to develop their full capacities, to live and work in dignity, to participated fully in development, to improve the quality of their lives, to make informed decisions and to continue learning.