Social equality is a state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in respect to civil rights, freedom of speech, property rights and equal access to social goods and services. It includes concepts of health equity, economic equality and other social securities. It also entails equal opportunities and obligations, and so involves the whole society.
On average, and considering the population size, income inequality increased by 11% in developing countries between 1990 and 2010. A significant majority of households in developing countries – more than 75% of the population - are living in societies where income is more unequally distributed than it was in the 1990s. Beyond a certain threshold, inequality affects growth, poverty reduction, and more broadly, the quality of relationships in public and political spheres as well as self-esteem.
Why Education is crucial to achieving SDG-10
Quality education raises consciousness about existing inequalities and contributes to ensuring that laws and social programmes primarily protect disadvantaged and vulnerable people. It helps to empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status. (Access to Learning objectives SDG-10)
Early Childhood Care and Education
- At this stage, children learn how to interact and communicate positively with others. Games and role play can be used to introduce the notions of inequality, fairness and sharing, e.g. through the equal or unequal distribution of coins or sweets, thereby increasing the learners’ sense of generosity and sharing. (Access Educational materials here)
Primary Education
- At this level, learners get acquainted with the links between education and inequality, with the double dimension of education as both a factor that conditions inequalities later in life (e.g. through access to formal jobs) and a powerful instrument for advancing equity and impacting on income. They learn to express views on why a particular inequality is negative and develop solutions for reversing this kind of situations, while respecting diversity and the choices of others. (Access Educational materials here)
Secondary Education
- At this level, students explore the causes of inequalities and their impact on the wider society and economy. Through the respect for other different cultures, they develop strategies to promote social cohesion between groups of diverse natures. (Access Educational materials here)
Pedagogical Resources
- We Work Together - Can You? - A resource for those who are working with children and young people, and who are trying to contribute towards peace and understanding, both locally and globally.
- The Goats Of Anarchy – Leave No One Behind - A special adventure to support SDG 10.
Ideas for Classroom Activities
- Children On The Move - This resource aims to:
- Build an understanding of what life is like for people forced to flee their homes;
- Understand that migration has and continues to affect everyone.
- Your World, My World - The Children's Stories - This resource is a collection of children’s stories.
- Your Life, My Life - The following ideas could be used to help build learners’ self esteem whilst at the same time repeating and reinforcing messages around shared needs. Celebrating differences each week will support learners to respect and enjoy the richness of diversity.
Multimedia Educational Resources
- Come Celebrate SDG 10 Reduced Inequalitites With Patsy Peace & Eco Boys And Girls - Poster
- We Work Together - Can You? - Working for peace and development advocacy.
Get Inspired
- Raglan Road Community Centre, South Africa- Creating socio-environmental safety nets for Early Childhood - integrated approaches to sustainability - Page 7 - The project integrates pressing socio-environmental issues into learning strategy, developing projects and responses targeting the largest threats facing the children attending the ECD centre. For example, child abuse, HIV/AIDS, poverty and nutrition are all areas targeted both within the school curriculum and as part of the centre’s integrated community projects. The centre has successfully integrated social development projects into a framework that meets the needs of early childhood learners in an environmentally sustainable manner. Not only do the projects provide needed skills to adults within the community, but these skills are focused on creating sustainable socio-environmental safety nets for the children attending the ECD programme that is the heart of the centre.
Pedagogical Resources
- Embracing Diversity - Toolkit For Creating Inclusive, Learning-Friendly Environments.
- Ali Finds A Way - Ali is a blind teenager in the ancient Middle East who studies hard and helps his father. One year when Ali leads their sheep to the town market the journey takes an unexpected twist!
- Refugees And Migration – Words To Unite Us - This unit of work, "Words to unite us", allows students to explore the complex theme of a common humanity, using picture story books.
Ideas for Classroom Activities
- A Multilingual Treasure Hunt - This resource aims for students to experience a situation where they cannot find their way because they are unable to speak the language and empathise with refugees.
- Holiday Bag Or Get-Away Bag? - This resource aims to:
- Understand the impact that fleeing from a desperate situation would have on someone's life;
- Empathise with situations that others find themselves in.
- Migration Is Part Of Our Shared History - This resource aims:
- For students to understand that migration has and continues to affects everyone.
- To empathise with the concerns and needs of others.
Multimedia Educational Resources
- Meet Nurul And Her Friends - In Tampines Primary School – Singapore, Nurul and her friends changed how their friends treated the cleaners and returned the cleaners’ dignity to them.
- We're Not So Different - Let's Stand As One - This film is part of Oxfam's Stand as One campaign which calls for solidarity with people forced to flee. Use it with the resource for 8-14 years to think about our similarities and what we need for a good life.
- A To Do List For The Planet - Goal 10 (Reduced Inequalities) - This comic poster presents the meaning of reduced inequalities.
Get Inspired
- The Recycling School- The Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE) - Each day Cairo produces nearly 14,000 tons of garbage. At the foot of Mokattam live the vast metropolis’ trash collectors, known as “zabbaleen”. Living on the income derived from the garbage they collect, this separate “caste” lives excluded from society. The Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE) strives to improve their living conditions and, more importantly, to restore their dignity by transforming their work into an actual business Today, recycling is an important industry. The Recycling School gives children the necessary basic education, health recommendations, and practical training to turn recycling into a genuine trade.
Pedagogical Resources
- Equality: Why It Matters - Technical Note presenting SDG 10, why we should care, even if we don’t face any discrimination, what are some examples of inequality, if we can actually achieve equality for everyone in this world, and how?
- Get Connected - Migration People On The Move - This issue of “Get Connected” encourages you to explore questions around refugees and migration and to do something constructive with what you learn.
- I Packed This Myself - This Education Pack throws a spotlight on the lives of migrant workers in Cornwall to encourage understanding about the issues they face. Too often, a lack of understanding leads to migrant prejudice and isolation.
Ideas for Classroom Activities
- Human Rights And The Global Goals - This resource aims to help learners know their rights and ability to claim them, including child rights, and that this contributes to the Global Goals.
- How To Make Every Day World Children’s Day - This resource aims to:
- Understand the link between the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Global Goals;
- Be able to distinguish between rights, needs and wants;
- Empathise with issues facing children around the world.
- The World Is Not Equal – Is That Fair - This resource aims to:
- Know there are different types of inequality;
- Present a concise but persuasive argument based on research;
- Explore the impact inequality can have on the wider society and economy.
Multimedia Educational Resources
- SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities - This video presents the need for citizenship to engage in efforts to reduce inequalities.
- The Story Of Stuff - The Story of Stuff, originally released in December 2007, is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns.
- Draw Disability - “Draw Disability” aims to enhance awareness among children and youth on disability by inviting them to reflect on the concept of disability and to draw how they see Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in their communities.
Get Inspired
- Egypt-Learning and Earning in Cairo’s Garbage City - Page 41 - The Spirit of Youth Association (SOY) is an Egyptian non-governmental organization located in Manshiyet Nasser, one of the largest Zabaleen community districts in Cairo. Set up by members of the community, the NGO aims to empower young community members through educational projects. SOY’s core project is the Recycling School for Boys, which aims to enhance the diffusion of practical knowledge both to improve qualifications levels and to empower the community in the recycling business. The school’s broader goal is to reduce poverty and marginalization, and improve health standards within the Zabeleen community. These objectives are met through literacy programmes, which are mainly delivered in the specific work-oriented practical context familiar to the learners. Boys learn about their rights as well as their duties towards people and their environment.
