These are the regions in the world where people have most faith in their schools

Across the world, people feel schools are not preparing students for jobs, a new survey shows.

Representational image of a schoolgirl | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

• A majority of people around the world don’t feel that schools are preparing students for jobs.
• Education remains a priviledge rather than widely available.
• There is strong support among the public for global cooperation.

Did you feel ready for your first job?

Probably not, but a new poll by SAP and Qualtrics suggests that across the world people still don’t feel that local schools are preparing students to get jobs.

In just two regions, respondents rated schools as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.

A disappointing report card

The survey asked ‘How would you rate local schools when it comes to preparing students to get jobs today?’.

As the chart below shows, most respondents believe that local schools are underperforming. Only in East Asia and the Pacific and South Asia do a majority have an overall positive outlook.

Added to that is the feeling that access to a quality education remains a privilege, rather than something the majority of the population are able to enjoy.

With a quality education a key part of the Sustainable Development Goals, clearly plenty of homework is still needed – particularly given the changes brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

As the World Economic Forum’s Schools of the Future: Defining New Models of Education for the Fourth Industrial Revolution report explains, education systems have “become increasingly disconnected from the realities and needs of global economies and societies” and need to adapt to provide future generations with the skills they need.

A positive lesson: we need to work together

The survey also explored attitudes towards global cooperation – with much more positive results.

In every region, a majority of people believe it’s ‘important’ or ‘very important’ for countries to work together towards a common goal.

Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia had the biggest majority in favour, with Western Europe the lowest. Globally, more than a third of respondents believe it’s very important.

And, not only do people think it’s a good idea, they also think countries benefit.

More than 10,500 respondents took part in the survey, across 30 countries, representing around three-quarters of the global population.