Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

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The Church Works to Improve Education in Belize

education in belizeIn developing countries, education is the most important sector for governments to direct resources to. In Belize, a Central American country south of Mexico, the education system has major ties to the British system. Belizeans lived under British rule until 1981, and as a result, the country often uses Britain as a model. Quality education in Belize is particularly important considering that almost two-thirds of Belizeans are under the age of 20, so the future of Belize rests on the shoulders of the young.

The education system in Belize can be divided into three parts: primary education, secondary education and tertiary education. Primary education is mandatory for children until they turn 14, and is free if the school is public. Parents face the possibility of fines if they do not send their child to primary school, but these fines are comparable to the fees associated with the “free” education. Some public schools are in bad neighborhoods and many parents cannot afford to buy their children uniforms or books, so a number of children still leave school to work before the age of 14. Secondary school takes about four years to complete on average and is similar to an American high school education. Universities comprise tertiary school.

While most young children are enrolled in primary school, many question the quality of education in Belize. Teachers are paid very little, and many of them are inadequately trained. In Belize, there is no official separation of church and state, so Christian churches have the largest influence on education in Belize. This results in uneven quality among educational facilities, as more money is poured into schools run by the Roman Catholic Church.

While the lack of a divide between church and state widens the gap between good schools and poor schools, the church has contributed a lot to improve education in Belize. A prime example of this trend can be observed at Unity Presbyterian School in Belize City.

This author had the opportunity to visit Belize City and converse with Pastor Ernest Betson, an ordained Creole minister. Betson founded a church in one of the poorest areas in Belize City in 2006, along with his wife Carolyn. They saw the lack of educational opportunities for children in the area and decided to build a school alongside the church in 2007.  At first, the school only offered preschool programs, but today it accommodates children through grade six.

With the help of the organizations Help Another National Develop Schools and Mission to the World, the school has improved immensely, and each year it educates hundreds of children who would otherwise not be in school. Unity Presbyterian School has a large playground, a computer lab and music programs, as well as classes for basic subjects. In an area affected by human trafficking and gang violence, the school has brought a lot of hope to the young people in the area. Unity Presbyterian School is particularly inspiring in that it serves as an excellent example of Belizeans helping improve the lives of other Belizeans with the help of foreign aid but not dependent on foreign intervention.

While there are still many obstacles for impoverished children seeking education in Belize, there are many organizations, religious and non-religious, seeking to bridge the gap. With people like Pastor Betson spearheading the campaign for better education in Belize, the country can expect to see more improvements in future years.

– Julia McCartney

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Using AI to Fight Poverty Worldwide

Using AI to Fight Against PovertyDiscussions about artificial intelligence (AI) often center around one of two ideas: the first looks at the exciting prospect of driverless cars and other advanced technology. The second investigates the irreversible rise of AI and how it could leave an entire socioeconomic class jobless. But it is time to initiate a third discussion around AI: specifically, using AI to fight poverty and helping 3 billion people around the world.

AI is on the Rise

Deputy Secretary-General of the U.N. Amina Mohammed said the greatest global challenge today is eradicating poverty. The elimination of poverty worldwide is the main U.N. Sustainable Development goal, and AI is making this problem easier to solve. So pressing is this issue that the XPRIZE Foundation announced a $5 million prize for projects that are using AI to fight poverty and tackle socio-economic challenges.

Stanford Poverty & Technology Lab is a prime example of the recent proliferation of companies and incubators dedicated to finding technology-based solutions to poverty and gross inequality. “Poverty and economic immobility is clearly a huge problem in the U.S.,” said Elisabeth Mason, founding director of the Stanford Poverty & Technology Lab. “It’s time that we get serious about designing 21st-century solutions.”

AI is Adaptable

While the expansion of AI may threaten blue-collar jobs, the data-mining abilities of AI could also be used to speed up job searches and predict which skills and training will be needed for them. Using AI to fight poverty extends beyond curbing unemployment levels.

AI could also provide the poor with a quality education that responds and adapts to the users’ specific needs. “Access to information has always been a big differentiator with poverty,” Mason said. “If we can use the right tools and develop the right programs, we’re looking at a different world.”

AI could help address or predict some of the primary causes of poverty, including food shortages, epidemics, illiteracy and natural disasters. In times of natural disaster, AI is widely used to determine the location of casualties by analyzing social-media communication and parsing satellite and drone imagery. Scientists at Stanford are using AI and satellite remote-sensing data to anticipate food shortages by accurately predicting crop yields months in advance.

AI is Helpful in Agriculture

Predicting crop yields is not enough, though. Data provided by the World Bank shows that 65 percent of poor working adults make a living through agriculture.

Technology companies such as FarmView are working to solve the global food crisis by improving the agricultural yield of various stable crops. Sorghum is a valuable cereal crop in developing countries, India, Nigeria and Ethiopia in particular, that could be cultivated more efficiently with the help of AI. The highly sophisticated and selective crop breeding that exists in the U.S., with valuable foods like corn, does not exist in developing countries.

FarmView utilizes AI and four-wheeled robots to drive through fields to measure everything from potential signs of disease to plant color, shape and size in order to give poor farmers the “information they need to cultivate the most nutritionally-packed crop of sorghum possible for their environment —at the highest possible yield.”

These are some examples of the ways AI is making the world a better place not just for the affluent but for those in need, too. While advancements in AI technology will no doubt present us with moral, ethical and socio-economic challenges, it is also one of the most promising tools to end extreme poverty and stimulate economic growth. Using AI to fight poverty can once and for all help bring an end to what is widely considered the greatest challenge facing mankind.

– Johnny Harounoff

Photo: Pixabay

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Numerous Benefits of Student Model Organizations

model organizations
College and high school are formative years in the lives of many people. The subjects students choose to study and organizations they chose to participate in can change their outlook on the world for years to come. Many in college will choose to join clubs attached to their majors, such as psychology majors in psych clubs or biology majors in bio clubs. However, the world of international politics often crosses the borders of all subjects.

International laws and treaties base objectives on studies carried out by various experts. So, oftentimes, students with an interest in their own corner of the world find themselves drawn into the world of international relations. With little time to cover two majors, or their high school not offering classes on the subject, students are introduced to the benefits of model organizations.

What Are Model Organizations?

For those unfamiliar with this term, model organizations are clubs dedicated to the study of international organizations. The two most popular are Model United Nations (MUN) and the Model Arab League (MAL). Both the MUN and MAL are usually clubs on college campuses and high schools that have branches around the world.

The goal of these organizations is to educate participants about the workings of large-scale international organizations. This endeavor is accomplished largely through online resources, but the best tool is the participation in simulations at conferences around the United States and the world. Students participate in weekend-long formal conferences, where they have the opportunity to take on the role of a representative of an assigned nation.

The participant must study his or her assigned country and represent its views accurately during the conference, an activity that serves as one the the greatest benefits of the model organizations.

New Perspectives

Students are often times unfamiliar with world governments; stances compared to those of their home country. For example, a student in the United States who is studying chemistry in college can be assigned as a representative of Tunisia for a Model Arab League conference — a nation most likely unfamiliar to both the student and the U.S.

In another scenario, a student may be interested in science, and so he or she may elect to participate in the Council of Arab Environmental Affairs Ministry.

One topic on the simulated ministry’s agenda is the “Evaluat[ion] and mitigat[ion of] the negative environmental impacts of water-related infrastructure and resource use, e.g., the construction of dams and canals, the overuse of aquifers, as well as the desalination industry.”

After studying Tunisia’s stance on the use of water, the student may find that that he or she supports a resolution mitigating the overuse of aquifers, but does not have strong feelings about dams. The student will then discuss this topic with other nation representatives, and may quickly learn the representatives of Iraq, Syria and Kuwait, for instance, have strong feelings about the construction and use of dams.

Even without participating in the simulation, students can benefit from the model organization because they most likely would have never learned about the depths of complexity behind water rights between two nations, and so now have an expanded knowledge and perspective on the world.

As a student of the sciences, he or she could now more effectively understand how to find a solution that benefits both the environment and the nations which share the water.

Model U.N.

Based in the United States, the National Model United Nations (MUN) organization is the largest host of conferences around the world. This year the National Models Organization will be hosting five major conferences, two of which will take place in the United States — one in Washington D.C. and another in New  York City.

The other three will be hosted in China, Germany and Ecuador. Students will be able to participate in the simulation of the United Nations General Assembly, Security Council, World Health Organization, UNESCO, FAO and others. Topics are planned to range from preventing terrorism and extremism in the Horn of Africa via the Security Council simulation, to improving response and coordination in addressing mental health in the WHO simulation.

Students benefit from the model organizations by learning to cooperate with people from other countries as they try to pass joint resolutions to fix major local and international issues.

Model Arab League

Although the Arab League is often considered ineffective and mostly a formality, the model organization is actually much more. As a college participant myself, my MAL club was invited to both the Turkish Embassy and the Palestinianian Mission in the United States, where we were given a formal but friendly lecture on the stances of Turkey and Palestine on a variety of important topics.

The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations is the largest host of conferences in the United States; its discussions are located in major cities across the country. In this case, a major benefit of the model organizations is educating participants about the various cultures and political ideologies of the Arab World, which oftentimes are clumped into one. Now, more than ever, it is important to treat the Arab World as separate nations rather than just the “Middle East.”

Global Citizens

At the end of the conferences, students come away more educated and mindful of international dynamics and complexities. One person may now know why it is not so easy to stop pollution in the developing world. Another might understand the complexities of switching solely to renewable energy.

The world benefits from the model organizations due to where these bright students will go after becoming a globally-minded citizen. Even if these students do not go directly into international politics, they will help shape their world in a better direction.

– Nick DeMarco

Photo: Flickr

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Top Nine Nelson Mandela Quotes About Education

Top Nine Nelson Mandela Quotes About Education

Nelson Mandela was a man who carried varied and numerous titles throughout his life. He was, among other things, a revolutionary, nonviolence anti-apartheid activist, philanthropist, human rights activist, the first black president of South Africa and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. He even went through 27 years in prison for his efforts to bring harmony and equality to South Africa. One of his great legacies was his contributions to education.

Nelson Mandela Quotes about Education

Mandela recognized education as a great vehicle to bring equality of opportunity to the world. Here are nine Nelson Mandela quotes about education:

  • “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.”
  • “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
  • “The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation.”
  • “A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.”
  • “Young people must take it upon themselves to ensure that they receive the highest education possible so that they can represent us well in future as future leaders.”
  • “Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savour their songs.”
  • “No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.”
  • “Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”
  • “It is not beyond our power to create a world in which all children have access to a good education. Those who do not believe this have small imaginations.”

The man’s inspiring life story has touched even more people’s lives than his quotes about education. The many funds and foundations he established during his lifetime continue to help and advocate for the causes he cared about; such causes include the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, The Nelson Mandela Foundation and The Mandela Rhodes Foundation.

Institute for Education and Rural Development

As for the education sector, in particular, The Nelson Mandela Institute for Education and Rural Development provides education for rural children in South Africa that encounter educational barriers such as collapsing classrooms, leaking roofs, shortages of desks and shortages of teachers.

The institute creates tools and methods to develop teacher training systems, works with the community, refurbishes classrooms and helps students develop their language skills as well as their confidence.

The Gift of Education

The gift of education is indeed something to be celebrated. To work towards Mandela’s honorable vision of a free and equal society, the world will require the knowledge, resources and insight that education brings. The Nelson Mandela quotes about education featured above express why education is so important.

Education is an investment essential to empowering individuals to reach their full potential and to make their own positive impact on the world.

– Connie Loo

Photo: Flickr

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Addressing Work That Supports Education in the Philippines

work that supports education in the PhilippinesThough the Philippines’ schooling system has significantly evolved in past years, many Filipinos still find challenges in receiving a quality education. The World Bank believes that increasing education opportunities could economically benefit the Philippines as well. Here is a list of work that supports education in the Philippines.

  1. PETC Workers Help Repair a Philippine School
    On July 1, 2016, the Lear Philippine Engineering and Technology Center (PETC) reported its work to support the Philippines’ “Brigade Eskwela” (Brigade for Education). Seventy engineers and associates painted a wall and classroom at Maguikay Elementary school. The volunteers also repaired some of the classroom’s amenities. The PETC put up a donation box at the school and received books, four sets of wall fans and $150 in contributions for incoming students’ school supplies.
  2. The Philippines’ Successful K-12 Reform
    In August 2016, the Philippines’ long-running K-12 education reform efforts helped 1.5 million students attend eleventh grade for the first time. The Philippines’ new K-12 law adds two years of senior high school, eleventh and twelfth grade, to the country’s required education system.
    Contrary to the number of students who completed the tenth grade in 2015, almost 50,000 more enrolled in the new eleventh grade for 2016. The change was especially significant since the Philippines was originally one of a few countries with a 10-year basic education system.
  3. UNESCO Helps the Philippines’ Department of Education
    In September 2016, UNESCO met with the Philippines’ Department of Education and thanked it for its continued cooperation in various activities. Dr. Leonor Magtolis, the department’s secretary, thanked UNESCO for its work that supports education in the Philippines. Magtolis also thanked UNESCO for its initiative to start an alternative learning system (ALS) for the Philippines. Magtolis believed that an ALS would be especially helpful for Filipino school children in rehabilitation centers.
  4. The Philippines’ Zero Dropout Education Scheme
    In December 2016, the Ernst and Young (EY) firm revealed its support for the Philippines’ Zero Dropout Education Scheme (ZeDrES). From 2011 to 2016, ZeDrES ensured that 250,000 Filipino children from low-income families could enroll in and complete primary education, providing them with microloans to afford their expenses. EY’s team audits ZeDrES’s financial statements and assesses its delivery and impact.
  5. The Success of USAID’s STRIDE Program
    In September 2013, USAID awarded RTI International a cooperative agreement called Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development (STRIDE) that would enhance the Philippines’ economic and educational sector. In April 2017, STRIDE awarded $5 million in technology, collaborative science and research grants to more than 20 million Philippine universities. In addition to awarding 46 scholarships to help Filipinos study in U.S. universities, STRIDE is creating technology offices in 36 Philippine universities.
  6. Free Tuition for 100 Philippine Colleges
    In August 2017, President Rodrigo Duerte signed a bill that grants free tuition for 100 colleges and state universities in the Philippines. Though President Duerte knew that the new law would have heavy short-term costs, he was more focused on its long-term benefits to Philippine students. A senior official said that the new law will benefit the Philippines’ local tertiary schools as well. “Now I can finish my college education. It means hard work,” said Angela Rebato, a student from Quezon City.

Volunteer work, funding and free tuition can continue to help Philippine students break educational barriers. PETC, UNESCO, USAID and other entities continue to inspire more work that supports education in the Philippines as well.

– Rhondjé Singh Tanwar

Photo: Flickr

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Higher Education in Vietnam Shows Steady Improvement

Improving Higher Education in Vietnam

While Vietnam has seen a gradual boost in young Vietnamese citizens attending college, the numbers for higher education in Vietnam have been irregular from year to year. In 2017, Vietnam partnered with the World Bank in order to create plans to improve its educational status for students wishing to attend college and vocational training establishments.

College enrollment in Vietnam has amplified significantly since the late 1990s and early 2000s. Vietnam’s higher education enrollment went from just 10 percent in 2000 to 16 percent in 2005, rising even higher to 25 percent in 2013. Vietnam saw its highest college enrollment status for both sexes in 2014, at a whopping 30 percent. However, in 2015, the rate for tertiary school attendance fell to 28 percent.

Vietnam has produced durable objectives for a college education by creating the Education Development Strategic Plan for the years 2008 to 2020, as well as the Higher Education Reform Agenda. USAID has partnered with Vietnamese universities and private divisions to invigorate higher education in Vietnam.

USAID collaborates with Harvard Medical School, Harvard Ash Center and Arizona State University, along with three universities in each region of Vietnam to restore the health personnel, STEM curriculums and any ongoing or subsequent demands that the higher educational system faces. Through these plans, Vietnam has seen quality advances in educational performance, literacy and opportunities for educational growth.

The country has also seen an immense request for more vocational and job training options. ICEF Monitor reports that in order for Vietnam to see economic growth, it needs to boost its employment ability rates by at least 50 percent. Industrial employment opportunities are growing in Vietnam as the country continues to build its technical job options in infrastructure. The Asian Development Bank is acknowledging Vietnam’s struggles in job training and is providing reform projects and contributing building resources.

In May 2017, the World Bank approved $155 million in financing to bolster research, teaching and the institutional quantity of three sovereign collegiate academies. The funding will help to improve Vietnam’s higher learning institutes. According to the World Bank’s website, the plan will have a positive impact on over 150,000 students and 3,900 faculty representatives.

The schools receiving the funding are Vietnam’s National University of Agriculture, the University of Science & Technology and the Industry University of Ho Chi Minh City. Aside from these three prominent institutions, around 600,000 students and 27,000 administrators and professors from other colleges will have the chance to expand their learning assets by being granted access to digital learning environments and libraries through the National Economics University.

Higher education in Vietnam is on the right track to continue providing opportunities and job training for its citizens that wish to create a better country through optimistic and thriving learning environments. Vietnam still has a long road ahead of it to provide higher educational access to everyone, but the current programs and resources provided to college students show a positive change for Vietnam’s future college scholars.

– Rebecca Lee

Photo: Flickr

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How Foreign Aid Has Advanced Education in India

How Foreign Aid Has Advanced Education in IndiaIndia, located in South Asia, has a population of 1.2 billion people and is on its way to becoming the world’s most populous nation by 2030. However, the country still struggles with providing its growing population with access to quality healthcare, potable water, education and clean energy. The education sector in India, in particular, requires special attention, since so much of the nation’s personal and national development is based upon it.

India, being a developing nation, has struggled in this area for a very long time. For instance, even in the late 1980s, between 30 and 40 million children of primary school age were out of school. Foreign aid to India, as a result, proves to be an effective investment in this arena, and there are many ways foreign aid has advanced education in India.

One of the ways foreign aid has advanced education in India is by initiating projects that focus on improving the sector from its core. For instance, one of the three major goals of USAID’s Global Education Strategy is “improved reading skills for 100 million children in primary grades.” Focus on the children in primary grades is essential, as so much of a country’s future depends on it. For instance, according to the World Bank, “an increase of one standard deviation in student reading and math scores is associated with an increase of two percentage points in annual gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth.”

In order to advance this target, USAID supports 10 initiatives in the country and partners with the government of India to “identify, support and scale early grade reading innovations developed in India.” Additionally, USAID focuses on improving the capacity of educators to improve pedagogy and teaching.

For instance, the Teacher Innovation in Practice program works to positively impact the teaching practices of 14,657 teachers to improve early grade reading outcomes of more than 564,000 primary school children in the states of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in India. By developing teachers’ mindsets, building an enabling environment and improving pedagogical skills and knowledge, the main goal of this program is to reignite teacher motivation to drive better student learning outcomes.

Other initiatives focus on improving the literacy rate in the country, which was as low as 19.3 percent shortly after independence in 1951. USAID, in partnership with Tata Trusts and the Center for microFinance, is leading an initiative called the Nurturing Early Literacy Project that aims to “shift the prevalent rote-based pedagogy in India to one that views the child as an active learner.”

The project incorporates different approaches, including in-class sessions for teachers and equitable access to libraries for children, both in schools and communities. The aim of this project is to improve the reading skills of more than 90,000 primary school children in the states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

India reportedly spends a mere 3 percent of its GDP on education, making foreign aid geared towards development in the educational sector crucial. Foreign aid has advanced education in India significantly over the years. For instance, the literacy rate increased to 65.4 percent in 2001, and currently sits at 74.04 percent.

Hopefully, with continued support from foreign investments, India will be able to develop its education sector, thereby potentially boosting its economy and reducing poverty.

– Mehruba Chowdhury

Photo: Flickr

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Maintaining Education in Tonga: Response to Cyclone Gita

Education in TongaAfter Cyclone Gita devastated the islands of Tonga, more than 14,000 children may return to their education thanks to an efficient relief plan executed by UNICEF and several of its partner organizations.

UNICEF worked with the New Zealand Defense Force to provide aid for the victims of the cyclone, totaling about 25,000 students, according to a Tonga government assessment. A large portion of the aid was aimed at maintaining a level of education in Tonga after the cyclone’s path of destruction.

Relief came in the form of tents to serve as classrooms after an estimated 83 schools were damaged by the storm, according to Radio New Zealand. The two organizations also shipped supplies such as backpacks and the innovative school-in-a-box. The box includes pencils, scissors, paper, textbooks, chalk and a chalkboard, which is also used as the box’s lid.

In a podcast interview with ABC News, a UNICEF director explained the organization’s goal in Tonga by using temporary learning centers. “It will allow them to process what has happened while moving on with their lives as quickly as possible,” the UNICEF director said.

The cyclone, according to NewScientist, was the most powerful that Tonga has seen in more than 60 years, with winds reaching more than 142 mph. The damage to infrastructure did not end with schools, however. Nearly 1,400 homes were destroyed by Cyclone Gita, leaving many without shelter.

According to UNICEF Pacific on Twitter, the project also received assistance from the French Navy, who shipped some of the relief kits and helped progress education in Tonga.

While the government is still taking strides to improve infrastructure quality, the combined and coordinated effort of UNICEF and the New Zealand Defense Force successfully improved conditions for the affected children. Finding an efficient strategy to provide basic education, such as sending the school-in-a-box, allowed for high success rates in Tonga.

– Austin Stoltzfus

Photo: Flickr

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Education in Pakistan Requires Improvements for the Future

Education in Pakistan
Education in Pakistan is provided by the Constitution of Pakistan, which agrees to provide free education to students between the ages of five and 16. In 2010, the eighteenth amendment to the nation’s Constitution stated that education was a fundamental human right guaranteed to every citizen.

Recently, there has been a decline in the quality of education in Pakistan for the following reasons:

  1. Lack of Proper Planning
    Pakistan is currently behind on its goals with the Millennium Development Project and Education For All. Both focus on improving education and breaking down the barriers that make access to education easier. For the past ten years, Pakistan has struggled with financial management and has not been successful meeting those goals.
  1. Social Constraints
    The problem is not centralized to the government alone. Social and cultural norms have gradually made education less of a priority, thus leading to the decline.
  1. Gender Gap
    In Pakistan, the enrollment of girls in school is 45 percent lower than the enrollment of boys. Pakistan’s society values conservatism, including a girl’s modesty, which limits a family’s willingness to send their daughter to school.

The delivery of education in Pakistan has been hindered by economic, political and security obstacles for the last 10 years, leading to an eventual decline in quality education. To combat this, organizations must use a top-down approach to be successful.

Luckily, the following two organizations are and have been working to alleviate this problem.

United We Reach

United We Reach (UWR) is a nonprofit organization that works to expand educational opportunities for children in socioeconomically stressed areas. In Pakistan specifically, it uses advanced technologies to create and distribute fully scripted lesson plans to students.

It is currently working on a project that integrates local Pakistani experiences with world-class education via tablets. In this project, every teacher at a UWR school is given a tablet that includes an inbuilt Learning Enhancement, Analysis and Feedback (LEAF) system, which acts as a teaching assistant. These tablets assess the student’s progress and send individual reports to the teacher so they know exactly which students are struggling and in what areas.

Global Partnership for Education (GPE)

Global Partnership for Education is the only global organization that is entirely dedicated to improving education in developing countries. It works to align policy-making and future planning to strengthen education systems. GPE has been working in Pakistan alongside UNICEF and USAID for the last six years.

Since it was launched in 2012, national spending on education in Pakistan has increased from 2.14 percent of GDP to 2.6 percent. This has created more jobs as more schools begin to open. While education is its primary focus, it also focuses on using education to improve the following areas:

  • Personal experiences of children with disabilities
  • Countries affected by fragility and conflict
  • Development effectiveness in international communities
  • Early childhood care
  • Girls’ education and gender equality
  • Knowledge and good practice exchange
  • Out-of-school children

While external forces will continue to affect education, its quality and its delivery, organizations like these will continue to balance out the process by working toward improved education systems in Pakistan.

– Chylene Babb

Photo: Flickr

Floating Schools Provide an Education to Illiterate Adults in India

Floating Schools: Providing an Education in India to Illiterate Adults
In February 2017, Loktak Lake, otherwise known as the “lifeline of Manipur,” became the first lake in India to offer a floating school to its community. Floating schools have been employed in high flooding areas in Bangladesh for the past 15 years.

Bangladesh suffers severe flooding every year due to heavy rainfall during monsoon season causing the overflow of the three massive rivers: the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna. The nonprofit Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, now responsible for providing floating education to 70,000 students, was founded in 1998. In 2002, Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha opened the first floating school to provide an education to children in affected areas.

Since then, more than 100 floating schools, libraries and health clinics have been set afloat in the most flood-affected countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Vietnam and Zambia. As technology advanced, so did these schools. Many are now solar powered and provide internet access to students.

Loktak Lake is the largest freshwater lake in India and home to many islands and communities. For these communities, Loktak Lake provides fish as a livelihood for rural fisherman, is a source of hydropower generation, provides irrigation for farmers’ crops and provides drinking water.

 

Learn about Poverty in India

 

Floating islands, known as phumdis, were soil-rich fishing hot spots of the lake. However, water levels at Loktak Lake have been high for the last several years, causing the once soil-rich phumdis to begin to crumble and die. Residents of the phumdis were evacuated in attempts to preserve the natural habitat of the lake, ending the work routine of local fisherman and leaving many homeless. The community in crisis turned its focus to educating not only the youth in hopes of creating a better future for Manipur, but the homeless fisherman.

The All Loktak Lake Fisherman’s Union worked closely with the NGO People Resources Development Association to found the first floating elementary school in India that will focus on meeting the educational needs of local children and the adults rendered homeless by the evacuation of the phumdis.

The school has been inaugurated at Langolsabi Leikai of Champu Khangpok village and is currently serving 25 students with two teachers. Like with other floating schools, the People Resources Development Association hopes to see the school continue to grow, with goals of adding more classes to accommodate more students under the project “Empowering vulnerable local communities for sustainable development,” which is funded by Action Aid India.

Not only do floating schools provide year-round access to education for local students, but floating schools introduced in other high flood areas see remarkable results and growth in their local communities, such as increases in literacy rates and decreases in extreme poverty.

Furthermore, the introduction of technology is an important goal for the People Resources Development Association and the community. Locals hope the introduction of technology into the community will improve living conditions, which will increase the earning potential of the residents as a result. Access to technology will continue to inspire the next generation and provide them with useful tools and skills to help lift their community out of poverty.

Oinam Rajen Singh, a Manipur and Loktak Lake local, highlighted the need for education in his village, “As most of us are uneducated and mostly depend upon fishing as a meager source of income, we are unable to send our children to school to another place.” Singh has high hopes for the future of this floating elementary school and what it has to offer the community, “Based on [the] India government drive on free education to all, we will increase the class up to 8th standard so that opportunities are also given to the drop-out students.”

With rising sea and river levels, many communities are left without power or a means to receive an education, especially during monsoon season. These floating schools provide an opportunity and restore hope to impoverished communities.

– Kelilani Johnson

Photo: Flickr