Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

Wycliffe Translators Make a Difference for Education in Papua New Guinea

Education in Papua New GuineaIt’s hard enough to understand each other within one language. Imagine having more than 850 different languages spoken by seven million people in one country, with most of these languages having no written form. Such is the condition of Papua New Guinea, the most linguistically diverse nation in the world.

Papua New Guinea has come a long way in recent years, but for the most part is still a widely underdeveloped and rural country. Only 13 percent of citizens live in cities. Mountains, swamps, jungles and other topographical obstacles have kept some villages completely isolated. Some of its inhabitants have never had any contact with the outside world. This inaccessibility to books, technology, and paper have kept many of these rural areas from developing written languages. It’s no surprise, then, that the nation’s literacy rate is a low 62.4 percent.

Reconciling this rich diversity and lack of literacy is no small task. The Papua New Guinean government wants to give its citizens the opportunity to develop and flourish in their mother tongues. However, it also wants to give the country an edge in terms of advancing careers and the nation’s economy with the official languages of English and Tok Pisin. But supplying millions of people with education in Papua New Guinea, particularly rural areas that have no written form of communication, is an immense task, and the funding and workers are few.

Fortunately, this project isn’t a one-nation effort; many foreign nonprofits have come alongside the government to help grow education in Papua New Guinea. One of them is Wycliffe Bible Translators. This Christian organization seeks to improve vernacular literacy in several nations, including Papua New Guinea. The organization seeks to create written languages for those who have none with the end goal of translating the Bible into these languages.

The road to translation is not a short nor easy one, though. Reading and writing are not everyday pastimes in traditional Papua New Guinean culture. Children who do go to school often leave in the fourth through sixth grade because many jobs don’t require a lengthy education, or because there is a lack of opportunity for paid employment in rural areas, where subsistence farming is the norm. Without cultivation, these children often lose their literacy skills as they grow older. In order for them to be able to read complex literature like the Bible and understand it for themselves, many need to bolster their basic literacy skills

While their efforts are mainly based in churches, Wycliffe volunteers have realized the necessity of strengthening the literacy skills of the surrounding communities. Research shows that children succeed better in school if they begin their education in their mother tongue and then bridge to a second or third language later on in their schooling. So Wycliffe is coming alongside schools and teachers to help improve learning materials and curriculums to better equip school-age kids. The organization also provides workshops for adult community members to polish their reading and writing skills.

Many Papua New Guineans think that since they know how to fluently speak their mother tongue, they should be able to easily read it. But the jump from having no written language to a brand new alphabet to reading out loud is tremendous. Wycliffe started providing fluency reading exercises to these adult learners. The volunteers help Papua New Guineans become more comfortable with reading out loud, stressing that learning how to read takes a lot of work, no matter who you are or what language you speak.

Aside from the more long-term work that Wycliffe does in partnership with schools, Wycliffe’s language surveyors traverse Papua New Guinea’s jungle-like terrain to meet with rural communities, which may lack written languages and some of the necessary materials for education. Some villages require days of backpacking or helicopters to reach. Once there, the Wycliffe volunteers assess the village’s situation: what the culture is like, what languages the people speak, how many languages exist and more.

The volunteers also take note of what educational resources the villages have. Schools that exist in these remote villages may not have electricity, so accessing new curriculums or books is difficult. Teachers may have to hand-draw materials or walk to towns with printers to get the materials they need. Wycliffe is working with the government and other nonprofits to deliver the necessary resources these villages need to strengthen their literacy.

While Wycliffe volunteers have helped significantly in developing written languages and improving education in Papua New Guinea, there’s still an immense amount of work left. As some languages thrive, others seem to falter and disappear. Languages in rural areas that have only a few dozen speakers often blend into other languages as they become more interconnected.

But Wycliffe also believes in empowering Papua New Guineans to do their own translations and teaching. Everything that Wycliffe does as foreigners and staff, it tries as much as possible to train Papua New Guineans to do the same, sharing their skills, expertise and knowledge with them. The vision is that the locals will become qualified to do all of the work on their own, and Papua New Guineans will become experts in linguistic fields. As more languages gain written forms, Wycliffe hopes that vernacular education and bridging programs will become more widespread, leading to improved education in Papua New Guinea.

– Sydney Cooney

Photo: Flickr

,

Free Tuition Latest in Philippine Education Reforms

Philippine Education ReformsPhilippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, has signed a bill that will grant free tuition to students attending state universities. Free higher education could prove to be a much-needed step out of the poverty trap for the 42 percent of Filipinos living on less than $2 a day.

The law, which was signed August 3 against the recommendation of the Duterte’s economic advisers, is estimated to cost nearly 100 billion pesos – roughly $2 billion US – per year. Some senators have claimed that when the plan is fully implemented it will only cost a quarter that much. The challenge for Duterte is the full implementation throughout the country’s 112 state schools.

There are some strings attached. Free tuition will only be available to students who maintain high grades throughout secondary education. In addition to that, all students – even those in private higher education institutions – will be required to pass drug screenings to attend school. The latter requirement is an extension of the recent crackdown on drug usage by the Duterte regime.

This bill is just the latest of many Philippine education reforms. In 2012 and 2013, the Kindergarten Act and the Enhanced Basic Education Act extended the formal education timeline by three years, from 10 to 13. Around the same time, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) became involved with the Philippine education reforms.

In 2011, after the launch of the U.S. led Partnership for Growth project, USAID began working closely within the Filipino school system, helping the nation reach its literacy goals and foster new partnerships between each nation’s higher learning institutions.

Even with the help of the U.S., the price of education has been a consistent problem for people in the Philippines. Unable to cover the costs of schooling equally in its 13 districts, the government has historically chosen to focus efforts and money on primary schooling. Duterte’s new law is the first of its kind to focus on higher education. Only time will tell whether his Philippine education reforms are financially feasible, but many Filipino lawmakers realize the importance of investing in human capital.

Education is commonly seen as being one of the steadfast ladders out of poverty. This tuition bill is just a piece of Duterte’s promised grand social spending plan– the regime hopes to add more skilled workers to its labor pool who are ready to take on the changing demands of a highly technological economy.

– Tj Anania

,

Open Air School in Pakistan Brightens Next Generation’s Future

Open Air School in PakistanIn Pakistan, about 58 percent of the population is illiterate and 11-12 million children are working instead of attending school. But thankfully, a firefighter in Islamabad is working to help change these major societal problems in Pakistan.

For the past 30 years, Mohammed Ayub, affectionately known as “Master Ayub,” has held classes in a park near Pakistan’s parliament to educate poor children who cannot afford an education.

At this “open air” school in Pakistan, the children are taught a 1st to 10th grade curriculum, and are even taught how to speak English.

Ayub felt compelled to start teaching poor children after he moved from the agricultural town of Mandi Bahauddin, to Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. In the city of Islamabad he saw small children in the streets doing various types of work such as cleaning cars, selling trinkets or begging.

One day after work, he approached one of these working children and told him that he would give him an education completely for free. The child accepted his preposition, and as word spread of his open air school in Pakistan, many more children began to enroll. Now, as soon as his work finishes at 3 pm, he goes to the park to teach about 200 students with the help of former students and friends.

Ayub himself pays for all of the students’ books, pencils and food.

Ayub believes education is extremely important for poor children because these citizens are especially vulnerable to developing into criminals and terrorists. In an interview with VPRO Metropolis, Ayub said “poor people; they need help. They start thinking negatively. They become thieves or plot bombings. That’s why I want to help them, so that they have an aim in life. They are our future teachers and doctors.”

His students are very ambitious and dream of becoming doctors and scientists. Before exams, they all gather in the park at night to study; when it gets chilly, they bundle up and study harder.

Ayub’s former students have gone on to attend university and secure well-paying jobs, and in the future, Ayub dreams of building a school for his students, especially because he hopes to incorporate computers in his teaching. In an interview with Al Jazeera he says that he wants to leave a facility behind after his death “where these children continue to get the light of education.”

– Anna Gargiulo

Photo: Flickr

, ,

Solar-Powered Lanterns Boost Grades for Kenyan Students

Solar Powered LanternsMore than one billion people around the world do not have access to electricity, as is the case in northern Kenya. When the sun sets, many families and health facilities rely on kerosene lamps as a source of light. These, however, are a major hazard, especially for young students who need to be able to study late into the night. Not only do they cause a fire hazard but they can also cause a strain on vision and respiratory problems.

The Panasonic Corporation began The Solar Lantern Project to provide a safer alternative for light in northern Kenya. The company donated more than 2,000 solar-powered lanterns to schools and clinics in the counties of Samburu and Isiolo.

The solar-powered lanterns have become a huge success in the schools of northern Kenya. They are recharged there during the day and are taken home by students at night to allow them to study and complete their homework. Students are not risking their health when they use the lamps.

Parents of students in northern Kenya can save almost two percent of their monthly expenses when their child brings home the solar-powered lanterns. In an interview conducted by Medium, a Kenyan mother stated that she “had to spend 20 shillings on kerosene every day.” Thanks to the solar-powered lanterns, she saves “around 1,000 shillings a month.”

Solar energy has become a popular alternative to electricity in many poor countries. It is accessible anywhere and an alternative source that is sustainable. According to research conducted by the International Energy Agency, “enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 90 minutes to meet the entire planet’s energy needs for a year.”

The environment also benefits from using the Panasonic solar-powered lanterns instead of kerosene lamps. The fumes that come from burning kerosene contaminate the air and only further global warming. If one million lamps are in use by the end of 2018, they are “expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 30,000 tonnes between 2014 and 2018.”

Panasonic’s solar-powered lanterns may seem like a small solution, but they are allowing students to learn better and more safely outside of the classroom. The benefits of these lamps will continue to improve poverty in Kenya, slowly, but at least in the right direction.

– Mackenzie Fielder

Photo: Flickr

,

Understanding the Causes of Poverty in Cameroon

Causes of Poverty in CameroonAs poverty rates across the globe continue to fall, urban centers continue to grow and people increasingly have access to education, Cameroon seems to be slipping in the wrong direction. Rural poverty, inadequate infrastructure and a struggling school system continue to hinder the lives of people across Cameroon, contributing to a rising poverty rate in the last 10 years.

Cameroon is a country of more than 23 million people. Out of the entire population, 24 percent of people live in poverty, and 55 percent of those in poverty live in rural communities.

Two causes of poverty in Cameroon and reasons for the gap between rural and urban poverty are a lack of infrastructure and an education system that fails to develop alongside shifting labor needs.

As the IMF noted in a 2014 survey, “the country’s infrastructure indicators trail those of regional peers. In spite of a slight improvement in the overall quality of infrastructure in 2013, indicators are low by sub-Saharan African standards, especially for roads, air transportation and electricity.”

This lack of infrastructure, which limits transportation, cuts off  those who live in rural areas. Rural citizens do not have access to fundamental resources and are marooned from diversified labor opportunities.

Furthermore, the education system has failed to develop alongside market demands. As the World Bank found, “the country’s tertiary education continues to focus on traditional academic disciplines and is not positioned to respond to economic transformation.”

In Cameroon, 43 percent of the population has little or no formal and primary education. What’s more, 67 percent of the population that is of working-age has received no further training in developing job sectors, leading to a significantly higher level of unemployment among youth–especially those living in rural areas.

This double-edged sword hits residents in the countryside. They have higher odds of living in poverty because of struggling infrastructure and inadequate educational opportunities. The country must address these issues to combat the causes of poverty and increasing poverty rates.

Indeed, steps are being taken. People are across the country are calling for performance-based financing for educational institutions to drive up competitiveness and quality of studies. Also, many organizations, including Heifer International, an organization that works to end global hunger and poverty, are working to increase jobs in rural areas. Regarding infrastructure, Cameroon recently launched a 10-year development plan focused on massive public investment in infrastructure, including roads.

By understanding the roles of infrastructure and education in the causes of poverty in Cameroon, the country may be able to improve living conditions for its impoverished people.

– Joseph Dover

Photo: Flickr

,

BISP’s Education Program Graduates Pakistanis From Poverty

Program Graduates Pakistanis From PovertyBenzair Income Support Program’s (BISP) University Poverty Graduation Buddy Program graduates Pakistanis from poverty, improving their livelihoods and investing in their futures.

BISP has reached more than 5.4 million women beneficiaries across Pakistan and contributes to human capital development through primary education conditional cash transfers. Its goal is to increase households’ incomes, skills and capital, reducing poverty across Pakistani communities.

The issue BISP hopes to remedy is that beneficiaries often lack adequate information and opportunities to overcome poverty. Under BISP’s University Poverty Graduation Buddy Program, university students help poor Pakistani women find sustainable solutions to overcome poverty.

In a meeting at BISP headquarters in July, BISP chairperson Marvi Memon stated that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) enlisted universities to nominate 20 students each for the graduation program. Students are linked with a corresponding BISP beneficiary in the area near their participating university. BISP’s education program graduates Pakistanis from poverty by enhancing their skills and providing financial services.

BISP’s skills development and coaching enrich beneficiaries’ lives with training that transforms their present state and invests in their futures. Through the University Poverty Graduation Buddy Program, students help create opportunities for beneficiaries by preparing them with the tools to become entrepreneurs. Students market products made by beneficiaries through E-commerce and showcase the success to a panel of judges who choose the best graduation model. Graduation models are as follows: Training for Rural Economic Empowerment, Microfinance and Interest Free Loans, Employee Guarantees, Comprehensive Coaching for the Extreme Poor, Inclusive Business Cooperation and Households Overcoming Extreme Poverty.

BISP explores the best global practices, graduation models and sustainable solutions to develop poverty-reduction methods in a local context. University students are an asset to BISP’s graduation model development and poverty reduction by helping beneficiaries find inclusive information and access opportunities to overcome their poverty.

With university students’ partnership, BISP continues finding solutions to reduce poverty and improve local Pakistani communities.

– Sarah Dunlap

Photo: Flickr

, ,

Closing the Gap on Education During Crisis

Education During CrisisIt seems that every day, a new crisis emerges in some area of the world. Whether it is a natural disaster, war or a political upheaval, there is a common theme: humanitarian aid organizations are quick to respond, while education during crisis falls by the wayside.

In impoverished countries, education is typically lacking, as the need for food and shelter come first. Conflict is a leading cause of both poverty and the suspension of education.

According to An International Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), conflict-affected countries have 20 percent of the world’s primary-school-aged children. Unfortunately, these nations also host 50 percent of the world’s out-of-school children.

Access to a quality education is the United Nation’s fourth sustainable development goal. According to the U.N., “When people can get quality education, they can break from the cycle of poverty… Education is also crucial to fostering tolerance between people and contributes to more peaceful societies.”

Many organizations are working to make education during crisis a top priority. One such organization, Education Cannot Wait, is thinking of innovative ways to give children in poor situations a quality education.

In alliance with the U.N.’s sustainable development goal, Education Cannot Wait cites five challenges that need to get conquered for all of the world’s children to receive adequate education by the year 2030. They are as follows:

  1. Lack of prioritization (during emergencies)
    Only two percent of humanitarian aid during a crisis gets given to educational programs.
  2. Poor coordination between humanitarian and development groups
  3. Preparedness in the educational sector is a problem during emergencies.
    According to the INEE, individual sectors should create contingency plans that will help in creating a cohesive procedure for education during a crisis.
  4. Insufficient humanitarian funding
    Currently, $8.5 billion is needed annually to close the education gap. Humanitarian and development efforts have not matched the frequency of crisis.
  5. Lack of real-time data
    As the problem of inadequate education during crisis is often unrecognized, the data collected on the issue is not enough to promote change.

Many people are simply unaware that there is a problem of a lack of education during a crisis. One of the most important tools in counteracting the problem is knowledge and awareness. This is why the U.N. is also working to inform people and give clear ways to help. Here are a few ways to help today:

  • Ask your government leaders to make education a priority in policy and practice.
  • Lobby the government to commit to free, primary school education for all.
  • Encourage the private sector to invest in education.
  • Urge non-governmental organizations to foster the growth of education at the local level.

– Madeline Boeding

Photo: Google

, ,

10 Facts About Improving Women’s Education

Improving Women's EducationIn January 2014, former U.S. President Barack Obama stated, “You can judge a nation, and how successful it will be, based on how it treats its women and its girls.” Indeed, educating women throughout the world has proven a pivotal locus for ensuring communities’ and countries’ social and economic success. In order to highlight some of the tremendous growth that women and girls’ education generates, here are 10 facts about improving women’s education.

  1. Emphasizing the need for ensuring the continual empowerment of women worldwide, the United Nations made equal access to education for girls a central focus of its Millennium Development Goals. The U.N. has made the elimination of gender disparities in primary and secondary education its third goal. Furthermore, it sought to reconcile the injustice that limited women’s opportunities for both education and, by extension, employment. Since the completion of the Millennium Development Goals, women have constituted 41 percent of paid workers in fields outside of agriculture. This is a tremendous increase from the 1990 rate of 35 percent.
  2. Educated women are likely to marry at later ages and consequently have fewer children. In fact, by simply providing girls with an extra year of schooling, nations can reduce a woman’s fertility rate by 5 to 10 percent. Limiting the number of individuals present will ensure improved accessibility to resources and better opportunities for all people, particularly in countries struggling with overpopulation, such as Nigeria and China.
  3. Girls who stay in school longer lower their probability of contracting HIV, thereby adding securing their health and wellbeing. In fact, the Girls Global Education Fund has reported that in Africa, children born to mothers who have not received education have a one in five chance of dying before age 5.
  4. Improving women’s education promotes continued education for whole families. In sending women to school, they are likely to encourage their children’s educations. This chain reaction illustrates the ways in which educating a girl improves an entire nation’s access to education.
  5. For each additional year that a girl spends in primary school, her wages increase by up to 20 percent. By continuing with her education through secondary school, her wages increase by 25 percent. Improving education for girls therefore ensures their socioeconomic stability and successes worldwide.
  6. By providing women and girls access to education, the probability of their involvement in the political process increases. Through education, women are more likely to participate in civic engagement and decision-making. Consequently, this promotes a more representative government. In fact, the average proportion of women in parliaments across the world has doubled over the past 20 years. This is a direct result of the success of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals in reducing the gender disparity in primary and secondary school education.
  7. In recent years, young women accounted for 59 percent of the total illiterate population. By providing women and girls with an education, illiteracy rates worldwide will inevitably increase, suggesting the overarching trend of global educational success.
  8. Educational depravation for women and girls has proven costly for the global economy. By refusing to give women and girls education, individual economies suffer as much as a $1 billion loss in revenue. Throughout the world, this constitutes a $92 billion loss each year. This suggests that investing in women’s education is a lucrative decision for all nations to make.
  9. Girls’ education has a tremendous impact on the environment. According to the Brookings Institution, secondary educational opportunities for women remain the most cost-effective investment against climate change.
  10. When girls are educated, communities maintain their stability at higher rates and can recover faster from conflict. By providing women and girls with secondary educational opportunities, nations also reduce their risk of war substantially and secure limitations on terrorism and extremism.

Ultimately, girls’ education holds significant implications for the global community. By improving women’s education, the world thrives both socially and economically. It is critical for nations to invest in women’s education in order to guarantee both individual and global success.

– Emily Chazen

Photo: Flickr

,

Education in Afghanistan: Lifting the Nation Out of Poverty

Education in Afghanistan
At Mirman, Khajo Secondary School students hurry into class bundled up in their winter uniforms. The school bell chimes. Teachers rush around the room handing out tests. Just a few years ago this wasn’t a reality. The school was recently built as part of the country’s major push to bring access to education to its populace as well as improve the overall standing of education in Afghanistan.

U.S ambassador to Afghanistan Hugo Llorens stated that Afghanistan has made significant educational strides over the past 15 years, but also emphasized that the nation still has a lot of room left for improvement.

According to Asia Foundation’s Survey of the Afghan, people find education is one of the only sectors where the Afghan people feel that the government has made an improvement. The Ministry of Education, with support from USAID, has created a widespread community-based class system, built 16,000 schools and hired and trained more than 154,000 teachers. As a result, enrollment has increased by 60 percent, more than nine million students, 40 percent of whom are girls.

In Afghanistan, 80 percent of the people own smart phones. This prevalence of technology and internet access further aids education in Afghanistan. The Asia Foundation, for example, has developed an education app designed to improve reading skills in grades one through three. The organization has also developed online mock exams to prepare students for the real ones.

The increase of access to education in Afghanistan has also improved higher education. According to the Afghan Central Statistics Organization, public university enrollment has increased from 7,800 in 2001 to 174,425 in 2015, with 21 percent of those students being women.

While Afghanistan has increased education access, it has not achieved the quality of education. Only 30 percent of Afghan students score high enough on the standardized tests to make it into college. While good private schools exist, many public schools are poorly administrated. Irfan, a 10-year-old Afghan student, claims that in public school there are only two lessons a week and teachers will often chase students out of the classroom so they can listen to music.

In order to lift itself out of strife and economic woes, Afghanistan needs an educated public. The government has done incredible work in creating access to education; now it just needs to focus on monitoring public and private schools in order to improve education in Afghanistan.

– Bruce Edwin Ayres Truax
Photo: Flickr

, ,

No Education for Canada’s Indigenous Population

Canada's Indigenous PopulationThroughout Canada’s history, the Indigenous peoples of the territories have faced extreme racism, colonialism, hatred and violence. Canada’s Indigenous population has been so negatively represented throughout society, and resources that others take as basic rights have been unavailable to Indigenous peoples.

According to the Conference Board of Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada’s territories fall far behind the national average on several measures of equity and social cohesion. Indicators of their low averages include poverty, crime rates and income distribution.

The problems that Canada’s indigenous population faces stem from the lack of proper education offered to these individuals. According to Markets Insider, improvements need to be made in education accessibility as well as access to healthcare in order for social outcomes to improve for Indigenous peoples.

Because of the territories’ isolated geographic location, education and social service attainment for Indigenous people are very low, and infrastructure gaps create low social outcomes.

Canadian leaders are working to improve educational outcomes and access to healthcare by implementing policies that protect and support Canada’s Indigenous population. Cultural measures are also being taken to improve emotional, social and material support in areas that are more secluded.

People are pushing to improve these conditions for Canada’s Indigenous population at the educational level, including Maggie MacDonnell, winner of the Global Teacher Prize in March 2017.

MacDonnell grew up in Nova Scotia and witnessed racism and hatred toward Indigenous people throughout her childhood. By viewing injustice toward Indigenous people at such a young age, MacDonnell made it her goal to work in support of her Indigenous students at Ikusik School located in an Inuit village in Northern Quebec.

Because Indigenous peoples have been oppressed for much of Canada’s history, it is important for people like MacDonnell to stand up for their right to a quality education. Education systems like that of Ikusik School are a great benefit to improving the future of Canada’s Indigenous population.

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau acknowledged MacDonnell’s work and the necessity to improve education for Indigenous students. “As a society, we must acknowledge past mistakes,” Trudeau remarked as he highlighted the victims of Indigenous oppression at Canada 150—the 150th anniversary of the country.

Without proper education, Canada’s Indigenous population will be unable to meet the national average in areas including equity and social cohesion. Breaking away from the habitual oppression that has been inflicted on Canadian Indigenous peoples is a tough task, but with the efforts of Trudeau, Canadian leaders and passionate teachers like MacDonnell, it is becoming more feasible for the future.

– Kassidy

Photo: Google