Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

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Education in Dominica

Education in Dominica
Dominica is a beautiful island with volcanic peaks, hot springs and rain forest canopies. We know a lot about Dominica as a traveling destination, but what do we know about education in Dominica?

Who is Responsible for the Education in Dominica?

The responsibility for primary and secondary education in Dominica falls in the hands of The Ministry of Education and Human Resources, an organization that helps educate and prepare students. Their mission statement is “to educate and prepare all students to live productive lives in a complex and changing society.” The Ministry is dedicated to providing students with support and leadership. The Ministry is also responsible for implementing policies and standards. In addition, they supervise early childhood education.

Other prominent agencies include the Curriculum Unit, the National Documentation Centre Database and the National Library Services. The Curriculum Unit is responsible for maintaining a curriculum framework and handling teaching materials and examination provisions. The National Documentation Centre Database and the National Library Services are in charge of the country’s libraries and archives.

Primary and Secondary Schools

The academic year begins in September and ends in July. The system is structured so that primary school runs from grade one to grade seven and secondary school runs from grade eight to grade 12.

The last two years of secondary school are not free. Therefore, students who wish to attend university must have the money for it or acquire a scholarship. Unfortunately, there aren’t many scholarships available. For this reason, many people are unable to attend school and escape rural poverty through further education.

Higher Education

Higher education in Dominica is divided into three categories: state, external and private.

Dominica State College falls under the state category, as it is a public-funded institution. The State College provides certificates and Associate’s Degrees. It is also beginning to award bachelor’s degrees in nursing.

Under the external category lies the University of the West Indies. The University of the West Indies does not have a campus on the island, but it does have a division. The division provides some first-year studies and full degree programs.

Under the private category lies All Saints University School of Medicine, International University for Graduate Studies, New World University and Ross University School of Medicine. Ross University School provides courses for U.S. citizens. In fact, only five Dominicans are allowed to enroll every year.

– Solansh Moya

Photo: Flickr

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Boko Haram’s Impact On Education In Nigeria


Boko Haram, the dangerous Islamic extremist terrorist organization in Nigeria, has been severely attacking the country’s education system. If the attacks continue, the lasting negative legacy will be detrimental for Nigeria.

Boko Haram is based in Nigeria and a translation of the group’s name in Hausa is “Western education is forbidden.” Boko Haram’s impact on education has flipped the Nigerian educational system as a whole by stealing the education of the youth and attacking the system in every way possible. Boko Haram gained publicity when they kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from a secondary school in Chibok.

Girls as young as 11 have been employed as suicide bombers. Teachers have been targeted, resulting in 600 teachers being murdered and 19,000 teachers fleeing in fear. Other teachers have been threatened, injured or even kidnapped.

“I have been a teacher for 20 years now, but I’m always afraid to attend class,” Ahmadau Abba, a teacher at Jajiri Government Day School in Maiduguri explained. “Most of our colleagues have been killed or injured.”

Finding teachers who are willing to teach in the region has become a great struggle because of the dangerous repercussions. Boko Haram’s impact on education has been felt throughout the entirety of the Nigerian educational system.

Out of a total population of 160 million, about 10 million Nigerian youths are not in school, many of them girls. Instead of reading and learning, they are married off in their teens, while out-of-school boys are recruited into terrorist ranks.

By early 2016, an estimated 952,029 school-aged children have fled the violence, with little or no access to education.

The high displacement from the hands of Boko Haram has forced school-aged children to be placed in private homes and communities. In such communities, schools are made up of students of the same age congregating in large rooms or under trees for about three to four hours a day. However, these children do not have access to textbooks and their teachers must teach without any teaching aids.

In Borno, one of the devastated states, schools at all levels have been closed in 22 out of the 27 local government areas for a minimum of two years. With this gridlock on education, children are more vulnerable to becoming trapped in a cycle of poverty.

Boko Haram’s impact on education has impacted thousands of students by stealing what is rightfully theirs. For a nation that has the lowest school attendance nationwide, the attacks on the educational system have been severely damaging for Nigeria.

“Education is the foundation of society; without it, development is very difficult,” says Margee Ensign, the president of the American University of Nigeria. “I don’t think that many in the international community understand the dimension of the problems here in the northeast.”

– Mary Waller

Photo: Flickr

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5 Outstanding Advocates for Women’s Education

Malala Yousafzai is a brave Pakistani advocate for young women’s education and the youngest ever Nobel laureate. An attempt was made on her life when she was shot in the head by militants, and she has faced many other obstacles. Yousafzai is one among hundreds of advocates around the world fighting for women’s education. More than 63 million girls are still not enrolled in school, and fewer than 10 percent of teenage girls finish secondary school. Here are five more outstanding advocates for women’s education.

  1. Neelam Ibrar Chattan
    Chattan has advocated for peace for young women in Pakistan since she was a teenager. She grew up in the same town as Yousafzai. While Yousafzai was being attacked, and the Taliban were taking over Pakistan, Chattan launched a campaign called Peace for a New Generation, promoting education and extracurricular activities for girls and boys. Even though she and her family face various threats, she remains fearless in helping children and young adults get the education they need.
  2. Michelle Obama
    The former First Lady, along with her husband, former President Barack Obama, launched the Let Girls Learn organization in March 2015. The organization works with communities and leaders of third-world countries to promote girls’ education. She has also visited Africa and raised $27 million in funding for young women’s education in Liberia. Michelle Obama hopes that more people will continue fighting for young women’s education.
  3. Graca Machel
    Machel has fought not only for young women’s education, but also against childhood marriage. She acknowledged that women and children “pay the highest prices” from war in Nigeria. Her hard work has led to the Graca Machel Trust.
  4. Angelique Kidjo
    A Grammy-nominated West African singer and songwriter, Kidjo is also a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and the founder of the Batonga Foundation. She uses her talents as a singer and her passion for young women’s education to effect important change. She continues to work with the Batonga Foundation, supporting secondary and higher education for girls in Africa by improving school infrastructure, increasing enrollment, granting scholarships, providing financial support for families, and spreading community awareness.
  5. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
    As the first female president in an African country, Liberian President Sirleaf has been a huge supporter of general women’s rights, including women’s right to vote and women’s right to education. She has used her power to expand the quality of education in preschool and primary education by joining the Global Partnership for Education in 2007. Despite dealing with the Ebola crisis in 2015, she worked hard to reopen schools and provide quality education for all students.

In the face of widespread and systemic adversity, millions of women around the world do not have education as a birthright. These five advocates of women’s education are advancing an agenda of equality that will empower and uplift communities forever.

– Emma Majewski

Photo: Flickr

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Education in Poland

Education in Poland
Over the last two decades, public education in Poland has been seriously reformed, and today it is one of the best-performing educational systems in Europe and across the world.

Education in Poland began changing in the late 1990s after Miroslaw Handke took on the role of Poland’s minister of education. Amanda Ripley reports that Handke publicly announced his plans for change, stating, “We have to move the entire system — push it out of its equilibrium so that it will achieve a new equilibrium.”

Through a modernized core curriculum and regulated standardized testing, allowing school administrators to recognize areas of improvement and identify struggling students, this new equilibrium was achieved. Teachers were granted more freedom in implementing their own curricula and choosing textbooks, so long as they tailored their courses to meet national requirements.

Also, the transition of students into vocational schools was delayed by a year. This places a stronger focus on the general curriculum compared to specialized skills. Reading, writing and arithmetic are the focal points of education, as well as studying a foreign language.

There has been a change in jurisdiction from central government to local government in regard to education. This provides local authorities with increased control over budgeting. The development of new schools resulted in increased learning opportunities for more students.

Today, Poland ranks 13th in reading, 18th in mathematics, and 22nd in science worldwide, according to a 2015 OECD education report known as PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment). Student performance in these subjects has significantly improved since 2003, when the country either matched or fell below the OECD average.

Surprisingly, Poland has been able to accomplish all this by spending only five percent of its GDP, or roughly $5,000 per student annually. The U.S., by contrast, spends about three times as much, yet still ranks below Poland.

Despite these advancements, there is still room for progress. The OECD reports indicate an educational gap between students of lower classes and those of higher classes, which could be improved through more early childhood public education programs. In addition, there is a need to strengthen students’ capacity to problem-solve. By building on its achievements, education in Poland will continue to improve, serving as a global model.

– Genevieve T. DeLorenzo

Photo: Flickr

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5 Great Education Systems and Why They Work

Education Systems
Though no perfect educational system exists, many countries could learn from the following five countries to improve their own education systems, resulting in better math and science skills.

    1. The Netherlands: What makes the Netherlands’ school system work is that it offers different classes for students with different learning interests. Instead of just going straight to college after high school, students can choose to go to a pre-university course. The country also requires students to learn a second language, so that students can prepare to communicate with the outside world. The school system is also not so stressful on children. Unlike countries such as the United States, the Netherlands gives homework sparingly, and the school days are even shorter, with children being able to go home for lunch break and having a half-day on Wednesdays.
    2. Singapore: Although Singapore’s education has been known to be stressful for students, there are effective methods within this education system. Singapore became an independent country in the 1960s, so the country wanted to prove itself by expanding education. According to the Programme for International Student Assessment scores, Singapore has some of the best results in reading, math and science. Students are given equal opportunity and teachers are from the top five percent of graduates.
    3. Barbados: Barbados has one of the highest literacy rates in the world, estimated at 98 percent. The country has one of the oldest and most effective education systems in the eastern Caribbean. While providing a good number of schools, Barbados’s government also created the Skills Training Programme to prepare students for careers in mechanics, electronics, plumbing and other technical occupations.
    4. Luxembourg: Luxembourg has special trilingual education programs that can be beneficial to students who wish to communicate abroad. Almost everyone in Luxembourg is trilingual, with fluency in French, German and Letzeburgesch. Teachers are also paid the highest salaries out of any country.
    5. Finland: Like the Netherlands, Finland does not give much homework to its students, and along with Singapore and South Korea, has top scores in reading, math and science. However, standardized testing is not too demanding. Students are given more time for a break in between studies, with 15 minutes of play for every 45 minutes of class. Education is also free for everyone, including Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate programs.                   

– Emma Majewski

Photo: Flickr

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Education in Georgia: Strategy and Action


Despite the harsh ramifications from the global economic crisis and major political challenges, Georgia has remained a leader in the Caucasus sub-region for education, specifically in positive student learning. Georgia’s education programs and reforms are recognized worldwide. As of 2014, Georgia has had a secondary school net enrollment of 92 percent, just above the U.S., which sits at around 90.5 percent.

In 2007, Georgia partnered with the World Bank and UNICEF to create the Consolidated Education Strategy and Action Plan. This program ensures early childhood development, preschool education, general education, higher education and non-formal education in Georgia, while simultaneously including education for children with special needs.

Things began looking grim when, in 2008, Georgia was politically challenged by the Russian Federation and suffered internal government issues. Additionally, the Georgian economy was at a low, with almost 60 percent of the population living below the national poverty line and a quarter of the population making less than $2 per day, affecting the education in Georgia.

Nevertheless, Georgia’s government continues to focus on its educational reform. In 2008, the program department of Georgia was established in the Ministry of Education and Science. This agenda prioritizes programs such as the Safe School Initiative and Education Resource Centers. According to the World Bank, enrollment rates have only been improving.

As of 2016, advancement is seen in poverty. Twenty-one percent of the population is below the national poverty line, a staggering difference compared to prior numbers.

UNICEF notes that Georgia likely prioritizes education partly due to the country’s lack of natural resources, which leaves the future of the country dependent on its human capital.

Even still, there are festering problems in Georgia’s system, despite the government working hard to ensure quality education. Severe inequities of the enrollment and attainment rates between the rich and poor persist, likely due to entry fees. Ethnic groups and children with disabilities are lagging behind.

Improvements have been made to make up for this, such as the Education Strategy and Action Plan for Children with Special Needs, but there is still room for progress.

Henry Kerali, the World Bank regional director for the South Caucasus, notes, “Georgia’s prospects to compete in the global economy will largely depend on its ability to produce a highly-skilled workforce via improved teaching and learning.”

– Morgan Leahy

Photo: Flickr

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Government to Pay for High School Education in Ghana

Education in Ghana
Nana Akufo-Addo, The President of Ghana, ran as a candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the national liberal-conservative party, in the past three election cycles. He was defeated in 2008 and 2012 by candidates from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the national social democratic party. Nevertheless, he defeated the NDC candidates in 2016 after accusations of electoral fraud.

In 2016, the NPP campaigned on a promise of free Senior High School (SHS). President Akufo-Addo has since followed through, assuring Ghanaians the government will fund the costs of public SHS education in Ghana for all those who qualify for entry in the 2017-2018 academic year.

The SHS policy assures no cost to students or families for tuition. Tuition, as well as admission fees, library services, science center fees, computer laboratory fees, examination fees, utility fees are all free. The policy also includes provisions for free textbooks, boarding and meals for full-time and daytime students.

The announcement was made in the President’s speech as a guest of honor at the 60th-anniversary celebration of Akuapeman SHS in the Eastern Region. The initiative has been authorized in hopes of improving the quality of education in Ghana.

Akufo-Addo detailed that a society that wants to develop into a modern, profitable and constructive participant in the global market requires an educated pioneering and labor pool. By that logic, he argues, the nation must enact its educational policies swiftly and effectively.

The President believes that education is the factor limiting the nation’s economic development and, for that reason, is committed to providing a free public SHS education in Ghana.

Along the same lines, the government intends to create incentives for a higher standard of teaching. President Akufo-Addo hopes this initiative will motivate hard work at both ends of the classroom.

Overall, the goal is to provide all children with equitable and accessible education in Ghana.

– Jaime Viens

Photo: Flickr

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The Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development Act

Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development ActThe Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development Act, also known as the READ Act, is a bill that requires the U.S. government to promote basic education in developing countries. The bill strengthens the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to ensure that U.S. resources are used effectively for this cause. It states that the U.S. will work with certain partner countries, donors, institutions and organizations to support worldwide education.

The Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development Act was reintroduced to the Senate last week, by U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL). The bill moved swiftly through the House of Representatives earlier this year.

Programs created under the READ Act will have four basic goals:

  1. Respond to the needs of developing countries to improve basic education skills.
  2. Strengthen educational systems, expand access to safe places to learn and support the involvement of parents in educating their children.
  3. Promote education to support economic growth.
  4. Monitor the quality of education programs in partner countries.

The President also has three specific duties under the READ Act:

  1. Improve the effectiveness of assistance through executive efforts.
  2. Ensure that assistance aligns with U.S. foreign policy and economic interests.
  3. Submit a strategy for promoting education in partner countries to Congress.

The bill also establishes the new position of Senior Coordinator of U.S. International Basic Education Assistance within the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This position is responsible for coordinating U.S. government resources to promote basic education at an international level.

The act requires USAID to develop a strategy to promote basic education in developing countries. The agency’s current strategy is based on the idea that education is important for human development, economic growth, and democracy. The U.S. has foreign assistance programs in more than 100 countries throughout the world, which are primarily designed to further U.S. foreign policy interests by “expanding free markets, combating extremism, ensuring stable democracies, and addressing the root causes of poverty, while simultaneously fostering global goodwill.”

Chairman Ed Royce of the House Foreign Affairs Committee gave remarks noting this strategy on the House floor in support of the bill prior to the vote. He stated that education drives economic development, security and stability. He acknowledged that there is a humanitarian crisis due to the high number of children not in school, and called for the READ Act to be passed to mitigate this.

As stated by Royce, millions of children around the globe are out of school. Many of these children are in war-torn countries and are at a much higher risk of being targeted for abuse or terrorist recruitment. Approximately four million children in Syria are not in school, and many others are straining the education systems of neighboring countries as refugees. The READ Act focuses attention on countries like Syria that are most in need of U.S. support and resources.

The Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development Act was introduced in the House of Representatives on Jan. 23, 2017, by Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY-17) and passed the very next day. Passing the READ Act through the Senate is crucial for providing developing countries the tools they need to increase access to basic education.

– Lindsay Harris

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Education in Bahrain

Education in Bahrain
The island country of Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is known primarily for its small size and successful finance industry. However, Bahrain also has a progressive and highly valued education system. Here at 10 facts about education in Bahrain:

  1. Bahrain’s public school system was founded in 1932 and is the oldest in the Arabian Peninsula. The average person in Bahrain will receive 6.1 years of education.
  2. While Bahrain has a number of private schools, public education in Bahrain is free until secondary school for both boys and girls. Education is also compulsory for kids aged 6-14.
  3. The majority of the country, 95.7 percent, is literate. Bahrain also has the highest female literacy rate, 93.5 percent, in the Arabian Peninsula.
  4. Bahrain does not spend much on education relative to other countries. Approximately 2.6 percent of the country’s GDP goes toward education costs, meaning Bahrain ranks 153 out of 173 countries on education spending.
  5. Prior to the 20th century, Quranic schools, which were dedicated primarily to Qur’an studies, were the only type of school in Bahrain.
  6. Education in Bahrain is changing in order to better prepare students for careers. The country is splitting secondary education into two tracks, unified and vocational. The unified track is aimed more at university preparation while the vocational track is meant to prepare students for technical careers directly after finishing school.
  7. In Bahrain, girls are educated at roughly the same rate as boys. Approximately 97 percent of girls and 98 percent of boys are enrolled in primary school, while 91 percent of girls and 87 percent of boys attend secondary school.
  8. Approximately 25.2 percent of Bahrainis will go on to post-secondary education. Of these students, the majority are women, as Bahrain has one of the highest university gender parity indexes at 2.52.
  9. Despite women receiving roughly equal education to men in Bahrain, the number of women in the workforce is low. Only 32 percent of women aged 15 and above are in the workforce, compared to 85 percent of men. This is significantly lower than the rest of the world, as globally 52 percent of women are active in the workforce.
  10. Many Bahraini students participate in exchange programs, such as the U.S. government’s Student Leaders Program, a summer program where Bahraini university students study at U.S. universities.

Despite Bahrain’s small size, high literacy rates, mandatory schooling and a push for higher education reveal how education in Bahrain is continuing to strengthen and grow.

– Alexi Worley

Photo: Flickr

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Education in Uruguay: Ending Gender Bias in the Classroom


Supporting the education of women and girls around the globe is often a key component in efforts to end extreme global poverty. Statistics show that educated women marry later. This results in fewer child marriages and reduces fertility and infant mortality rates. Educated women are also more likely to go to work. When a woman receives regular pay, she can give back to her community, and when the working population in a community doubles due to female education, the cycle of poverty ends. This is why the World Bank Group (WBG) is focusing on ending the gender disparity in education in Uruguay.

Educating girls and women is WBG’s main goal in their fight to eradicate poverty. In Uruguay, women and girls face gender-based violence that discourages them from attending school. Gender bias and stereotyping is a long-standing issue in Uruguay that extends beyond the classroom. Recently the government in Uruguay has prioritized addressing the gender bias. They teamed up with WBG to implement the Improving the Quality of Initial and Primary Education in Uruguay Project to end gender-based violence and discrimination in schools.

The project is a part of the $2.5 billion investment in global education that WBG President Jim Yong Kim announced at the Let Girls Learn event in April 2016. Improve the Quality of Initial and Primary Education in Uruguay is a $40 million project that will implement teacher training to make educators aware of the gender disparity and equip them with the knowledge and tools to address it. The training will focus on social norms regarding masculinity versus femininity. In the process, WBG will direct a study of gender equality that will inform the Gender Equality Action Plan from 2017-2020.

In addition to addressing gender inequality, the project will also improve access to quality early childhood education. WBG plans to utilize the teacher training component of the project to focus on emotional and social development in primary schools. Their hope is to create a sustainable, gender-equal education system by implementing these practices from the beginning of a child’s schooling.

In April 2016, WBG President Jim Yong Kim said, “empowering and educating adolescent girls is one of the best ways to stop poverty from being passed from generation to generation and can be transformational for entire societies.” The Improve the Quality of Initial and Primary Education in Uruguay plans to do just that.

– Rachel Cooper

Photo: Flickr