Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

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Education for Children with Disabilities Stunted Globally

Education for Children with Disabilities
An international advocacy group released a report this month outlining the enormous task the world faces on the global issue of education for children with disabilities. The report states that “at least half of the world’s 65 million school-age children with disabilities are not in primary or lower secondary school.”

The International Disability and Development Consortium (IDCC) commissioned the report with an eye on understanding whether the 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs) can be achieved with respect to “inclusive and equitable quality education for all.” According to UNESCO, “children with disabilities make up the largest group of readily identifiable children who have been and continue to be persistently excluded from education.”

The contrast between education for children with disabilities and children generally is stark. As of 2016, 91 percent of all children in the majority world are enrolled in primary education. Meanwhile, in a 2015 report by UNESCO, 98 percent of children in majority world countries do not have any schooling afforded them.

The link between poverty and the disability is also telling. In the majority world, where poverty rates are often severely detrimental to social growth, the problems self-perpetuate each other. UNICEF notes that “Poverty and disability reinforce each other, contributing to increased vulnerability and exclusion.”

UNICEF explains that’s because children who are poor and who also live in poor countries are more likely to become disabled because of poor health care and other social systems. Furthermore, they are often denied basic resources that would otherwise mitigate or prevent their increasingly impoverished state.

Much is to blame for the apparent discrimination toward children with disabilities. One primary cause is a lack of understanding by government officials on the efficacy of investing in children with disabilities. The IDCC in part concluded that many governments incorrectly believe that investing in education for children with disabilities will yield low returns.

However, the group’s research has shown that inclusive education for all can reduce the population of uneducated, tackle discrimination generally and promote solutions for other school-related problems. They also found that segregated education, beyond the extent to which certain students may need it, is more expensive.

UNESCO and the IDCC conclude that to tackle the problem as it is now, greater reform culturally and politically is needed among “stakeholders.” Governments and non-governmental organizations must reverse global trends of divestment in education for children generally, as well as educate on nearly all social levels the need for investment in children with disabilities.

The IDCC urges prioritization of education for children with disabilities around the world if the SDGs are to be realized. Those changes must occur in terms of increased and targeted funding practices and increased normalization of disability-awareness and responsiveness to the needs of children with disabilities.

– James Collins

Photo: Flickr

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Let Girls Learn Initiative: $5 Million in New Commitments

Let Girls Learn Initiative Announces $5 Million in New Commitments
Equality. To some, it is merely a word, and to others, an idea. However, to the millions of girls throughout the world who are prevented simply based on their gender from receiving equal education, it is a movement.

In response to this, many associations, organizations and programs are created to end this unnecessary fight against adolescent girls and their right to attaining a quality education. As each contributes in its own corner of the world, there is one that is determined to assist the entire globe.

On the International Day of the Girl, the U.S. government-led initiative known as Let Girls Learn announced an astounding investment of more than $5 million in new private sector commitments.

Assembled by both President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, the program strives to eliminate the vast barriers and obstacles facing young girls around the world from attaining equal and quality education.

Established in March 2015, Let Girls Learn hopes to accelerate the speed at which all girls obtain a quality education. Since its creation, the program has provided more than $1 billion dollars worth of new and ongoing programming in more than 50 countries.

The platform works directly with a multitude of government departments, including the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to effectively engage civil society and governments around the world act.

With the assistance of the Peace Corps, volunteers are able to identify obstructions limiting adolescent girls from attending schools, while USAID is focused on increasing access to quality education by empowering girls.

Additional programs, companies and organizations contributing to the fight for equal and quality education for girls everywhere include The World Bank, Girl Starter, Let Girls Lead and more.

Moving forward, Let Girls Learn plans on continuing its efforts until the last girl presently prevented from obtaining equal and quality education is put into school.

– Jordan J. Phelan

Photo: Flickr

Education in Spain

Education in Spain

Education in Spain is important to the country’s future. Although the literacy rate in Spain among male and female youth has been extremely high for many years, the country has been devastated by a financial crisis and a depleting economy. In Spain, the literacy rate for youth ages 15 to 24 is excellent. The U.N.’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that an estimated 99.5% of males and an estimated 99.7% of women were literate from 2008 to 2012. These numbers are very promising but Spain’s ongoing financial crisis might make these statistics a thing of the past.

The European Union (EU) mandated spending cuts that required Spain’s “education spending [which] amounted to 4.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2014… [must now] fall below 4 percent in 2015.” The reductions in public funding also increased university tuition, cut student scholarships, increased class sizes and cut teacher salaries. In the previous year alone, Spain experienced education cuts of $2.2 billion. Consequently, there was an estimated decrease in student enrollment by 45,000 students.

In order to make the system of education in Spain more appealing and beneficial for students, José Ignacio Wert, Spain’s minister of Education, implemented new legislation called the Organic Law for the Improvement of Educational Quality (LOMCE). This piece of legislation made numerous changes to Spain’s educational system and warranted mixed feelings between the people of Spain.

One of LOMCE’s initiatives was to end a practice called Selectividad, an entry-level exam that incoming international students were required to pass before being accepted. Another initiative reduced the amount of undergraduate schooling from four years to three and increased the Master’s School requirement from one year to two. Wert said this was a significant change because Spain is “currently isolated from the rest of Europe. We currently don’t recognize graduates from other countries with a three-year degree, even if they come from Cambridge.”

Education in Spain

Wert believes that by implementing LOMCE, Spanish families will save $168 million altogether and students will be eligible to enter the job market by age 21. This is where the LOMCE education bill has created mixed feelings throughout the country because many students have a very different perspective on the matter. The LOMCE education bill was ratified in 2013 and that has decided the future of many students.

For one, students believed that by cutting undergraduate education by one whole year, they were losing the quality of education they could have experienced. Additionally, students believed Wert increased the Master’s School requirement by a full year in order for students to shell out more money to obtain their degrees.

The newly ratified bill for education in Spain is also basing the future of every student off of the examination score they receive on standardized tests. The recorded scores will determine what regions of Spain receive the most educational funding and what students are allowed to continue their education. The students that fall below the minimum requirement “will be separated and their vocational training determined for them.”

Wert stands by the LOMCE education bill because he believes it will help bring Spain’s educational system up to par with the other European countries. The only problem is, Spain’s history of civil war and fascist dictatorship sets it apart from other European countries.

The reign of General Francisco Franco left a gigantic scar throughout Spain and makes its citizens wary of any laws passed down by the national government. Wert and the people of Spain have to find a solution that will provide all aspiring students with the opportunity to pursue an education, without cutting university funding, scholarships and teachers’ wages.

– Terry J. Halloran

Photo: Flickr

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Uganda’s Struggling Universal Primary Education Policy

Universal Primary Education Policy
The Ugandan government spends roughly $300 million annually on universal primary education. Despite the government’s devotion to free public education, the universal primary education policy is enduring severe growing pains.

One main issue is that despite the government’s large expenditure, parents still pay for half of their students’ fees. According to Nelson Wanambi, an economist at Uganda’s Ministry of Education, parents now pay 46.9 percent for education whereas the government pays a mere 27.6 percent.

The high cost for families causes many children to drop out of school as education becomes burdensome for parents. This economic strain on families contributes to Uganda’s staggering 75.2 percent primary school dropout rate.

After the universal primary education was introduced in 1997, Ugandan schools grew at such a high rate that not enough teachers could be trained to accommodate the increased enrollment rate. Further, many teachers receive insufficient salaries, resulting in strikes and frequent teacher absenteeism.

Fortunately, the government has recently received financial support from the Global Partnership for Education. The most recent contribution was over $100 million to support Uganda’s Education Sector Strategic Plan (EESP). The ESSP originally ran from 2004-2015, and the Global Partnership for Education has made a pledge to continue the program from 2014-2018.

As in many developing nations, gender-related issues contribute to the high drop out rate. On average, Ugandan boys stay in school for two more years than girls — 6.3 compared to 4.5 years respectively. In Uganda, 30 percent of girls drop out of school when they start menstruating because they cannot afford sanitary pads.

Organizations like Afripads, which is headquartered in Uganda, work to increase accessibility to sanitary pads for young girls and provide job opportunities for Ugandan women. Some schools, such as Katwe primary school, are successfully implementing the universal primary education policy. At Katwe, the school provides sanitary pads for their female students.

In theory, the universal primary education program would relieve the burden for many families to pay tuition for their children and increase graduation rate. However, the program has faced many obstacles. With the help of organizations such as Global Partnership for Education and Afripads, Uganda’s future for education is bright once again.

– Sabrina Yates

Photo: Flickr

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6 Facts About Education in Romania

6 Facts About Education in Romania
Romania’s current education system is relatively new. Under communism, education in Romania was politically-fueled. The communist revolution in eastern Europe heavily influenced a nationalistic approach to education in Romania.

This meant that education was tailored to the Romanian majority. In the 1960’s Hungarian schools were merged with Romanian schools and virtually all classes that were once taught in Hungarian were now taught in Romanian.

This politicized education system was abolished in 1990 along with Romania’s communist regime. Today, Romania is a unitary republic with an education system that is constantly under reform. Here are six facts about education in Romania today:

  1. Kindergarten students can start school at three years of age. Although it is uncommon, it is legal to enroll a child into kindergarten as young as age three. Students can remain in kindergarten until they are six or seven, but they must complete at least one year of kindergarten to be eligible for enrollment in elementary school.
  2. Student admission to the high school is based on test scores. The Ministry of Romanian Education and Research administers nation-wide exams that determine where each child will attend high school. Performance on these exams dictates where each student will be able to attend high school. Certain private institutions, typically the more prestigious ones, also include their own attendance criteria on top of the test score requirements.
  3. Students attend specialty high schools. Unlike in the United States where every high school student is expected to gain a certain amount of credits in each subject, eighth-grade students in Romania decide between multiple areas of study in high school. Students can decide between attending an arts or science high school, a military college, economic college or professional school.
  4. High school students take up to 14 subjects at once. Most students take between 12 and 14 classes at once ranging from geography to Romanian literature. Students also take a minimum of two other languages, along with Romanian. Common languages taught include English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. High school teachers rotate between classrooms instead of the students. In most Romanian high schools, it is common that students have all of their lessons in the same classroom with the same classmates for all four or five years that they attend. This is intended to create a sense of community among students.
  5. Romanian women generally attend school longer than men. According to UNICEF, approximately 83 percent of women in Romania were enrolled in secondary education in 2012, compared with 81 percent of men.
  6. Romania’s education system is rapidly advancing. The literacy rate among those over the age of 15 rose from 96.7 percent in 1992 to 97.3 in 2002. Today, 98.8 percent of Romanians are literate.

Although these are major improvements, education in Romania still has room for improvement. Many people in rural communities do not have access to quality education and despite obtaining a higher level of education, there is a severe level of pay inequality between men and women in the workforce.

– Laura Cassin

Photo: Flickr

Students Find Hope in Nigerian Education

Hope in Nigerian Education
There is new hope in Nigerian education since an Islamic militant group, Boko Haram, ripped through certain parts of the country. Boko Haram, which means western education is forbidden, primarily operates in the northern states of Nigeria. These states include Yobe, Kano, Bauchi, Borno and Kaduna. Boko Haram has a long history of terrorizing prisons, police headquarters and heavily populated civilian locations. Boko Haram’s egregious actions have forced around 2.2 million Nigerians to flee their homes, creating one of the largest concentrations of internally displaced persons in Africa.

Consequently, the terrorism has effected many families and in turn hindered thousands of children from attending school and receiving the educations they desperately need. Due to this growing problem, the USAID and many NGOs have created a program called the Education Crisis Response.

Started in 2014, Education Crisis Response focuses on children ages 6 to 17 and plans to “expand access to quality and protective non-formal education and alternative education opportunities for out-of-school children.” The program provides students with the necessary school supplies, school provided meals and psychological teaching methods. According to Ayo Oladini, the programs director, returning to the classroom is more than therapeutic for the children who have been away for years at a time.

The program helps the students cope with their traumatizing pasts by having the students work as one unit and establish a great rapport with their teachers. The local community places an important role by stressing peace and other beneficial values.

Since the program was launched, 294 non-formal learning centers have been created and adhere to a curriculum that includes literacy, numeracy and life skills. The communities in Nigeria open up their schools and other various buildings to be used for these learning sessions. Oladini and the other trained facilitators are using hope in Nigerian education to instill positive values in the many children they teach. They want them to strive for better futures no matter what happened in the past, and education is the key to unlock it.

“We make sure that we don’t create any more trauma, either for these children or within the community where they live,” Oladini explained. “We tell them ‘Look, the future is still there for you. You [may] have lost this, you [may] have lost that…but there is still hope for you.”

Documented evaluations conducted by state officials have proven that Education Crisis Response works and the Nigerian Government has continued to fund the program. Even though the program will begin to phase out in 2017, the government will sustain the program for the long haul. The combined efforts of the local government and communities has given these many children hope in Nigerian education, and a reason to care about the lives they will lead in the future.

It has returned ambitious attitudes to children who at one time believed all hope was lost. They are being taught “to move forward and persevere in a state of difficulty.” They have to fight for a brighter future and finding hope in education has given them that chance.

– Terry J. Halloran

Photo: Flickr

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Challenges Plague Education in Papua New Guinea

Education in Papua New Guinea
Endemic problems facing education in Papua New Guinea (PNG) continue nearly unabated despite the passing of the 15-year-long time frame established by the U.N. for securing its ambitious Millennium Development Goals. Included among its eight commitments was dramatic education reform to address systemic gender-based discrimination, a goal that has hardly been realized in the Oceanic nation.

In a 2012 report, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) tallied total enrollment in primary education to be a meager 29.3 percent of all PNG children. The research found that the male-to-female ratio is nearly equal during those early education years, with 16,821 males and 16,120 females enrolled in some level of schooling in the relatively wealthier Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

That seeming equality morphs as children age, however, especially when comparing different regions of the country. Female enrollment rates decline significantly in poorer regions that are also marked by a horrific record of abuse toward women. That state of affairs is attributed by many to the historic degradation toward women found worldwide, and in particular regions of the country like the Eastern Highlands.

Indeed, the literacy rate between men and women in that region was 51 percent and 36.5 percent, respectively. In 2009, grade 12 enrollees were made up of just 180 females to their 494 male colleagues. Much of the blame has been leveled at a lack of will and ability to actually fund initiatives aimed at attaining universal gender equality in spite of such officially professed goals.

Similar to the reality throughout the world, PNG girls and women face an exorbitantly high likelihood of experiencing rape or assault at some point in their lifetime. Human Rights Watch pegs that figure at a staggering 70 percent for PNG, well above the one in three average for much of the majority world.

The World Health Organization notes that this problem is exacerbated in low-income regions with poor social attitudes toward women, like rural PNG, and often increases the risk for physical and mental health problems. As those problems increase, the amount of professional and personal self-improvement women and girls can achieve diminishes, thus perpetuating the problem of gender inequality for education in PNG and elsewhere.

Some progress toward reforming education in Papua New Guinea has been made. AusAID found that total enrollment rates have increased from 52 to 63 percent between 2007 and 2009 among primary-aged students. At that same time, completion rates for students enrolled up to grade eight rose from 45 to 56 percent.

In 2012 the government rolled out a new round of subsidizations for tuition fees, building on the apparent success of similar policies enacted in the early 1990s. The new policies have positively affected enrollment among female children and have promoted retention rates among children who seek to continue on with their education at various levels.

In fact, a unique problem has arisen over the last several years involving a lack of resources to accommodate so many current and prospective students, with the numbers expected to continue climbing. For example, nearly 14,000 high school-aged students are expected to continue their education in Papua New Guinean colleges and universities despite glaring inadequacies in terms of quality of educational infrastructure and low numbers of qualified educators.

Ravinder Rena, who published research in 2011 which studied the causes and challenges facing primary education in Papua New Guinea, laments that the quality of most things associated with the PNG education system is derelict and in need of reforms on nearly every level.

“But, if the government can maintain its financial commitment to education, then Papua New Guinea’s educational system most likely will continue to progress,” writes Rena.

– James Collins
Photo: Flickr

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How UNICEF is Maintaining the Education of Burundian Children

Education of Burundian Children
Burundi relies heavily on foreign aid and what is not coming in cannot possibly go out. At the close of last year, the president of Burundi announced the budgetary conditions for the upcoming year, and all sectors would be receiving a large cut. The Ministry of Education was reduced by one-third, with water/sanitization and human rights services closely following. The Ministry of Health would also have to operate with half of its previous budget.

It is not just the availability of education in Burundi that affects a child’s capacity to learn and function, all of their basic needs must also be met in order to contribute to their growth. Toward the end of last year, the number of children suffering from severe malnutrition in Bujumbura doubled within less than three months. The city is in strife, abreast with political unrest, making the streets unsafe for children, leading to an increase in Burundian’s seeking asylum in neighboring countries.

With strains being placed on Burundi’s already feeble education system, it is hard to predict a positive outcome for the education of Burundian children living in these harsh circumstances. However, UNICEF refuses to let the education of Burundian children fall victim to circumstances.

Although UNICEF provides school supplies, manages grants and other forms of relief in Burundi, they have also implemented a number of other programs for the advocacy and safety of Burundian children.

Partnering with Handicap International, a program called “Zones of Peace” was launched in Bujumbura, where teachers received specialized training to help children cope with the psychosocial effects of living in turbulent conditions. UNICEF also mediated with organizations in Tanzania to provide a way for Burundian refugee students to take their 9-10 grade exams, without jeopardizing their safety.

The safety and education of Burundian children are UNICEF’s top priority, especially lone male children that are being targeted and forced into jail. In response, UNICEF and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights have fought rigorously for their release and opened two re-education centers to house the previously detained children.

The majority of imprisoned children are held in adult prisons, where they are at risk for abuse and are malnourished during their confinement. The re-education center is a safe haven for the children to receive needed counseling, nourishment, legal services, education and reintegration back into society. These centers hope to remove the stigma that often accompanies incarceration and to return educated, mentally well young adults into society.

UNICEF’s efforts to provide safety and the education of Burundian children does not stop at the re-education centers. On Aug. 1, 2016, in conjunction with Burundi’s Ministry of Education, UNFPA, WFP and the United Nations Volunteers, they have opened 20 summer camps in Bujumbura. The goal of these camps is not only to allow the children a safe place to join in recreation but also to provide them with life skills, education, as well as enhancing non-violent communication and interactions.

The road towards achieving stability for Burundian children, with reliable access to education, is wrought with challenges, but through the unrelenting efforts of UNICEF and co-sponsoring organizations, one thing Burundian children have is hope.

– Amy Whitman

Photo: Flickr

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Top Five Reasons for Prioritizing Global Education

prioritizing Global Education
In a report recently released by UNESCO, only 64 of the 157 countries tied to the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) met the 2015 deadline for complete accessibility to global education.

While the U.N.’s sustainable development goal on education (SDG4), launched last September, strives to achieve universal education for both primary and secondary levels by 2030, only 12 countries are expected to achieve its goal by 2030. The U.S. is not expected to meet the goal until 2040.

What is causing the delay?

According to the director of the global education monitoring report, Aaron Benavot, there are two primary reasons for the slow progress made in reaching targets set out by MDG and SDG4. Benavot cites continued political instability, conflict and economic as well as social inequalities as casual factors. In addition, the director also notes that aid is not being distributed equally or prioritized to those countries that may need it the most.

“Mongolia has universal primary completion already, but received 15 times the amount of aid to education per child than Chad […], where only just a quarter of children are completing primary education,” Benavot explained to The Guardian.

Why is prioritizing global education important?

  1. If universal secondary education were to be achieved by 2030, there would be 20,000 fewer natural-disaster-related deaths over the next two decades.
  2. If all children had a primary education, as many as 700,000 cases of HIV could be prevented each year.
  3. Educating women would prevent up to 3.5 million child deaths between 2050 and 2060. According to UNICEF, educating a woman would also dramatically reduce the chance her child will die before the age of five.
  4. A country that has 10 percentage points more of its youths in schools reduces its risk of conflict from 14% to around 10%.
  5. According to UNESCO, if all students in low-income countries learned basic reading skills, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty, resulting in a 12% decline in global poverty.

Although funds may support greater accessibility to global education for millions of children as well as prepare them to contribute to their country’s economies, education’s impacts cross multiple sectors — health, mortality rates and international conflict. Education is the disguised powerhouse towards successfully eradicating poverty. Meeting the U.N.’s SDGs by 2030 should be the number one priority.

– Priscilla Son
Photo: Flickr

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Increasing Education Foreign Assistance

Increasing Education Foreign Assistance: Unlocking a World of Promise
Knowledge is power. This simple statement is more resonant than ever as the world moves towards a knowledge-based economy. In spite of the tremendous importance of education in building the lives of youth around the world, only a small share of the United States’ foreign aid budget goes to education and social programs. By increasing education foreign assistance for such programs, the U.S. could bolster its contribution to global development.

Here are four facts about the current amount of U.S. foreign assistance for education:

  1. Since 2010, spending budgeted for foreign assistance for education has fallen by 44 percent from $1.75 billion to $1.21 billion in 2016. This stands in stark comparison to the seven percent decline in the overall foreign assistance budget and the 13 percent increase in total federal spending over the same time period.
  2. The U.S. spends only three percent of its total foreign assistance budget on social and educational programs, around half of which goes to basic education. By contrast, Australia spends around 25 percent of its foreign aid budget on such programs. The largest recipient of foreign assistance for education in the 2016 fiscal year is Afghanistan. Many of these programs target education for women and girls in a society where female education has traditionally received little support or even outright hostility.
  3. In 2016 the military budget for the U.S. was $604.5 billion and foreign assistance spending on security was $8.77 billion, respectively 500 and 7.2 times higher than spending on foreign assistance for education.
  4. Since 2006, 123 different countries have received foreign assistance for education from the U.S. Afghanistan received the most, $696.8 million, while Montenegro came in last with a little over $14,000. The other leading countries after Afghanistan were Ethiopia, Liberia, Kenya and Guatemala.

Increasing education foreign assistance can bolster economic growth, encourage gender equality and build local capacities. For each additional year of schooling in a country, annual GDP growth rises by 0.37 percent, allowing for greater trade opportunities. The higher the proportion of the population enrolled in secondary education, the lower the risk of war. Therefore it is key to U.S. economic and national security interests that we continue to provide foreign assistance for education.

– Jonathan Hall-Eastman

Photo: Flickr