Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

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How South Sudan Is Improving Its Education Sector

South Sudan Education Sector
As the world’s newest country, South Sudan has made strong progress in improving its education sector. In just four years, the enrollment of children in primary school has doubled, and the chance for a child in South Sudan to receive schooling has increased by 20 percent in the past decade. South Sudan’s Alternate Education System is also helping over 200,000 youth and adults catch up on their education.

Unfortunately, education in the country is still considered among the worst in the world. The adult literacy rate is only 27 percent and 70 percent of children ages 6-17 have never set foot in a classroom. The dropout rate for children in their first six years of primary education is 60 percent.

Overcrowded primary schools are extremely common and qualified teachers are few and far between. Only 15 percent of teachers in South Sudan are qualified with just three out of five teachers receiving a salary from the government.

In a World Bank article, the Country Director for South Sudan stated that in order to catch up with the rest of Africa, South Sudan needs consistent investment in classrooms, more schools in rural areas, more trained teachers and an efficient distribution of educational resources.

In order to make those improvements and boost education in South Sudan, USAID has implemented various programs and projects benefiting both students and teachers across the country.

USAID has greatly improved the accessibility of education in South Sudan. The Agency has contributed to the construction and rehabilitation of 140 primary schools and five secondary schools across the country.

In the past five years, the Agency has awarded over 9,000 scholarships to girls and disadvantaged boys who were previously unable to afford secondary education.

USAID’s South Sudan Teacher Education Program is helping to improve teacher qualification through in-service training and the implementation of a curriculum and professional teaching standards.

In 2012, the Agency provided technical assistance for the drafting and passage of South Sudan’s General Education Bill. According to a member of South Sudan’s National Legislative Assembly, “The bill provides for compulsory and free education for all citizens of the country through primary level.”

Although education in South Sudan is improving, there is still a lot of ground to make up. Organizations like USAID, UNICEF and the World Bank are working with the government of South Sudan to develop a stronger, self-sustaining education system.

– Kristyn Rohrer

Photo: Flickr

Bilingualism: A Resolution to Cultural Conflict in Thailand

Conflict in Thailand
Since 2004, 6,500 people have died as a result of cultural conflict in Thailand between Malay Muslims and Thai Buddhists in the ‘Deep South’ (Thailand’s three southernmost provinces). The culture clash stems partly from the majority Muslim area’s desire for autonomy, a hot topic in Thai politics. On numerous occasions, public schools have been targeted for attacks, leaving educators concerned about their students’ safety.

In the Deep South, four out of five individuals identify as Muslim, compared to Thailand’s overall 93 percent Buddhist population. Many of Thailand’s Muslims believe the country’s public education system, which is geared toward Buddhists, only serves to exacerbate the ongoing conflict. Although Malay Muslims’ first language is often not Thai, all public school classes are taught in it.

Professor Suwilai Premsrirat of Thailand’s Mahidol University has spent the past 10 years working to integrate the Patani-Malay language into public-school curriculum in the Deep South through a pilot program to deter cultural conflict in Thailand.

Although Premsrirat faces criticism from both sides for incorporating elements of the opposing group’s language, she believes the bilingual approach is the key to success. Primary school teacher Mrs. Hareena promoted the pilot program, saying “you can see [the students] are understanding better now.”

Hopefully Premsrirat’s initiative will also serve to reduce cross-cultural violence in the Deep South by promoting understanding and diversity. “We want to make it [clear] we respect [Patani-Malay language and culture],” Premsrirat said, speaking for the Thai public school system.

According to Asia Peacebuilding Initiatives, incorporating the Malay language into the public school system may discourage Muslim families from sending their children to private Muslim schools. More Malay children attending public schools will result in increased diversity and mingling between the two cultures. This in turn may help promote national unity and reduce cultural conflict in Thailand.

Asia Peacebuilding Initiatives is quick to point out, however, that while language integration is a major step, the ultimate goal is to shift educators’ perspectives on the importance of diversity in language and religion.

Because of the cultural conflict in Thailand, many Malay Muslims feel alienated by their native tongue. Hopefully, incorporating their language into Thailand’s public school curricula will provide Malay Muslims a sense of belonging and Thai Buddhists an opportunity for understanding.

– Carrie Robinson

Photo: Flickr

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Chinese Teaching Methods Lead to Educational Success

Educational Success_Chinese Teaching Methods
China is known for having educational success. 70 United Kingdom (U.K.)-based teachers were sent to Shanghai in 2014 to study Chinese teaching methods. Surprised with what they found, they returned to the U.K. and reported China’s success in the classroom comes from the “chalk and talk” approach – a teaching method the West has been moving away from.

The “chalk and talk” approach is an example of direct instruction; it is when the teacher remains at the front of the classroom, directing learning, controlling classroom activities and ensuring a disciplined environment. This method has contributed to China’s great success in international tests such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).

Despite the technique’s proven success, the West strayed from direct instruction in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In an attempt to improve teaching methods, it developed what is referred to as discovery learning: basing learning on children’s interests, giving them more control over classroom activities and eliminating mental arithmetic.

Jun Yang-Williams, a teacher in English schools who previously taught in China said, “It seems… that British schools have almost dismissed the ‘teacher-led’ teaching style… Although the ‘teacher-led’ pedagogy is seen as passive, it does not necessarily jeopardize learning outcomes. Students are in fact more proactive and more responsible for their learning.”

Videoed lessons in both China and the U.K. revealed that whole-class teaching makes up 72 percent of Chinese lesson time, compared to only 24 percent in the U.K.

These supposedly innovative techniques were proven to do the opposite of what the West was trying to accomplish. A recent study of classrooms in the U.K. and China found increasing evidence that new-age teaching methods lead to under-performance.

Professor David Reynolds of Southampton University and postgraduate research student Zhenzhen Miao also conducted a test in 2014 on 562 students ages 9 and 10 from Southampton in the U.K. and from Nanjing in China using math tests from TIMSS. The average Chinese score was 83 percent, whereas the average English score was just 56 percent.

By establishing the basics and spending more time on teacher-led style, Chinese teaching methods lead to educational success. Teachers constantly ask and answer questions, invite students to demonstrate solutions on the board and quiz students about their thinking. The classroom is involved, but driven by the teacher rather than the students.

Even with teacher-driven classrooms, students are content with Chinese teaching methods. According to the 2012 PISA survey, 85 percent of Shanghai’s students agreed that they “feel happy at school” – a percentage much higher than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average.

Perhaps the West will consider reintroducing direct instruction to its teaching methods.

– Alice Gottesman

Photo: Flickr

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Obstacles Against Secondary Education in El Salvador

Education_El Salvador
While education has slowly grown more accessible for El Salvador children since the end of the country’s civil war in 1992, poverty continues to keep children away from classrooms — particularly when reaching secondary school.

In 2013, elementary schools had a 91% enrollment. However, only 50-60% attended secondary school (grades seven through nine). Poverty levels also fluctuated between 30-40% over the past decade, rising to 55% in rural areas.

Poverty conditions often affect academic performance and can cause children to leave school early, as disadvantages faced by families often influence the choice.

Work

El Salvador has child labor laws; it is illegal for children under 14 to have jobs and hours are restricted for anyone under 18. However, about 1.8 million children between the ages of five to 17 work to contribute to their families. Many of these children have to leave school to do so, thus continuing the cycle of poverty.

School Supply Costs

Although secondary education in El Salvador is free, students are required to have uniforms and basic supplies. This cost is often too much for families. Rural students are often unable to attend because they do not have means of transportation to get to even the nearest school.

Resources

School quality varies from region to region It is difficult to encourage students to actively participate in education when schools often are poorly constructed, lack the proper resources and are overcrowded.

Crime

After Honduras, El Salvador has the second-highest homicide rate in the world, fueled by active gangs, drugs and poverty. Children risk becoming either participants or victims of the violence. In this case, both employment and education appear to be part of the solution. Young people who join gangs are often those who do not have the resources to attend school but are unable to find a job in the stagnant economy.

Unregistered Children

Approximately 10% of the population were not registered at birth. This prevents children from becoming citizens or attending public schools in El Salvador. Unregistered children are born to families in rural areas or living on the street. Barring this particularly vulnerable group from education only continues the issues of violence and poverty.

Child Marriage

Legally, girls as young as 14 and boys as young as 15 can marry with parental permission. Twenty-five percent of Salvadorans are married by age 18. Members of a Global group called Girls, not Brides, state that child marriage often ends a girl’s formal education pursuits.

Change on the Way?

Problems with secondary education in El Salvador have been recognized and many are mobilizing to tackle these issues.

El Salvador passed a plan to end child labor by 2020 through the reduction of poverty, protection of children’s rights and improvements to education.

To reduce crime, the government passed a law called National Youth Policy, with the intent to create outlets for young people through education, employment or other constructive participation. Some American organizations like USAID and Tailored for Education have invested in Salvadoran schools to improve resources and infrastructure.

None of these economic or social issues are easy to resolve, but Salvadoran officials believe that with a literacy rate of 97%, high primary school attendance and a low gender gap, there will be a good foundation to make progress.

– Jeanette I. Burke

Photo: Flickr

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Millennium Challenge Corporation: STEM Education in Georgia

Millennium Challenge Corporation Impacts STEM Education in Georgia
A $140 million compact signed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the government of Georgia in July 2013 improves STEM education in Georgia. The compact, including a partnership with San Diego University (SDSU), is increasing the number of professionals in the STEM fields as well as empowering women and reducing poverty.

Georgia suffers from a lack of professionals in the STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math. Few women delve into these fields, and gender inequality can hinder economic growth and poverty eradication.

The MCC compact will improve STEM education and raise the earning potential for Georgians. The SDSU partnership with Georgian universities gives Georgians access to earning accredited STEM degrees. Twenty percent of the first class of students in the program are women. The more that percentage rises, the more poverty rates can drop and gender gaps can close.

STEM programs are important for developing countries like Georgia because they give individuals the skills that they need to make critical decisions about problems in our world, such as lowering environmental impact while improving standards of living.

As the former Director General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research stated, STEM education will help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and to help people make decisions that affect global development.

The MMC compact to improve STEM education in Georgia is only one of many compacts that are giving nations worldwide more access to development opportunities. If Congress passes the Millennium Compacts for Regional Economic Integration Act (M-CORE Act), nations would be permitted to enter into a second Millennium Challenge Compact and reap the benefits of the additional development efforts.

In order for nations to get a second compact, one or more of the compacts must meet specific economic qualifications, and the nation must show progress with its current compact. Supporting the M-CORE Act is supporting poverty reduction and increased economic opportunity for developing nations.

If Congress passes the M-CORE Act, the MCC can implement more opportunities like STEM education in Georgia and increase development efforts worldwide.

– Addie Pazzynski

Photo: Flickr

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Fighting Poverty in the UK Through Early Childhood Education

Poverty in the U.K.Some advocates call for better access to high-quality, early childhood education to help keep children living in poverty in the U.K. from falling behind developmentally and educationally.

International charity Save the Children urges Parliament to deliver world-class early childcare in the U.K. through its “Giving All Children the Best Start in Life” campaign. The campaign focuses on young children who are currently falling behind before they start school, especially impoverished children.

In March 2016, Save the Children released a report called Lighting Up Young Brains, which shows how parents, caregivers and nurseries support a child’s brain development in the first five years of life. The paper includes a recommendation to the government to ensure an early childhood educator leads every nursery in England by 2020.

The report explains that the brain begins processing information in a more efficient and complex way between the ages of three and five.

However, poverty can get in the way of this essential development. According to Save the Children, the poorest children in England, on average, begin school 15 months behind their wealthier peers in developing key skills, such as language skills.

The Child Poverty Action Group, a U.K.-based nonprofit, reports one in four children in the U.K. is being raised in poverty.

According to UNICEF, investing in early childhood education is one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing poverty because the estimated economic returns on investment in early childhood education are as high as a one to 17 ratio.

Numerous countries recently made early childhood education a priority. In 2010, the government of China increased early childhood education significantly. UNICEF reports the percentage of children between the ages of three and six in kindergartens in China increased from 45 percent in 2009 to 70.5 percent in 2014.

Efforts to enrich the development of young children living in poverty in the U.K. go beyond just the nursery school classroom. For instance, CPAG reports that a child’s home environment influences them the most, and poverty experienced in this environment should be taken into account.

“While good quality nursery care and education can supplement this (the home environment),” CPAG’s website states, “it cannot substitute for an impoverished home life.”

The Lighting Up Young Brains report explains how research shows that a strong home-learning environment provides the types of experiences and environment necessary for child brain and language development, such as opportunities to read and be read to.

CPAG’s website states social policies focusing on early years interventions for poorer children are “welcome,” but should not distract from the needs of impoverished children of school age, such as not having a place to study because of the cold or overcrowding.

You can learn more about the “Giving All Children the Best Start in Life” campaign by visiting Save the Children’s website. You can also visit the Child Poverty Action Group’s website to learn more about child poverty in the U.K. and see how the organization works for families affected by poverty.

– Kate Miller

Photo: Flickr

 

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Why are Athletic Tracks in China Making Children Sick?

Athletic Tracks_ China
Education is meant to be helpful, but recently thousands of Chinese children have fallen ill due to their school facilities. Adding to the unhealthily high levels of pollution throughout the country, athletic tracks in China composed of low-quality materials have been essentially poisoning the students who use them.

Affected students experienced a wide range of symptoms, from nosebleeds to skin conditions and coughs. Many of the affected schools reside in Beijing, but the problem persists at schools throughout the country.

The main school discussed by the Chinese media has been the Beijing No.2 Experimental School, where the track tested positive for high levels of benzene substances and formaldehyde. Other tracks around China have been proven to contain ethylbenzene and other toxic chemicals.

Many of the athletic tracks in China were produced from recycled materials, including old tires. Manufacturers may have been trying to cut costs by using sub-par materials.

Parents across China have been concerned about their children for months, citing illness, doctors visits, and even noting strange smells coming from the tracks. Some concerned parents even petitioned their schools to remove the dangerous tracks.

Users of China’s social media site, Weibo, have taken to the internet to express their experiences and views using the hashtag #ToxicSchoolTrack.

As a result of the national concern, the Chinese Ministry of Education plans to inspect all affected tracks before the start of the new school year and has already begun to replace those that are deemed below standard. According to the ministry, producers of “poisonous tracks” will be severely punished for their actions.

Thus far, Chinese officials have shut down nine factories involved in the production of the dangerous unregulated tracks. Multiple executives and employees of the factories, who are believed to be directly involved in the scandal, have been detained by authorities.

Even though the Ministry of Education is taking steps to improve the conditions of various running tracks, some parents still lack hope. One father states, “It takes a time to clean up things like these and it requires action from different agencies. I doubt we’ll see any real effects soon. For me, my priority is to guarantee my child safety and a good environment to grow up in.”

Hopefully, the Ministry of Education will take the public outcry to heart and continue cracking down on poisonous track producers, as well as continue working to ensure the safety of affected students.

– Carrie Robinson

Photo: Flickr

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Business and Government Leaders Fight Global Brain Drain

Brain Drain
Brain drain is a rampant epidemic detrimentally impacting developing nations across the earth. As a result, businesses and political figures are making fantastic efforts to reverse brain drains on both a national and global level.

What is Brain Drain and Why is it Happening?

According to Merriam-Webster, brain drain is defined as, “a situation in which many educated or professional people leave a particular place or profession and move to another one that gives them better pay or living conditions.”

The term brain drain was first coined around the 1960s when Great Britain experienced a high percentage of British scientists and intellectuals leaving the country to find better careers in the U.S.

Since then, many other countries such as Greece, Lithuania and a number of African nations have experienced brain drain at an alarming rate.

The Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine reports that brain drain stems from a wide range of economic, social and political conditions. Most of these conditions are observed in developing countries where the careers of citizens are stifled from issues such as poverty, political instability and lack of technology.

These conditions make developed countries more attractive to those with a degree or a specialized skill. Countries such as the U.S., Canada and the U.K. have been gaining a significant amount of doctors and nurses from abroad.

Migration Abroad

In 2006, the U.S. received roughly 213,331 doctors and 99,456 nurses from abroad. Research from the WHO estimated that brain drain resulted in a global shortage of 4.3 million healthcare workers. Countries experiencing brain drain lose educated working-class employees by anywhere from thousands to hundreds of thousands of workers.

In just 2011 alone, Lithuania reported 54,000 migrating to find work in the U.K. The continent of Africa loses one in nine university graduates to Western nations. In addition, Greece estimated that 160,000 to 180,000 college graduates have left the country for better opportunities.

Though developed countries can benefit from receiving these educated migrants, the sheer amount of incoming, educated people can overwhelmingly disadvantage various sectors within developing countries.

However, there is hope to reverse brain drain as seen from the efforts of nations such as Lithuania, the UAE and many African countries.

Lithuania

Business leaders and government officials in Lithuania are combating brain drain through a series of university mergers. University mergers are when multiple universities unify in order to foster stronger university brands. The plan is that these university mergers will attract current citizens and international students to study in Lithuania.

Marius Skuodis, a former citizen of Lithuania, has returned to his country because of the new opportunities provided within the university mergers. He plans on pursuing his PhD at Vilnius University, despite having to accept a lower salary.

Skuodis is quoted saying that, “Lithuania offered me career opportunities I could not expect in the UK.”

UAE

The UAE has also made gallant strides in turning brain drain into a brain gain. The UAE is a nation that suffered from brain drain as well as high levels of violence for numerous years.

Recently, businesses have made tremendous efforts in the UAE to improve the quality of life for workers and residents. These efforts have turned the UAE into a thriving nation with one of the highest standards of living for citizens in the world.

Africa

In Africa, reports indicate that brain drain has slowed substantially within the continent. A study in 2014 from South Africa’s Adcorp, stated that 359,000 highly skilled South African workers had returned to work in their countries of origin.

Economists have noted that this accomplishment was possible due to the policies that governments and businesses have put in place in order to encourage workers to come back home.

Finding a solution to reducing brain drain is no easy feat, as it requires both businesses and governments to coincide with one another to tackle the issue at hand. Businesses and corporate leaders need to implement solutions to create more job opportunities with quality benefits for those with desired skills.

Governments need to strive for policy changes that encourage workers to return to their countries. However, if governments and businesses can work together to make substantial legislation changes, many nations may follow suit and reverse their brain drain into a brain gain.

– Shannon Warren

Photo: Flickr

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Buffett Donates $2.2 Billion to Gates Foundation

Gates Foundation
This year, as part of his annual pledge to eventually contribute 500 million shares of the Berkshire Hathaway Inc to the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, Warren Buffett recently donated nearly $2.2 billion worth of class B stocks in support of improving global health and embarking on a new challenge to assist U.S. education.

In 2010, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett created the Giving Pledge, which rallied the world’s billionaires to donate at least half of their fortunes to charity. Since the pledge has been put into place, 154 affluent individuals have made the oath.

Gates acknowledges the possibility of failure in some projects, but remains optimistic, stating “we not only accept that [projects will fail] we expect it—because we think an essential role of philanthropy is to make bets on promising solutions that governments and businesses can’t afford to make.”

Bill and Melinda Gates are both optimistic about the future of the Foundation, which is aimed at alleviating extreme poverty and poor health in developing countries in addition to improving the failure of America’s education system.

According to a SEC document filed on Thursday, July 13, 2015, Buffett donated 14,968,423 shares of Class B Common Stock valued at $145.93 per share to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett also donated 1,047,785 shares of Class B Common Stock to foundations owned by his three children: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.

Warren Buffett believes philanthropy is associated with taking risks and remains steadfast and patient whenever Berkshire investments bear no fruit. “If you succeed in everything you’re doing in charity, you’re attempting things that are too easy,” Warren Buffett declared in 2011.

The philanthropist also donated $215 million worth of stocks to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which is named after his late wife. The main objective of the Susan Thompson Buffett foundation is to provide scholarships for eligible recipients within the Nebraska region on a competitive basis.

Buffett has vowed to give away 99 percent of his wealth in support of charitable causes and innovative solutions to end global poverty. After over 10 years of donating to the Gates foundation as well as other nonprofit organizations, Buffett’s fortune is now estimated at approximately $65.6 billion.

Buffett’s recent donation to the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, when added to the other donations made over his lifetime, brings his total donations to more than $28.5 billion.

– Shanique Wright

Photo: Finance Buzz

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Domestic Workers in Mexico: Accessing Education

Domestic Workers
Teresa Ramirez Murillo was born in the Mexican state of Guanajuato in the 1960s. Ramirez grew up on a farm where she helped her family grow and harvest corn and beans. Most of the farm produce was used to feed the family of nine and the little that was left over was sold for minimal profit. Ramirez says life in the countryside was hard and the land “gave you very little for all you put in.”

One Woman’s Quest for Education

Given the lack of opportunity and the preponderance of low-paying jobs in rural Mexico, Ramirez left her hometown when she was 11 to go work in Mexico City as a domestic worker. Ramirez claims this was a very good decision, as it allowed her to send remittances back to her parents that helped them pay for much needed medical services, medicines, clothes and food.

Furthermore, Ramirez believes she would be lost in the world if she had not gotten out of rural Guanajuato, since she would never have attained the standard of living and the skills she has today.

Through her job as a domestic worker, Ramirez was allowed to continue her elementary school education as an adult. During the time she worked for an American family in Mexico City, she was not only allowed but encouraged to go back to school after work. Ramirez was able to complete elementary school up to the third grade before the night school for adults she attended closed. After this, she did not return to school and as time went by, she began to feel that the opportunity had passed.

Ramirez’s deep love of school and passion for mathematics inspired her determination to give her children a full education. She used the money she earned as a domestic worker to give her three sons an education that would let them “do something with their lives.”

Today, Ramirez’ three sons are very accomplished young men. Ricardo Ramirez, the oldest, finished his university degree in accounting and is currently completing his masters in business administration.

Her youngest son follows in Ricardo’s footsteps and the middle son prepares to enter university to become a defense attorney. Ramirez’s sons have accomplished what she could never have dreamed of as a child in Guanajuato, and she is very proud that her domestic worker job could provide and finance her children’s education.

For Ramirez, working as a domestic worker allowed her family to make the transition from poverty to lower middle class and created the groundwork for future generations to begin life in a higher rung of society. As such, every subsequent generation of her family can continue to rise as their parents are given better and better opportunities.

Ramirez was very lucky that the families she worked for were respectful, fair and always paid for the work Ramirez did accordingly. This is not the case for many domestic workers in Mexico.

The Domestic Worker’s Plight

According to Mexico’s national statistics, there are 2.3 million paid domestic workers in Mexico, of which a vast 95% are women. There is also an unknown number of women working as domestic workers in the informal sector.

Whether working in the informal sector or not, many domestic workers in Mexico face sexual and physical abuse and unfair work conditions. The Guardian reports there are usually no employment contracts so domestic workers have no guaranteed fair pay and their employers take advantage by paying very low wages.

For a long time, no domestic workers’ union existed so women had no one to defend their rights or pursue cases of abuse; domestic workers in Mexico were entirely alone.

At the end of 2015 domestic workers decided they were fed up being treated as less than human and formed the first National Union of Domestic Workers (Sinactraho). General secretary of the Union, Marta Leal-Morales, told the BBC, “this union would be to defend the rights of domestic workers, so they could have a better quality of life.” The purpose of the union is to ensure that Ramirez’ positive experience as a domestic worker becomes the rule rather than the exception. Most domestic workers in Mexico want it to be a right, not a matter of luck, to benefit from their work.

Hopefully, the Union will bring the shift to domestic work becoming a transition job that allows families to cross the bridge out of poverty and move forward toward a better life for themselves and future generations.

– Christina Egerstrom

Photo: New Statesman