Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

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Chinese Government Implements HIV/AIDS Prevention Classes

HIV:AIDS prevention
China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission and the Ministry of Education declared last week that teachers must now cover HIV/AIDS prevention in the classroom.

The move was in conjunction with the announcement that some areas of China are seeing higher rates of HIV/AIDS cases among students than other populations.

Overall, there are currently around half a million people with HIV/AIDS in China, with the possibility of hundreds of thousands of undiagnosed cases, according to the World Health Organization.

Under the requirement, middle school students must attend six hours of classes dealing with HIV/AIDS prevention, while high school students are required to attend four hours of classes. The departments also recommended that schools provide students with information regarding counseling and HIV testing sites.

Implementing the requirement is seen as a bold move for the Chinese government, as it is still coming to terms with the idea that the younger generation is more sexually liberated than older generations.

Sex education, in fact, is not currently taught in most schools in China.

However, a study by Durex, a condom maker, revealed that people in China are losing their virginity at a younger age, with the average currently at 21.2 years. The study also showed that 60 percent of those between the ages of 19 and 25 in China have had sex.

– Matt Wotus

Sources: Daily Mail, Wall Street Journal
Photo: Daily Mail

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Why Clean Water Matters

Why Clean Water Matters
It’s all too easy to take for granted all of the conveniences available to us as citizens of a developed country. Having access to clean water is a privilege that goes far beyond just being able to use it for drinking or cooking. It can significantly improve the lives of people in poverty for a number of reasons.

For example, access to clean water usually means a person is more likely to have food to eat. After all, 70 percent of our global water use is for irrigation and agriculture. Often, a lack of clean water means a corresponding lack of food, because communities are unable to grow their own. About 84 percent of the people who don’t have access to clean water live on subsistence agriculture, which means that they are dependent on the growth of their own food for survival.

If people have access only to dirty, contaminated water, then they are in constant danger of waterborne diseases like diarrhea, cholera, fluorosis, HIV, malaria, typhoid and parasites such as intestinal worms. All of these run rampant through unsafe water supplies.

If people are getting sick, then someone in the family has to take care of them. That leaves two people out of school or work. Two people whose education or livelihood is put on hold because there isn’t an accessible clean water source.

Oftentimes, women undertake the time-consuming act of hauling water from its source to the villages where it is needed. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 40 billion hours a year are spent hauling water. This leads to to a sort of “time poverty,” where there is less time for endeavors like receiving an education or making money.

Without access to proper sanitation, many girls drop out of school when they reach puberty. Unsafe water acts as a barrier to education for young women in particular, perpetuating the global poverty and gender inequality cycle.

When mothers fear their children are going to die of diseases, they have more children in the hopes that some of them will survive, which often leads to poor maternal health and overpopulation problems. Poor maternal health can also lead to orphaned children who are left to fend for themselves and do not have time for education because they are focused on survival.

In fact, access to clean water is something that underlays almost all of the Millennium Development Goals – eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating disease and ensuring environmental sustainability. In the new set of Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring access to water and sanitation for all is a goal in itself.

Gary Evans of Living Water International put it like this: “We’re in a world where there are 900 million people barely treading water, and the water’s too low for them to reach the ladder. They don’t need a boat. They don’t need a helicopter to rescue them. They just need a little boost so they can reach the ladder. Then they can climb out on their own. Clean water provides that boost.”

So, it’s clear why clean water is important. And the best part? There really is plenty to go around. Groups like The Water Project and Living Water International are working to build sand dams, wells and devices for water collection and sanitation. Every dollar invested in water and sanitation generates about eight dollars worth of health, time and productivity.

Unsafe water and lack of water causes a lot of problems, but what this really means is that there is one simple fix that will address a multitude of global poverty issues. Clean water means a better world in terms of equality, education, health, food security and more.

– Emily Dieckman

Sources: UN 1, UN 2, UN 3, UNICEF, Water, The Water Project
Photo: Easy Drug Card

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Makeshift School Serves Calais Refugees

Makeshift school serves Calais refugees
When refugees imagine the amount of time they will be living in an encampment, they probably do not anticipate staying long — their minds already drift to a possible future beyond the camp’s makeshift walls.

However, as more refugees flee from conflicted countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Africa, these supposedly temporary living arrangements are beginning to become communities of their own. For a camp in Calais, France, mosques, churches, shops, a barber and, as of last month, a school can be found in the encampment for those passing through.

According to an article by the global campaign A World at School, the largest camp in the northern part of Calais and Western Europe is known as “the Jungle,” housing as many as 3,000 immigrants who wait in the hopes of gaining entrance into the United Kingdom.

Near the Jungle is the English Channel tunnel, known for its connection between France and England, which serves as a potential point of entry for migrants. Despite the danger and increased security around the border zones, migrants are willing to risk everything for the chance to jump on trains and lorries bound for the UK.

Meanwhile, refugees attempt to include aspects of normalcy into their everyday schedules by attending school or passing the time playing a game of dominoes. Makeshift tents and poorly constructed buildings make up the encampment, which is filled with people who have already survived the dangerous trek from their homes in the Middle East and Africa.

Today, it is not uncommon to see a school inside of a refugee camp, so when refugees started asking how to say French words or numbers, a makeshift school was created by Nigerian Zimarco Jones. It was soon up and running, staffed with the help of French volunteers.

Constructed from materials such as branches and wood panels, the makeshift school seats 20 students and faces a blackboard. Since its establishment in July, it has been given the name L’Ecole Laïque du Chemin des Dunes, which translates to The Secular School of Dune Way.

Mostly young men attend the school to learn both English and French and other subjects, but Jones plans to build an additional school for the more than 20 children and 200 women who live in the camp.

The current state of conflict in the world has displaced an astronomical number of children from their homes, wreaking havoc on their childhoods and robbing them of their education. Fortunately, there are opportunities that can be found in those temporary homes and stops along the way to their final destination — some place they earnestly look forward to one day calling home.

– Nikki Schaffer

Sources: A World at School, The Guardian 1, The Guardian 2
Photo: Al Jazeera America

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Education and Poverty Event Sheds Light on Growing Disparities

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Without proper finances, it is close to impossible for a child to go through the education system and come out with a legitimate education. The costs of textbooks, school supplies and tuition climb every year.

College tuitions are at an astronomical rate, closing the door for many children who deserve a proper education but simply cannot afford one. On Wednesday, Aug. 12, Mayor Dr. Otis Johnson of Savannah, Georgia held an event called “Education vs. Poverty” that explained the vicious cycle of education and poverty.

Dr. Johnson said on Wednesday, “Without an education you’re going to most likely end up being poor. So if we want to deal with the question of poverty, we have to start with the discussion of education.” His event was set up as a forum in which the audience watched a series of videos on how the costs of education sparked higher poverty rates.

A major point in the event was discussing the disparity between children that enter school coming from homes in poverty versus children that come from financially stable backgrounds. A quote from an article from WSAV in Georgia said, “Children that are coming from high-poverty homes are children that are coming from homes that tend to have fewer books, that tend to have fewer conversations about the sort of thing that they’re learning about in school. There’s a disconnect that develops between what they’re hearing at home and what they’re hearing at school.” It becomes incredibly difficult for these children to succeed in the system when they start behind their classmates.

The situation makes it difficult for children to achieve success in education if the costs to do so make impossible for them to succeed. As Dr. Johnson pointed out, the matter is cyclical with education in poverty, but something must be done to break this cycle and allow the youth in this country to realize their dreams of higher education and a better life.

– Diego Catala

Sources: WSAV, Do Something
Photo: Mzansi Spelling Bee

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Shelter For Education Program Builds Schools in Ghana

Shelter For Education Program Building Schools in Ghana

Nearly a quarter of Ghana’s population is still living below the poverty line. However, education and socioeconomic mobility are vital to the country’s young people. Fortunately, school enrollment is on the rise and, thanks to the telecom group Tigo Ghana, willing students will have more classroom resources.

Tigo recently built a six-classroom addition to Obeng Yaw Basic School, the first of six anticipated construction and restoration projects the company will conduct for schools in impoverished regions of the country. These efforts come as part of Tigo’s new corporate social responsibility initiative, Shelter For Education.

Under the initiative, Tigo has committed to constructing four and refurbishing two six-unit classroom buildings for six different selected communities. Each of these schools in Ghana will also be equipped with a headmaster’s office, a pantry and a staff common room. Shelter For Education will also provide pupils from the selected schools with books and school uniforms.

The program focuses on rural areas particularly, working to provide classrooms to students otherwise forced to sit under trees through harsh weather conditions in order to attend school.

The old environment, understandably non-conducive to learning, will hopefully be remedied by Tigo’s Shelter For Education efforts.

Tigo certainly believes it will, stating, “This project will go a long way to better the lives of these vulnerable children. These kids will be motivated to go to school, stay in the classroom when there are rains and lastly improve their educational background.”

Shelter For Education has drawn a strong backing. This includes Nana Obeng Yaw II, Chief of Adeiso, where the first construction project took place. The chief promised to maintain the new building, hoping to ensure a lasting benefit to the village’s children. He will have Tigo’s support once again, according to Gifty Bingley, head of Corporate Communications for Tigo Ghana.

The schools in Ghana selected for Shelter For Education improvements are St. Joseph Primary School in Obuasi, Dimabi Nursery and Primary School in Tolon Kumbumgu of the Northern Region, Ejura Sekyere-Dumase MA School, Tupaa Basic School in Ga South of the Greater Accra Region and Banda Ahenkro MA School in Banda Ahenkro of the Brong Ahafo Region.

The World Bank calls education “one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality and lays a foundation for sustained economic growth.”

Tigo Ghana’s CEO, Roshi Motman agrees: “Education is key in building a great nation and for Tigo, we want to contribute in shaping the lives of these children who in future will help build Ghana.”

– Emma-Claire LaSaine

Sources: Biztech Africa, Tigo, allAfrica, World Bank
Photo: Biztech Africa

Shaquille O’Neal Supports UNIFORM

Shaquille_O'Neal
Athlete Shaquille O’Neal and fashion designer Whitney Port have geared up to join the UNIFORM cause to support children’s education in Liberia. The idea for UNIFORM came from Chid Liberty, the owner of Africa’s first fair trade apparel factory, Liberty and Justice. The project was created to get the company’s employees back to work and to get kids back in school after the Ebola crisis in 2014.

The cost of uniforms is often enough to keep children out of school. Many West African schools require students to wear uniforms, and this puts many kids out of luck for education.
For every shirt sold by UNIFORM, a uniform is donated to a child who cannot afford a needed uniform.

Port and O’Neal have shown their support for UNIFORM by designing and advocating for the products. O’Neal is spreading the word as a UNIFORM ambassador. Port is designing a graphic for a women’s muscle tank as a collaboration with her fashion line, Whitney Eve.

Because of these celebrities and many other contributors, many children can receive an education and new clothing. “It sounds so silly to us here, but if you can imagine, the average civil servant in Liberia makes 60 to 80 dollars a month,” Liberty said. “If you have five kids and all of them need a 10 dollar uniform to go to school, it is basically a month’s pay just to get your kids’ uniforms. So, it’s a super critical thing because if you don’t have a uniform, you simply can’t go to school.”

Not only does the clothing line promote education, but the clothes are also made of comfy material and are factory-direct products. UNIFORM sells black, white and gray shirts, and with the purchase of one product, the buyer receives a notebook, pencil and a photo of a child who received a school uniform. Since UNIFORM is factory-direct, the products are good quality and lower prices.

“The UNIFORM team is responding to Liberia’s post-Ebola challenges in a way that advances women’s rights and universal access to education for all children,” the UNIFORM website said. UNIFORM is made ethically in West Africa, so the clothing line provides jobs for over 300 people, 98 percent of whom are women. The factory in Monrovia, Liberia that manufactures the clothes was built with the goal to give impoverished local women fair employment. These women are given healthcare benefits as well as literacy classes.

UNIFORM’s goal is to sell enough clothing to get 50,000 kids in school by the end of the year. Liberty said that UNIFORM has currently helped 6,000 kids. With this goal in mind, the UNIFORM team is creating new items for the UNIFORM clothing line.“We’ll have our signature T-shirt, but we are working on all kinds of great products from oxfords to brief cases, all of them tying in with helping kids go to school,” Liberty said. Liberty is devoted to helping children go to school. To contribute to the cause and to help Liberty, go to uniform.is.

– Fallon Lineberger

Sources: Look to the Stars, Style Blazer, UNIFORM
Photo: Deadline

Whiz Kids Workshop Bridges Educational Gaps

whiz_kids_workshop
Whiz Kids Workshop, a nonprofit located in Ethiopia, uses media to educate children who do not have access to schooling. The organization has created three shows called Tsehai Loves Learning, Involve Me-Watch Me and Little Investigators that educate children on the fundamentals of learning. They use media and technology to promote literacy, health education and gender equality.

Whiz Kids Workshop was founded in 2005 by a husband and wife team who were inspired to help young children prepare for primary school in rural Ethiopia. Because the Ethiopian government does not have enough money to provide learning materials to children in preschools or kindergartens, many children miss out on basic education that prepares them for higher level schooling. Whiz Kids Workshop bridges this gap by providing young students with educational television programs, fundamental learning materials, storybooks and workbooks.

Their television show, Tsehai Loves Learning, had been expanded to movie screenings and DVDs all over Ethiopia. The show uses animation and puppets to present research based facts to their target audience of children ages 3 through 9. Topics covered by the show range from public health and ethics to literacy and preparing children for school.

Involve Me-Watch Me was the first Ethiopian television program for youths ages 9 through 15. As of 2013, Whiz Kids Workshop has published over 30 educational storybooks and produced 32 radio show episodes based on this show. These books and shows have been distributed in 115 schools.

Little Investigators promotes scientific learning in a fun way and is the first Ethiopian show to do so. The show is targeted toward teenagers and aims to introduce the scientific method and how it can be used to analyze global warming, current issues and much more.

As of right now, the organization is producing their fourth show, Girls in Red, an animated series created especially for adolescent girls. The show tackles issues like child marriages, health issues like HIV and practicing safe sex. According to the United Nation’s campaign, Girl Up, only 38 percent of females ages 15 to 24 are literate, 20 percent of girls are married before the age of 15 and 12 percent of girls within this age range are mothers or pregnant with their first child. Young girls in Ethiopia are also seven times more likely to be HIV positive than males. Girls in Red is in the process of being produced with the goal to reduce these numbers and help young, Ethiopian females live healthier and smarter lives.

– Julia Hettiger

Sources: Whiz Kids Workshop, Fast Company, Tadias
Photo: Fast Company

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Sexuality Education in Côte d’Ivoire Revamped by the Zero Pregnancies in School Campaign

Youth pregnancies in Côte d’Ivoire declined by an astounding 20 percent since the Zero Pregnancies in School Campaign began in 2013, according to the United Nations Population Fund. This campaign is part of a nationwide plan, supported with technical and financial assistance from UNFPA, to enable young people to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.

During the 2012-2013 academic year, 5,076 students became pregnant in primary or secondary school, reported the Ivorian Ministry of National and Technical Education. While the teen-age birth rate globally is 50 per 1,000 girls, in Côte d’Ivoire, the number is 125.

The 2013 UNFPA State of World Population report found that 7.3 million girls, 18-years-old and younger, give birth each year in developing countries. This reality is both a health issue as well as a development issue. Many pregnant girls are forced to drop out of school creating downward-spiraling repercussions of limited prospects.

“It is deeply rooted in poverty, gender inequality, violence, child and forced marriage, power imbalances between adolescent girls and their male partners, lack of education, and the failure of systems and institutions to protect their rights,” said Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director.

The high birth rates in Côte d’Ivoire undermine the country’s ability to take advantage of a demographic dividend. A demographic dividend is a window of opportunity to hasten economic growth when a population’s age structure shifts from one with fewer people of working age (15 to 65) to one with fewer dependent people (under 14 and over 65).

In response to this situation, the Ivorian Council of Ministers formally adopted the accelerated pregnancies reduction plan on April 2, 2014. The plan is a comprehensive program that integrates sexuality education in Côte d’Ivoire, teaching over several years starting in 4th grade to provide age-appropriate information at each stage.

Based on human rights principles, sexuality education encompasses more than sex education. The fundamental components of the curriculum feature the information about the human body, contraception and sexual and reproductive health. This includes knowledge about sexually-transmitted diseases and the effects of early pregnancy. The curriculum also addresses the issues of child marriage and gender-based violence so that human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of young people is advanced.

The comprehensive program offers other school activities beyond the classroom. Nationally, student clubs are being formed to raise awareness, and an arts and culture festival is planned where students can display their creative endeavors, such as plays, poems, stories and drawings about pregnancy in school. UNFPA has helped the government open a call center that provides free, confidential information. To disseminate information about health and services, various media, such as leaflets, videos, radio announcements and SMS messages will be disseminated.

Much of the needed education involves demystifying contraception and pregnancy. Amina, a pregnant student, revealed: “I did not take contraceptives because my mom told me that it might make me sterile.” Some girls are also told that not getting pregnant by age 15 or 16, “is a problem,” remarked Clarissa, 22.

The Zero Pregnancies in School Campaign was launched in Bondoukou, the most affected area in Côte d’Ivoire. Students in the region brought banners to the event with such messages as “Zero pregnancy in school, I endorse it,” “You don’t get a child pregnant” and “I am a child. A child doesn’t bear a child. A child goes to school to succeed.”

The government is making even further changes. Laws have been introduced that increase penalties for the sexual abuse of minors. Most significantly, this includes sanctions against teachers who abuse their students. Girls are often pressured into sex with teachers in order to get good grades.

Additionally, the government is planning to build better housing for the 10,000 to 15,000 students in cities that must board. This will enable the young students to have proper housing where boys and girls do not have to share a room.

The government also no longer expels girls when they are pregnant, and girls are returning to school after giving birth. Amina told UNFPA, “My mom takes care of my baby when I come to school.” Clarissa’s mom also takes care of her son. Clarissa explained to UNFPA that she still has her dreams: “I lost a school year,” but “I want to become a teacher.”

– Janet Quinn

Sources: UNFPA, UNFPA, Demographic Dividend, UNFPA
Photo: Flickr

Rebuilding Education in Sierra Leone

Rebuilding Education in Sierra Leone
Before the Revolutionary United Front crossed from Liberia into Sierra Leone and started the 12-year war, Sierra Leone had one of the best education systems in Africa. Rebuilding education in Sierra Leone since has been a challenge and Ebola has made it even more difficult.

Only 48.09 percent of the population above the age of 15 in Sierra Leone are literate. Primary school enrollment is over 130 percent due to the amount of non primary school aged Sierra Leoneans who are attending classes because they missed out on educational services during the war. The UN estimates that 64 percent of primary aged children are enrolled in school.

During the 12 years of the war, there was no education unless the families fled to Guinea or Liberia. Out of the crisis of the civil war came an opportunity to ensure education would grow and enhance the livelihoods of Sierra Leoneans.

The Netherlands provided funding to the Cross Border Schools Project in Sierra Leone and has trained over 3,000 educators. After completing the training programs, teachers plan their own lessons and find their teaching methods are making a bigger impact.

Education in Sierra Leone is taken seriously by the government. Sierra Leone spends 14 percent of its national budget on education, which is much higher than most other countries in the region.

Other improvements have been made as well. 76 percent of Sierra Leonean children complete primary school and many go on to junior secondary education. However, 50 percent of primary school teachers still have no qualifications.

It cost $20 to send a Sierra Leonean to school and 70 percent of Sierra Leone families are living on less than a dollar a day. Poverty, child marriage, pregnancy and sexual abuse are the most significant barriers to education for girls in Sierra Leone.

UNICEF works on ensuring girls are attending school through building classrooms, providing sanitation facilities, training teachers and providing learning materials. The rights of girls in the classroom are protected through rights-based and gender-sensitive environments that helps girls succeed in the classroom.

Sierra Leone is still healing from the wounds left by the Revolutionary United Front during the civil war, but education is gradually improving and the youth are benefiting from the revival of education.

– Donald Gering

Sources: Al Jazeera, Global Partnership, Social Progress Imperative, UNICEF 1, UNICEF 2, UNICEF 3
Photo: Just Giving

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The CERIA Project Targets Early Childhood Education

ceria

In the Indonesian district of Malaka, children are finally being provided with an opportunity to create a better future for themselves. Save the Children has partnered up with the H&M Conscious Foundation to improve educational conditions for children within this impoverished region of the world.

Malaka used to be part of the Belu district in East Nusa Tenggara province. It was so severely underdeveloped that the government decided to establish Malaka as its own district in 2012, hoping to finally spur development. Unfortunately, the district’s citizens are still fighting to break out of the poverty cycle.

Malaka contains 15 elementary schools filled with children seeking a quality education. Most children cannot afford to wear shoes to school. When they finally arrive on foot to their classrooms, they typically face deteriorating walls, lack of access to water and collapsing roofs.

Poor personal hygiene and health combined with the schools’ poor physical conditions often results in prolonged student sickness. To make matters worse, children are oftentimes juggling a language barrier as well.

Hailing from places like East Timor and belonging to ethnic groups that rely on different languages, many of the students do not speak Indonesian. The people of Malaka use five local languages representing the region’s indigenous tribes. Regardless of lack of comprehension, however, the material is taught primarily in Indonesian.

Primary school teachers often employ physical punishment as they deem necessary, causing many students to live in fear. In lower grades especially, it is not uncommon for students to fail their studies or have to repeat a grade due to some combination of the aforementioned factors.

In August 2014, Save the Children pledged to embark on a three-year project focused on improving education for around 2,850 children in the area. Since then, the charity has been working side by side with the H&M’s Conscious Foundation to build 15 new preschools and renovate the 15 existing Malakan schools.

Like Save the Children, the H&M Conscious Foundation seeks to improve children’s education. In addition, the independent organization works to empower women and provide access to clean water in developing countries.

The Conscious Foundation teamed up with STC to launch the Children in Early Grades Reach Incredible Achievements (CERIA) Project three years ago. CERIA also doubles as the Indonesian word for “cheerful.”

The CERIA project is targeting early education in order to achieve long-term effects. It aims to increase enrollment and attendance at quality preschools, improve teaching methods and school readiness for young students and reduce first-grade repetition rates.

The program is targeted at a total of 30 poor rural communities scattered throughout Malaka. Within each early childhood education center, there will be two classrooms able to accommodate 20 to 30 students. Some students are already benefiting from the progress made on renovations last year.

CERIA also offers free teacher training programs to improve the quality of education. Since the majority of teachers in Malaka are volunteers lacking a background in education, this has been an especially effective tool for improvement.

By its conclusion in 2017, the CERIA project is expected to benefit Malaka’s 2,400 elementary school teachers, 450 preschoolers and 180 primary and preschool teachers. There is no telling what accomplishments these properly educated children and teachers will be able to achieve in the long run.

– Sarah Bernard

Sources: Jakarta Globe, H&M
Photo: Compassion International