Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

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Why Does Only 2.7% of Foreign Aid Go Towards Higher Education?

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Between 2002 and 2013, developed nations invested an estimated $42.6 billion into the growth of higher education programs within developing countries. While this figure alone appears staggering in size, one must also consider the $1.6 trillion in total foreign aid these developed nations invested during the same time period. With investments in higher education responsible for only 2.7 percent of the international development budget, many are now questioning the causes of this disparity.

The United States itself invests approximately three percent of its total foreign aid budget into higher education, which is less than half of the other average contributions made by other donor countries. Many have questioned how a centrally developed nation has failed to deliver the necessary support for tertiary education programs in regions that would clearly benefit from such initiatives.

The roots of this problem may very well date back to the 1980s when the World Bank conducted a series of studies regarding the efficacy of educational programs.

The studies argued that financial investments within primary education programs resulted in double the amount of social capital for youth populations as opposed to investments within tertiary education programs. The findings also included suggestions that the benefits of a youth pursuing further education after secondary school proved substantially higher for the individual as opposed to their nation as a whole.

As a result, the global community prioritized the development of primary education systems and even focused Millennium Development Goal 2 on achieving universal primary education.

Conflicting with many of the beliefs about education adopted in the 1980s, numerous studies conducted in the past fifteen years have challenged many of the conclusions drawn by the World Bank studies.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released a report in 2008, which instead argued that tertiary education is a vital asset to the global community as it encourages social and economic developments through the strengthening of a populations knowledge bases the creation of human capital and the application and dissemination of such knowledge.

A disparaging and growing cycle of educational failures within developing regions has also been found to be in part caused by a lack of growth within higher education. Researchers have argued that without access to strong higher education programs, the inability to train essential officials such as teachers, economic managers and political leaders, who are responsible for ensuring certain standards for the quality of education are reached, will continue to persist.

In recent years, many of the most highly motivated and qualified academic individuals within developing regions such as sub-Saharan Africa have emigrated to higher education facilities in the Western hemisphere. This mass exodus of the most talented minds has caused notable corrosion in the academic climates of universities in developing regions, facilities that are often overwrought with insufficient funding and corrupt governmental proceedings.

Government leaders of both developed and developing nations must cooperatively address the issue of increasing levels of funding for higher education programs within impoverished and underdeveloped regions. While the global community has demonstrated strong dedication in pursuing the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 2, attention must now be turned to the pursuit of universal higher education.

– James Thornton

Sources: The Conversation, Vanderbilt
Photo: Flickr

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Malala Celebrates Birthday with New School for Syrian Girls

z1 Syria flagJuly 12 marked the 18th birthday of the Pakistani education activist and youngest-ever Nobel Peace laureate, Malala Yousafzai. Considering her continued advocacy for children’s education despite being shot by the Taliban, it should be of no surprise that she celebrated her 18th birthday by opening a secondary school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, near Syria’s border.

The Malala Yousafzai All-Girls School is supported by the Malala Fund, Yousafzai’s nonprofit organization, which believes every girl should be able to achieve her dreams through education. The school will serve 200 Syrian girls between the ages of 14 and 18 living in refugee camps in the Bekaa Valley region along the Lebanese border. According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, Lebanon hosts more than 1 million of Syria’s 4 million refugees.

According to the Malala Fund’s blog, the school’s curriculum allows students to receive baccalaureate or vocational degrees through the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education. It also gives students who cannot commit to the four-year baccalaureate the option to receive skills that will aid them in finding work and generating their own incomes.

At the inauguration of the Malala Yousafzai All-Girls School, Yousafzi said “I am honored to mark my 18th birthday with the brave and inspiring girls of Syria. I am here on behalf of the 28 million children who are kept from the classroom because of armed conflict. Their courage and dedication to continue their schooling in difficult conditions inspires people around the world and it is our duty to stand by them […] On this day, I have a message for the leaders of this country, this region and the world — you are failing the Syrian people, especially Syria’s children. This is a heartbreaking tragedy—the world’s worst refugee crisis in decades.”

Malala also called on world leaders to invest in “books not bullets.” She had previously asked world leaders to give an additional $39 billion each year to secure 12 years of free schooling for children around the world. According to the Malala Fund:

  • 62 million girls are not attending school around the world;
  • The poorest girls only spend an average of 3 years acquiring an education;
  • There are 70 countries where girls have faced violence for trying to go to school.

Isn’t it time we changed that so the world’s poor can have the opportunity for a better life?

– Paula Acevedo

Sources: The Malala Fund, NPR, PBS

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Equal Education in Senegal

Equal Education in SenegalOnce known around the world as the finish line of the famous Paris-Dakar Rally, the small West African country of Senegal stands out in from its neighbors. Unlike many of other West African countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, Senegal has never experienced any notable conflicts or civil war in the last century.

This distinction has helped to garner the country a deserved reputation for high political stability in an often war-torn continent. However, Senegal also lacks the natural resources of many of its African peers and consequentially ranks as one of the poorest nations on earth. According to UNICEF, 22 percent of its population lives on less than a dollar per day.

For the youth of Senegal and for girls in particular, this has hindered the effectiveness of Senegal’s education system. However, the country has experienced a significant improvement in recent years. In 2009, 92.5 percent of Senegalese children attended primary school. This represents a dramatic improvement from 82 percent in 2005 and only 54 percent in 1994.

Yet, this overall progress belies a residual and significant flaw in education in Senegal; in the long run, girls are far more likely than boys to drop out and to receive less education. At a casual glance, however, it might not seem this way. In 2012, primary school enrollment was actually higher for girls than it was for boys at 74 percent and 72 percent respectively.

While the data for primary school enrollment suggests gender parity, this is not actually the case. As the children progress through their schooling, girls experience noticeably lower rates of attendance. This first becomes apparent upon the transition to secondary school. In contrast to 62 percent of their male peers, 57 percent of girls begin secondary school.

The disparity only widens as their education continues. Secondary school enrollment for boys was 34 percent for boys and 27 percent for girls. Ultimately, one can see the results of gender inequality in Senegal’s adult literacy rate; 62 percent of males and only 39 percent of females were literate. For every 10 literate men in Senegal, only 6 women have attained literacy.

These severe and disparate dropout rates reflect the economic challenges that affect poorer families in Senegal. Children frequently must quit their schooling in order to provide more money for their families by working.

This burden falls harder on girls. Often families will marry off daughters at a young age to lessen their economic burden or they will employ them around the house conducting domestic duties. Many will expect to do domestic work for the rest of their lives. This career choice puts girls and women at greater risk of sexual abuse and financial exploitation.

For families of higher economic standing, education in Senegal is less of an issue and more of an expectation. Girls from wealthier households have twice the attendance rate in primary school.

In the city of Dakar, one of the economic pillars of the Senegalese economy, private schools are becoming even more common. In fact, most schools in Dakar are private rather than public. This has created an even greater educational disparity for those without the money to pay for education.
The wealth and gender inequality in secondary education also carries over to higher education.

UNESCO reported that an increasing amount of private institutions has hindered accessibility for many college students. Additionally, more men were enrolled than women as college students. According to the World Bank, for every 10 male college students, there were only 6 female students.
With the help of foreign aid from USAID and The World Bank, Senegal is attempting to develop and expand its education system. Already, funds from USAID have greatly improved education in the nation.

In total, it has allowed for 500,000 children to enroll in school of which 300,000 were girls. USAID has also helped to expand the educational infrastructure of Senegal through the construction of over 100 middle schools. It has donated more than 3 million textbooks and provided 20,000 schoolchildren with internet access.

The World Bank initiated an ongoing project called “Tertiary Education Governance and Financing for Results Project for Senegal” which is aimed at “[enhancing] the efficiency and quality of the higher education system” in Senegal. While the project is not expected to end until 2016, it has already posted impressive results. It found that 88 percent of academic programs fit quality standards in June 2015 with the target set at 90 percent in September 2016.

To lessen gender inequality, UNESCO and the Senegalese government have teamed up to initiate the “Girls and Women’s Literacy in Senegal” program. It aims to provide 40,000 women and girls with high-quality education and more professional opportunities.

More still needs to be done, and with only 750,000 dollars of funding, this initiative cannot single-handedly solve the issue of inequality in Senegal’s education system. With the help of more foreign aid, Senegal can expect further progress.

– Andrew Logan

Sources: The Guardian, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UNESCO 1, UNICEF, UNESCO 2, USAID, The World Bank

Photo: Open Equal Free

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The Young Syrian Refugees

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Since the civil war in Syria broke out just three years ago, four million people have sought refuge in the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. So far, 100,000 have been killed. 7,000 of them are children.

The Middle East’s biggest refugee camp, Zaatari, lies in Jordan. It shelters 120,000 Syrians in a community divided into 12 districts. It costs $500,000 to run the camp. Camp workers dole out 500,000 pieces of bread and 3.5 million liters of water a day. Three-fourths of residents are women and children.

Of the 650,000 people that fled Syria to arrive in Turkey, one-third are allowed into refugee camps. There is no room for the res; they have to fend for themselves. Nizar Najjar is the assistant director of Camp Bab al-Salameh. He explains, “Sometimes we do not have the capacity to receive new refugees. Some people (are forced to) just put up their tents in fields.”

Those in camps do not have it much better. Dr. Al-Naser is a part of a group called “Medical Relief for Syria”. He says that the spread of disease is a big concern. “It’s a problem with sanitation, how to dispose of bathing water and used toilet water. There are lakes of waste in some areas.” Trucks bring in the camp’s only source of freshwater.

Young Syrian refugees are often traumatized. They have faced the horrors of being under siege, losing their homes and being separated from their families. Groups that flee travel by night and hide during the day. Some are shot at by fighter jets. Even once they reach the border, shelling still echoes in the distance.

Sara* is a 12-year old girl who fled Syria with her mother and brother along with her aunt, uncle and grandmother one year ago. She does not know the whereabouts of her father, who was kidnapped in 2013. The family was forced to leave once they lost touch with a brother-in-law that was providing them with money and resources.

Sara’s family arrived at a camp in Lebanon run by activists. They managed to find a simple apartment. It gives them a safe place to stay, but it is not insulated and floods as soon as it rains. Rent and electricity cost $230 each month. Back in Syria, they were a middle-class family, and now charities help them with essentials like food, rent and medical expenses. Sara’s grandmother has diabetes and high blood pressure.

It also costs money to renew visas, which is now mandated every six months. Many times, families are forced to return to Syria because they cannot afford it. It is difficult for refugees to find jobs and earn money. Sara’s 14 year-old brother makes $30 each week working for a nearby mechanic.

Affording school is nearly out of the question with high costs of transportation, books and other fees. Sara loved school back in peace-time Syria and completed grade five. She has not been in school for over three years now but is able to take French and English language classes that are offered by aid agencies in the area.

Antonio Guterres is the UN commissioner for refugees. He asks countries around the world do more to help these displaced people, including raising money to support them and their host countries. The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, makes a similar request. He also hopes to rebuild Syria and add more access to basic public services.

Sara dreams of becoming a doctor and for her country’s healing. “I want this war to end. I expect the world is so much bigger, with so many more people. With time, the world changes. I hope the war will be over one day.”

*Names has been changed to protect her identity

– Lillian Sickler

Sources: Care, Daily Mail, The Guardian, CBS News, World Vison, The Daily Beast, MIC, NPR
Photo: Flickr

Revolutionary Period Panties in the Developing World

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May 28th marks Menstrual Hygiene Day, a day of awareness seeking to break the taboo that exists in cultures and societies around the world. Menstrual Hygiene Day also seeks to raise awareness about the importance of good menstrual hygiene management (MHM).

Why is this so important?

Menstrual Hygiene is fundamental to education, the economy, health, the environment and human rights. Below are some statistics:

  1. Education: UNESCO estimates that 1 in 10 African teen girls will miss school because of their period and eventually drop out. These girls are still having to use socks filled with ash to manage their periods.
  2. Economy: In Bangladesh, garment workers miss work for an average of six unpaid days per month due to vaginal infections.
  3. Health: Poor menstrual hygiene not only affects physical health but also social and mental well-being.
  4. Environment: The average North American woman will use and throw away about 13,000 tampons and pads in her lifetime.
  5. Human Rights: A lack of adequate menstrual hygiene management denies women and girls their right to education, right to health and right to work in favorable conditions.

What is THINX?

A new company is trying to break the taboo surrounding menstruation, which is usually referred to as the “week of shame” in developing countries. THINX has designed period-proof underwear that they claim protects from leaks and keeps you dry.

The idea emerged when wearing a white skirt to a meeting and was developed over the course of three years of research by three women in New York City who sought underwear that was reliable during their periods. The end result is stain-resistant, anti-microbial, leak-resistant, absorbent underwear with a moisture-wicking layer.

THINX claims they can replace tampons and pads if you’re comfortable doing so. It offers underwear designed for light, medium and heavy days, with the level of absorbency ranging from one half, one, and two tampons worth or absorbency, respectively. They wash just like regular underwear, just cold wash and hang dry.

For the 80 percent of American women who have had accidents and have expressed anxiety during their periods, these period-proof panties may seem like a good investment.

How does your purchase help girls in the developing world?

The three women behind THINX love to travel. While they were in Africa, they met a young girl named Amale on a weekday, asked her why she wasn’t in school, and she said, “It’s my week of shame.” Amale misses about one week of school each month due to her period. She uses things she can find such as sticks, leaves, mud and dirty rags.

The women decided to partner with AFRIpads, an organization based in Uganda that makes washable, reusable cloth pads at an affordable price. The result is that for every pair of underwear you buy, seven washable, reusable pads will be produced for one woman. THINX felt that instead of giving them away, they are helping this movement grow by creating jobs for local women who make these pads and their girls can go to school with no shame. The underwear are currently made in a family-run factory in Sri Lanka.

THINX has received reviews from companies such as ELLE calling them “magic panties” and Fast Company saying they are “ingeniously designed.”

Considering that a woman throws away five or more pairs of underwear every year, it would be a better and more thoughtful investment to buy period panties that are stain-resistant and that help women and girls around the world.

– Paula Acevedo

Sources: Thinx, Menstrual Hygiene Day
Photo: Menstrual Hygiene Day

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Mobile Schools in Kenya Help Girls Get an Education

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Although Kenya’s education system has improved over the past decade, many students are still left behind. One million Kenyan children are currently out of school, and while that number has steadily decreased in recent years, it still places Kenya at ninth in the world for out of school children. Even if a child does complete primary school, the quality of education is often insufficient for retaining necessary skills, a glaring flaw best illustrated with the statistics surrounding illiteracy in Kenya. Among men ages 15 to 29 who have completed six years of primary school, 6 percent are illiterate and another 26 percent are only semi-literate. For women of the same age group with the same level of education, the problem is even worse: 9 percent are illiterate, and 30 percent are semi-literate.

Marginalized children, particularly poor girls from rural areas, have still not benefited from improvements in Kenya’s school system. For example, almost all children from wealthy families in the capital, Nairobi, attend school, but in the North East region, only 55 percent of poor girls and 43 percent of poor boys attend school. This is partly due to the fact that the indirect cost of secondary education typically exceeds the monthly income of many families in rural areas.

Adeso, a Nairobi based development charity, is currently working to bring education to those who may have never had the chance to set foot in a classroom. The organization focuses on the idea that in order to improve the quality of life across Africa, development must come primarily from within Africa. Adeso works on development in four main areas. They aim to educate young people and equip them with necessary life skills, provide humanitarian aid where people lack food security, water, and sanitation, strengthen local economies, and influence local and international government policies.

Adeso runs a mobile school program in rural areas of Kenya that brings learning to nomadic students, usually girls, whose families have to relocate frequently in order to survive. They plan the school calendar around the weather patterns. Most formal learning is scheduled for rainy seasons when children do not have to balance labor demands and are more likely to stay in one place. The schools will travel with students as far as possible to allow them to continue their education.

The mobile school program was launched in February 2014, but funds are expected to run out by 2016. Adeso hopes to continue the program, but faces many obstacles, from political insecurity to poor infrastructure, to a pervasive belief in many areas that girls should not be educated. Adeso is still working towards securing more funding in order to extend the program. However, should the mobile schools close, the organization hopes that students have benefited from further education and can pass on what they have learned to their communities.

– Jane Harkness

Sources: Adeso 1, Adeso 2, Adeso 3, Huffington Post, UNESCO
Photo: Miss Tourism Kenya

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Corazones para Peru Provides Helps Children

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Herzen für eine neue Welt (Hearts for a New World) was founded in Konigstein, Germany in 1998. Their project, Corazones para Peru, works to improve living conditions for children and families in the Peruvian Andes’ Chicon Valley near Cusco. In the past 17 years, Corazones para Peru has established a children’s village, multiple schools and two health centers.

The children’s village, located in Munaycha, Peru, has become home to over 80 orphaned or abandoned children. The village features a healthcare system, schools and a bridge program for college students in need of a place to live. The health facilities service over 400 people a month providing them with immediate healthcare, vaccinations and pharmaceutics.

Volunteers for Corazones para Peru have built 13 schools, allowing 1,000 children to receive an education. Along with these schools, members of the organization established kindergartens to prepare 50 children a year for school.

The village is supplied by an organic agricultural center, and volunteers have planted over 20,000 trees to prevent soil erosion and contribute to the economy of the village. It also features two psychologists, a social assistant, a pedagogue and three trained cooks to help raise the children physically and mentally apt to grow up to be healthy and well adults. Seven live-in dormitory matrons and 16 trained volunteers also contribute to the village staff.

Schools built in the village are equipped with jungle gyms, gymnasiums and recreational centers and all follow Corazones para Peru’s meal program. Many times, children have to walk many miles to reach schools just to spend the whole day learning on an empty stomach. The meal program eradicates this issue by supplying schools with meals for students. Throughout the last couple of years, Corazones para Peru has invested two million dollars to supply schools with basic educational materials like blackboards, books and pencils.

German volunteers teach English, physical education and extracurricular classes to students in the village. In addition, they teach them valuable skills like teamwork and tolerance and provide them with financial and personnel support.

Corazones para Peru’s project, Learning with Heart, strives to help children, especially young girls, receive an education. In Peru, completion of secondary school is a requirement for apprenticeships and attending universities. Many residents miss their chance of receiving an education because the school is too expensive or the family experiences a great financial loss from the loss of labor. Learning with Heart supports families with monthly funds so their children can attend school and become who they want to be.

Hearts for a New World plans to continue working in Peru for many years with the goal of rounding out future generations of Peruvians to create a better living environment and community for Peru’s residents.

– Julia Hettiger

Sources: Herzen Helfen, Shoulder To Shoulder, Matador Network
Photo: Flickr

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Sexual Health of Adolescents in the Developing World

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There are more than 1 billion teenagers worldwide. Seventy percent of them live in developing countries. According to the Demographic and Health Surveys and the AIDS Indicators Survey, the average age that young people in impoverished countries have their first sexual encounter is, at the lowest, age 16 or younger, and, at the highest, 19.6.

Just like in developed nations, with sexual activity comes the risk of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. Unlike wealthier nations, these impoverished countries lack adequate healthcare. In places such as Sub-Saharan Africa, AIDs is an epidemic. Two-thirds of those infected are adolescents.

Adolescent girls run the greatest risk for sexual and reproductive health threats. A young girl that becomes pregnant who lacks access to healthcare faces many serious health risks. Pregnancies, child-birth and abortions are all perilous. The likelihood that a 15-year-old girl in a developed nation could ultimately die of maternal complications is 1/3800. Compare this to just 1/150 in the developed world.

Meet Reem: she is a 15-year-old girl living as a refugee in a camp. Her two-month-old baby is underweight because it was born prematurely and because Reem was never taught how to breastfeed. She has no one to help her, her husband was killed before the baby was born, and her mother was separated from her in the national conflict.

In other instances, girls marry older men. Hibo is a 13-year-old girl living in a Somalian refugee camp. The oldest of five children, she is responsible for helping her mother care for the family. Her parents are planning to marry Hibo to a wealthy landowner that will bring the family much-needed money and honor. She has been told that it is her duty to marry, serve her husband, and bear him children.

Married women like Hibo are encouraged to have children as soon as possible. Their social status and identity are associated with raising children. Being childless is frowned upon. Unfortunately, wedding older men who have had previous partners bring the potential for STDs.

Young people also face the danger of sexual violence. A national survey in Swaziland revealed that one-third of girls aged 13-24 suffered sexual abuse before the age of 18. Boys face abuse as well but are reported as being less likely to reach out for help from healthcare providers.

Although young people are getting married at an older age, the amount of premarital intercourse is increasing. At the same time, contraceptive use for all teens is low. In Sub-Saharan Africa, contraceptives are used by a low of 3% of sexually active adolescents in Rwanda and a high 46% in Burkina Faso.

Due to the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals, more youth have greater access to formal education. Health officials decided that school-based sexual/reproductive health programs were the perfect way to educate adolescents. Yet, a survey of these programs and their effects have produced varied results. Not all adolescents attend school, and the funding for these programs is not always there.

The Save the Children organization understands that if there are no programs that specifically reach young people with sexual health programs and education, they will never access the care and knowledge they need. The organization has set up teen-accessible places to teach them about safe sex and offer health services.

Their methods and the continuation of school-based programs have been yielding promising results in places like Mexico, Nigeria and the Dominican Republic. Young people are taking more measures to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies.

– Lillian Sickler

Sources: Guttmacher Institute, Women and Children First (UK), Alliance for International Youth Development
Photo: The Times

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E-Library Program to Improve Literacy in South Africa

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For centuries libraries have functioned as centers of knowledge and learning. Today, with information and communication technology (ICT) developments and ever-growing Internet access, people are turning to e-libraries as the next literacy-promotion frontier.

In partnership, Vodacom, Huawei Technologies, the Department of Basic Education and the Nelson Mandela Foundation have created an e-libraries program that will span 61 Vodacom ICT resource centers across South Africa.

This program will provide 400 tablets, courtesy of Huawei Technologies, loaded with content spanning a variety of subjects, including business and entrepreneurship, African literature and history, in addition to fictional e-books. The vast array of reading material will be available in all 11 official languages of South Africa, ensuring unbiased access.

Each resource center will be equipped with at least six tablets preloaded with e-book content that are also Web-accessible, enabling users to download materials from the Internet. Vodacom promises to supply Wi-Fi to students and members of the communities serviced by the e-library tablets.

The e-libraries initiative offers an efficient means of keeping learning materials up-to-date, as Vodacom’s Mthobeli Thengimfene explained: “We are able to continuously update the content remotely without having to go to the centers and people will be able to download the books they are interested in.”

Although South Africa ranks higher than Sub-Saharan countries for simple literacy, some 5 million South African adults’ education does not even extend to completion of the seventh grade.

In order to ensure that South Africa’s population achieves true literacy, including the ability to comprehend the meaning of written material, supplemental instruction and resources become important factors. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of these resources.

“Access to reading material is a major challenge in South Africa,” said Vodacom Group CEO, Shameel Joosub. A large number of the country’s students are unable to utilize traditional library resources or reading material, Joosub went on to explain.

However, many South Africans have access to smartphones and the savvy to engage with ICT devices. The e-library program seeks to build on this affinity to engage more people in literacy programs.

“We want to encourage learning. It’s not only about the books but it is also about forming reading clubs around each of the centers,” Thengimfene said.

The e-libraries initiative is just a small part of Vodacom’s Mobile Education Program, a seven-aspect plan that focuses on teacher-development. However, the solid partnership behind the e-libraries initiative gives it an extra edge. It is clear that all the organizations are passionate about literacy and the new equity they hope it will promote.

“Between 2015 and 2030 we do not only speak about quality education,” said Enver Surty, Deputy Minister of Basic Education, “but about quality education that is a human right and that is a public good and a public interest.”

– Emma-Claire LaSaine

Sources: IT News Africa, IT Web Africa
Photo: E-book Creators

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International Education Through the HCED Benefits Iraq

How International Education Through the HCED Benefits Iraq-TBP
Higher education in Iraq has suffered greatly over the past two decades.

Iraq once had a secular, inclusive education system that was both open to women and globally connected. But the university system has effectively collapsed since the international sanctions regime of the 1990s and the US invasion of 2003. The war has left universities stripped of important resources, and the De-Baathification process removed many influential leaders from academia. Countless cultural artifacts and documents have been stolen from universities and often destroyed, and professors have been killed or abducted. Female students have been targeted by extremist groups, keeping them from accessing education. It is estimated that Iraq would need between 1.2 to two billion dollars to restore their higher education system.

To help Iraqi students continue their education in the face of conflict and remain competitive with the rest of the world, Prime Minister Noori Al Malki launched the Initiative in Iraq. The goal of this program was to send 10,000 Iraqi students to foreign universities over five years. To accomplish this, former secretary general of Iraq’s council of ministers Zuhair Humadi formed the Higher Committee for Education Development in Iraq. Since 2009, the program has sent 4,000 students abroad to study for their master’s and doctorates in the US, UK, and Australia. Funding has been secured for thousands more.

So far, the students admitted to the program have excelled. Forty-two were recognized for publishing work in UK science journals, and many have been offered tenure after completing their degrees. Furthermore, Iraq has not experienced a “brain drain” because of the HCED: only 10 of the 300 graduates did not return to Iraq upon graduation.

Some are concerned that the funding for HCED should be redistributed to other areas in which Iraq is struggling, such as the healthcare system. But, education is the key to progress and hope for future generations, and Humadi believes the program’s funding is entirely justified. Other flaws in the program include the fact that women only account for 25 percent of scholars, and students from rural areas are largely underrepresented. HCED can work on expanding their outreach so that young adults from marginalized groups have access to the same opportunities.

Currently, about $200 million in scholarships is available for Iraqi students studying abroad through various programs, from the Fulbright Scholar Program to Holland’s Middle East and North Africa Scholarship Program. With a strong effort towards reviving Iraq’s university system, Iraqi students can continue to better themselves and their country by accessing higher education.

– Jane Harkness

Sources: Brown University, The Guardian, HCED, ICEF Monitor
Photo: UNCG