Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

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Guatemala City’s ‘Basurero’

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According to Vice, the “basurero”, Guatemala City’s garbage dump, is considered an official neighborhood within the city despite the humanitarian crisis it creates.

Benjamin Reeves, the author of the article, said roughly 7,000 people, including poor families, visit the site every day to look for sellable items that can potentially earn them a few extra bucks.

“Many families have been driven to the basurero by poverty brought on by the global economic crisis coupled with mismanagement on the part of the Guatemalan government,” said Reeves.

The people who live in or near the basurero are called “guajeros”. The work environment of the guajeros is often hazardous. Accidents occur frequently and the air quality makes it difficult for residents to breathe.

The most recent fire broke out in January 2014. Reeves said that the local fire department hardly put any effort in extinguishing “the inferno” that was “fueled by the chemical waste and toxic refuse” below the trash.

“Residents of the basurero complain of chronic congestion, constant headaches, and high rates of asthma and respiratory problems,” Reeves explained.

Although the basurero itself is problematic, the situation for the guajeros is not any better across the street from the mountain of trash.

The “maras”, Guatemala City’s most infamous street gangs, wield more power than NGOs within the neighborhood.

“On a good day, a guajero earns around 40 Quetzales ($5). However, the street gangs regularly extort the workers for about half of their daily earnings, often leaving them with as little as $2.50 for an entire day of back-breaking labor,” said Reeves.

Crimes such as rape, homicide, theft and child abuse are common in the basurero despite the police’s presence. Most of the time they would look the other way or hardly make any effort to maintain order and protect the residents.

While these crimes and fires continue to occur, Reeves argues that the Guatemalan media fails to report the issues related to the basurero.

Why do people live in impoverished conditions in or near Guatemala City in the first place?

According to Gretchen Kroth, a research associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, the extreme poverty and economic inequality affecting the city are due to a civil war, which started in 1960 and ended in 1996.

The conflict fought between the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) and Guatemalan government in rural locations “forced the migration of many families from the highlands of Guatemala to urban centers, including the neighborhoods adjacent to the landfill,” explained Kroth in a Counterpunch article regarding the education system of the basurero.

Kroth argues that the Guatemalan government today does little to support the poorly structured educational system around the country.

“As public schools are sparsely equipped due to limited government funding a corrupt management, private schools have been established to provide educational services in their place for those who can afford the fee”, she said. But the families of the children who live in the basurero cannot afford paying $20 to $60 a month for education expenses.

As Reeves explained, the guajeros can make up to $5 on a good day. Thus, how can people living in the basurero pay for an education when the money for it does not exist?

To alleviate poverty, more needs to be done in Guatemala apart from receiving the attention of the world, such as the government taking the goal of eliminating poverty seriously and learning how to manage the economy in an honest and transparent fashion.

Each day the government refuses to aid what Reeves calls “a humanitarian crisis”, the lives of the guajeros will continue to be threatened by the conditions in the basurero.

– Juan Campos

Sources: Counterpunch, Vice
Photo: Taringa

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Education in Haiti: All Children Reading

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March 26 marked the grand opening of a brand new school for the Lekol S&H students in Caracol, Haiti. The students celebrated the inauguration alongside United States Ambassador Pamela White, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director John Groarke and Haitian officials, according to USAID Haiti’s Facebook page.

The new facility is one of many schools that fall under USAID’s All Children Reading program in Haiti. Also known as Tout Timoun Ap Li (ToTAL,) All Children Reading is one of the programs supported by U.S. and Haitian government collaboration in Haiti. Starting in 2011, Haiti’s Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training unveiled a plan to get more than 1.5 million students in school by 2016, says USAID.

The ToTAL program focuses on developing reading skills for Haitian students in first grade through third grade in the Port-au-Prince, Saint Marc and Cap Haitien areas. All Children Reading will provide more nearly 30,000 children and 900 teachers with critical reading curriculums to meet international literacy standards, says USAID. “In developing countries,” says the All Children Reading experts, “literacy leads to improved health, better education, greater employment opportunities, and more stable governments.”

The All Children Reading program partners with USAID, World Vision and the Australian government to utilize competitive science, technology and education grants to improve the school systems and educational opportunities for students in developing countries.

Awards are disseminated in two rounds, each of which has a different development focus. Round 1 “focuses on creating teaching and learning materials and education data applications to promote accountability and transparency” and has been awarded to 32 projects in more than 20 nations, according to the All Children Reading website.

Round 2 looks more to implementation strategies and technology solutions to improve education in Haiti. The three areas of focus for this branch of the project include promoting mother tongue instruction and reading materials, enhancing family and community engagement and supporting children with disabilities. All Children Reading prioritizes reading in the early school levels in order to instill strong education practices and create better and wider opportunities for children as adults.

Through programs such as ToTAL, the U.S government has trained nearly 900 teachers in new curriculum in both Haitian Creole and French. In addition, USAID has supplied Haitian students with more than 46,000 textbooks and workbooks. The ToTAL program has been introduced in more than 300 schools nationwide, such as the one in Caracol. In the years to come USAID hopes to reach more than 1 million children throughout Haiti, especially “as other partners extend the use of the program’s reading curricula and training methods beyond the development corridors.”

– Mallory Thayer

Sources: USAID, All Children Reading, Facebook
Photo: Save the Children

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Sex-Ed for Girls in Pakistan

Girls in rural Pakistan are receiving groundbreaking sex education lessons from the Village Shadabad Organization. These lessons range from topics of puberty, sex, marital rape, menstruation, marriage, human rights and self-defense against attackers. These sex education lessons are being taught alongside normal education curriculum in eight different girls schools, which are funded by BHP Billiton, an Australian company.

Lessons on menstruation and puberty teach girls not to be ashamed by their own body, and lessons on marital rape explain that unwilling marital sex is a crime. The girls are taught to scream and fight if they are touched inappropriately, because their bodies are owned by no one but themselves. Uzma Panhwar, a 10-year-old student, declares “My body is only mine and only I have the rights on it.”

These lessons teach girls about their body, and about their sexual health. With greater knowledge and awareness of their bodies and their rights, girls can gain confidence and strike away feelings of guilt and shame thrust upon them by their conservative patriarchal society.

In a country where public discourse on sex is forbidden, these lessons are even more meaningful and relevant for these young girls. It is estimated that 70 percent to 90 percent of Pakistan’s women have experienced domestic abuse. Women in Pakistan experience high rates of sexual and domestic violence, fighting against a justice system that favors their male attackers. Both law enforcement and government officials have proved to be unresponsive towards violence against women.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report ranked Pakistan as 135th in the world due to its gender inequality. Pakistan has a history of honor killings, child marriages and violence against women. Although the country is making progress in women’s education, women still have little representation in their own government.

The families in these rural villages support sex education, but there are many others in Pakistan, especially from the education sector, who oppose it due to constitutional and religious reasons. The education minister for the Sindh province and the president of All Pakistan Private School Federation have opposed these sex education lessons in the rural villages.

These sex education lessons are important in providing a foundation for female empowerment in Pakistan. While reform and increased legislation on women’s rights from the government will be slow to create change, these lessons in rural villages are impacting transformation of social norms at the local level.

Women’s empowerment has been shown to not only combat poverty, but to promote development and greater well-being. Teaching these young girls in Pakistan to take control over their bodies also teaches them to take control of their own lives. These sex education lessons do not merely educate them about their bodies, it teaches them to respect themselves, and to demand the respect they deserve from their society and government.

– Sarah Yan

Sources: The Guardian, Global Public Square
Photo: Taipei Times

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Brazil Replaces Poverty With Culture

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For decades, Brazil has been considered an underdeveloped nation with inequality, crime and dirty slums. Yet Bolsa-Familia, the country’s largest welfare program, has in recent years transformed Brazil’s poverty predicament for the better. Launched in 2003 by former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the program has benefited almost 50 million Brazilians and become a guide for numerous similar programs worldwide.

According to the World Bank, Bolsa-Familia is a primary reason for Brazil’s most contemporary social improvements. On the condition of sending their children to school and to regular medical exams, underprivileged Brazilian families receive an equivalent of about $35 each month withdrawn from a state-run bank by each family’s mother. Not only does this promote investment in children, it also empowers women to take financial responsibility for their households.

Bolsa-Familia is responsible for about 28% of Brazil’s poverty reduction. In the decade between 2002 and 2012, the proportion of Brazilians living with less than the $32 equivalent decreased from 8.8% to 3.6%.

Yet even with such extreme improvement in the lives of Brazilians, there is still more work to be done. When asked what they like to do for fun, a shocking 85% of Brazilians answered, “watch television.”

In an innovative effort to develop cultural expansion within the country, Brazil has developed a program known in Portuguese as Vale Cultura. The program constitutes a rechargeable coupon worth around $20 per month, available to Brazilians who make at most $300 per month.

While some may argue that both Bolsa-Familia and this new Vale Cultura program drain state funds and promote a dependency on welfare, various reports have noted otherwise. Of those on Bolsa-Familia, 12% have been able to give up the benefit, which accounts for less than 0.5% of Brazil’s gross domestic product. Such extensive success at such a low cost gives reason to believe that Vale Cultura may be an exciting opportunity with little risk.

Brazilians, according to a study conducted in Sao Paolo in 2013, on average only pick up four books per year and finish only two. The country is relatively isolated, despite its recent economic successes, and the poorest Brazilians are disproportionately underprivileged when it comes to cultural sophistication. Vale Cultura is an attempt to remedy this conundrum.

It will take time, of course, for Brazilians to develop a taste for this newly available culture. But culture minister Marta Suplicy is not disillusioned by the time it will take for this program to see success. The purpose is for people to try new things and to attain access to the cultural attractions many Brazilians previously ignored.

– Jaclyn Stutz

Photo: The Guardian
Sources: The Washington Post, The World Bank, The Guardian, BBC

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PEMEX Announces Record Investment Plan

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Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX,) Mexico’s state-owned oil company, has announced a record $28 billion of investment for the 2014 fiscal year. It is expected that the vast majority of money invested (approximately 85%) will go towards production and exploration for new oil fields.

The $28 billion figure is 10% higher than last year’s level of investment, which amounted to $25.3 billion, of which $19.3 million went to production and exploration of crude oil and gas fields. Despite this increase over last year’s investment level, PEMEX CEO Emilio Lozoya Austin claimed that in order to develop the country’s resources to their maximum potential, a further $32 billion would need to be invested.

In late 2013, Mexico’s legislature passed a bill permitting foreign companies to invest in PEMEX, a groundbreaking move that was not previously allowed since the company’s nationalization in 1938. This permission comes amidst flagging levels of oil production and Mexico hopes the move will boost its productive capacity.

While levels of PEMEX investment have increased steadily from 2008 onward, levels of oil production fell from 2.79 barrels per day to 2.54 million barrels a day in 2012, and levels of gas production fell from 7,030 cubic feet per day to 6,900 cubic feet per day over the same time period.

In 2008, PEMEX reported a production of 43.5 billion barrels per year, while in 2013 it reported 44.4 billion barrels per year. This slight increase can be attributed to the discovery of six new oil fields that added about 180,000 barrels per day at the end of 2013.

PEMEX is responsible for funding approximately one-third of Mexico’s national budget, with much of the revenue going towards social programs that improve education and infrastructure throughout the country.

Additionally, PEMEX hopes to increase exploration of deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico and improve its technological innovation in shale extraction through its newly minted partnership with the Russian oil giant Lukoil earlier this year.

– Jeff Meyer

Photo: Huffington Post
Sources: International Business Times, El Economista, Oil Price

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School Lunch Program in Thailand Targets Malnutrition

Thailand is known for having one of the best nutritional programs in Asia. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), Thailand has successfully dropped child malnutrition from 36% to approximately 8.42% within 30 years.

Thailand’s success stemmed from an in-depth look at growth rates, nutritional education, supplementation of iron and vitamins, as well as a focus on health coverage. It was also one of the primary countries to reach out to the community as a basis for promoting an end to malnutrition – specifically in children.

One method for reducing malnutrition in Thailand among school-aged children is the School Lunch Program, which supplies lunch at no cost to children struggling to maintain a healthy weight, or students who are unable to afford lunch. These lunches also aim to “educate students about desirable eating habits, values, and social manners.”

Students from rural areas have specifically been the victims of malnutrition in Thailand. Although rice is a staple food, the large amount of production does not necessarily correlate with balanced meals or eating a satisfactory amount required for healthy growth, both physically and mentally. Since diet is mainly based on rice, a lack of protein in diets are a large contributor to malnutrition in Thailand; also among the nutrients lacking in diets are iron, iodine and vitamin A.

SLP is currently providing all kindergarten and elementary public schools, reaching about 30,000 schools and 700,000 preschoolers. School Lunch Program currently provides meals for students for 200 days during the school year. The program started off by focusing merely on the amount of meals that were able to reach students. Now the meals are geared around the nutritional value.

With the help from the School Lunch Program many students whose diets are lacking in balance, or worse nonexistent, now receive meals at school that they may not have been able to receive at home.

The meals that Thailand is able to provide to children not only helps their struggle with malnutrition, but also helps with their ability to focus, gain weight, and grow cognitively.

– Rebecca Felcon

Sources: Rappler, Right To Food Campaign, World Food
Photo: IIRR

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Rwanda and Microsoft Team Up to Improve Education

Microsoft and the Rwandan Ministry of Education are teaming up to bring a better learning experience to Rwandan children. Through its Partners in Learning Program, Microsoft hopes to increase information and communications technology (ICT) throughout the Rwandan school system. Both parties feel that improved ICT access will facilitate teaching and learning while also increasing the chances every child receives a quality education.

Microsoft’s Partners in Learning program seeks to improve the student and teacher experience through technology. The program has invested over $750 million throughout the world, helping 12 million educators in 134 countries. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 13 million students  have received benefits due to Microsoft’s initiative.

On the other hand, Rwanda’s educational system is in desperate need of aid. Only 6% of primary schools and 18% of secondary schools are connected to the Internet. Additionally, the student-to-computer ratio in Rwandan secondary schools is a feeble 40-to-1. Without adequate resources, it is difficult for many of these children to receive the technological background that is needed to survive in the modern age.

Rwanda is a country with a tumultuous history.

It has experienced the worst genocide in modern history, when clashes in 1994 between the minority Tutsi population and the majority Hutus left up to a million Rwandans dead and eliminated approximately three-quarters of the Rwandan Tutsis. Since the tumultuous violence of the 1990s, Rwanda has been working to remake its image.

In fact, it has made substantial gains in bringing stability, and subsequently the country has experienced average growth of 7% to 8% since 2003.

Microsoft and Rwanda’s partnership goes along with the government’s desire to become a regional leader in information and communication technologies. It has taken steps, such as establishing a Specialized Economic Zone in Kigali, to attract further private investment in the area and help jump-start the economy.

Through increased investment, Rwandan hopes to build up its infrastructure and lower poverty.

Currently, 44.9% of its population, almost six million people, lives below the poverty line. Additionally, Rwanda suffers from energy shortages and a lack of adequate transportation linkages to other countries. Through efforts such as the Partners in Learning program with Microsoft, Rwanda is making the correct moves to attract private investment and improve both its economic potential and the lives of its people.

– Martin Levy

Sources: IT News Africa, CIA Factbook

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Education in Cambodia Grows with Foreign Aid

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Cambodia is making strides to enhance the standard of its education system. In an attempt to do so, Cambodia’s Education, Youth and Sports Minister, Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, has reached out to Malaysia and the United States in an attempt to improve their ties and promote a relationship based on education in Cambodia.

Naron recently met with Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to come to an understanding on the importance of education.

Many Cambodian students study in Malaysia, where education is a “number one” priority, according to Muhyiddin. Their mission is to raise the quality of life in both Cambodia and Malaysia by focusing on education; after the meeting, both Muhyiddin and Naron signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreeing to work together.

Muhyiddin stated, “I hope that the MoU…would spell out more areas that Malaysia and Cambodia could work together in the education sector as well as increase the number of Cambodian students studying in our country.”

The MoU will further the growing ties between Malaysia and Cambodia and aims to raise the quality of education in Cambodia, starting at a pre-school level and extending to both private and public schools.

On February 15, Cambodia also hosted an education exhibition consisting of over 30 U.S. universities and colleges in Phnom Penh to encourage Cambodian students to further their education. Cambodian students were able to discuss degree opportunities, scholarships and what they needed to do to apply to U.S. colleges and universities, with college admissions representatives.

A U.S. embassy press statement stated, “The fair highlights U.S. government support for efforts to enhance the quality of education and expand educational and career opportunities for Cambodians.”

So far, Cambodia has approximately 100,000 high school graduates who are interested in applying to college.

– Rebecca Felcon

Sources: National News Agency of Malaysia, Shanghai Daily
Photo: Cambodia Mathematics Curriculum Development Project

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What Can the U.S. Learn From Foreign Education System?

The U.S. public education system focuses on a century-old model that was originally designed to educate factory workers. While American public education has made many reforms throughout the years, student performance has remained stagnant.

The National Center on Education and the Economy suggests that the U.S. should look abroad for inspiration to fuel education reforms, including expanding national standards for curriculum, administering smarter and fewer tests and improving teacher quality and salaries.

U.S. Ranks Low in Test Scores

Students from the U.S., China, South Korea, Finland, Australia and many other countries took the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) to measure their skills in reading, math and science. The test is administered to 15-year-olds every three years by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Among the 65 participating countries, the U.S. ranked 15th in reading, 23rd in science and 31st in math.

The U.S. average scores in the three testing sections have not changed much from previous testing years. On the other hand, Shanghai, for example, has turned itself into an education powerhouse in three decades. The biggest focus in Shanghai and other top education performing countries is the quality of teaching.

Finland and Shanghai Inspire Higher Standards

The country with the most rigorous standards for teachers is Finland, closely followed by Shanghai. In Finland, one in ten applicants for teacher training programs are accepted. The training programs take five or more years to complete, and you must have a master’s degree to be considered for the program. In Shanghai, teachers must have a degree in the field they wish to teach, even at an elementary school level.

Teachers in Shanghai are mentored from the beginning of their career, by a master teacher. Throughout their career, teachers continue to meet with their mentors to improve their professional development.

Teacher Quality

While it is important for students to learn in a structured environment, it is equally important for teachers to have a structured environment in which to improve their teaching. Teachers in Shanghai can expect to be observed 20-30 times each year – a facet of teacher training that may seem daunting to teachers in the West.

The education system in Shanghai does not succeed based on any of the sole factors, but rather by a combination of all of these factors. The system still has its drawbacks, but the U.S. can learn a lot from the Shanghai education system.

If the U.S. puts as much money into teacher training as it does into reducing class size and creating charter schools, the country will improve its scores and be among European and Asian students who are currently outperforming U.S. students.

A sample of the PISA test is available here. 

– Haley Sklut

Sources: San Jose Mercury News, Parenting, National Center for Education Statistics, Forbes
Photo: The Week

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Facebook Offers Online Education in Rwanda

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Facebook plans to bridge the digital divide by connecting the remaining two-thirds of the world without Internet to the growing web of information. As a leader in this “knowledge economy,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg partnered with other industry giants to provide access to those who cannot afford it.

He continues to collaborate with leading companies in the technology field: Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung. These prominent members formed Internet.org to offer connectivity to more than five billion people. In developing countries, his Internet.org initiative aims provide the following:

More affordable access

Collaborative efforts between industry titans, such as Samsung and Nokia, will expand mobile access. To decrease the cost of delivering data, companies seek to develop low-cost smartphones and partner with internet providers to broaden the reach.

More efficient use of data

Global partners also plan to invest in products to limit the necessary amount of data. Along with “data compression tools,” these products may offer the enhancement of network capabilities and mobile frameworks designed to reduce the data use of applications.

Assist businesses in increasing access

These companies plan to incentivize the development and manufacturing of affordable devices for developing countries. The partnerships also aim to “localize services,” offering more languages on mobile devices.

Education Online: SocialEDU

Internet access alone cannot address underlying issues in developing nations. Zuckerberg, as a result, will apply Internet.org to education inequities.

Referred to as SocialEDU, this program offers open online courses to students through a mobile application integrated with Facebook.

With a Facebook account, young Rwandans could learn from professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. Facebook prepares to combat the digital and educational barriers these students face and expand online education in Rwanda.

This social media platform partnered with “the Rwandan government, a telecom company, a device manufacturer and an educational content provider.” Such collaboration allows the for the following:

  •  Free content and data
  •  A supportive government
  •  Low-cost smartphones
  •  Innovative education on a local level

For one year, Airtel plans to provide the education content at no cost to participants.

Christian de Faria, the CEO of Airtel Africa, understands education drives social and economic growth. As a local carrier, Airtel will fuel this growth by offering a data subsidy.

Nokia has also joined this corporate collaboration, offering affordable smartphones to the region. This improves access to the Internet, enabling more students to join the open online classes.

The Nokia Vice President of Mobile Phones, Timo Toikkanen notes, “Our affordable smartphones help people make the transition from simple mobility to more sophisticated experiences. Playing a role in helping students get access to these experiences, such as social education through the SocialEDU initiative, is truly an honor.”

To promote further corporate innovation, the Rwandan government offers:

  • Trade-in rebates
  • Interest rate subsidies
  • Micro-loan guarantees
  • Targeted use of its Universal Service Fund

In support of corporate social responsibility, the government plans to expand its Smart Kigali program. This offers free wi-fi on college campuses and as a result, more students can access the multi-media SocialEDU content. The government will further support this initiative by adapting course materials to the needs of local students.

These educational apps require a large amount of bandwidth. To combat this, Facebook promises to provide technical assistance and support the app in a low-bandwidth region. Partnering with Ericsson, the company must test the app capabilities in a 2G environment.

Tailoring services to meet the needs of regions across the globe is but one part of the equation. Through such innovation and corporate cooperation, the digital divide gradually closes. With the expansion of online education in Rwanda, Facebook and its global partners will propel the country into a knowledge-based economy.

– Ellery Spahr

Sources: The Verge
Photo: PCI Podium