Information and stories on education.

,

The Mona Foundation: Education and Opportunities for Women

The Mona FoundationEducation is a proven pathway out of poverty, which is why several organizations center their missions around helping disadvantaged children attain access to quality education. The Mona Foundation is one of many organizations that realize the value of education as a tool for poverty reduction. This work is essential considering that after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 700 million people lived in extreme poverty in 2020.

The Mona Foundation

The Mona Foundation is an organization that believes “Education is key to alleviating poverty, hunger, inequality, and most other social ills.” The Mona Foundation supports grassroots organizations worldwide in their efforts to educate children, focusing on empowering girls and women to transform communities. The president and founder of the organization, Mahnaz Aflatooni Javid, is based out of the United States. The Mona Foundation has operated since 1999 and has donated over $17 million to its 53 partner organizations. The foundation has the support of famous American celebrity Rainn Wilson or Dwight Schrute from the American version of the series “The Office”. The story of Mona Mahmudnizhad, a young Iranian female human rights activist, inspired the organization’s name. Mona was arrested by Iranian authorities in 1983 for her outspoken nature and support for fundamental human rights and for being a member of the minority Baháʼí faith. Nine months later, at the age of 17, she was executed.

Arriba Las Manos

One of the education organizations the Mona Foundation supports is the Arriba Las Manos organization based out of Colombia. Arabia Las Manos allows children to access educational tools like toys, Legos and other things. According to the OECD, 37% of Columbian adults aged 25-64 who attended school up to upper secondary school earned less than half the average earnings in 2019. Hence, education at an early age is so important. Both organizations work to increase access to education.

The focus on education, and girls’ education in particular, is essential, considering that more than 100 million girls are out of school worldwide, according to UNICEF. Access to education can provide girls and women with the skills and knowledge required to rise out of poverty, uplift their families and empower their communities. With girls and women being a marginalized group, it is vital for all humanitarian efforts to keep girls and women at the center of their aid efforts. 

 A report was published in 2020 by the ERIC Institute on Education Sciences on education development in the Huaping Girls High School in Yunnan Province in China. Establishing the High School itself was a way to help the women living there leave one of the poorest areas in the Yunnan Province. By providing girls from that area in extreme poverty a chance to get an easily accessible education, over 1,800 girls from that school attended universities across China, helping them realize their dreams of getting out of poverty and into the world. Giving these struggling women opportunities to thrive and lift themselves out of poverty through education helped them leave one of the poorest regions in China. The School shows that giving access to education to those who otherwise would not have it can lead to success. In this case, women end up at university, thus underscoring the importance of education access to ending poverty.

Women’s Empowerment

The Mona Foundation’s efforts have had a significant impact so far. The organization’s sponsorship programs in 2023 have supported over 2,000 children. Its teacher training programs in 2022 trained over 8,000 teachers and its women’s empowerment program teaches women to think critically about their upbringing and develop skills to help them lift themselves out of poverty. In 2022, over 100,000 girls were empowered through the Mona Foundation. This organization has a significant impact on women and children in need. 

The Mona Foundation has helped many people through its programs and partnerships. Through sponsorships and teaching drills to partnering with organizations that share their values and goals, this organization plays an essential role in the fight against poverty.

– Calder Miller
Photo: Flickr

Conservation project in Namibia helps fight rural poverty 

Rural Poverty in NamibiaA conservation project in Namibia, sub-Saharan Africa, is actively fighting rural poverty alongside preserving important wildlife species and ecosystems. Indeed, the N/a’ankuse Wildlife Sanctuary, located around 50 kilometers west of the country’s capital, Windhoek, has identified the benefit of a holistic approach to the improvement of wildlife and human populations.

Namibia was the first country to enshrine the protection of the environment into its constitution, making it a suitable home for the conservation project. Recognizing that effective conservation comprises the ‘preservation of natural habitats, the well-being of wildlife and the empowerment of local communities,’ the N/a’ankuse Foundation targets the reduction of species endangerment whilst fighting the rural poverty that the local San community is facing. As indigenous descendants of the oldest inhabitants of Southern and Eastern Africa, the San have suffered years of ostracism, violence and even genocide, and are subject to the worst effects of the country’s poverty and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Health Care Efforts

Through both donations and the project’s flourishing volunteering program, N/a’ankuse has funded the Lifeline Clinic, whose main focus is tackling the poor health outcomes for the San community. Members of the community benefit from annual medical care through clinic-based health care and outreach programs, aided by a 4×4 ambulance, which is helping to combat the persistent discrimination in service provision toward the San as well as their geographic isolation. Bi-weekly nutritional support programs, attended by up to 120 people, provide emergency malnutrition aid as well as education and information regarding health and dietary requirements.  

Education

The project has further recognized the importance of education in the fight against rural poverty. An estimated 55.6% of the San population have never received a formal education due to marginalization within public schools, widespread bullying, poor exam results and the giving up of schooling entirely. Yet the N/a’ankuse primary school, established in 2009, directly challenges these barriers to education and the subsequent high illiteracy levels within the community. Recently, Namibia’s Petroleum Training and Education Fund (PETROFUND) provided members of the primary school with the opportunity to attend St. Boniface College in 2024, one of the country’s most acclaimed schools, through the provision of tuition and boarding fees.

The project’s conservation efforts revolve around a holistic approach to both the environment and human life. The primary school creates a safe and welcoming environment for San children, fostering a deep respect for local wildlife. This not only enhances educational outcomes for the children but also encourages the local community to participate in preserving their environment.

The school inspires its students to maintain their vegetable gardens and educates them about conservation efforts. Simultaneously, local community members are employed to support activities like beach clean-ups, anti-poaching initiatives and environmental sustainability projects. In 2020, an agricultural program was established to reinforce nutritional support by providing fresh fruits and vegetables. It also offers training and job opportunities in agricultural and hydroponic techniques for the community.

Such training is essential for the continuity of sustainable farming, ensuring a steady supply of fresh local produce. This helps address malnutrition and improve overall health within the community.

Looking Ahead

The N/a’ankuse project is a remarkable illustration of sustainability and conservation efforts collaboratively addressing rural poverty. By adopting an integrated approach, this initiative has shown that it is possible to uplift both communities and their environment for a brighter future.

– Phoebe Long
Photo: Flickr

, ,

Shining Hope on Poverty in Kenya 

Poverty in KenyaKenya has been leading the way as one of the fastest-growing economies in East Africa for the past decade, with an average growth of 5.7% each year. Unfortunately, this has been benefiting the country unevenly; with millions of Kenyans still living in severe poverty. Hope was sparse until an NGO called Shining Hope on Communities emerged from the slums but it is making a difference regarding poverty in Kenya.

Africa’s Largest Slum

Kibera sits on the southern edge of Nairobi and is home to more than 250,000 Kenyans in a space no larger than 2.5 km2. Considered a landmark for sightseers, thousands of men, women and children are victims of starvation and disease.

The area is a slum with dire living conditions, posing safety and disease threats to all inhabitants. It lacks clean water, electricity and sufficient food access while containing no proper housing and holds the constant threat of eviction at any time as an informal settlement. Mostly though, it has robbed most inhabitants of opportunities to educate themselves and to escape to a better life.

The Birth of SHOFCO

The Kibera slum is where it all began when a young Kennedy Odede was born into the tough, unsafe and cruel reality of poverty in Kenya. Odede managed to escape at the age of 10 to a life of sleeping rough and teaching himself with big dreams for a better future for Kenyans.

In 2004, and with nothing but a 10p coin, a football and an idea, the doctor sought out and found a way to support those he had left behind. He created Shining Hope for Communities from the ground up.

Now, the globe recognizes him as a social entrepreneur and is commending him for his achievements. He was crowned one of Forbes’ ’30 under 30’, and has received an Echoing Green Fellowship, among others. Odede still advocates and sits on various foundation boards to give a voice to those still suffering in silence.  

SHOFCO Today

With offices in the U.S. and Kenya, Shining Hope For Communities has taken a grassroots approach to reducing poverty in Kenya by working directly with communities and informal settlements. They work closely with communities suffering the most to provide essential services, including water, safety and other basic survival needs.

SHOFCO then supports the further development of these areas, with education and development opportunities. It encourages and helps individuals access opportunities to improve their futures and through this, begin to develop healthy and self-sufficient communities.

So far, almost 20 years down the line, the organization has reached and achieved the following:

  • SHOFCO’s efforts have impacted 17 urban slums in Kenya.
  • The organization has helped 2.4 million Kenyans living in informal settlements.
  • It helped six health clinics open between the Kibera and Mathara slums.
  • The initiative granted 954 young people access to jobs and internships.
  • The youngest organization in history to receive the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize.

SHOFCO & Female Empowerment

Historically, females in the urban slums of Kenya were disregarded when it came to education and opportunities. SHOFCO launched Girls Leadership Academies in Kenya’s two largest slums, Kibera & Mathare. The academies have managed to reach 656 of the slum’s inhabitants. 

The academies offer free education up to the eighth grade and opportunities far better than were previously accessible. Opportunities waiting outside the confines of the slum. 

The girls are also granted access to free health care, supplies, uniforms and food, to ensure that the opportunity for a better future can be fully seized.

Since the launch of the education programs, the amount of girls contracting and suffering from HIV within the slums has reduced significantly. Higher survival rates have also been seen among infants with fewer but healthier children born. The students have gone on to continue advocating for change themselves; to earn more than ever expected and invest more than 90% of earnings into their families, further improving the future of these communities.

Looking Ahead

There is still a long way to go in eradicating poverty in Kenya, but this is only the beginning. SHOFCO is an example of an organization that has provided hope and opened up a future for the residents of Kibera and Mathare that had never existed and it does not have to stop there.

– Lucy Blake
Photo: Flickr

Daariz: The App Improving Literacy in Somalia

Literacy in SomaliaReading and other basic literacy skills are essential building blocks that pave the path to further education and employment opportunities in the future. Much of the world has access to programs and schools that offer, at the very least, an introductory reading course. Unfortunately, there are places where people are too poor, lack time, or have too many extenuating factors that hinder their ability to learn. Somalia is a prime example of a nation where outside factors make it challenging to obtain a quality education. That is why apps like Daariz are essential for helping facilitate easily accessible education and improving literacy in Somalia. 

Education in Somalia

Access to education in Somalia is a significant issue, as is the length of time individuals stay in school. The average Somali child is estimated to remain in school for 1.72 years, which is much lower than the 7.7 years that the rest of individuals in Africa spend in school. In addition to this, according to the Somalian Ministry of Education in 2022, the gross enrollment rate is 24% in primary schools among students aged 6-13. Overall, the number of children in Somalia getting a good education and staying in school is low. This is an essential reason why Daariz has the potential to be a big help to anyone in Somalia who wants to get a start-back-up in education.

The Daariz App

Daariz is an app created by the Sahamiye Foundation, which supports literacy and education in Africa. The organization was founded in 2021 by Ismail Ahmed to provide more accessible education to African people whose lives have been tarnished by war and famine. The organization operates out of London and Hargeisa. The organization’s main goal is to use technology to increase access to education in Africa in what is known as the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia). Giving people essential skills like reading and writing will help them break the cycles of poverty so prevalent in Somalia and other parts of Africa. 

Access to education gives people better reading and literacy skills. People then use those skills to understand basic instructions on any job or task, like operating machinery or making contracts. Reading is a necessary skill to function in daily life. Without reading skills, opportunities to gain employment drastically decrease. Daariz’s work to increase Somalia’s literacy is crucial for these people. 

Daariz uses games and puzzles to make learning to read and write more enjoyable for those who use the app. Daariz also has awards and badges that users can achieve through repeated app use. The main goal of Daariz is to make learning accessible to as many people as possible. That is why they include several features that make the app more operable. Having an easy-to-operate app that is also fun is key to increasing literacy in Somalia through Daariz.

One such feature would be that Daariz does not need an internet connection. A user truly could learn anywhere and anytime. This is especially useful for a nation where, as of 2021, only 14.5 % of the population used the Internet. Lack of access to educational tools that require an internet connection is not an option for people struggling with literacy in Somalia. Another feature of Daariz that makes it easy to operate is its audio instruction feature. This ease of access is significant because it allows those who cannot read to follow the instructions for the games auditorily. Increased accessibility to learning is a game-changer when lifting people out of poverty and increasing literacy in Somalia.

Results of the App

According to the Sahamiye Foundation’s website, users can reduce the time it takes to achieve success in literacy in a fraction of the time it would take through conventional means. In addition, users can read an average of just under 90 words a minute with almost complete accuracy. The results speak for themselves. Daariz has a real impact on real people. People can now realize that literacy in Somalia is growing. 

Daariz is a creation that has impacted many people’s lives and driven up literacy in Somalia. People can now learn to read and write without an internet connection, without worrying about whether they can comprehend the instructions given to them, which is easy to operate. As awareness of this app grows, so will the lives that are changed positively through it. Many people are now better equipped to lift themselves out of poverty because they better understand how to read and write, thanks to Daariz.

– Calder Miller
Photo: Flickr

iSchoolAfrica: Improving Education in Rural South Africa

Education in Rural South AfricaEducation is one of the most effective tools for lifting people out of poverty. It provides people with better skills and tools to find work and impact the world positively. South Africa is a country where there is a significant education gap. The education gap mirrors the wealth gap that exists there as well. According to the World Bank, 63% of South Africa’s population lives below the poverty line. 

Rural communities get fewer opportunities to learn and grow than larger schools in more populated areas. According to Teach With Africa, children in the top 200 schools in South Africa have better grades in math than the next 6,000 combined. Only 27% of students in school for six years can read. However, an organization known as iSchoolAfrica is trying to close this gap by focusing on tools for rural education in South Africa.

Who Are They?

iSchoolAfrica came into existence in 2009. The main goal of iSchoolAfrica is to help poverty-stricken communities by giving them access to technology that will provide a chance to become better educated and increase their prospects of lifting themselves out of poverty. The organization’s website lists its goals to “increase motivation, enthusiasm, and excitement around learning” and “level the playing fields between resourced and under-resourced schools,” among other purposes. iSchoolAfrica accepts used iPads that have been donated to iStores. The iPads are then distributed to those in communities that need them.

What Programs Do They Run?

iSchoolAfrica has several programs designed to help impoverished students get the education they need. One program iSchoolAfrica has implemented is the #MyFuture Program. This program is designed to help students impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic by giving them access to iPads and teaching and leadership skills to still participate in school activities if COVID-19 dictates that they need to move online.

Another program designed to give impoverished communities better education through technology is the Numeracy Programme. This program uses iPads to help South African youth increase their math skills and get the best math education possible. They use mobile iPad labs to ensure that children have access to this technology and take time to ensure they understand the material. This program is designed to be personal to each student and to ensure that learning is taking place. Since 2011, this program has helped students in schools increase their numeracy grades by 15%, with over 100 schools having been aided in that time as well. Being properly educated in school subjects goes a long way to helping alleviate poverty and helping out struggling communities. 

An additional program the iSchoolAfrica uses to educate focuses on literacy is called the Digital Libraries Programme. iSchoolAfrica uses digital libraries to give students access to a vast array of different digital books and education tools that they can use to increase their literacy levels. This program uses iPads and makes sure that people with disabilities can participate. Implementing digital libraries like this will go a long way in alleviating illiteracy among rural communities. Poor literacy levels are a massive issue in South Africa. According to a study by the South African Department of Basic Education in coordination with UNICEF, 43% of households reported that they did not have access to any books at all earlier this year. Being able to read is a skill that is required to be a member of everyday life and hold down most jobs. By increasing the number of people who can read in rural communities, they have a skill that can help them get better jobs and climb out of poverty.

The Impact of iSchoolAfrica on Rural Education in South Africa

Since the start of the organization back in 2009, iSchoolAfrica has helped over 100,000 people with their education, trained over 3,000 teachers and trained over 200 young people as iSchoolAfrica facilitators. They have had a significant impact on poverty-stricken areas. As an organization, they have also received multiple awards for their charitable work.

iSchoolAfrica has had a powerful impact on rural education in South Africa. The people who live in these communities are better educated, have more access to learning tools and overall have better prospects for their lives than they otherwise would have had. As the years go on, this organization can only go on to have an even more significant impact on poverty and give people suffering from it a chance to be a part of positive change.

– Calder Miller
Photo: Flickr

,

5 Facts About Global Access to Higher Education

Global Access to Higher EducationAccess to education, or a lack of access to education, is a key indicator of poverty in many countries. Many cannot afford to send their children to school, need them to work at home, or have no school near them. As a result, it becomes difficult to beat the cycle of poverty. Global access to higher education is especially important, as it is necessary for access to increased salaries. 

Current Picture

Enrollment in higher education doubled between 2000 and 2018. This means that, though many aren’t actually graduating from college or trade school, they are gaining skill sets that will allow them to break the cycle. However, it is important to note that there still exists a large gap in access between the rich and poor, and many of the poorest countries have extremely limited access to higher education. 

Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia have the lowest access to higher education. Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are also the two poorest regions in the world, accounting for five of every six people in poverty around the world. These two facts are closely linked, as access to higher education is closely linked to poverty. Increasing access to higher education in those regions would help reduce the levels of poverty there as well. 

Access to higher education is lower among the world’s refugees. In 2023, while rates of primary and secondary school education are 68% and 34%, higher education only has an enrollment of 5% among refugees. Because the world’s refugees have such low access to education compared to the global average, it can be difficult for refugees to escape poverty in the countries they move to.

Women have higher enrollment rates than men. Around the world, women have rates of enrollment in higher education 5% higher than men. While men only increased 17% over the last 20 years, women’s enrollment has increased 22%. However, there are many fields, specifically in the sciences and engineering, where women are still behind men. Increasing access in those fields will allow more women to contribute to other important parts of the world’s economy. 

Global Learning Poverty

Global learning poverty increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to school closings, many students learned remotely or not at all throughout the pandemic. Poorer countries have been hit the hardest, and learning poverty jumped from 57% to 70% in those countries. While this has reversed many years of work to increase education access and literacy rates, as the world returns to normal, that rate will begin to drop again.

– John Rooney
Photo: Flickr

,

Education Cannot Wait: Providing Education in All Conditions

Education Cannot WaitMore than 8% of the world’s primary school-aged children do not attend school. That is 58.4 million children who rarely have the opportunity to learn how to read and write, let alone develop the skills necessary to thrive economically. Education opens doors for jobs and resources, promotes healthier lifestyles through more knowledge of nutrition and disease and provides a safer space for young children, typically leading to lower mortality rates and an increase in the age of pregnancy. Overall, education can address the most pressing matters of poverty. 

The United Nations is continuously working to meet the educational needs of the millions of children who do not currently receive the benefits of education. Most of these children cannot attend school due to a lack of qualified teachers, inadequate teaching materials and poor sanitation. These obstacles are magnified when a nation faces further turmoil. The Education Cannot Wait (ECW) program provides education to children in the most uncertain times of emergencies and protracted crises. Here are three examples of how the ECW provides education despite conflict, climate disasters and epidemics. 

#AfghanGirlVoices 

The Taliban authorities regained power in Afghanistan in 2021. Since then, Afghanistan has been internationally isolated, sinking the country further into poverty and reversing previous social and economic development. Recently, a fundamental right has been stripped from women: education. The Taliban has banned all women above the age of 12 from attending school, stripping females of their aspirations and potential. 

The Education Cannot Wait program implemented #AfghanGirlVoices as an outlet for Afghan women to share their resilient opinions about their position in the education system. The campaign is amplifying women’s voices to condemn the violation of their education and to advocate for the institution of female education in Afghanistan. 

COVID-19’s Effect on Kenyan Education 

It is estimated that nine in ten Kenyan children from low-income families never attend school. Inadequate facilities and teaching materials contribute to this lack of education. It is exacerbated by limited health and medical materials, making it difficult for those struggling with diseases like HIV or even girls on their period to attend school. COVID-19 disrupted education by completely shutting down schools with no measures to enforce the necessary sanitation. Additionally, those in low-income areas had no means to participate in a remote education. 

To combat the effect of COVID-19 on education in Kenya, Education Cannot Wait launched the First Emergency Response (FER) program. The program provided remote learning resources, as well as new water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities to make education more accessible despite epidemics. FER helped train 1,733 teachers on new subjects and curriculum knowledge. Additionally, they provided 11,050 adolescent girls with female hygiene kits, allowing them to attend school all weeks of the school year. 

Natural Disasters

Natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes and typhoons, constantly threaten education. In 2011, 11,000 schools were destroyed in Pakistan due to extreme flooding. Lower educational attainment is seen among many communities that have faced natural disasters. Aside from the destruction of schools, malnutrition, injury, economic challenges and human displacement reduce school attendance after a natural catastrophe. 

Education Cannot Wait invests heavily in communities facing natural disasters. The program constructs temporary learning spaces, provides learning materials, rebuilds damaged schools and offers both mental and physical health support facilities. The ECW goes beyond investments to prepare nations for catastrophes and mobilizes the community to respond to crises. 

The ECW designs educational systems that integrate disaster risk reduction and green economy knowledge while empowering youth to advocate for their community and their necessary resources. 

– Aliya French
Photo: Flickr

,

How the UK is Helping Expand Rwanda’s Education System

Rwanda’s Education System
On August 31, 2023, the U.K. announced that Foreign Office Minister Andrew Mitchell will visit Rwanda for the commencement of a new education initiative, Girls in Rwanda Learn (GIRL). Mitchell will attend the annual Gorilla naming ceremony, symbolizing the United Kingdom’s commitment to battle poverty in Rwanda. Here is how GIRL is helping address the limitations of Rwanda’s education system. 

About the Struggles of Rwanda’s Education System

The National Institute of Rwanda’s 2022 report illustrated the need for reform of Rwanda’s education system, with a mere 25% of students advancing from primary to secondary school. This lackluster education is reflected in the labor force, as the national report displays that only 17% of the labor force has a secondary school education. With a small proportion of the population gaining secondary education, most youths are fighting for the same jobs, with the stiff competition for work resulting in a 22% youth unemployment rate as of 2020. 

Rwanda’s educational struggles have culminated in a poor economy, with the UN reporting in 2021 that around 44% of the population is in poverty and another 22% is at risk of falling into poverty. With poverty impacting nearly half the nation, severe economic pressure ends up on the children of the nation to assist the household, contributing to the lack of educational participation.

About the GIRL Initiative

Mitchell proclaimed that with the U.K.’s involvement and investment into Rwanda, they will be able to tackle “a range of issues important to both nations and the region, including climate change and women and girls’ education.” The U.K.’s GIRL initiative focuses on funding the education of girls in Rwanda whose economic situation would not allow them to pursue education. 

With the program drawing from a fund of 60 million Great British Pounds, the GIRL initiative will last until 2030 and improve the learning conditions in nearly half of the poorest schools in Rwanda. Mitchell declared that through “our support to help eradicate poverty, educate children, especially girls, and provide British expertise to improve the delivery of public services for all,” the initiative will likely impact nearly 700,000 children. 

The GIRL initiative will provide services, including programs that assist those with disabilities, formulating a system to prevent girls from prematurely dropping out of school and a digital library for students to access resources. 

How UNICEF is Helping

Additionally, UNICEF backs the GIRL initiative. UNICEF allocated more than 12 million pounds on top of the preexisting 60 million. With both the U.K. and UNICEF showing support for Rwanda’s education system, the nation is finally receiving the attention and backing required to propel itself out of the poverty plaguing the nation. 

While the U.K. has begun implementing the GIRL initiative, the U.K. will continue to build its relationship with Rwanda. Meeting in April 2024 at the U.K.-African Investment Summit, the U.K. displays continued interest in assisting the nation in its battle with poverty. 

To support Rwanda’s fight against poverty, UNICEF plans to support the children of Rwanda and provide them with adequate infrastructure to rise above poverty.

– Dimitri Lykidis
Photo: Flickr

,

Poverty and Education in India

Education in India
India’s education system is one of the largest in the world. In 1947, when the country gained independence, the literacy rate was only 18% for men and around 8% for women. With steady reforms, India has come a long way to revamp its education system. According to the National Survey of India, the literacy rate has increased in the past 13 years from 73% in 2011 to more than 77.7% in 2022. However, this statistic is still lower than the global literacy rate which is around 86.5%. Illiteracy plays a major role in continuous and generational poverty in India. Luckily, there are efforts in place to improve education in India.

Discrimination in Education in India

Gender disparity and inequality are some of the main reasons for the stark difference in literacy rates between women and men. The male literacy rate is 84.7% whereas the female literacy rate is disappointingly lower at 70.3%. In some states such as Bihar, the female literacy rate is shockingly low at 51.50%. During the pandemic, 6 million children were out of school and a majority of them were girls. This difference in education between men and women has inevitably led to a higher rate of female poverty in India.

Social and cultural beliefs about the inferiority of women are still widespread. Studies have shown that gender violence is prevalent throughout the country, especially in domestic households where women have to perform unpaid labor whereas men do not. A survey has shown that 54.4% of people agree that a woman deserves to be beaten and physically assaulted if she leaves the house without permission. 

Girls are often seen as less important and less deserving of education in India. They have to stay at home and engage in household chores. Many people still think that when a girl is born, she is “paraya dhan”, meaning that she is an object or possession that a family must groom in order to marry off and will eventually hand over to a man and in-laws. The tradition of the bride’s family giving a dowry (money, property or goods) to the groom’s side of the family upon marriage exemplifies this. 

Societal pressures to marry and bear children are so high that young girls have to drop out of school just after primary education. A lack of sanitary productions and taboo surrounding periods has also persistently kept girls from attending school. 

In rural areas, people from scheduled castes and tribes, particularly women and girls, experience exclusion from education altogether. Women thus face low economic prospects and struggle to be financially independent as a result of a lack of proper education. Deep-seated gender stereotypes and cultural beliefs about the Caste System have led to a spread of inequity in education and basic standard of living, increasing the rate of poverty in India.

Rote Learning in Education in India

Many critics have argued that the primary secondary curriculum in India, called Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is often memory and textbook-based, without much attention to vocational and skills-based training at all. Sometimes called “text-book culture,” rote learning is the primary method of teaching in both government and private schools, with teachers having little to no autonomy in the classrooms. Repetition of information as an approach to pedagogy is common across the country. 

Consequently, studies have shown that students are not stimulated to creativity and originality. Textbooks include impractical pieces of information and are of little use for developing analytical and reasoning capabilities. Intelligence is thus often linked to the ability to memorize huge amounts of information, and tested with standardized examinations that high-stakes competitions fuel.  Academics also believe that this system received encouragement during the British Raj and is a consequence of colonists wanting to establish a country of obedient followers instead of original thinkers.

In contrast, some critics have also argued that the connection between memory and rote learning is misleading and a misconception. While rote learning does not typically help in forming complex connections between old and new information, memory can help retrieve information, apply it and use it in new modes and forms. For this to happen, the curriculum must encourage the skills of analysis and interpretation in students.

Pressure From Society

Children’s parents also pressure them to take up traditional professional occupations. It seems to be part of the culture to become a doctor, lawyer or engineer. An incredibly competitive job market has resulted in parents wanting their children to have secure and high-paying jobs. Consequently, many students are suffering from depression and end up taking up professions that they are not passionate about. Ironically, because of the scarcity of opportunities, even graduates of professional occupations struggle to secure a job. 

Looking Ahead

In 2020, the government introduced the National Education Policy (NEP) in an effort to revolutionize the system by encouraging a more holistic and skills-oriented approach to education. Students should now have exposure to a flexible choice of subjects for higher education and vocational streams at a young age. It also states that a Gender Inclusion Fund and Special Educational Zones will emerge for disadvantaged and vulnerable members of society.

With the government’s continued reforms and intervention, including more job opportunities for young graduates, the education system can help rapidly alleviate poverty in India.

– Sharvi Rana
Photo: Flickr

, ,

Limitations of Geography: Poverty in Madagascar

Poverty in MadagascarPoverty levels in Madagascar have remained persistently high for an extended period. In 2012, an alarming 80.7% of the population lived below the international extreme poverty line of $2.15 per day. A decade later, there has been only a slight decrease to an estimated 80.2%. While factors such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine may have contributed to this, it’s evident that progress in reducing poverty in Madagascar has been remarkably slow. This article explores how geographic factors have played a crucial role in impeding Madagascar’s efforts to combat poverty and the strategies it has employed to address this challenge.

The Geographic Poverty Trap

Madagascar is an island nation off the coast of Southern Africa and is one of the biggest islands in the world. However, Madagascar’s terrain is varied, with most of the country’s surface covered in dense forests, arid highlands or relatively short mountain ranges. This rough terrain, combined with the fact that around 60% of the population lives in rural areas, offers insight into the slow poverty reduction rate in Madagascar.

As economist Jeffrey Sachs has identified, this terrain makes transportation and infrastructure development costs much more expensive. This, in turn, creates more difficulties when looking to reduce poverty in these areas, as trade is fully dependent on challenging and costly transportation. 

Madagascar, however, faces an exacerbated version of this geographic burden, as most of this rural population lives under the extreme poverty line of $2.15 a day. Furthermore, Madagascar mostly depends on subsistence farming techniques that are vulnerable to the extreme climates that have become so characteristic of the island. 

Madagascar faces recurring challenges such as droughts, floods, and cyclones each year. These natural disasters often devastate the crops of subsistence farmers, who make up a significant portion of the population. As a result, many Malagasy people live in isolated areas, trapped in a cycle of poverty. The level of poverty is so severe that the people struggle to save money for investments in transportation, trade or increased productivity. The combination of geographical isolation, reliance on subsistence farming, and the frequent impact of natural disasters has made poverty in Madagascar incredibly resilient. This has made it difficult to achieve meaningful progress in poverty alleviation efforts.

Solutions

These issues have not gone unnoticed. Madagascar received more than $1 billion in Official Development Aid in 2021, and a flourishing NGO sector works in Madagascar to turn the tide and help accelerate poverty reduction in the country. Madagascar receives a relatively small share of GDP compared to other island nations. However, there is room for improvement in the assistance provided to the country.

Despite this, there are increasing efforts on the side of NGOs striving to reduce poverty in Madagascar. Most of these center around teaching improved farming methods, natural disaster recovery and boosting education programs all over the country. Noticeable among these is SEED Madagascar, a U.K.-based NGO that is active in tackling all aspects of poverty through health, education, productivity and cultural programs.

Looking to The Future

While Madagascar’s persistent poverty challenges may be rooted in its geographic factors and economic limitations, there is hope on the horizon. The recognition of these obstacles has led to increased international aid and the dedicated efforts of NGOs like SEED Madagascar, working on multiple fronts to empower communities with improved farming techniques, disaster recovery strategies and education programs. With these ongoing initiatives and a growing commitment to combating poverty, Madagascar could well be on a path toward a brighter future.

– Daniel Pereda
Photo: Flickr