Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

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ZanaAfrica is Helping Girls in Africa Stay in School

Girls in Africa
Puberty is a difficult time of life for many adolescent girls worldwide. During puberty, girls may face numerous challenges such as abuse, sexual harassment, unplanned pregnancy and early marriage, all of which pose a threat to their health and psychological well-being. When girls lack the knowledge and tools to navigate puberty safely, these challenges become even more difficult. For girls in Africa, this time can be particularly challenging. However, ZanaAfrica Foundation is an NGO in Kenya helping to provide girls with health education as well as menstrual supplies to help them navigate their periods and stay in school.

Menstruation Myths

Misconceptions about menstruation are common in many communities around the world. In these areas, many consider being female and having a period as shameful and suspicious. A girl’s first period is often a miserable time because of stigma in the local society. At least 50% of adolescent girls in Ethiopia do not receive any information about menstruation before their first periods. The belief is that when girls begin menstruating, they are no longer virgins. At times, some parents punish girls because they believe their periods began as a result of their daughters having sex. The Asembo in Kenya believe that a daughter who is menstruating should not sleep in her mother’s home because the young person is unclean. Myths such as this can make girls in Africa feel unaccepted by their mothers and their communities.

In East Africa, 80% of all girls have no access to health education or sanitary pads. Meanwhile, in Kenya, two out of three girls are unable to access menstrual products regularly. Many girls use homemade cloths or rags, but these solutions can lead to infection, and often they are not very effective. Due to shame and fear, many girls do not attend school when menstruating. In seventh grade, the proportion of girls dropping out of school is 7.1% in comparison to boys at 6.8%. In eighth grade, the dropout gap widens by 0.7%.

Obtaining an education is key to avoiding the grind of poverty, so the girls can get jobs upon graduation. Missing school because of menstruation leads to girls not graduating, thereby consigning girls in Africa to a lifetime of lower-paying work or worse, no paying work. A 2015 study in Kenya revealed that one out of 10 girls engaged in transactional sex in order to obtain menstrual pads.

ZanaAfrica

ZanaAfrica is a nonprofit based in Kenya that focuses on girls’ education and healthcare. The organization works to disseminate information and menstrual products, to keep young women from dropping out of school and thereby avoid eventual poverty. ZanaAfrica’s research shows that healthcare information and menstrual pads win back 75% of learning days at school.

ZanaAfrica leads a global advocacy effort to break the taboo around menstrual periods. Deeply engrained taboos, as well as the lack of communal rites-of-passage that once supported girls during adolescence, leave girls to navigate puberty on their own. Young girls can enter situations in which they receive pressure to have sex or another person touches them inappropriately, but they do not realize that they have the right to say no. As a result, 20% of Kenyan girls ages 15-19 are pregnant, 60% quit before finishing high school and 66% of new HIV infections are in adolescent girls in Africa.

The Publication, “Nia Teen”

To help counter the rising tide of unwanted pregnancy, disease and leaving school, which creates a vicious cycle of poverty, ZanaAfrica publishes a health magazine called “Nia Teen.” Its goal is to improve the health and agency of girls living in the worst informational and economic poverty. The organization has also created a 24-session facilitated health education curriculum.

“Nia Teen” draws from a database of more than 10,000 questions from 1,000 girls. Each issue intends to create behavior change as well as knowledge retention. The publication gives guidance, affirmation and information about menstrual health and puberty. It also celebrates real girls’ accomplishments and features their heroes. A comic in the magazine demonstrates healthy decision-making and comes with a discussion guide. ZanaAfrica believes that when girls receive honest answers to their questions, they gain the confidence to realize their potential and affirmation of their voices. When girls learn about reproductive health, they are better able to make decisions and are more likely to make positive choices for their future.

ZanaAfrica’s Impact

Over the past four years, ZanaAfrica has worked with partners across Kenya to provide over 10,000 girls per year with cotton underwear and sanitary pads, as well as reproductive health education. Since 2013, it has impacted nearly 50,000 girls with the tools they need to thrive. In 2015, ZanaAfrica received a $2.9 million four-year research grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to test the impact of its health education interventions and menstrual pads on health, safety and education for girls in Africa.

COVID-19’s Impact on Girls in Kenya

With Kenyan schools closed until 2021 due to COVID-19, millions of girls are dealing with challenges that the pandemic has worsened. Girls who are not in school are at increased risk for anxiety, depression, pregnancy, sexual violence and ongoing trauma. Support for groups like ZanaAfrica is more crucial than ever since COVID-19 has made it even more difficult for girls in Africa to stay safe.

– Sarah Betuel
Photo: Flickr

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Comprehensive Sexuality Education for HIV

sexuality EducationThe age group of 15 to 24 accounts for 16% of the global population but represents 34% of people in the age group of 15 to 49 that acquire HIV each year. Young people remain disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic and comprehensive sexuality education is a strategy for addressing this issue.

Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)

In the 2016-2021 Strategy of UNAIDS, one of the eight sub-strategies includes “quality comprehensive sexuality education accessed by all adolescents and young people.” Many other organizations believe comprehensive sexual education is essential for young people to protect themselves from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) is a curriculum-based program taught in school or out of school and over several years. The purpose of CSE is to “provide age-appropriate information about human rights, human sexuality, gender equality, puberty, relationships and sexuality and reproductive health.”

Digital Sexual Education

In places where there are ineffective or insufficient schools, digital sexuality education may be a substitute. Over 70% of 15 to 24-year-olds are online so sexuality education and information are increasingly being delivered through a digital format. Although millions have access to online sexuality education, research is limited regarding its impact. Although digital education is effective in reaching large groups of young people, some fear that cyberbullying and unsafe online research could hinder the success of online tools.

CSE Initiatives

The HIV epidemic impacts many regions, but sub-Saharan Africa remains the most affected. With support from the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) joined together to provide sexual education in the region. In 20 Eastern and Southern African countries, adolescents can access comprehensive sexuality education.

In support of comprehensive sex education, UNESCO alongside five other organizations published the International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education. The document outlines key topics for curriculums specific to different regions.

In 2002, The UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on Education and School Health was created to improve HIV education. The IATT aims to increase leadership support and resource allocation for HIV and health education. IATT members believe that education is essential for successful HIV programs.

The Impact of CSE

CSE provides more than information. It aims to help young people establish positive values regarding their sexual health through discussions about relationships, gender roles and sexual abuse.

In a study focused on measuring the impact of curriculum-based sex and HIV education programs on adolescents or young adults between 9 and 24 years old, 65% of the programs had a significantly positive impact on behavior.

With more focus on education as a tool for prevention, it is hopeful that the global HIV epidemic will be positively impacted.

– Rachel Durling
Photo: Flickr

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A Promise to Prioritize Teachers in Nigeria

Teachers in NigeriaWhile Nigeria’s population makes up only 2.8% of the world, 20% of the children not in school live in Nigeria. Education in Nigeria is especially lacking in the northern states, where more than 50% of the children are not in school. Although education is supposedly free and mandatory, the Nigerian government has long failed to provide its citizens with the tools to improve their education. The president of the country has recently made a commitment to prioritize teachers in Nigeria.

Unrest in the North Affects Schools

The northeastern Nigerian states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, have been victims of significant violence from the Boko Haram insurgency, a terrorist group whose name translates to ‘Western Education is Forbidden.’ Currently, 800 schools in this region are closed and 500 more have been destroyed due to conflict. Furthermore, less than 50% of girls in the north are in school due to cultural practices and attitudes discouraging girls from receiving an education.

The Link Between Poverty, Population & Education

The lack of education in Nigeria has deep effects on the nation’s present condition and future direction. There is a close correlation between girls receiving less education and fertility rates soaring. In 2018, Nigeria’s total fertility rate was 5.4 children per woman. This rate is far higher than the global average of 2.5 and above the sub-Saharan African average of 4.7. Consequently, Nigeria is one of the most rapidly growing countries in the world, with a population of about 200 million people and an average age of 18. Furthermore, the population is projected to double to more than 400 million by 2050.

Although Nigeria is Africa’s biggest exporter of oil, its economy’s growth rate has stagnated since oil prices collapsed five years ago. In developing countries, when population growth overtakes economic growth, resources become scarce and the people suffer. Nigeria’s population growth rate of 2.6% is outpacing its economic growth rate of 2%, thus further perpetuating the already widespread poverty. In 2019, 82 million Nigerians lived below the poverty line.

A Commitment to Education in Nigeria

While past Nigerian leadership has failed to emphasize education or recognize it as a means to reduce poverty and provide opportunity, President Muhammadu Buhari has signaled a commitment to establishing education as the backbone of society and prioritize teachers in Nigeria. In order to strengthen education in Nigeria, the government has committed to guaranteeing employment for students graduating with a Bachelor’s of Education. President Buhari underlined the need to incentivize students to become teachers by providing fiscal stability to the profession. He believes that this will attract a higher quality and quantity of teachers, which will in turn improve the system as a whole.

Additionally, these graduates will receive a university stipend and a special teacher’s salary. The retirement age and duration of service will both be extended by five years as well. The effects of Nigeria’s new commitment to prioritize teachers in Nigeria and education remain to be seen but certainly is a step in the right direction for the country to progress out of poverty.

– Adrian Rufo
Photo: Flickr

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Links Between South African Poverty and Education

South African poverty and educationSouth Africa is a country with 19.6 million children, making up about 35% of its total population of 56.5 million people. Of these 19.6 million children, about 98% have “attended some form of an educational facility.” However, these high attendance rates do not mean high-quality education and lack of academic resources is a large contributing factor to the correlation between South African poverty and education.

Education in South Africa

Despite having high rates of education enrollment, the quality of education in South Africa is poor. Reports have shown that of the students who attended school for five years, only half can do basic math. Furthermore, there are little to no standards for the teachers to be held at. About 10% of teachers across the country are absent from school on any given day and 79% of grade six math teachers do not have the content knowledge to be teaching at their respective level.

Education is compulsory until grade nine, and over the years, there have been increasing numbers of drop-out students, for a variety of reasons. The main reason is unequal access to resources as a result of poverty. The disparities between female and male students also continually present issues in the South African education system, especially with low percentages of girls pursuing careers in science, math or technology.

In addition, South African schools have struggled to teach basic skills such as reading and writing as well as early development for young children. Only 38.4% of children ages zero to four attended a school system such as day-care, playgroup or pre-kindergarten programs. The early development issue is further seen as 46.8% of parents say they do not read with their children and 43.15% say that they do not color or draw with their children.

South African Poverty and Education Correlation

South Africa has struggled with high rates of poverty for many years and the correlation between South African poverty and education is present in many different aspects of the relationship. In rural areas in the former homelands, about 81% of children are below the poverty line and 44% of children in urban areas live in poverty as well. Education in rural areas suffers especially, simply as a result of the barriers presented by the location. For example, critical resources such as water, electricity, books and technology are missing from many schools, which present obstacles for South African children to have a complete educational experience. Furthermore, the location of schools in comparison to students’ homes, present long commutes. Without reliable transportation, students and teachers both struggle to consistently arrive at school.

Why Low Education Enables Poverty

Poor education is a leading factor in continuing the cycle of poverty. Research continually supports the idea that children who suffer from high rates of poverty are more likely to drop out of school after grade nine as a result of the barriers poverty creates. Increasing the quality of education results in a growing economy, lowers income inequalities and decreases the risk of disease and violence. Without a basic education, South African children struggle to become members of the workforce, and as a result, cannot escape poverty. Education not only teaches basic skills such as reading and writing but helps to develop important qualities such as strong communication and social skills. Without this, it is difficult for children to become working members of society. Furthermore, education differences between the poor and the rich as well as males and females, increases inequality, resulting in poor systems that cannot fix the underlying issues.

Partners for Possibility

Partners for Possibility is an example of a grassroots organization that works to fix the issues between South African poverty and education all while improving businesses in the United States. Business leaders from companies in the United States go overseas to South Africa for a 12-month program in which they teach principals and leaders of schools about leadership and engagement. By doing so, business professionals help to change the unstable and ineffective system of South African education, while simultaneously learning about poverty and culture in South Africa. The program has had extremely positive outcomes as education leaders, teachers and parents become more invested and engaged in the school system, which in turn, benefits the children.

South African poverty and education are strongly linked and this presents many issues for children. However, it is not an impossible mission to address and Partners for Possibility demonstrates the mutual return for U.S. businesses and South Africans that comes with finding these solutions.

– Alyssa Hogan
Photo: Flickr

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Why Women are More Likely to Live in Poverty

Women Are More LikelyGlobally, women are faced with the invisible burdens of gender inequality which are entrenched deeply within institutional structures and communities as a whole. These prejudices may limit a woman’s access to higher employment and assistance programs, ultimately leading to higher rates of poverty, especially among women of color. As of 2018, the poverty rate for women was 12.9% compared to the 10.6% rate among men. There are several reasons why women are more likely to live in poverty.

Educational Inequalities

In many developing countries, women are more likely to be denied an education, as nearly 25% of all girls have not completed primary school education and two-thirds of women make up the world’s illiteracy rate. In Somalia, for example, only 7% of girls are enrolled in primary school. The lack of education among women may result in higher pregnancy and poverty rates. According to the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative, a girl’s education is a driving force in their economic well-being. Somalia suffers from one of the world’s worst educational systems and is one of the poorest countries as well, having a poverty rate of 73%. With education, females can increase their access to higher-paying jobs, and thus, benefit the family’s income., which results in a positive cycle for generations, bettering the economy overall.

Women Are Paid Less

Despite having the same qualifications and working the same hours, women are more likely to get paid less than men. Worldwide, women earn nearly 20% less than men. These variances within wages affect women in low-paying jobs and poorer countries dramatically. Closing the gender wage gap can result in overall equal income distribution. In the United States alone, closing the wage gap would mean that half the poverty rate of working women and their families would be cut.

Period Poverty

Around the world, many females may suffer from period poverty: inadequate access to hygienic menstrual products and menstrual education. The lack of education is related to the stigma periods carry. Periods have been associated with immense shame for a long time and this stigma is carried throughout communities, deeply limiting girls’ opportunities. Globally, periods are the reason why girls are absent from school at a disproportionate rate, as two out of three girls in developing countries are skipping school during their period. In India, 23 million menstruating girls drop out of school annually because of a shortage in hygienic wash facilities and products. Without an education, females are less likely to obtain a high-paying job and escape poverty.

Domestic Violence and Sexual Exploitation

One in three females globally fall victim to some form of domestic or sexual violence in their lifetime. Girls and women who grow up in poverty are also at an increased risk of experiencing such crimes. Victims of domestic or sexual violence can be impacted through the degradation of their physical or mental health, loss of employment or are ultimately driven into homelessness. Globally, females lose out on nearly eight million days of employment every year as a direct result of violent acts committed against them. According to a survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, domestic violence was the root cause of women becoming homeless in half of all the cities surveyed.

Pregnancy

Economically, females are potentially burdened with the costs of pregnancy, including the additional fees of caring for a child, more significantly than men. Custodial mothers are twice as likely to be poor compared to custodial fathers. Further, unplanned pregnancies can be detrimental to a woman’s income as being unable to work immediately after giving birth means no pay, especially in the informal working sector. In the developing world, nearly 12 million girls aged 15-19 give birth each year, which often results in the end of the girls’ education and the beginning of child marriage. Children who are born from early pregnancies or marriages more often than not enter the same cycle of poverty and no education.

Organizations for Female Empowerment

Malala Yousafzai started the Malala Fund after members of the Pakistani Taliban shot her for advocating the right for girls to be educated. Since then, Malala has built her project into a global initiative that furthers the goal of providing free quality education to young girls in developing countries.

The Orchid Project is a global initiative to end female genital mutilation (FGM). The Orchid Project functions as a platform that raises awareness of the areas where FGM is most prevalent and advocates against the practice. The Orchid Project has brought together more than 193 countries with the collective goal of abolishing FGC by 2030.

Women for Women is an NGO that works to aid those who are in hostile conflict zones and are the victims of collateral damage. Women for Women helps to uplift these victims of violence by providing them with tools, support and education so that they may earn a living and remain stable through the direst of circumstances. Women for Women has helped more than half a million women in countries that have been directly impacted by war and conflicts.

Empowering Women Means Reducing Global Poverty

Females in developing countries experience complexities that restrict their development and progression. Organizations are helping to raise awareness of these complexities and aid women in need. Since women are more likely to experience inequalities that push them into poverty, empowering women ultimately means alleviating global poverty.

– Maya Falach
Photo: Flickr

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Ekal Vidyalaya Focuses on Education and Indian Children

Education and Indian ChildrenOver 100,000 schools and just as many teachers deliver education in even the most traditionally unreachable, rural parts of India because of one foundation. Ekal Vidyalaya, a nonprofit originally inspired by social research and activism, recognizes the paramount goal of establishing educational access for every child in rural India and approaches it directly. Inspired and built in the 1980s, Ekal Vidyalaya conducts multinational fundraising, transforms nontraditional school models into working solutions and impacts the lives of nearly 2.8 million students through its efforts. Bringing education and Indian children without teachers and schools together is a fundamental pillar of the Ekal mission, which transcends borders in an impassioned quest to substantively create change.

Ekal Vidyalaya: Mission and History

Ekal Vidyalaya’s mission is to raise up schools and rural communities with “basic education, digital literacy, skill development, health awareness and rural entrepreneurship” in unison with farming maximization efforts that are taught. These wide-ranging, self-identified aspects of the organization’s mission reflect some of the initial issues that Ekal Vidyalaya, even before it was known as such, identified. Dr. Rakesh Kumar Popli and Dr. Rajneesh Arora, among others who were analytically evaluating regions in India in order to determine areas of concern, partnered with other leading scientists and activists of the time in order to raise awareness towards educational discrepancies and other health and social issues. Over time, education and Indian children became focal points of an effort that became known as Ekal Vidyalaya and refining steps brought the ancillary and primary systems of aid into reality.

Ekal Vidyalaya’s Methodology and Goals

In order to make progress on its significant goals, Ekal Vidyalaya relies on donations, volunteerism and community outreach. The name itself is a direct reference to the impact structure: one-teacher schools are essentially called Ekal Vidyalayas and they are the way that the nonprofit integrates itself into towns and villages in order to raise literacy and improve conditions. Once the school is established and working well, the organization then adds health services and skill development to bring economic opportunities for the villagers.

COVID-19 Considerations

Adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic is a continuous battle for the organization, particularly for its grassroots-based donation effort. Despite this, Ekal has been able to leverage its structure to transition training centers into mask making centers and provide over a reported 2.3 million people with food supplies using volunteers and other community organizations. Early October saw a global Ekal conference wholly online, where goals for the next five years were outlined. Various elements of the organization, from youth divisions to board members, committed to increasing not only education efforts but practical village-to-village communication and economic growth. Bringing together education and Indian children remains a core pillar of the estimated budget, and technological revolutions in the forms of roaming mobile centers and tablets prove Ekal’s commitment to continued adaptability. As challenges present themselves, Ekal Vidyalaya strives to preserve its mission and still improve upon it, which will be a necessary factor for change in the years still to come.

– Alan Mathew
Photo: Flickr

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Teaching Children in Sub-Saharan Africa Via TV Amid COVID-19

Teaching Children In Sub-Saharan AfricaAs a result of the coronavirus pandemic, schools around the world have been forced to find innovative and sometimes unusual alternatives to traditional forms of teaching. Several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, such as Tanzania and Kenya, have decided to close schools until January 2021. As a result, the nations’ education departments are collaborating to create educational television programs as a solution for teaching children in sub-Saharan Africa during COVID-19.

Teaching Children in Sub-Saharan Africa During COVID-19

Bringing access to education to every child is a task that many African nations are working on, but have not yet achieved. Recent statistics from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) show that one-third of the children in sub-Saharan Africa are not in school. This issue is also a gendered one, with UNESCO reporting that only 8% of girls finish secondary school.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it all the more difficult for children in this region to access educational resources. UNESCO monitoring shows that COVID-19 has affected 1.2 billion children’s education around the world. In addition, many organizations believe that developing nations will continue to struggle to fund education in the upcoming years due to the urgent redirecting of funds in response to coronavirus.

Governments in sub-Saharan Africa are not left with many choices but to shut down schools to best protect the health of civilians. Online schooling is not an option for many children in this region. UNICEF reports that at least one in two children in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to the internet, with many more lacking stable and uninterrupted connections. In turn, governments have turned to television programs during COVID-19 as a creative alternative that may be more accessible than online programs.

Ubongo

Ubongo, which means ‘brain’ in Swahili, is one of Africa’s most popular producers of children’s entertainment. Founded in 2013, its programs now reach more than 17 million homes across Africa. The organization produces free, entertaining educational content on television, radio and mobile phones to ensure the most access possible.

Ubongo has programs for different age groups, ranging from ages 3 to 14. One challenge that Ubongo faces is the difference in language across the continent. However, CEO and co-founder Nisha Ligon explains that the organization is actively working to adapt its content to the needs of children across Africa as its capacity grows.

For many children who are unable to attend school due to government regulations, Ubongo is the only way to continue learning. One Tanzanian mother told Reuters that Ubongo has helped her child “differentiate a lot of shapes and colors, both in English and Swahili.”

According to Ubongo’s head of communications, Iman Lipumba, the COVID-19 pandemic has given the organization the opportunity and responsibility to expand its operations. Between March and August 2020, Ubongo expanded from nine countries to 20.

Teaching children in sub-Saharan Africa via educational television programs during COVID-19 has given many children the opportunity to broaden their knowledge, but TV programs are certainly not a permanent nor comparable replacement to in-class learning. However, in the near future, during which COVID-19 will surely continue to affect access to education, Ubongo plans to develop more content about health and the prevention of COVID-19.

– Leina Gabra
Photo: Flickr

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Quality and Inclusive Education in India: An Update on SDG 4

Quality and Inclusive Education in India, an Update on the fourth SDGThe fourth Sustainable Development Goal laid out by the U.N. is “Quality Education.” This SDG aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” India has made remarkable progress in increasing the enrollment of students for primary education over the last decade. Various schemes, like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, have played a major role in universalizing education in India. The Right to Education Act, which makes education free and compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 14 years under Article 21 (A) of the Constitution of India has made education in India a fundamental right. In India, Kerala is the best-performing state, whereas Bihar is the worst performing state with respect to the index score of the fourth Sustainable Development Goal.

Efforts to Create Quality and Inclusive Education in India

  1. A mid-day meal scheme was launched in India for students in government and government-aided primary schools to increase enrollment, retention and attendance along with improving children’s nutritional statuses. It is a centrally sponsored scheme that was launched on August 15, 1995, to improve education in India. In 2008, India extended the benefits of the scheme to all areas across the country.
  2. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (save the daughter, educate the daughter) is a 2015 initiative undertaken to primarily spread awareness about the current state of girls’ education in India. In the mass communication campaign, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao highlighted education as a tool for women’s empowerment and ensuring a bright future for girls. The objectives of the scheme also include ensuring the survival and protection of girls and eliminating gender-biased sex selection.
  3. Over the past two decades, the Government of India has launched various schemes to ameliorate the predicament of gender and social gaps in education. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All Movement) program was launched in 2000-2001 to make education universally accessible and to bridge the gap in education between gender and social categories. The intervention included investment in school infrastructure, such as opening new schools, construction of additional classrooms, toilets and drinking water facilities, among other measures, that would result in improvement of education outcomes.
  4. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced education to shift online in India. The shift to the online medium of learning is challenging for students all across the country. But, the effect of this crisis has had the worst implications on poverty-stricken people in remote villages who do not have internet connectivity, electricity or resources to access quality education.

Looking Ahead

The implementation of such schemes by the central government has led to significant progress in achieving universal primary education enrollment for both girls and boys in India. With an increase in inclusive education in India, it is also imperative to prioritize universal quality education for all students. With an increase in enrollment rates for primary education, there is a need to overcome issues such as absenteeism of teachers, lack of proper infrastructure, unsafe drinking water and improper sanitation facilities.

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affects the marginalized communities and economically weaker sections of society by making education inaccessible. The need of the hour is to invest in education by making it inclusive and accessible while bridging the gap in education outcomes that arises due to inequality of income, ensuring quality education for all.

– Anandita Bardia
Photo: Flickr

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The LeAP Initiative: Improving Education Worldwide

LeAP initiativeAccess to education is a global issue that is deeply connected to issues of global poverty. Education often provides impoverished people with a way to escape poverty through improved job opportunities and better knowledge of healthcare. In this way, reducing poverty in developing countries often requires improving access to education. The World Bank is currently implementing a program called the Learning Assessment Platform, or LeAP, which it hopes will allow world leaders to better track how effective and efficient their nations’ educational systems are. Through the LeAP initiative, the World Bank hopes to improve global education.

Learning in Crisis

Poor and absent education is a serious global issue, with UNESCO finding that roughly 258 million children were not enrolled in school in 2018. That number has likely increased since then as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even for children in impoverished countries who do get an education, many times the education they receive is poor in quality and ineffective. Among developing nations, only 44% of children enrolled in school had obtained proficiency in mathematics and reading in 2017. In sub-Saharan Africa, that number fell to only 10%.

According to the World Bank, a significant factor contributing to these low education rates is the fact that many developing countries lack systems to measure learning outcomes among populations. Without such systems, leaders in these countries are unable to accurately identify the reasons why their education systems are failing, which prevents them from implementing effective policies that would improve the education systems.

The LeAP Initiative

Despite these challenges, the World Bank is hoping to use its resources to improve education by leaps and bounds. In order to meet this goal, the World Bank is working to improve learning assessment systems in developing countries by developing a Learning Assessment Platform. The LeAP initiative would provide countries with the tools and resources needed to develop more effective systems for assessing the state of education among populations.

For the past decade, the World Bank has been working to build a solid base of learning assessment resources for the LeAP program to build off of. With the help of Russia’s similar learning assessment program, called the Russia Education Aid for Development (READ) Trust Fund program, the World Bank has developed a wide range of tools and resources specifically designed to help countries accurately gauge the effectiveness of education systems. These include free online courses for educating policymakers and specialists on effective learning assessment techniques, tools for benchmarking education success and access to more than 60 reports detailing the student assessment systems of dozens of countries.

Investing in Learning

In its efforts to improve global education, the World Bank has done more than just provide developing countries with learning assessment resources. Working with the READ Trust Fund program, the World Bank has helped secure more than $20 million in learning assessment system improvement grants for 12 different countries, including Ethiopia, Cambodia, India and Vietnam.

Through the LeAP initiative and several other global education programs, the World Bank hopes to reduce worldwide “learning poverty” by at least 50% by 2030.

The World Bank’s goal of cutting learning poverty is ambitious but its work on improving learning assessment systems around the world is an important step toward making it a reality. When countries are able to accurately assess the strengths and weaknesses of education systems, they are able to craft policies that more effectively improve these systems while also allowing other countries to learn from them and develop their own learning assessment systems. In this way, The World Bank’s LeAP initiative is pivotal in its effort to improve global education.

– Marshall Kirk
Photo: Flickr

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How Tanzania is Improving its Education

Tanzania is Improving its EducationTanzania has faced difficulty in promoting its own economic development in the past. While Tanzania has made progress, its progress has slowed over the past decade. As a result, Tanzania is improving its education to reduce poverty in the country.

Challenges and Progress in Tanzania

Tanzania is a country that has experienced severe poverty levels throughout its history. Yet over the past decade, the country has also made significant strides in reducing its poverty rate. While in 2007 Tanzania had a poverty rate of 34.4%, with more than a third of the population living under the poverty line, that number had fallen to 28.2% by 2012 and again to 26.4% by 2018.

This data shows a clear improvement in Tanzania’s poverty levels but it also reveals a slowing of the progress being made in fighting poverty in the country, with a roughly 6% reduction of the poverty rate between 2007 and 2012 and a roughly 2% reduction of the poverty rate from 2012 to 2018. Nearly 50% of Tanzania’s population still fall below the extreme poverty income line, meaning they are living on less than $1.90 a day.

While Tanzania’s economic progress had already been slowing in the last few years, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic is on track to hinder the country’s economic development even further. Both the formal and informal economies of Tanzania have been impacted by the effects of the pandemic, with Tanzania’s tourism industry being especially crippled.

The Tanzanian government estimates that only about 437,000 people will visit Tanzania from outside the country this year, which is a significant reduction from the 1,867,000 tourists estimated in 2019. It is predicted that Tanzania will lose around 146,000 jobs due to this drop in tourism.

Education Challenges in Tanzania

Yet, Tanzania is improving its education to reduce poverty among its poorer populations. In an effort to reduce poverty, the Tanzanian government has made investments in education over the past decade. Since 2007, Tanzania’s government has worked to provide free education for all its people and from 2011 to 2016, it increased its education spending budget by more than half. This led to a sharp increase in the rate of primary education enrollment but by 2012 this rate had fallen by nearly 20%.

While the efforts of Tanzania’s government to make education free have been broadly effective, many impoverished communities in Tanzania still struggle to access formal education. The cost of the tuition itself is only part of the total cost of education and many impoverished people in Tanzania are unable to afford the costs of traveling to and from school. In some rural parts of Tanzania, students have to travel nearly 15 miles every day just to receive an education.

As a result, many people in Tanzania choose to forgo formal education, with more than half of Tanzania’s rural population being illiterate.

Possible Solutions to Improve Education

Investing more in transportation systems for students may help to alleviate some of the financial burdens that impoverished communities face. Investing in teachers may also help Tanzania overcome its low education rate, as many public schools in Tanzania have many more students than available teachers. According to UNICEF, for every trained teacher at the pre-primary level of public education in Tanzania, there are roughly 131 students, meaning that many public schools in Tanzania end up being understaffed. By investing more funding into training teachers, the Tanzanian government could further improve its public education systems, which would improve career opportunities among its poorest communities.

Taking Action

Tanzania’s government has recognized the need to improve education among its populace. Currently, UNICEF is working with Tanzania’s President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government to bring increased education opportunities to more communities throughout the country. By working with the government, UNICEF hopes to develop policies that will allow for more effective and accessible systems of education to be established within the next year.

Tanzania’s economic development has faced significant roadblocks in the past, with the COVID-19 pandemic being especially detrimental. However, it is clear that Tanzania is improving its education to reduce poverty among its population. To reduce poverty rates and improve career opportunities, the Tanzanian government is investing in better education for its citizens. With the help of organizations such as UNICEF, Tanzania may see a lower poverty rate than ever before.

– Marshall Kirk
Photo: Flickr