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Paraguay is a landlocked country in the heart of South America. Located between Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina, the country has a population of nearly seven million people. Although poverty is on the decline, the country’s economic level is not where it should be. The current issues surrounding education in Paraguay go hand in hand with poverty.
In 2012, five percent of Paraguay’s GDP went towards educational needs. The structure of education in Paraguay is similar to those found in other countries around the world. Primary school begins at the age of six and consists of six grades. After primary school, children proceed into secondary school. The secondary school has two parts; lower secondary, which is seventh through ninth grade, and upper secondary, which is grades 10 through 12.
These twelve years of education are mandatory and free. Students are around 17 years of age once they finish their required schooling. Nearly all youth and adults are literate in Paraguay.
Despite these statistics, more complicated issues are involved in education in Paraguay, considering that only 45 percent of students end up completing sixth grade, and adults have an average of six years of education in total. Fifteen percent of the population is living on one euro or less a day, and ten percent of children don’t have any access to schooling. Schools that are run by the government are often crowded and lack adequate resources.
According to Generation Rising, the reason for the lack of attendance in Paraguay is due to a variety of reasons such as, “[the children’s] families need them to bring in extra income, there are no schools in their area or the cost of uniforms, textbooks and supplies is simply too much.”
Providing children with accessible, affordable, worthwhile education is an essential to providing them their human rights. While the overall situation in Paraguay has been seemingly increasing in recent years, there is still progress to be made.
– Shannon Elder
Photo: Flickr
Over the past decade, issues with the system of education in Benin have been met and addressed with an increased sense of urgency by government officials.
The U.N. has set into place extensive measures directed at addressing the common problem of educational inequality within the country. As a result, the “Ten-Year Plan for the Development of Education” was created to ensure the implementation of these measures.
In the ten-year development plan, financial resources for education in Benin have been directed towards greater recruitment of teachers, technical and vocational training, tuition support and improvements in secondary education. Between 2006-2013, there was a 16.5 percent increase in public spending for education in Benin. Government officials are looking to continue increasing the spending budget for both primary and secondary education.
According to the Global Partnership for Education, Benin faces geographic and social inequalities due to a “high absenteeism of teachers and a lack of capacity to manage the education system overall.” Since 2013, government officials have implemented measures increasing the availability of education, funding research, advancing literacy of national languages and improving sector management.
The overall system of education in Benin will continue to advance due to the “2017-2025 Education Sector Plan Development Grant,” passed and approved in March of 2016 by the Global Partnership for Education. Totaling $428,794, the grant money will be used to create the strategy and analytical framework for the plan’s development.
Furthermore, because studies have shown that increased access to education can be a direct correlation of decreased child exploitation in developing countries, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has also been dedicated to helping towards the advancement of education in Benin. Some of the preventative measures implemented by UNICEF include, “establishing partnerships with community and religious leaders; providing furniture and school supplies; and upgrading schools through the provision of latrines and safe drinking water.”
UNICEF has also created a monopoly and trivia style board game called “Anaylse en Boite” that is specifically designed to teach children about their educational rights and how to better protect themselves from criminal exploitation when the opportunity for such exploitation arises.
– Lael Pierce
Photo: Flickr
With 40 percent of Turkmenistan’s population under the age of 15, educational training and youth services are an absolute must for the country. According to experts, there needs to be more research and improvement for education in Turkmenistan if the country wishes to continue gaining economic success. UNICEF believes, however, that the new government in Turkmenistan is beginning to make headway in education reform, which shows a promising future for Turkmenistan.
There is currently a primary net enrollment rate of 97 percent and secondary net enrollment rate of 85 percent in Turkmenistan. These numbers sit above average for the Central Asian and Central Eastern European regions. However, there is very little access to pre-primary education, especially for isolated populations. School quality is also questionable, but impossible to analyze due to the lack of research into education in Turkmenistan.
Additionally, current research shows that many of the school buildings are deteriorating due to the lack of financial investment in education over the past few decades. UNICEF states that “as school buildings crumble, classrooms become more crowded, intake rates drop and enrollments decline.” Overall, it is evident that the people of Turkmenistan are still impoverished, and there is room for educational improvement.
After President Berdimuhamedov was elected in 2007, the change in government has brought hope for education in Turkmenistan, because the new president is making the education system a priority. President Berdimuhamedov was formerly the minister of health and later became deputy prime minister, a role in which he was responsible for education, science and health. His experience and passion show his potential for positive impact on education in Turkmenistan.
President Berdimuhamedov has invited the U.N. to partner with Turkmenistan, where the government and nonprofits will focus on Turkmenistan’s social and education agenda. Additionally, the Ministry of Education has partnered with UNICEF in order to create curriculum guides for education in Turkmenistan. These guides bring new and innovative approaches to teaching, testing and administering.
In cooperation with UNICEF, Turkmenistan’s government is also undertaking a comprehensive education sector review. This is absolutely crucial since there are huge gaps in data and research for education in Turkmenistan. Once research is compiled, the government will be able to create effective reforms that will address issues within Turkmenistan’s education system.
It is hopeful that with the execution of education research and the implementation of improved education reforms, current issues regarding education in Turkmenistan will be addressed.
– Morgan Leahy
Photo: Flickr
Compulsory education in the Czech Republic begins with primary school at age 6, continuing through middle and then secondary education, until ages 15-16.
Six-year secondary schools are either general, preparing students for university education, or technical. Upper secondary education comprises four years (grades 10-13) and is not mandatory. Secondary vocational/technical education, which is more prevalent, provides an alternative to general upper secondary schools that prepare students for university study. In 2022, over 68% of students in upper secondary schools were in the vocational track, compared to the European Union average of 49%.
Beyond secondary schooling, there are tertiary professional schools, universities offering degree programs at all levels and non-university institutions typically providing only bachelor’s programs. Charles University in Prague (aka University of Prague), founded in 1348, was the first university in Central Europe, and one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation. Its 17 faculties include law and medicine.
SDG 4
The Czech Republic ranks 10th out of the 167 countries ranked on progress toward the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals.
On SDG 4, Quality Education, however, Czechia still faces significant challenges, with its score moderately improving but insufficient to meet the goal. Major challenges remain in mathematics, particularly the impact of socioeconomic status on performance. Trends are stagnating, and the share of underachievers in mathematics is actually worsening rather than improving.
Upper Secondary and Tertiary Education Attainment
The OECD reports (2024) that 80% of OECD countries prioritized upper secondary education (“high school” in some countries) for their young adults from 2016 to 2023. In the Czech Republic, the proportion of 24–34-year-olds without upper secondary education increased by 2% (to 8%) during that same period. However, this means that 92% of these young adults had successfully completed upper secondary school, which is better than the OECD average.
Attaining upper secondary education has a clear impact on employability. Only 60% of Czech youth without upper secondary education were employed, compared to 83% employment for those with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary qualifications. The difference is even more striking for young women: 44% of young women without upper secondary education were employed as compared to 75% of the young men.
At the tertiary education level, attainment for young women in this same age group is considerably greater than for men, 41%, as compared to 27%. Yet employment rates for women with tertiary qualifications are just 66%, compared to 94% for men.
Spending on Higher Education
For 2021, the World Bank reported the Czech Republic’s educational expenditures to be 10.9% of government expenditures and 4.8% of its GDP. This compares to 13.8% and 3.8%, respectively, for the world (2022).
In February 2023, the Czech Rectors Conference published its concern about a decline in funding for higher education institutions (HEIs), which “leads to a real brain drain from the HEIs environment in the Czech Republic.” The following September, the Council of Higher Education Institutions joined the Rectors Conference in a joint statement about the “unsatisfactory state of financing of public higher education in the Czech Republic,” pointing out that the Czech Republic was underfunded, especially in comparison to other OECD countries.
Funding became an even more visible issue two months later, which saw demonstrations and a strike by multiple Czech tertiary faculties, claiming systemic underfunding of higher education, low wages and poor working conditions.
For comparison, although the most recent available statistics are outdated, the World Bank reports that Czech tertiary expenditures as a % of total government expenditures on education were 13% (2016) as compared to 22% globally (2013).
Higher Education: The Future
A year later, in the fall of 2024, the Czech Government’s draft budget for 2025 approved increased support for universities in the amount of CZK 1 billion ($47.4 million).
In addition to increased funding, the Czech Republic is addressing higher education in its strategic planning for the future. This is enshrined in its Strategic Plan of the Ministry for Higher Education for the Period from 2021, developed within the framework of the priorities of the country’s Strategy for the Education Policy of the Czech Republic Up to 2030+.
– Staff Reports
Photo: Flickr
Recent trends show that although education in Uzbekistan has come a long way since the nation’s Soviet days, Uzbekistan needs to focus on improving its tertiary education to secure a successful economic and social future. Currently, tertiary enrollment in Uzbekistan is among the lowest in Central Asia at just 15 percent.
After Uzbekistan gained independence in 1991 from the Soviet Union, the Uzbekistani government shifted its focus to prioritizing educational reform. However, major economic and social challenges were placed on Uzbekistan as a result of past Soviet reforms, making it difficult for Uzbekistan to reform its education system. Although Uzbekistan has put effort into improving its economy and social system, education in Uzbekistan needs attention, especially postsecondary education.
When first comparing general education net enrollment rates in Uzbekistan to respective sub-regional and regional averages, the country is above average for primary and secondary school enrollment. However, learning outcomes and overall education quality is concerning. Despite recent reforms such as increasing teacher salaries and revising the Law on Education, school performance is subpar. UNICEF states that Uzbekistan has plans to improve school infrastructure, teacher working conditions, and access to quality basic education. The World Bank believes that the biggest concern for education in Uzbekistan is tertiary education.
Over the past 20 years, Uzbekistan’s economy has shifted from agriculture to the service sector. According to the World Bank, tertiary education in Uzbekistan has failed to adapt to this shift in the economy and the limited access to tertiary education is concerning for the future of Uzbekistan. Statistics show that of total public spending on education in Uzbekistan, only 5.2 percent is spent on higher education. Many firms report that it is difficult to find qualified specialists in Uzbekistan due to the lack of higher education. It is predicted that if Uzbekistan does not shift its focus to postsecondary education, then there will be long-term ramifications on the economy, ultimately creating more social challenges in Uzbekistan.
Reports state that “experts from the World Bank Group have worked with key stakeholders in the country to analyze the challenges and design policies, recommendations, and interventions capable of overcoming these challenges.”
A recent report titled “Uzbekistan: Modernizing Tertiary Education” explores the education system in Uzbekistan and its relations to the economy. Experts believe that by doing things such as expanding equitable access to higher education for all students and increasing spending on tertiary education, Uzbekistan will see more economic growth.
– Morgan Leahy
Photo: Flickr
Slovenia is a republic nestled near the Adriatic Sea and neighboring Italy, Hungary, Austria and Croatia. It has a population of two million and occupies an area of 7,287 square miles. The nation is known for its idyllic lakes, extensive caves, scenic mountains, iconic architecture and abundant history. Here are five facts about education in Slovenia.
Five Facts About Education in Slovenia
- Slovenian Perspectives: In 2011, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) launched the Better Life Initiative to understand wellbeing within its member countries. It is composed of a report and online index which allows participants to rank their wellbeing across 11 dimensions. The findings of the 2016 Better Life Initiative show that education is the fourth most important topic to Slovenians, behind safety, health and the environment. Results were obtained from a voluntary online sample of 192 nationals. Slovenia has the lowest educational deprivation level among OECD members and its percentage of youth (15-19-year-olds) who are not employed or engaged in education/training activities (3.5 percent) is far below the 7.1 percent OECD average. Additionally, Slovenian students are less likely to repeat grades than those in other countries.The main interests of Slovenian volunteers are education and culture — with 30 percent of formal volunteers (age 15-plus) involved in those sectors. Individuals with high levels of education tend to volunteer.
- Primary Education: Primary education in Slovenia is compulsory under the nation’s constitution and paid for through public funds. It lasts nine years (students start at the age of six) and the school year runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31. According to the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport (MoE), in the 2013/2014 school year, there were 780 public schools and four private institutions. The student-teacher ratio is reported to be 10.68:1 with a maximum class size of 28 pupils.
- Secondary Education: The upper secondary education system in Slovenia is centralized and students enroll at the age of 15. Students are able to focus on general education, vocational or technical programs of study, which may last from two to five years. The school year runs from Sept. 1 to June 24 and class size ranges from 17-30 students. According to the MoE, there were 132 secondary schools with 91,849 students during the 2007/2008 school year. The 2016 Better Life report states that 85.7 percent of Slovenia’s adult population has completed upper secondary school, which exceeds the OECD average (76.4 percent). In Western Slovenia, 90 percent of the labor force has completed upper secondary education compared to 86.2 percent in the eastern portion of the country.
- International Performance: According to the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Slovenia outperforms many nations including the United States. The nation also ranks higher than the OECD average on the exam. The 2015 Slovenian scores were 513, 505 and 510 for science, reading and math, respectively, compared to the OECD mean scores of 493, 493 and 490. Slovenian students are also less likely than their peers to skip school prior to the examination. This figure has dropped two percent since the 2012 PISA. In the United States, there was an increase of student truancy on the order of 16 percent since the 2012 PISA.
- Tertiary Education: Higher education in Slovenia includes private and public universities, technical colleges, art academies and professional colleges. Learning pathways fall under two general categories: short cycle (two years) vocational education and traditional higher education. According to one MoE report, there are 89 tertiary education institutions with 90,403 students. In 2004, there were 14,888 college graduates and 8,378 students were enrolled in postgraduate studies. With respect to universities, there are four institutions of higher learning: Ljubljana, Maribor, Primorska and Nova Gorica. The international Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI) also provides educational opportunities for students. The school year is based on a semester model and runs from October to September. The University of Ljubljana is known as one of the best global universities according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).
Overall, education in Slovenia continues to improve and students perform well across international benchmarks. However, the country’s higher education system — and vocational training frameworks — could be improved upon. This includes course selectivity, faculty workload rearrangements, research funding and departmental cooperation.
Moreover, the 2016 Slovenia Country Report outlines the diminished labor market returns of certain skills and baccalaureate programs based on intergenerational comparisons.
To address these concerns, and other emerging issues, the European Union has implemented the Europe 2020 strategy. Two key objectives of this initiative are to lower school dropout rates (the target is fewer than 10 percent) and to increase the proportion of higher education attainment amongst 30-34-year-olds by 40 percent.
Within the next few months, Europe 2020 updates are expected to be unveiled by Slovenian government on the Youth Employment Initiative, traineeship system, capacity building, long-term unemployment and other associated projects.
– JG Federman
Photo: Flickr
Education in modern Albania is the culmination of successful economic growth and political reform. However, lingering issues such as geographical disparities and low wages for teachers highlight the continuous need to push for systemic improvement. Seeking solutions to these challenges, various sectors of the Albanian government have partnered with international organizations including UNICEF. They are currently working to ensure higher quality and more accessible education in the near future.
Rural vs. Urban
Geographical inequalities continue to reinforce gaps in education levels and attempted reform. While urban areas benefit from a wealth of public services and industries, rural regions overwhelmingly lack basic infrastructure, employment opportunities and overall economic support that are needed to sustain schools and educational programs. In the peripheral rural areas of Albania, many schools do not have access to adequate equipment, furniture, technology, or facilities directly related to the quality of learning, which has consistently produced low enrollment rates and dwindling numbers of graduates. Only 47% of computers have an internet connection in rural Albania, which is a sharp contrast to 70% in North Macedonia and 94% on average in countries such as the United States and Japan.
The poor quality of roads and transportation typical of remote rural areas also discourage students from attending school, counteracting long-standing efforts to consolidate schools in the interest of providing better learning opportunities. However, many students in rural Albania are still dependent on these consolidated schools, called collective classes, to support their education. This has become an issue for their parents, many of whom cannot afford to take measures to transfer their children to other schools as collective classes become increasingly unavailable following the Ministry of Education’s campaign to close approximately 350 of them due to poor performance.
On average, students from urban areas attain two more years of schooling than those in rural areas and demonstrate higher performance in the state matura exam in all categories, including the Albanian language and mathematics.
Low Teacher Salaries
Teachers in Albania currently earn a lower average salary than other professions. In 2023, the average gross salary of a teacher was about 71,000 lek ($766), which is around 14% lower than the average salary in the public sector. This issue has worsened considerably, with the salary gap between teachers and the public sector average growing from 11% in 2022.
The lack of financial motivation has translated to lower quality education. Despite improvement in student-to-teacher ratios from 1990 to 2023, the academic achievements of Albanian students in the international PISA test of 2022 were recorded as having been the lowest in two decades. Low wages in education have resulted in hundreds of teacher vacancies and have obstructed recruitment efforts, leaving students to depend on frequent changes to curricula in preparing for state exams.
In recent years, teachers who have continued to work despite these conditions have begun to publicly express their discontent. On May 1, 2024, several employee unions engaged in peaceful protests outside the Ministry of Education building to call for several changes to the existing education system, including better teacher salaries, public education funding, and compensation covering transportation costs. Protests and strikes are expected to continue in 2024 without substantial reform by the state.
Seeking Solutions: UNICEF
Today, the Albanian government continues to attempt to reduce challenges to the current state of education, notably with the help of organizations such as UNICEF. On June 27, 2024, UNICEF partnered with the Ministry of Education, central and local government, and civil society to create a more equitable and accessible education system, focusing on preventing school drop-outs by targeting low-performing and at-risk children. By establishing relationships on a national and local scale, UNICEF has been able to bridge government representatives and communities together to better address education infrastructure decision-making. In 2023, a project between USAID, UNICEF and the Ministry of Education and Sports allowed students from various schools to meet directly with mayors from the Korça, Dibra, Roskovec, Elbasan and Gjirokastra municipalities to discuss solutions to pressing school infrastructure issues and educational needs. These conversations have been crucial in pushing for ongoing cooperation with stakeholders to improve the lack of necessary tools and resources for students across the nation.
Conclusion
Although Albania has made strides in education reform, disparities still persist among rural communities and teachers.
However, with the continued help of international institutions such as UNICEF, education in Albania has great potential to undergo impactful positive change, which will ultimately strengthen Albania’s economy and social welfare.
– Morgan Leahy, Moon Jung Kim
Photo: Flickr
Updated: July 10, 2024
Many facets of life in North Korea are kept secret from the world. The business conducted in the nation is very classified, but what about its school systems? How are the youth of North Korea educated?
Education in North Korea is based on socialistic ideals and an efficiency-oriented school system with emphasis on Korean language, mathematics, literature, and the Kims.
Features of the system include 11 free years of education for children from the age of five through 15, no private schools and tight administrative control over the schools by the state administrative system.
Students are given a political education in the “Juche Doctrine” which outlines the Kim Il-sung ideology and revolutionary strategies, illustrating the importance and necessity of collectivistic activities in their nation. Putting these theories into practice are the basis of the North Korean school system.
Not to mention the leader of the communist nation, Kim Jong-un, forces his people to understand the importance of his family. According to a study by the Korea Institute for Curriculum Evaluation, students learn more about the Kims and their history than any other subject.
Each North Korean student is required to learn about the lives of Kim, his late father Kim Jong-il, his grandfather Kim Il-sung and grandmother Kim Jong-suk for at least 684 hours during the curriculum. Jong-il and Il-sung lessons are roughly 171 hours each, while Jung-suk lessons are only 34 hours.
Why is the combination of Kim’s history and the three bases used? Simple — to help North Korea maintain its oppressive power.
Students as young as four years old are taught about the greatness of the communist ideology and their leaders, past and present, shaping their minds to believe in the North Korean way. There is an emphasis on math in order to help create future technicians, scientists and workers that the government can rely on to help achieve the nation’s goals.
Children are supposed to learn phrases like “Long live Great Leader Generalissimo Kim Il-sung” before “Hello, how are you.”
Uniformity is the most common characteristic among schools in North Korea, comparable to the government. Rather than living up to needs of the youth, education in North Korea more closely relates to the political system. Diversity and creativity in North Korean schools are rarely nurtured.
Overall, instead of producing creative and unique individuals, education in North Korea is based on producing more followers and worshippers of the North Korean regime.
– Mary Waller
Photo: Flickr
