Joan Vilalta Flo -

(Dutch) Edu Challenges in Cabo Verde

Onderwijsuitdagingen in Kaapverdië: Problemen en Verbeterpunten in een Ontwikkelend Systeem.

Geschreven door Joan Vilalta Flo, Vertaald door Shoshanah Gerstenbluth

Kaapverdië is een land dat zich 500 kilometer van de kust van Senegal in Afrika bevindt. Het is een archipel van tien eilanden, waarvan de meeste bewoond zijn, met de meeste inwoners geconcentreerd in de hoofdstad Praia. De officiële taal is Portugees, aangezien het een voormalige Portugese kolonie is die in 1975 onafhankelijk werd. Veel inwoners spreken Kaapverdisch Creools als hun hoofdtaal. Het land bevindt zich in een uitdagende geografische omgeving: het versnipperde gebied maakt de levering van diensten ingewikkeld, het is een gebied dat gevoelig is voor droogte en er zijn weinig natuurlijke hulpbronnen. Toch wordt Kaapverdië wereldwijd geprezen om zijn opvallende politieke stabiliteit en armoedebestrijding, die ook hebben bijgedragen aan verbeteringen in de dienstverlening, waaronder onderwijs.

Kinderen staan in de rij op school in Kaapverdië: Foto door Duncan CV in Wikimedia Commons.

De meest recente verbeteringen in het Kaapverdische onderwijs zijn dankbaar aan het Strategisch Onderwijsplan 2017-2021, dat gericht is op het behalen van de 4e Duurzame Ontwikkelingsdoelstelling voor Kwaliteitsonderwijs, met een focus op de volgende pijlers:(i) universele toegang tot voorschools onderwijs voor alle kinderen van 4 tot 5 jaar, inclusief kinderen met speciale behoeften; (ii) betere aansluiting van voorschoolse educatie op het basisonderwijs, zodat alle leerlingen twee jaar voorschools onderwijs volgen; en (iii) gelijke toegang tot gratis, universeel onderwijs tot en met klas 8 door middel van sociale actieplannen voor scholen, met speciale aandacht voor prioriteitsgroepen en speciaal onderwijs voor iedereen.i

Kaapverdië heeft geleidelijk de toegang tot het basis- en middelbaar onderwijs verbeterd. Het schooldeelnamepercentage was in 2021 gestegen tot 92,4%, en het alfabetiseringspercentage bereikte 88,5% in 2019, waarbij de meerderheid van de bevolking ouder dan 15 jaar kan lezen en schrijven.ii De overheidsuitgaven voor onderwijs stegen van 23,3% van het totale budget in 2020 naar 24,09% in 2021.iii Wat betreft de infrastructuur heeft 97,6% van de basis- en middelbare scholen in Kaapverdië toegang tot water, en 89% is aangesloten op het openbare elektriciteitsnet. Het Strategisch Onderwijsplan 2017-2021 maakte het mogelijk om verbeterprogramma’s, zoals het programma ‘Onderwijs van Uitmuntendheid’, te implementeren, waarvoor in 2020 ongeveer 93,2 miljoen dollar werd toegewezen, terwijl er 6,4 miljoen dollar werd toegekend aan studiebeurzen. iv

De Covid-19-pandemie veroorzaakte aanzienlijke problemen voor de op toerisme gerichte economie van Kaapverdië. Het land wist echter snel en effectief de crisis te beheersen en vaccinatie aan het grootste deel van de bevolking aan te bieden.v Op het gebied van onderwijs werden ook snelle maatregelen genomen. In 2020 ontving Kaapverdië een subsidie van $750.000 van het Global Partnership in Education (GPE), wat aanzienlijk heeft bijgedragen aan de training van leerkrachten voor afstandsonderwijs, de levering van lesmateriaal, tv-toegang voor afgelegen gebieden en voldoende sanitaire voorzieningen. vi Na de sluitinČ van scholen voerde het Ministerie van Onderwijs het proČranna “Leren en Studeren Thuis” in, dat lesleverinČ via radio, televisie en het Čebruik van tablets verbeterde, gezien het feit dat 30% tot 40% van de gezinnen geen toegang had tot dergelijke technologie. Het programma maakte ook de uitbreiding van het digitale tv-dekkingsgebied en verbeterde signaalkwaliteit mogelijk.vii Ondanks al deze inspanningen moet worden opgemerkt dat er momenteel geen bewijs is van een uitgebreide strategie om zich aan te passen aan de post-Covid19-context in Kaapverdië.

Een belangrijke ontwikkeling in het Kaapverdische onderwijs is de recente ratificatie van het Verdrag tegen Discriminatie in het Onderwijs door Kaapverdië op 5 oktober 2022, dat op 5 januari 2023 in werking is getreden. Hoewel de effectieve toepassing ervan nog moet blijken, heeft deze stap alleen al verschillende aanbevelingen uit de laatste sessie van de Universele Periodieke Evaluatie van de Verenigde Naties volledig geïmplementeerd.viii

Ondanks de eerdergenoemde ontwikkelingen in de Kaapverdische onderwijssector, zijn er nog steeds situaties van ongelijkheid, discriminatie, een tekort aan onderwijskundige infrastructuur en kwaliteitsonderwijs gemeld. Dit zijn de uitdagingen die de eilandengroep in de komende jaren zal moeten aangaan en oplossen. De volgende secties geven een overzicht van de belangrijkste aandachtsgebieden.

Ongelijkheden in het Onderwijs

Kaapverdië staat momenteel voor een uitdaging wat betreft de verborgen kosten van onderwijs. Hoewel het basisonderwijs en het middelbaar onderwijs (tot en met de 8e klas) gratis en verplicht is,ix zijn er verschillende bijkomende kosten, zoals vervoer, maaltijden en bepaald schoolmateriaal, die zwaar wegen voor gezinnen met een laag inkomen.x Dit vormt een ongelijkheid in de toegang tot kwalitatief onderwijs voor arme gezinnen. Bovendien blijft het voortgezet onderwijs en hoger onderwijs (universitair) onderhevig aan kosten (hoewel de autoriteiten de intentie hebben uitgesproken om onderwijs van de 9e tot de 12e klas gratis te maken)xi, wat ongelijkheid creëert op basis van het economische niveau van elk gezin. Deze situatie hangt ook samen met de bestaande ongelijkheid tussen gezinnen die op het platteland wonen en gezinnen in stedelijke gebieden,xii waarbij de eerste groep minder toegang heeft vanwege een algemeen lager economisch vermogen, gebrek aan technologie en internetverbinding vanwege de hoge kosten (wat tijdens Covid-19 extra relevant was).xiii

Wat betreft het hoger onderwijs, alhoewel er grote inspanningen zijn geleverd om het breed beschikbaar te maken, moet er toch worden opgemerkt dat het scholingspercentage voor de periode 2019-2020 op 23,5% ligt; 37 punten lager dan dat van het voortgezet onderwijs en hierdoor een obstakel in de toegang wijst.xiv Een van de moeilijkheden op dit gebied is de geografische ligging van Kaapverdië; als eilandengroep is de missie om toegankelijk hoger onderwijs in alle gebieden aan te bieden zeer complex en tot nu toe niet bereikt. Er zijn slechts instellingen voor hoger onderwijs op de eilanden Santiago en São Vicente.xv Dit, samen met het feit dat hoger onderwijs niet gratis is, zorgt voor weinig stimulans voor studenten die in afgelegen gebieden wonen en een laag inkomen hebben om hoger onderwijs te volgen. xvi

Er is ook ongelijkheid op het gebied van taal. Hoewel voor het grootste deel van de Kaapverdische bevolking Kaapverdisch Creools de eerste taal is, is Portugees nog steeds de enige officiële taal en ook de onderwijstaal. Dit veroorzaakt duidelijke ongelijkheden voor studenten die weinig blootstelling aan het Portugees hebben, met name degenen die in landelijke gebieden en afgelegen locaties wonen en vaak ook uit gezinnen met een laag inkomen komen. Deze studenten hebben een leerachterstand en ervaren meer moeilijkheden bij het leren. Hoewel naar verluidt enkele tweetalige onderwijsprogramma’s zijn gelanceerd, is de implementatie van dergelijke initiatieven onvoldoende, zwak en ontbreekt het aan politieke en economische steun. Deze ongelijkheid weerspiegelt ook een kloof tussen de formele onderwijssystemen en de samenleving; beleidsmaatregelen die gericht zijn op het overbruggen van deze kloof zullen onvermijdelijk ook bijdragen aan identiteitsvorming en sociale cohesie.xvii

Tot slot, ondanks de politieke wil zoals vermeld in het Strategisch Onderwijsplan 2017- 2021 om de toegang en kwaliteit van onderwijs voor studenten met een handicap te verbeteren (17,5% van de bevolking heeft minstens één handicap),xviii en de toegenomen capaciteitsontwikkeling van personeel met hulp van UNICEF,xix is gerapporteerd dat de praktische uitvoering van inclusieve strategieën voor dergelijke studenten tekortschiet. Veel gehandicapte mensen gaan niet naar school en ontvangen niet de noodzakelijke voorzieningen om dat wel te kunnen doen. De infrastructuur en onderwijstechnologieën zijn voor het grootste deel niet aangepast aan hun behoeften.xx

Gender en Seksualiteit in het Onderwijs

Wat betreft gendergelijkheid zijn er goede resultaten behaald in het voor- en basisonderwijs: de gelijkheidsindex scoorde respectievelijk 0,98 en 0,93, in beide gevallen met een iets hogere mannelijke vertegenwoordiging. De uitdaging blijft echter bestaan op het gebied van voortgezet en hoger onderwijs, waar de vertegenwoordiging van vrouwen aanzienlijk en toenemend hoger is; de gelijkheidsindex scoort 1,2 voor het voortgezet onderwijs en 1,5 voor het hoger onderwijs. Stimulansen om mannen in deze sectoren aan te trekken zijn noodzakelijk om gelijkheid te waarborgen.xxi En hoewel er een aanzienlijk hogere aanwezigheid van vrouwen is in het voortgezet en hoger onderwijs, is het alfabetiseringspercentage voor mannen momenteel bijna 10% hoger dan dat van vrouwen, wat eveneens een ongelijkheid in toegang voor vrouwen aantoont.xxii

Ondanks aanzienlijke verbeteringen door de introductie van een gendermodule in het curriculum van het voortgezet onderwijs, bevatten de lesprogramma’s nog steeds discriminerende stereotypen ten opzichte van vrouwen. Ook is dit zichtbaar in het feit dat vrouwen weinig vertegenwoordigd zijn in de studiegebieden die typisch door mannen worden gedomineerd, zoals in de technologische sector.xxiii Daarnaast, schiet het onderwijs vaak over seksualiteit tekort, ook al zijn genderkwesties toch steeds meer aanwezig in de curricula. De overheid erkent het belang ervan voor de ontwikkeling en veiligheid van studenten, en met hulp van het UNFPA (Bevolkingsfonds van de Verenigde Naties) is er een richtlijn ontwikkeld voor seksuele voorlichting op scholen, maar door een beperkte politieke bereidheid en de gevoeligheid van het onderwerp hebben zeer weinig studenten van dit onderwijs geprofiteerd. Een uitgebreide module over seksuele voorlichting moet nog effectief worden ingevoerd.xxiv

Opmerkelijk is dat er geen gegevens beschikbaar zijn over minderheden op basis van seksuele geaardheid of genderidentiteit in Kaapverdië; evenmin zijn er beschermingsmechanismen voor dergelijke minderheden of onderwijs over dit onderwerp te vinden. Ondanks dat het een potentieel gevoelig onderwerp is dat momenteel onzichtbaar is binnen de sector, zouden vooruitgangen op dit gebied positief kunnen zijn om te waarborgen dat alle studenten vrij zijn en gelijke behandeling genieten door medestudenten en personeel.

Gebreken in het onderwijs

Als allereerste moeten er verbeteringen plaatsvinden, niet alleen in het aanbod van hoger onderwijs, maar ook in de kwaliteit ervan. Hoger onderwijs in Kaapverdië is een relatief nieuwe sector, die zich in de afgelopen 20 jaar heeft ontwikkeld. Aangezien deze sector nog in de kinderschoenen staat, ontbreekt het aan kwaliteit: hoewel het onlangs opgerichte Agentschap voor Regulering van het Hoger Onderwijs (Agência Reguladora do Ensino Superior − ARES) evaluaties en controles begint uit te voeren om de prestaties te verbeteren,xxv moet de sector nog een uitgebreid systeem van kwaliteitsbeoordeling opbouwen. Daarnaast zijn er mechanismen nodig om de inhoud van het hoger onderwijs beter af te stemmen op nationale doelen en behoeften, en moet de toegang tot leermateriaal, technologieën en connectiviteit worden gewaarborgd.xxvi

Ten tweede, hoewel ongeveer 76% van de kinderen momenteel toegang heeft tot kleuteronderwijs, zijn er regionale verschillen met gebieden waar dit percentage aanzienlijk lager ligt. Vroegschoolse educatie en kleuteronderwijs waren formeel een van de speerpunten van het Strategisch Onderwijsplan 2017-2021, maar in de praktijk is dit grotendeels verwaarloosd. Er ontbreken nog steeds adequate wettelijke mechanismen om universele, verplichte en gratis toegang tot kleuteronderwijs te waarborgen; het kleuteronderwijsbudget bedraagt slechts ongeveer 0,3% van de staatsbegroting, en er is een tekort aan professioneel gekwalificeerde kleuterleerkrachten (slechts 30% heeft de vereiste kwalificaties).xxvii Daarnaast ontbreekt het kleuterscholen opvallend aan toegang tot technologie en aan leerkrachttraining in ICT.xxviii

Ten derde is een van de grootste problemen in de onderwijssector in Kaapverdië de onderwijskwaliteit, wat tot uiting komt in lage prestaties in het basisonderwijs. Op het gebied van taalvaardigheid bleek dat 6 op de 10 kinderen grote moeite hadden met, of niet in staat waren om de basisregels van taalgebruik te interpreteren.xxix Wat wiskunde betreft, was slechts gemiddeld 2,85% van de kinderen in staat om succesvol om te gaan met de belangrijkste studieonderwerpen.xxx Bovendien heeft Kaapverdië tot op heden nog geen allesomvattend nationaal systeem om leerresultaten op enig onderwijsniveau te meten.xxxi

Wat betreft technologische toegang, moet worden opgemerkt dat, hoewel de meeste scholen zijn aangesloten op het openbare elektriciteitsnet, en het Strategisch Onderwijsplan 2017-2021 heeft geleid tot de invoering van meer technologische hulpmiddelen en een sterker curriculum voor ICT-vaardigheden, slechts 17% van de scholen toegang tot internet heeft. Dit is opmerkelijk omdat Kaapverdië een van de hoogste internettoegangscijfers in Afrika heeft. xxxiiDe kosten van internet vormen het probleem, aangezien deze tot de hoogste ter wereld behoren; de prijs is nog steeds te hoog voor velen, vooral voor mensen met een lager inkomen, wat een situatie van ongelijkheid veroorzaakt.xxxiii

Conclusies en aanbevelingen

Concluderend zullen enkele aanbevelingen worden gedaan die de belangrijkste uitdagingen van het onderwijssysteem in Kaapverdië benadrukken, namens de organisatie Broken Chalk.

Wat betreft de verborgen kosten van onderwijs, zou de overheid moeten proberen deze te verlagen door gratis (of goedkope) toegang tot vervoer, materialen en voedingsdiensten te bieden, met speciale aandacht voor gezinnen met een laag inkomen en studenten die in afgelegen plattelandsgebieden wonen, waar de economische kosten van onderwijs kunnen toenemen.

Wat betreft de onderwijscategorie en universele toegang, zou de overheid in overeenstemming moeten handelen met hun eigen geuite intenties en blijven werken aan de uitbreiding van gratis, toegankelijke en verplichte educatie naar de kleuterjaren en hoger onderwijs, met speciale aandacht voor arme gezinnen. Specifiek voor het hoger onderwijs zou het positief kunnen zijn om stimuleringscampagnes te ontwikkelen om het schoolverlatingspercentage te verhogen, met name voor jongens; samen met het uitbreiden van de aanwezigheid van hoger onderwijsinstellingen naar alle gebieden of het beter waarborgen van betaalbare toegang tot universiteiten vanuit afgelegen plaatsen.

Het zou wenselijk zijn om uitgebreide nationale programma’s te implementeren om de ongelijkheid rond taal te overwinnen. De Kaapverdische taal zou aanzienlijk meer aanwezig moeten zijn in alle onderwijsmethoden; bijzondere aandacht zou moeten uitgaan naar studenten met een lagere blootstelling aan het Portugees om ervoor te zorgen dat zij niet achterblijven, en de initiatieven voor tweetalige educatie zouden versterkt moeten worden door multidisciplinaire teams die lokale gemeenschapsleden omvatten die de specifieke taaleisen van het gebied begrijpen.

Om een grotere inclusie te bevorderen, zouden de overheid en onderwijsinstellingen moeten overwegen om de onderwijsinfrastructuur, curricula en personeel gevoelig en aansluitbaar te maken voor studenten met een handicap of speciale behoeften. Toegankelijke gebouwen, inclusief onderwijsmateriaal en een uitgebreid trainingsprogramma voor alle docenten gericht op handicap, zouden moeten worden aangeboden om de toegang en gelijkheid van deze studenten te waarborgen.

Ook wat betreft inclusiviteit en gelijkheid, zouden onderwijsprogramma’s en -beleid moeten blijven zorgen voor de toegang van meisjes en vrouwen tot onderwijs op alle niveaus om grotere gelijkheid in geletterdheidspercentages te bereiken, om te blijven werken aan de eliminatie van genderstereotypen en om de aanwezigheid van vrouwen in door mannen gedomineerde studierichtingen te stimuleren. Daarnaast zou het positief kunnen zijn om een uitgebreid educatief programma op middelbare scholen met betrekking tot seksualiteit te implementeren om de veiligheid en gezondheid van studenten te waarborgen en om diversiteit-schadelijke stereotypen op basis van seksuele geaardheid te elimineren.

Een effectieve manier om de kwaliteit van het onderwijs te verbeteren, zou zijn om een uitgebreid nationaal systeem van evaluatie en beoordeling van de onderwijskwaliteit te implementeren om een adequate inhoudsvoorziening op alle onderwijsniveaus te waarborgen en om tekortkomingen in de onderwijskwaliteit te identificeren, met name op het gebied van taal en wiskunde in het basisonderwijs. Samen met een goede evaluatie en analyse van de prestaties van studenten kan dit ineffectieve onderwijsmethoden die leiden tot lage prestaties overwinnen, kan de innovatie in het onderwijs bevorderen en curricula beter afstemmen op de behoeften en doelen van de Kaapverdische samenleving, waardoor studenten beter worden voorbereid op de arbeidsmarkt. Evenzo zouden de overheid en onderwijsinstellingen moeten blijven waarborgen dat alle docenten gekwalificeerd zijn om adequaat onderwijs te bieden op het niveau waarvoor zij zijn aangesteld. Dit zou vooral moeten gelden voor de kleuteronderwijsniveaus, waar de meeste leerkrachten niet de juiste kwalificatie hebben, wat de ontwikkeling van studenten kan belemmeren.

Tot slot, gezien recente gebeurtenissen en toekomstige mondiale ontwikkelingen, is het essentieel om de toegang tot technologische hulpmiddelen voor onderwijsdoeleinden, zowel voor scholen als gezinnen, te vergroten, evenals om internettoegang te vergemakkelijken. Dit lijkt weer bijzonder belangrijk, gezien de introductie van technologieën op de wereldwijde arbeidsmarkt, en het is ook belangrijk om flexibele en aanpasbare onderwijsmodi te bieden, vooral in een land waar de geografische toegankelijkheid tot onderwijs gecompliceerd kan zijn.

Verwijzingen

i Global Partnership for Education. (n.d.). Cabo Verde. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/cabo-verde

ii National Directorate of Planning. (June 2021). Cabo Verde Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/282392021_VNR_Report_Cabo_Verde.pdf

iii Global Partnership for Education. (2022). Cabo Verde: Results framework (2022-2026). Retrieved from: https://www.globalpartnership.org/node/document/download?file=document/file/2022-12-GPE-results-framework-cabo-verde.pdf

iv National Directorate of Planning. (June 2021). Cabo Verde Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/282392021_VNR_Report_Cabo_Verde.pdf

v World Bank. (2022, March 15). Fighting the pandemic down to the last mile: Lessons from Cabo Verde. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/immersive-story/2022/03/15/fighting-pandemic-down-to-last-mile-lessons-from-cabo-verde

vi Global Partnership for Education. (n.d.). Cabo Verde. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/cabo-verde

vii Lusophone covid Lusophone Network. (2021). Comparative study: The COVID-19 pandemic and the right to education in Portuguese-speaking countries. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.right-to-education.org/sites/right-to-education.org/files/resource-attachments/Lusophone%20Network_Comparative%20Study_The%20COVID-19%20Pandemy%20and%20the%20right%20to%20education%20in%20Portguese%20speaking%20countries_August2021_EN.pdf

viii UNESCO. (2022, October 7). Cabo Verde ratifies 1960 Convention against Discrimination in Education. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/cabo-verde-ratifies-1960-convention-against-discrimination-education

ix National Directorate of Planning. (June 2021). Cabo Verde Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/282392021_VNR_Report_Cabo_Verde.pdf

x Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xi National Directorate of Planning. (June 2021). Cabo Verde Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/282392021_VNR_Report_Cabo_Verde.pdf

xii Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xiii Patrício, M. R., & Moreno, C. (2021). Digital technologies in preschool education: a study with Cape Verdean educators. In Proceedings of the 14th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI2021) (pp. 8403-8407). IATED. ; Cabo Verde National Commission for UNESCO. (2022). National Review of the Implementation of SDG 4. Retrieved from: https://transformingeducationsummit.sdg4education2030.org/system/files/2022-09/CaboVerde-NC%20report%20.pdf

xiv National Directorate of Planning. (June 2021). Cabo Verde Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/282392021_VNR_Report_Cabo_Verde.pdf

xv Ferreira, E. S., & Loureiro, S. M. C. (2021). Challenges of a small insular developing state: Cape Verde. Revista de Estudios e Investigación en Psicología y Educación, (1), 125-134.

xvi Resende-Santos, J. (2021). Education for development in Africa: Rethinking higher education in Cabo Verde. Journal of International and Comparative Education, 10(1), 22-38. doi: 10.14425/jice.2021.10.1.22

xvii Bermingham, N., DePalma, R., & Oca, L. (2022). The “Access Paradox” in Bilingual Education in Cabo Verde. Modern Languages Open, 1 ; Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xviii National Directorate of Planning. (June 2021). Cabo Verde Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/282392021_VNR_Report_Cabo_Verde.pdf

xix UNICEF Cabo Verde. (2022). Country Office Annual Report 2022. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/media/136711/file/Cabo-Verde-2022-COAR.pdf

xx Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xxi National Directorate of Planning. (June 2021). Cabo Verde Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/282392021_VNR_Report_Cabo_Verde.pdf

xxii Ibid

xxiii Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xxiv UNICEF. (2021). Joint independent common country programme evaluation: The Republic of Cabo Verde. UNICEF Evaluation Office. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/evaluation/joint-independent-common-country-programme-evaluation-republic-cabo-verde

xxv University World News. (2022, November 27). Cabo Verde introduces new higher education strategy. Retrieved from: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20221127193233449

xxvi Resende-Santos, J. (2021). Education for development in Africa: Rethinking higher education in Cabo Verde. Journal of International and Comparative Education, 10(1), 22-38. doi: 10.14425/jice.2021.10.1.22

xxvii Global Partnership for Education. (2022). Cabo Verde: Results framework (2022-2026). Retrieved from: https://www.globalpartnership.org/node/document/download?file=document/file/2022-12-GPE-results-framework-cabo-verde.pdf ; Cabo Verde National Commission for UNESCO. (2022). National Review of the Implementation of SDG 4. Retrieved from: https://transformingeducationsummit.sdg4education2030.org/system/files/2022-09/CaboVerde-NC%20report%20.pdf ; UNICEF Cabo Verde. (2022). Country Office Annual Report 2022. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/media/136711/file/Cabo-Verde-2022-COAR.pdf

xxviii Patrício, M. R., & Moreno, C. (2021). Digital technologies in preschool education: a study with Cape Verdean educators. In Proceedings of the 14th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI2021) (pp. 8403-8407). IATED.

xxix National Directorate of Planning. (June 2021). Cabo Verde Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/282392021_VNR_Report_Cabo_Verde.pdf

xxx UNICEF. (2021). Joint independent common country programme evaluation: The Republic of Cabo Verde. UNICEF Evaluation Office. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/evaluation/joint-independent-common-country-programme-evaluation-republic-cabo-verde

xxxi Resende-Santos, J. (2021). Education for development in Africa: Rethinking higher education in Cabo Verde. Journal of International and Comparative Education, 10(1), 22-38. doi: 10.14425/jice.2021.10.1.22 ; Global Partnership for Education. (n.d.). Cabo Verde. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/cabo-verde

xxxii National Directorate of Planning. (June 2021). Cabo Verde Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/282392021_VNR_Report_Cabo_Verde.pdf ; Cabo Verde National Commission for UNESCO. (2022). National Review of the Implementation of SDG 4. Retrieved from: https://transformingeducationsummit.sdg4education2030.org/system/files/2022-09/CaboVerde-NC%20report%20.pdf

xxxiii Lusophone Network. (2021). Comparative study: The COVID-19 pandemic and the right to education in Portuguese-speaking countries. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.right-to-education.org/sites/right-to-education.org/files/resource-attachments/Lusophone%20Network_Comparative%20Study_The%20COVID-19%20Pandemy%20and%20the%20right%20to%20education%20in%20Portguese%20speaking%20countries_August2021_EN.pdf

Desafios da Educação em Cabo Verde: Navegando os Problemas de um Sistema Educacional em Desenvolvimento

Escrito por Joan Vilalta Flo, traduzido por Juliana Campos.

Cabo Verde é um país localizado a 500 quilômetros da costa do Senegal, na África. Trata-se de um arquipélago de dez ilhas, a maioria das quais é habitada, com a maior parte da população concentrada na capital, Praia. Sua língua oficial é o Português, herança da colonização pelos portugueses. Entretanto, embora Cabo Verde tenha obtido sua independência em 1975, muitos habitantes falam o crioulo cabo-verdiano como língua principal. O país está situado em um cenário geográfico desafiador: seu território fragmentado torna a prestação de serviços básicos complicada, é uma área propensa à seca e há poucos recursos naturais. No entanto, Cabo Verde tem sido elogiado mundialmente por sua notável estabilidade política e estratégias de redução da pobreza, o que também possibilitou melhorias na prestação de serviços, incluindo a educação.

Crianças fazem fila em escola Cabo-verdiana. Foto por: Duncan CV via Wikimedia Commons.

As mais recentes melhorias na educação cabo-verdiana foram alcançadas graças ao Plano Estratégico da Educação 2017-2021, que visa atingir o 4º Objetivo de Desenvolvimento Sustentável da ONU (Educação de Qualidade) e concentra-se nos seguintes pilares: (i) acesso universal à educação pré-primária (pré-escola) para todas as crianças com idades entre 4 e 5 anos, incluindo aquelas com necessidades especiais; (ii) melhor articulação da educação pré-primária com a educação básica, de modo que todos os alunos recebam dois anos de educação pré-primária; e (iii) acesso igualitário à educação universal gratuita até o 8º ano por meio da implementação de planos de ação social para escolas, visando grupos prioritários e fornecendo educação especial para todos.ⁱ

Assim, Cabo Verde tem progressivamente melhorado o acesso à educação primária e secundária. A taxa de escolarização atingiu 92,4% em 2021, e a taxa de alfabetização alcançou 88,5% em 2019, com a maioria dos habitantes acima dos 15 anos alfabetizados.ⁱⁱ Os gastos do governo com educação passaram de 23,3% do orçamento total em 2020 para 24,09% em 2021.ⁱⁱⁱ Em termos de infraestrutura, 97,6% das escolas primárias e secundárias em Cabo Verde têm acesso à água, e 89% estão conectadas à rede elétrica pública. O Plano Estratégico da Educação 2017-2021 permitiu a implementação de programas de aprimoramento, como o programa Educação de Excelência, para o qual foram alocados cerca de 93,2 milhões de dólares americanos em 2020; enquanto 6,4 milhões de dólares foram destinados a bolsas de estudo..^iv

A pandemia de Covid-19 trouxe muitas dificuldades para a economia centrada no turismo de Cabo Verde. No entanto, o país foi bastante ágil e eficaz na gestão da crise e na vacinação da maioria da população.^v Na área da educação, o país também agiu prontamente. Em 2020, Cabo Verde recebeu um subsídio de 750.000 dólares do GPE (Parceria Global para a Educação), o que contribuiu substancialmente para a formação de professores em ensino à distância, fornecimento de material didático, acesso à televisão em áreas remotas e instalações sanitárias adequadas.^vi Após o fechamento das escolas, o Ministério da Educação implementou o programa “Aprender e Estudar em Casa”, com o objetivo de possibilitar aulas dadas através do rádio, da televisão e de tablets, tendo em vista que entre 30% a 40% das famílias ainda não tinham acesso a essas tecnologias. O programa também possibilitou a ampliação da área de cobertura da televisão digital e melhorou a qualidade do sinal.^vii Apesar de tudo isso, é importante observar que, atualmente, não há evidências da existência de uma estratégia abrangente de adaptação ao contexto pós-Covid-19 em Cabo Verde.

Vale mencionar um recente avanço na educação cabo-verdiana: a ratificação da Convenção Contra a Discriminação na Educação, determinada em 5 de outubro de 2022 e oficialmente implementada em 5 de janeiro de 2023. Embora os efeitos da aplicação da Convenção ainda estejam por ser vistos, a aprovação do documento alinha o país às recomendações feitas na última sessão da Revisão Periódica Universal (RPU) das Nações Unidas.^viii

Entretanto, apesar dos avanços mencionados, a desigualdade, a discriminação nas escolas, a falta de infraestrutura e de qualidade de ensino continuam visíveis em Cabo Verde. Esses são alguns dos problemas que o arquipélago precisará enfrentar e resolver nos próximos anos. As seções a seguir tratam das principais áreas a serem alvo de intervenção.

Desigualdades na Educação

Cabo Verde enfrenta um grande desafio relacionado aos custos “ocultos” da educação, pois, embora o Ensino Fundamental (até o 8º ano) seja gratuito e obrigatório,^ix há uma série de custos adicionais como transporte, refeições e materiais escolares, custos que são significativos para famílias de baixa renda.^x Este fator é um dos causadores da desigualdade no acesso à educação de qualidade para famílias pobres. Além disso, o Ensino Médio e o Ensino Superior ainda requerem mensalidades (embora autoridades tenham manifestado a intenção de tornar gratuito Ensino Médio, do 9º ao 12º ano),^xi perpetuando a desigualdade educacional com base no nível econômico de cada família. Adiciona-se a isso a desigualdade entre famílias que vivem em áreas rurais e as que vivem em espaços urbanos.^xii As famílias de áreas rurais têm menos acesso à educação devido ao poder econômico geralmente mais baixo e à falta de acesso às tecnologias e à internet, dado o seu alto custo (especialmente relevante durante a pandemia de Covid-19)..^xiii

Quanto ao Ensino Superior, embora tenham sido feitos esforços para um fornecimento mais amplo, a taxa de escolarização entre 2019-2020 foi de 23,5%, 37 pontos percentuais abaixo dos anos finais do Ensino Fundamental, indicando uma barreira no acesso ao Ensino Superior.^xiv Um dos desafios que contribuem para essa realidade é o cenário geográfico de Cabo Verde; tratando-se de um arquipélago, proporcionar um Ensino Superior acessível a todas as áreas é uma tarefa extremamente complexa. Apenas as ilhas de Santiago e São Vicente ^xv possuem instituições de Ensino Superior. A dificuldade de acesso à essas instituições, juntamente ao fato de o Ensino Superior não ser gratuito, gera pouco incentivo para estudantes que vivem em áreas remotas e têm menor poder econômico..^xvi

Há também desigualdade linguística. Enquanto para a maioria população cabo-verdiana a primeira língua é o Crioulo Cabo-verdiano (CCV), o Português ainda é a única língua oficial e a língua de ensino, fato que afeta os estudantes que têm exposição limitada a essa língua, especialmente aqueles que vivem em áreas rurais e locais remotos, geralmente membros de famílias de baixa renda. Esses alunos enfrentam maiores dificuldades e uma desvantagem de aprendizado. Embora alguns programas de educação bilíngue tenham sido redigidos, a implementação dessas iniciativas é insuficiente, frágil e carece de respaldo político e econômico. Essa desigualdade também representa uma desconexão entre os sistemas formais de educação e a sociedade; políticas direcionadas para preencher essa lacuna inevitavelmente contribuirão também para a construção de identidade e coesão social.^xvii

Finalmente, apesar dos objetivos expressos no Plano Estratégico de Educação 2017-2021, como melhorar o acesso e a qualidade da educação para estudantes com deficiência (17,5% da população possui pelo menos um tipo de deficiência),^xviii e ampliar a capacitação de profissionais com o auxílio da UNICEF, ^xix a implementação prática de estratégias inclusivas para esses estudantes tem sido insatisfatória. Muitas pessoas com deficiência não têm acesso à educação, não recebem os benefícios necessários para frequentar a escola e as infraestruturas e tecnologias educacionais, em grande parte, não são adaptadas a elas..^xx

Gênero e Sexualidade na Educação

No que diz respeito à igualdade de gênero, bons resultados foram alcançados na educação pré-escolar e no ensino fundamental: o índice de paridade foi de 0,98 e 0,93, respectivamente, demonstrando uma presença ligeiramente maior de meninos nas escolas. No entanto, o desafio permanece nos níveis de ensino médio e superior, nos quais a representação feminina é significativamente maior, com índices de paridade de 1,2 para o ensino médio e 1,5 para o ensino superior. Incentivos para atrair meninos e homens nesses setores são necessários para garantir a igualdade..^xxi E, embora haja uma maior presença feminina no Ensino Médio e Superior, a taxa de alfabetização de homens é atualmente quase 10% maior do que a taxa feminina, o que evidencia uma defasagem de ensino de meninas e mulheres também. ^xxii

Apesar da melhoria significativa graças à introdução de um módulo dedicado aos estudos de gênero no currículo do ensino médio, os currículos ainda contêm estereótipos discriminatórios em relação às mulheres, o que é refletido na sub-representação feminina em campos de estudo normalmente dominados por homens, como na área tecnológica.^xxiii Além disso, embora as questões de gênero estejam presentes nos currículos, a educação sexual deixa a desejar. Apesar de ser reconhecido como importante para o desenvolvimento e segurança dos estudantes, o Guia de Orientação Sexual nas Escolas, desenvolvido com a ajuda do UNFPA (Fundo de População das Nações Unidas), beneficiou poucos estudantes devido a falta de interesse público e a à sensibilidade do tema. Um módulo mais abrangente de educação sexual ainda está para ser implementado de forma eficaz em Cabo Vede.^xxiv

É importante observar que não foi possível encontrar dados sobre minorias com base na orientação sexual ou identificação de gênero em Cabo Verde; da mesma forma, não foram encontrados mecanismos de proteção para tais minorias ou estratégias de educação sobre o assunto. Apesar de ser um tópico sensível e atualmente invisível estatisticamente, avanços nessa área podem ser positivos para garantir que todos os estudantes sejam livres e desfrutem de tratamento igualitário por parte de colegas e equipe.

A Qualidade de Ensino

É necessário realizar melhorias não apenas na oferta de Ensino Superior, mas também em sua qualidade. O Ensino Superior em Cabo Verde é relativamente recente, criado nos últimos 20 anos. Considerando que ainda está em seus estágios iniciais, o setor carece de níveis mínimos de qualidade: embora a recém-criada Agência Reguladora do Ensino Superior (ARES) esteja começando a realizar avaliações para melhorar o desempenho do setor, ^xxv autoridades ainda precisam construir um sistema abrangente de medição da qualidade do ensino e mecanismos para alinhar o conteúdo com os objetivos e necessidades nacionais, e garantir o acesso a material educacional, bem como o acesso às tecnologias.^xxvi

Adicionalmente, embora cerca de 76% das crianças atualmente tenham acesso à pré-escola, existem diferenças regionais, com áreas que apresentam percentagens ainda mais baixas. A educação na primeira infância e na pré-escola foram focos do Plano Estratégico de Educação 2017-2021, mas, na prática, foram amplamente negligenciadas. Ainda falta a implementação de mecanismos legais adequados para garantir o acesso universal, obrigatório e gratuito à pré-escola. O orçamento atual é de cerca de 0,3% do capital do Estado e a qualificação profissional dos professores de pré-escola é insuficiente (apenas 30% possuem a qualificação necessária).^xxvii Além disso, não há acesso suficiente à ferramentas tecnológicas nessas instituições, adicionado à falta de capacitação dos professores em TIC (Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação).^xxviii

Um dos principais problemas do setor educacional de Cabo Verde é a qualidade de ensino, refletida nas baixas taxas de desempenho no ensino fundamental. Na área de linguagem, 6 em cada 10 crianças demonstraram grande dificuldade ou incapacidade de interpretar as regras básicas de funcionamento da língua ^xxix, e na área de matemática, uma média de apenas 2,85% das crianças obteve sucesso nos principais assuntos abordados.^xxx Apesar dessas estatísticas, o país ainda não implementou um sistema nacional abrangente para medir os resultados de aprendizagem em qualquer nível de educação. ^xxxi

Quanto ao acesso à tecnologia, embora a maioria das escolas esteja conectada à rede elétrica pública e o Plano Estratégico de Educação de 2017-2021 tenha permitido a incorporação de mais ferramentas tecnológicas e um currículo mais robusto em habilidades de TIC, apenas 17% das escolas têm acesso à internet.^xxxi Isso ocorre mesmo considerando que Cabo Verde possui uma das maiores taxas de acesso na África. O problema está no custo para se conectar, um dos mais altos do mundo. O acesso à internet ainda é considerado caro para grande parte da população, especialmente para aqueles com menor renda, gerando desigualdades também nesse aspecto. ^xxxiii

Conclusão e Recomendações

Como conclusão, algumas recomendações tendo em mente os principais desafios do sistema educacional em Cabo Verde são oferecidas em nome da Broken Chalk.

Quanto aos custos ocultos da educação, o governo poderia reduzi-los fornecendo acesso gratuito (ou de baixo custo) a transporte, material e serviços nutricionais, com atenção especial às famílias de baixa renda e aos estudantes que vivem em áreas rurais remotas.

Sobre a cobertura educacional e a oferta universal, o governo deve agir de acordo com os objetivos traçados e continuar a estender a educação gratuita, acessível e obrigatória para os anos pré-escolares e para o ensino superior, com atenção especial às famílias de baixa renda. Mais especificamente em relação ao Ensino Superior, seria positivo gerar campanhas de incentivo para aumentar a taxa de escolarização, especialmente para os homens; juntamente com a expansão da presença de instituições de ensino superior em todos os territórios, garantindo melhor acesso à universidade para aqueles em áreas mais isoladas.

Seria desejável implementar programas nacionais para superar a desigualdade gerada pela barreira linguística. A Língua Cabo-verdiana deve estar presente em todas as etapas da educação e deve-se garantir que alunos com menor exposição ao Português não fiquem para trás. As iniciativas de educação bilíngue devem ser aprimoradas por meio de equipes multidisciplinares que incluam membros da comunidade local que compreendam as necessidades específicas de linguagem da região.

Para promover uma maior inclusão, o governo e demais autoridades deveriam considerar tornar a infraestrutura educacional, os currículos e o corpo docente mais sensíveis e adaptáveis aos estudantes com deficiência ou com necessidades especiais. Deve-se fornecer acesso adequado a edifícios, material educacional inclusivo e treinamento voltado a todos os educadores, com o objetivo de garantir o acesso e a igualdade para esses alunos.

Quando a questões de gênero, os programas e políticas educacionais devem continuar a assegurar o acesso de meninas e mulheres à educação em todos os níveis. Assim, buscar alcançar uma maior igualdade nas taxas de alfabetização, trabalhando continuamente para eliminar estereótipos de gênero e incentivando a presença de mulheres em campos de estudo tradicionalmente dominados por homens. Adicionalmente, seria positivo implementar um programa sobre sexualidade no Ensino Fundamental, para garantir a segurança e saúde dos estudantes e eliminar estereótipos prejudiciais à diversidade com base na orientação sexual.

Uma maneira eficaz de melhorar a qualidade da educação poderia ser a implementação de um sistema nacional de avaliação e análise da qualidade do ensino para garantir uma oferta adequada de conteúdo em todas as etapas educacionais e identificar deficiências na qualidade do ensino, especialmente nas áreas de linguagem e matemática no Ensino Fundamental. Juntamente com a avaliação adequada e análise do desempenho dos alunos, modos ineficazes de ensino seriam mais facilmente identificados, permitindo inovações e o alinhamento dos currículos às necessidades da sociedade cabo-verdiana, preparando melhor os alunos para o mercado de trabalho. Da mesma forma, o governo e as instituições educacionais devem continuar garantindo que todos os professores sejam qualificados para fornecer uma educação adequada ao nível que lhes é atribuído. Isso deve ser aplicado especialmente nos anos pré-escolares, nos quais a maioria dos professores não possui a devida qualificação.

Por fim, diante dos eventos recentes e em vista dos desenvolvimentos globais futuros, é essencial garantir um maior acesso a ferramentas tecnológicas para fins educacionais, tanto para escolas quanto para famílias, além de facilitar o acesso à internet. Essa democratização é crucial considerando o papel das tecnologias no mercado de trabalho global. É igualmente importante criar metodologias de educação flexíveis e adaptáveis, especialmente em um país onde a acessibilidade geográfica ao ambiente escolar é tão complexa.

*Traduzido para o português por Juliana Campos, da postagem original em Inglês*

Referências

i Global Partnership for Education. (n.d.). Cabo Verde. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/cabo-verde

vi Global Partnership for Education. (n.d.). Cabo Verde. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/cabo-verde

x Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xii Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xv Ferreira, E. S., & Loureiro, S. M. C. (2021). Challenges of a small insular developing state: Cape Verde. Revista de Estudios e Investigación en Psicología y Educación, (1), 125-134.

xix UNICEF Cabo Verde. (2022). Country Office Annual Report 2022. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/media/136711/file/Cabo-Verde-2022-COAR.pdf

xx Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xxii Ibid

xxiii Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xxv University World News. (2022, November 27). Cabo Verde introduces new higher education strategy. Retrieved from: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20221127193233449

Cabo Verde Cape Verde Desigualdades na Educação Educação em Cabo Verde Educational Challenges Escolas em Cabo Verde gender disparity Gênero e Sexualidade na Educação inequalities Plano Estratégico da Educação Plano Estratégico da Educação Cabo Verde Sexuality

Educational Challenges in Cape Verde: Navigating the Problems of a Developing Educational System

Written by Joan Vilalta Flo

Cape Verde is a country located 500 kilometers away from the coast of Senegal, Africa. It is an archipelago of ten islands, most of which are inhabited, with most of the population concentrating in the capital Praia. The official language is Portuguese, given that it is a former Portuguese colony that obtained its independence in 1975, many speak Cape-Verdean Creole as their main language. It is a country placed in a challenging geographical setting: its fragmented territory makes the provision of services complicated, it is an area prone to draught and there are few natural resources to benefit from. However, Cape Verde has been praised worldwide for its salient political stability and poverty reduction strategies, which has also enabled improvements in service provision, including that of education.

Children line up in a school in Cape Verde. Photo by Duncan CV in Wikimedia Commons.

The most recent improvements in Cape Verdean education have been made thanks to the 2017-2021 Strategic Education Plan, aiming at accomplishing the 4^th SDG of Quality Education, and focused on the following pillars: (i) universal access to pre-primary education for all children aged 4 to 5 years, including those with special needs; (ii) better articulation of pre-primary education with basic education so that all students receive two years of pre-primary education; and (iii) equal access to free universal education up to Grade 8 through the implementation of social action plans for schools, targeting priority groups and providing special education for all.ⁱ

Hence, Cape Verde has progressively improved access to primary and secondary education. The schooling rate scored 92.4% in 2021, and the literacy rate reached a 88.5% in 2019, with most over 15-years-old knowing how to read and write.ⁱⁱ Government expenditure on education shifted from 23.3% of the total budget in 2020 to 24.09% in 2021.ⁱⁱⁱ In terms of infrastructure, 97.6% of elementary and secondary schools in Cape Verde have access to water, and 89% are connected to the public electricity grid.The 2017-2021 Strategic Education Plan allowed for the implementation of education enhancement programs such as Education of Excellence, to which some 93.2 million US$ were allocated in 2020; while 6.4 million US$ were allocated to scholarships.^iv

The Covid-19 pandemic caused much struggle to the tourism-centered economy of Cape Verde. However, the country was quite timely and effective in managing the crisis and providing vaccination to most of the population.^v In the area of education, it also acted promptly. In 2020, Cape Verde received a grant of 750.000$ from the GPE (Global Partnership in Education) which substantially contributed to teacher training in distance teaching, provision of learning material, as well as TV access to remote areas, and sufficient sanitary facilities.^vi After the closure of schools, the Ministry of education implemented the “Learning and Studying at Home” program, which enhanced lesson delivery through radio, television and the use of tablets, in view of the fact that 30% to 40% of the families did not have access to such technology. The program also allowed for the extension of the digital television coverage area and improved signal quality.^vii Despite all of this, it should be noted that there is currently no evidence of the existence of a comprehensive strategy to adapt to the post-Covid19 context in Cape Verde.

It is worth mentioning that a significant development in Cape Verdean education is the recent ratification of the Convention Against Discrimination in Education by Cape Verde on the 5^th of October 2022, which has entered into force on the 5^th of January 2023. Although its effective application is yet to be seen, this action alone has fully implemented several recommendations made in the last United Nations Universal Periodic Review session.^viii

Despite the previously mentioned developments in the Cape Verdean educational sector, several situations of inequality, discrimination, lack of educational infrastructure and quality education in education have been reported up to this point. These are the problems that the archipelago will need to face and solve in the years to come, and the following sections will outline the main areas that need to be targeted.

Inequalities in Education

Cape Verde currently faces a challenge regarding the hidden costs of education. Although Primary Education and Secondary Education (up to 8^th grade) is free and mandatory,^ix,there is a range of extra costs, including transportation, meals, or certain school material, that is significant for low-income families. This represents an inequality in access to quality education for poor families.^x Moreover, secondary Education and Higher Education (university) remain subject to fees (although authorities have stated the intention to make education free from 9^th to 12^th grade),^xi allowing for inequality based on the economic level of each family. This also intersects with the existing inequality between families who live in rural areas and families that live in urban spaces,^xii where the former have less access due to general lower economic capacity, and lack of technology and internet connectivity due to its high cost (especially relevant during Covid-19).^xiii

As regards Higher Education, although there have been great efforts to supply it widely, it must be noted that the schooling rate for the 2019-2020 period is of 23.5%, 37 points lower than that of secondary school, indicating an obstacle in its access.^xiv One of the difficulties in this area is the geographical setting of Cape Verde; being an archipelago the mission of providing accessible higher education to all areas is deeply complex and has not been achieved. There are only Higher Education institutions in the islands of Santiago and São Vicente.^xv This, together with the fact that Higher Education is not free, generates little incentive for students who live in remote areas and possess a low economic level to enter Higher Education.^xvi

There is also inequality around language. While for most of the Cape Verdean population the first language is Cape Verdean Language (CVL), Portuguese is still the only official language as well as the schooling language. This continues to produce evident inequalities for students who have limited exposure to Portuguese, namely those who live in rural areas and remote locations, usually from low-income families too. Such students will have a learning disadvantage and increased difficulty when learning. Although some bilingual education programs have been reportedly launched, the implementation of such initiatives is insufficient, weak and lacks political and economic backup. This inequality is also representative of a disconnection between the formal education systems and society; policies directed at filling this gap will inevitably also contribute to identity building and social cohesion.^xvii

Finally, despite the political will expressed in the Education Strategic Plan 2017–2021 to improve access and quality of education to disabled students (17,5% of the population have at least 1 handicap),^xviii and increased staff capacitation aided by UNICEF,^xix it has been reported that practical implementation of inclusive strategies for such students has been deficient. Many disabled people do not attend education and do not receive the necessary benefits in order to do so, and the infrastructures and educational technologies have not adapted to them for the most part.^xx

Gender and Sexuality in Education

With respect to gender parity, good results have been achieved in preschool and primary education: the parity index scored 0.98 and 0.93 respectively, both cases showing a slightly higher male representation. However, the challenge remains in secondary and higher education levels where female representation is significantly and increasingly higher, the parity index scores 1.2 for secondary education and 1.5 for higher education. Incentives to attract males in those sectors is necessary to ensure equality.^xxi And while there is a significantly higher female presence in secondary and higher education, the literacy rate for men in currently almost 10% higher than for women, which displays an access inequality for women too.^xxii

Despite significant improvement through the introduction of a gender module in the secondary education curriculum, the curricula reportedly still contain discriminatory stereotypes towards women, which is also reflected in the fact that women are poorly represented in the fields of study typically dominated by men, such as in the technological field.^xxiii Moreover, although gender matters are beginning to be present in the curricula, education on sexuality is deficient. It has been acknowledged as important for the development and safety of students by the government, and a Sexual Guidance in Schools guide has been developed with the aid of UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), but due to limited political will and the sensitivity of the topic, very few students have benefited from such education. A comprehensive module on sexuality education is yet to be implemented effectively.^xxiv

It should be noted that the figure regarding minorities based on sexual orientation or gender identification in Cape Verde could not be found; and similarly, no mechanisms of protection of such minorities or education on the matter could be found. Despite it being a potentially sensitive topic that is now invisible to the sector, advances on this area could be positive to ensure that all students are free and enjoy equal treatment by peers and staff.

Deficiencies in Education

Firstly, there need to be improvements not only in the provision of Higher Education but also in the quality of it. Higher Education in Cape Verde is a relatively new sector emerged in the span of the last 20 years. Considering that it is still at its infancy, the sector lacks quality: although the newly formed Higher Education Regulatory Agency (Agência Reguladora do Ensino Superior – ARES) is beginning to conduct evaluations and checks in order to improve performance,^xxv the sector still needs to build a comprehensive system of teaching quality evaluation, mechanisms to better align tertiary education content to the national goals and needs, and ensure access to educational material and technologies, as well as connectivity.^xxvi

Secondly, although around 76% of children currently have access to preschool education, there are regional differences with areas that display even lower percentages. Early Childhood education and Preschool was formally one of the foci of the 2017-2021 Education Strategic Plan, but in practice it has been largely neglected. There still is a lack of adequate legal mechanisms to ensure universal preschool mandatory and free access, the preschool budget is around 0.3% of the state budget, and there is a lack of professional qualification of preschool teachers (only 30% have the necessary qualification).^xxvii Moreover, technological access and tools have been notably missing in preschools, together with a lack of teacher training in ICT.^xxviii

Thirdly, one of the most significant problems in Cape Verde’s education sector is the quality of the education, reflected in low performance rates in primary school. In the area of language, 6 out of every 10 children demonstrated great difficulty or inability to interpret the basic rules of functioning of language^xxix, and in the area of mathematics an average of only 2.85% of children were able to successfully deal with the main areas of study.^xxx Furthermore, Cape Verde still does not have to this date a comprehensive national system to measure learning outcomes at any level of education.^xxxi

Regarding technological access, it should be noted that although most schools are connected to the public electricity grid, and that the 2017-2021 Strategic Education Plan has allowed for the incorporation of more technological tools and a stronger curriculum on ICT skills, only the 17% of schools have access to internet.^xxxii This is even though Cabo Verde has one of the highest rates of internet access in Africa. The cost of internet is the problem, as it is among the highest is the world; it is still too high for many to obtain, especially for those with lower income, generating a situation of inequality as well.^xxxiii

Conclusion and Recommendations

By way of conclusion, some recommendations highlighting the main challenges of the educational system in Cape Verde will be offered on behalf of Broken Chalk.

As regards the hidden costs of education, the government should try to reduce them by providing free (or low-cost) access to transportation, material, and nutritional services with special attention to low-income families and students who live in remote rural areas which might increase the economic cost of education.

Regarding educational coverage and universal provision, the government should act in accordance with their own stated intentions, and continue to extend free, accessible, and mandatory education to the preschool years and to higher education, with special attention to poor families. More specifically regarding Higher Education, it could be positive to generate incentive campaigns to increase the schooling rate, particularly for males; together with expanding the presence of higher education institutions to all territories or better ensuring affordable access to university from remote places.

It would be desirable to implement comprehensive national programs to overcome the inequality around language. Cabo Verdean Language should be significantly more present in all stages of education; particular attention should be paid to students with lower exposure to Portuguese to ensure they do not fall behind, and bilingual education initiatives should be enhanced through multidisciplinary teams that include local community members that understand the specific language needs of the area.

To promote greater inclusion, the government and educational entities should consider making education infrastructure, curricula, and staff more sensitive and adaptable to disabled or special needs students. Proper access to buildings, inclusive educational material and a comprehensive disability-oriented training module for all educators should be provided to ensure the access and equality of such students.

Also as regards inclusivity and equality, educational programs and policies should continue to ensure girls and women’s access to education at all levels to achieve greater equality in literacy rates, to continue to work towards the elimination of gender stereotypes and to incentivize the presence of women in male dominated study fields. Additionally, it could be positive to implement a comprehensive educational program in secondary school regarding sexuality to guarantee the safety and health of students and to eliminate diversity-damaging stereotypes on the basis of sexual orientation.

An effective way to improve the quality of education could be to implement a comprehensive national system of evaluation and assessment of teaching quality to ensure an adequate provision of content at all educational stages and to identify deficiencies in teaching quality, particularly in the area of language and mathematics in primary school. Together with proper evaluation and analysis of student performance, this could overcome ineffective modes of teaching that result in low performance, allow for educational innovation, and better align curricula to the needs and goals of Cape Verde’s society, better preparing students to face the labor market. Similarly, the government and educational institutions should continue ensuring that all teachers are qualified to provide adequate education to the level they are assigned to. This should be particularly applied to the preschool levels, where most teachers do not have the proper qualification, which could hinder the development of students.

Lastly, in view of recent events and in view of the future global developments, it is essential to ensure greater access to technological tools for educational purposes both for schools and families, as well as facilitating internet access. Again, this seems especially important considering the introduction of technologies in the global labor market, and it is also important to provide flexible and adaptable modes of education, particularly in a country where geographical accessibility to education might be complicated.

References

i Global Partnership for Education. (n.d.). Cabo Verde. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/cabo-verde

vi Global Partnership for Education. (n.d.). Cabo Verde. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/cabo-verde

x Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xii Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xv Ferreira, E. S., & Loureiro, S. M. C. (2021). Challenges of a small insular developing state: Cape Verde. Revista de Estudios e Investigación en Psicología y Educación, (1), 125-134.

xix UNICEF Cabo Verde. (2022). Country Office Annual Report 2022. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/media/136711/file/Cabo-Verde-2022-COAR.pdf

xx Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xxii Ibid

xxiii Bail, J. (2020, September 8). Cape Verde. Humanium. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://www.humanium.org/en/cape-verde/

xxv University World News. (2022, November 27). Cabo Verde introduces new higher education strategy. Retrieved from: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20221127193233449

Cape Verde Educational Challenges gender disparity inequalities Sexuality

Educational challenges in El Salvador: ensuring the right to education amid capricious times

Written by Joan Vilalta Flo

Since the end of the Salvadorian Civil War in 1992, the country has enjoyed many improvements to education, mainly from the implementation of legislation and educational policies to protect the rights of children and to promote quality, and inclusive education. Evidence of these improvements can be found in a 2018 National Council on Education (CONED) evaluation report of the 2016 “El Salvador Educado Plan” (PESE), which indicated developments such as the provision of student and teacher education on the prevention of violence, greater teacher training options and the creation of a Teacher Training National Institute, a significant increase in preschool coverage (from 1.4% in 2014 to 5.1% in 2018), improved literacy rates, the provision of adaptive educational programs to cater for student’s needs, and a 27.8 million dollar investment to improve school infrastructure.^[1]

Despite this, teacher unions, media outlets, non-governmental organizations and academics continue to complain about deficiencies, political failures, and broken promises regarding the protection of the right to education. Salvadorans have recently lived through times of significant change in society, namely the long-term consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the policies brought about by Nayib Bukele’s presidency. Bukele’s most notable change was a crackdown on gang violence, El Salvador’s long-lasting scourge, through a controversial mass detention campaign against the powerful maras. Historically, gang presence has had a negative impact on educational development.^[2] Thus, it is appropriate to take a close look at what are the main educational difficulties that the country has faced in the last decade, how have they evolved to this day, and which are the remaining educational challenges through a more nuanced examination of recent literature, data, and events.

Gang Violence and the Right to Education

El Salvador invests a large portion of its budget in security measures to respond to gang violence. Photo by Presidencia El Salvador.

During the last two decades El Salvador has grappled with the crippling effects of gang violence, mostly carried out by the gangs M-13 and Barrio-18, which had their origins in Los Angeles, USA, but extended their reach to Central America through the mass deportation of gang members to El Salvador over the years^[3]. An example of the devastating effects of gang violence is the fact that in 2016, the capital of San Salvador had a homicide rate of around 100 per 100,000 inhabitants.^[4] The intersection between gang criminality and education goes both ways: while low quality education and lack of access to schooling make individuals prone to join gangs and conduct crimes, the presence of gangs and their activities also hamper educational development, creating a vicious cycle.

A striking fact about gang members that are currently imprisoned is that around 90% of them never finished secondary education and more than 97% have not had access to tertiary education. Most of the gang members range between 12 and 24 years old.^[5] These figures reflect the potential consequence of dropping out, lacking access to education, or receiving low-quality education. While there are many causes explaining why youths join gangs, education is an important protective factor. Gangs provide what the state cannot when there is a lack of welfare. Education can mitigate the risk of people slipping through the cracks.^[6] Thus, the deficiencies of the educational system that will be explored below can help account for the systemic gang violence that has plagued the country over the last decades.

In 2016, when gang violence in El Salvador peaked, it was reported that children were abandoning school due to the dramatic rise of gang threats, and teacher unions estimated that around 100.000 students dropped out during the previous year due to such violence.^[7]Teachers were affected as well by the threats and extortions, which also hindered their capacity to perform, and, by extension, the quality of education decreased. It was estimated that 60% of Salvadoran schools were affected by gang violence.[8] Students were not only deprived of education due to the violent climate created by the gangs, but also because they were (and still are) the main recruitment target of these groups, which evidently curtail the professional possibilities of their members.

Despite improvements to education, the challenges that gangs pose to educational development are the same. More recent studies, including the first empirical investigations into how gang presence affects education. Gang violence has also been found to lead to lower household incentives to invest in education, as well as lower academic performance due to victimization risks (accounting for the mental and physical wellbeing), the impact of crime on household budgets, and the impact on future expectations of families and students. ^[9]

Finally, it must be noted that Bukele’s presidency has been a turning point regarding gang violence in El Salvador. Adding to the steady decline of homicides since 2015, the latest government’s crackdown against gangs was possible due to the enactment of a state of emergency declared in March 2022, and has resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of more than 60.000 suspected gang members, with El Salvador reaching the highest incarceration rate in the world.^[10] In dense urban areas where extortion was rampant, business seem to be finally flourishing, and homicides have plummeted (from 1.147 in 2021 to 495 in 2022).^[11] Therefore it is legitimate to also expect a positive impact on education. However, it is too soon to have data on the impact that this might have had in education, but it should be noted that some experts see these repressive measures as a short-term solution, and that the best long-term strategy is, precisely, to invest in community-oriented strategies to improve educational quality and coverage. This does not only include the education of future generations but also that of imprisoned gang members.^[12] The expectation is that educational rehabilitation will be provided by the program “Segundas Oportunidades”, but this is one of the most important educational challenges that El Salvador is yet to face.

Low-Quality Infrastructure

Recent news reports in El Salvador have made visible widespread teacher protests regarding the deficient state of most educational institutions’ infrastructure. According to Manuel Molina, the representative of a teacher union called Movimiento Magisterial Salvadoreño, around 85% of school infrastructure are in a bad condition. Together with large groups of education workers, Molina criticizes the inefficiency of the 2021 educational policy plan, “Mi Nueva Escuela,” claiming that only 70 centers in the metropolitan area of San Salvador have been provided with infrastructural improvements, while the remaining 600 sustain significant structural damages that hamper the quality of education and endanger students’ safety.^[13]

El Salvador is in an area of high seismic activity, which costs an average of 0.7% of the country’s annual GDP. Other natural disasters, such as floods and landslides are also common in the country.^[14] These have caused accumulated damages to educational centers, which are the most affected type of infrastructure according to a study conducted between 2015 and 2016.[15] Most centers do not have the proper infrastructure to withstand such disasters and that there has not been enough focus on the reparation of many schools. It has been widely documented in recent research about El Salvador’s educational system that poor infrastructure directly affects the learning quality of student and curtails the performance of teachers, thus making it a priority in order to fully ensure the right to education.

Bukele’s plan of “Mi Nueva Escuela” precisely acknowledges the importance of this issue and includes the promise of dedicating, in 2023 and with the aid of transnational banks, more than 289 million dollars to repair and build around 5.000 education centers.^[16] However, it should be noted that this plan was initially launched in 2021 and its implementation has been slow or inactive, and no consistent follow-ups or data on it have been provided.^[17] Media outlets and teacher unions have protested, as noted above, against the sluggish governmental action to solve the problem.

Insufficient Educational Budget

While it needs to be acknowledged that state budget in education has increased significantly over the last eight years (from 3.8% of the country’s GDP in 2014 to 4.6% in 2021), El Salvador is still far from the ideal benchmark of 7%, set and acknowledged by the governmental estimates of the 2016 PESE plan. In 2019, it was reported that the education budget for that year lacked around 1.2 million dollars to obtain the desired benchmark.^[18] It is essential that education receives the budget it deserves, not only to provide adequate infrastructure and material, but also to provide better teacher trainings, technological tools to families and schools alike, scholarships for disadvantaged children, and to expand the curriculum and extra-curricular activities.

The Effects of COVID-19

Children in El Salvador use masks and face shields to protect them as they continue learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by USAID/EL Salvador.

El Salvador was one of the countries with stricter measures during the Covid-19 pandemic; educational centers remained closed from March 2020 to April 2021.^[19] There is not yet a lot of information on the specific effects that the pandemic had on El Salvador, but some estimates expect a learning loss of 1.2 years.^[20] It has also been reported that educational coverage has stagnated with the pandemic, and that inequalities were maintained throughout that period, even exacerbated (for instance, the poorest quintile’s rate of school assistance decreased from 65% in 2019 to 64.3% in 2021). The quality of education has suffered damage from the pandemic as well: in all learning areas, student performance decreased significantly in the last years of secondary education, attaining less than a 50% rate of successful achievement in languages and math.^[21] These results suggest that remote education did not motivate students and that, even for those with the necessary resources, learning development proved to be difficult. On top of that, the percentage of high school students with notable symptoms of depression or anxiety rose from 13.5% in 2020 to 19.6% in 2021.^[22]

Further studies on the educational challenges posed by Covid-19 in El Salvador align with the issues outlined above and point to a deeper problem that has become noticeable during the pandemic: the technological breach and the lack of digital literacy.

Students receive computers and lessons in San Bartolomé Perulapía. Photo by Presidencia El Salvador.

The technological breach refers to the significant portion of students who do not possess the adequate technological equipment nor appropriate connectivity to receive quality remote education. A recent survey suggests that around 13% of the students do not have technological equipment (e.g., a laptop or tablet), and that a 28.7% must share it with other family members, and only 3 out of 10 students report to have a good connectivity in their house. Moreover, around 45% of the students report to not have the adequate space at home to do remote education.^[23] State-collected statistics confirm that the rate of student access to internet is lower than 50% for all levels of primary school and around 70% for secondary school, that such access rate is at least 10% higher in private schools for all levels of education, and around 20% higher in urban areas.^[24] All in all, the evidence suggests that there is inequality in terms of access to technology between the rich and the poor, as well as between urban and rural populations.

The lack of digital literacy is especially important as regards teachers: only 3 out of 10 students consider that teachers are appropriately capacitated to teach online.^[25] A recent study that measures the quality of education in El Salvador reports that the staff of most educational centers, especially those located outside major urban areas, have not received any training on digital skills and literacy. Those staff are unable to provide quality remote education and to make the best use of technologies in class, since the presence of material is impractical if the educator does not have the skill to use it. Furthermore, most educational centers in less populated regions do not possess the adequate technology to provide quality, up-to-date education, and often have poor access to internet.^[26] The most recent state-recorded statistics on the matter align with the described problem: in 2018, the average number of students per computer at school was 19, and the percentage of teachers able to access internet at school on the same year was only 60.4%.^[27]

Problems in Public Superior Education

Higher education is often essential to develop professionally in a globalized world. Due to a lack of monetary resources and weak political will, public higher education in El Salvador faces a range of problems that hamper the universal provision of quality, university-level training:

First, it has been reported that public university infrastructure is insufficient to host the vast quantity of students that wish to attend it. In fact, in public universities it is not rare to have more than a hundred students per one teacher, which obviously diminishes the quality of education for all. In comparison, private institutions might take in more students overall, but they have the appropriate infrastructure to avoid overcrowding.^[28]

Secondly, the capacity constraint of public universities leads them to impose a highly strict admission filter: in 2019, 51.5% of first year university aspirants were ruled out by the admission tests at the Universidad de El Salvador (UES). While, by law, the right to higher education is to be ensured by the state, in practice, the opportunity is formally given to all but only obtained by a few. Equality of opportunity should not be confused with equality of possibility; and it seems that the possibility to access higher education is greater for those who can afford private education or the conditions to prepare access to public education, than for those who live in poverty (29.2% of the population in 2018).^[29] Even in a society that values merit (a contestable term), the numbers seem excessive, and the term public seems to be drained of meaning.

Stagnated Educational Coverage and Low-Quality Education

In El Salvador, Adventist Church graduates thousands from its decade-long literacy program. Photo by Adventist News.

El Salvador finds itself in quite a decent position with a 90% rate in 2021 (the latest recorded).^[30] However, when considering the average of its Latin American neighbors, El Salvador finds itself 4 percentual points below the average, a 94%.^[31] Furthermore, it should be noted that since 2014, El Salvador’s literacy rate has remained almost unchanged, albeit slowly increasing (in 2014 the rate was of 89.1%).^[32] This signals that around 10% of the population consistently remains illiterate, that efforts in that area could have been more fruitful, and that full educational coverage is still quite ahead of the current situation. In addition, the illiteracy rates show that women are significantly more affected than men (in 2021 the rate was of 8.1% for the women and 11.7% for the men), and that rural communities have a higher portion of illiterate population than urban areas (in 2021, the rate was of 15.5% for the former and of 6.8% for the latter).^[33]

Beyond the issue of illiteracy, the 2022 rate of out-of-school population also leaves much to be desired: with an average rate of 40.38%, it is striking to note that the rate is greater than 46% for all ages under 5 years-old, decreasing throughout primary school levels, and then increasing notably from the age of 16 onwards, reaching almost 60% at the age of 18. When differentiating by gender, it seems that there is a greater proportion of men out of school.^[34] Similarly, the dropout rates reach a concerning historic high of 14.7% in 2021 (the latest recorded) in secondary education. Again, the statistics indicate that men are significantly more likely to drop out than women, especially during the last years of primary education.^[35] It seems that the challenge that lays ahead is not only to widen basic educational coverage but also to specifically do it in rural areas, with a focus on secondary education and with a gender lens.

Quality in education has been a longstanding concern in El Salvador. The most recent state-collected statistics display an astounding difference between the gross and the net rate of enrollment per level in 2022, that is, the difference between calculating the proportion of students enrolled in each level without regard for their age, and calculating the proportion of students with the corresponding theoretical age enrolled in each level. While the former shows rates of around 80% for the levels of primary and secondary school, each figure drops to a 10% less (approximately) in the latter.^[36] That signals that there is an important educational lag at every level of education, something that is confirmed by the high rates of overage students at each level of education.^[37] Another fact that signals that educational quality requires improvement in El Salvador is that the most common reason to abandon school in the country is low student performance, accounting for 22.4% of school dropouts.^[38] Moreover, in previous sections it has already been shown how educational attainment, especially in the post-Covid context, is low.^[39]

All things considered, El Salvador needs to boost student performance. Therefore, it seems important to shed light on what might be the causes of such figures, and according to recent reports and literature, some of these elements have already been discovered. Leaving the inescapable and damaging effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on educational development aside, studies suggest that to improve student motivation, possibilities and curricula, educational centers need to increase their contact with local communities and families. Working together with the immediate context of the students would propitiate the ideal learning conditions, in terms of support mechanisms and motivation through the applicability of knowledge.^[40] Besides that, it is also important to consider that the low educational budget, reported lack of material and educational infrastructure hinders the learning possibilities and performance of students; something that seems to be especially present in most areas outside the capital.^[41] On top of that, it is extremely important to increase teacher training programs and to address the critical teacher shortage in the country. In 2018, the statistics indicated that there were 27 students per teacher in El Salvador, while the regional average is at 21 students per teacher.^[42] It should be noted that the teacher shortage was significantly higher in public schools and in rural areas.^[43]

Multilevel Discrimination

Students participate in an environmental fair. Photo by Codelco.

As it might have been picked up from some of the data provided in the previous sections, there are clear discriminatory divides in the educational system of El Salvador. It has been shown how schools in rural areas receive less resources and attention than those in urban areas, how low student performance and low educational quality seems to primarily affect rural areas and the public sector, indicating that wealth might play a role in such difference, and how the gender lens allows for the identification of higher illiteracy among women and higher dropout rates among men. This final section will explore more deeply the main educational inequalities that need to be overcome in El Salvador.

Although it has shown great improvement over the last decade^[44], El Salvador still shows significant levels of economic inequality, while low levels of economic power have been directly associated with having less educational opportunities, especially in the later years of educational development, due to the impossible costs of higher education and necessity to leave education in order to work for the family, or even due to joining a gang in contexts where state control and support is more absent.^[45] Some accounts state that the issue of poverty (and, by extension, lack of access to education) is a matter of government prioritization of rich over the poor, actively contributing to (educational) inequality and a cycle of crime and poverty.

Gender parity in education has shown good results in 2022, often indicating a disparity in favor of women. However, El Salvador has been reported to be a country where patriarchal systems prevail and discrimination and violence against women is rampant, including at school.^[46] In 2017, 67% of women aged 25 and older reported being victims of gender-based violence, and the pervasiveness of school-based gender-based violence has also been reported.[47] It has been argued and investigated, that while access to education has been fairly ensured for women, the sexist environment that they encounter at school can be an obstacle to their development.[48] The issue is, then, that girls receive a poorer quality education than boys, especially indigenous girls, who face more prejudice due to an intersection of discriminations. The complaint has often been directed towards the fact that gender and violence against girls has not been specifically named as a target area in the recent and current national education plans and inclusive policies. It would be through such focus that teachers would be able to obtain the training and tools to ensure an environment of true equality and to eliminate gender-based prejudice from its root.

More broadly, it has been pointed out that while normative frameworks have been set up to activate inclusive programs in education, no monitoring and evaluation mechanisms have been established yet. The previous national educational plans, such as the “Política de Educación Inclusiva” or the PESE, have not addressed the same issues over the years although such issues were ever-present, making for a scattered landscape of mechanisms to address inclusivity. Moreover, it is argued that these plans only offer temporary (but necessary) solutions such as food programs or support mechanisms for families but overlook the possibility of implementing structural changes. In order to obtain long-lasting improvements, it would be necessary to address poverty in rural areas and to provide them with appropriate infrastructure. Just like it has been argued with the issue of gender, there is also a broad need to be specific when defining the objects of inclusion too (e.g., race, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity), so that their difference and value can be acknowledged in the process of providing quality education.^[49]

Lastly, it is important to highlight the clear inequalities existing between the rural and urban areas in El Salvador. Resource allocation, better student performance, lower dropout rates, and higher school attendance all concentrate in urban areas. The lack of access to digital tools and connectivity (less than 20% of rural families had internet access during Covid-19, and in 2019 only 19.6% of rural families had computer access) is also a salient issue for rural schools and families, and a much greater one compared to the situation in urban centers. Aside from material deprivation, it has also been reported that children in rural areas often do not find appropriate parental support on school tasks due to the labor conditions of the parents and their (relatively low) educational level. It is also often the case that the profile of families in rural areas is of low economic level, possibly adding the issues mentioned above as regards poverty and education. It should be noted that, in 2018, around 74.88% of the educational centers found themselves in rural areas. Educational issues associated to rural areas such as school dropout due to pursuing jobs (and child labor, for that matter), lack of material and technological conditions, poor transportation options in areas where schools are too far for some students, and the low training levels that some teachers present need to be addressed through integral solutions to avoid perpetuating inequality.

^[1] UNDP. (2018, July 27). Presentan avances y desafíos del Plan El Salvador Educado. Retrieved from: https://www.undp.org/es/el-salvador/news/presentan-avances-y-desaf%C3%ADos-del-plan-el-salvador-educado

^[2] Cruz, J. M., & Speck, M. (2022, October 13). Ending El Salvador’s Cycle of Gang Violence. United States Institute of Peace. Retrieved from: https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/10/ending-el-salvadors-cycle-gang-violence

^[3] Kalsi, P. (2018). The impact of US deportation of criminals on gang development and education in El Salvador. Journal of Development Economics, 135, 433-448.

^[4] Dahbura, J. N. M. (2018). The short-term impact of crime on school enrollment and school choice: evidence from El Salvador. Economía, 18(2), 121-145.

^[5] Speck, M. (2023, May 10). Mientras represión de las bandas en El Salvador continúa, los ciudadanos se preguntan qué vendrá después. United States Institute of Peace. Retrieved from: https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/05/mientras-represion-de-las-bandas-en-el-salvador-continua-los-ciudadanos-se ; Dahbura, J. N. M. (2018). The short-term impact of crime on school enrollment and school choice: evidence from El Salvador. Economía, 18(2), 121-145.

^[6] Ibid.

^[7] Tjaden, S., & Lasusa, M. (2016, July 22). El Salvador Gangs Cause Tens of Thousands to Leave School. Insight Crime. Retrieved from: https://insightcrime.org/news/brief/el-salvador-gangs-cause-tens-thousands-to-leave-school/

[8] Ibid.

^[9] Dahbura, J. N. M. (2018). The short-term impact of crime on school enrollment and school choice: evidence from El Salvador. Economía, 18(2), 121-145.

^[10] Speck, M. (2023, May 10). Mientras represión de las bandas en El Salvador continúa, los ciudadanos se preguntan qué vendrá después. United States Institute of Peace. Retrieved from: https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/05/mientras-represion-de-las-bandas-en-el-salvador-continua-los-ciudadanos-se ; Cruz, J. M., & Speck, M. (2022, October 13). Ending El Salvador’s Cycle of Gang Violence. United States Institute of Peace. Retrieved from: https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/10/ending-el-salvadors-cycle-gang-violence

^[11] Appleby, P., Dalby, C., Doherty, S., Mistler-Ferguson, S., & Shuldiner, H. (2023, February 8). Insight Crime 2022 Homicide Round-Up. Insight Crime. Retrieved from: https://insightcrime.org/news/insight-crime-2022-homicide-round-up/#El-Salvador ; Speck, M. (2023, May 10). Mientras represión de las bandas en El Salvador continúa, los ciudadanos se preguntan qué vendrá después. United States Institute of Peace. Retrieved from: https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/05/mientras-represion-de-las-bandas-en-el-salvador-continua-los-ciudadanos-se

^[12] Speck, M. (2023, May 10). Mientras represión de las bandas en El Salvador continúa, los ciudadanos se preguntan qué vendrá después. United States Institute of Peace. Retrieved from: https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/05/mientras-represion-de-las-bandas-en-el-salvador-continua-los-ciudadanos-se

^[13] Prensa Latina. (2023, February 24). Latente crisis en sector educacional en El Salvador. Retrieved from: https://www.prensa-latina.cu/2023/02/24/latente-crisis-en-sector-educacional-en-el-salvador

^[14] World Bank. (2022, May 19). Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management into El Salvador’s Education Sector. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2022/05/19/mainstreaming-disaster-risk-management-into-el-salvador-s-education-sector-drmhubtokyo

[15] ESSA. (2016). Natural Hazard Risks for Infrastructure in El Salvador [PDF document]. Retrieved from: https://essa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ElSalvador_Infographic_v4_MARN_EN.pdf

^[16] Gobierno de El Salvador. Ministerio de Educación. (n.d.). Mi Nueva Escuela. El Salvador [PDF file]. Retrieved from: https://ceccsica.info/sites/default/files/inline-files/8.Gesti%C3%B3n%20de%20la%20inversi%C3%B3n%20en%20GIRD.pdf

^[17] La Prensa Gráfica. (2022, September 8). Por tercera vez, Gobierno promete remodelar escuelas. Retrieved from: https://www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/Por-tercera-vez-Gobierno-promete-remodelar-escuelas-20220908-0098.html

^[18] El Faro. (2019, January). Los presidenciables reprueban en educación. Retrieved from: https://elfaro.net/es/201901/el_salvador/22766/Los-presidenciables-reprueban-en-educaci%C3%B3n.htm

^[19] Fusades. (2022, December). Como está y hacia dónde va la educación en El Salvador. Nota de Política Pública, NPP No. 27 [PDF file]. Retrieved from: https://fusades.org/publicaciones/NPP%2027EDUCACION%20.pdf

^[20] Ibid.

^[21] Ibid.

^[22] Ibid.

^[23] Picardo Joao, O., Ábrego, A. M., & Cuchillac, V. (2020). Educación y la COVID-19: estudio de factores asociados con el rendimiento académico online en tiempos de pandemia (caso El Salvador).

^[24] Ministerio de Educación de El Salvador. (2020, November 19). Estadísticas e indicadores. Retrieved from: https://www.mined.gob.sv/2020/11/19/estadisticas-e-indicadores/

^[25] ibid

^[26] Iraheta Argueta, W. A. (2020). Índice de Calidad Educativa en El Salvador: Una propuesta desde la Academia.

^[27] Ministerio de Educación de El Salvador. (2020, November 19). Estadísticas e indicadores. Retrieved from: https://www.mined.gob.sv/2020/11/19/estadisticas-e-indicadores/

^[28] Santiago, M. (2020). El acceso a la educación superior pública en El Salvador. Una aproximación al problema. AKADEMOS, 83-96.

^[29] Ibid.

^[30] World Bank. (n.d.). Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above). Retrieved 10/06/2023, from: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS?end=2021&most_recent_value_desc=true&start=2000 ; Ministerio de Educación de El Salvador. (2020, November 19). Estadísticas e indicadores. Retrieved from: https://www.mined.gob.sv/2020/11/19/estadisticas-e-indicadores/

^[31] Ibid.

^[32] Ministerio de Educación de El Salvador. (2020, November 19). Estadísticas e indicadores. Retrieved from: https://www.mined.gob.sv/2020/11/19/estadisticas-e-indicadores/

^[33] Ibid.

^[34] Ibid.

^[35] Ibid.

^[36] Ibid.

^[37] Ibid.

^[38] Ibid.

^[39] Iraheta Argueta, W. A. (2020). Índice de Calidad Educativa en El Salvador: Una propuesta desde la Academia.

^[40] Ibid.

^[41] Ibid.

^[42] Ministerio de Educación de El Salvador. (2020, November 19). Estadísticas e indicadores. Retrieved from: https://www.mined.gob.sv/2020/11/19/estadisticas-e-indicadores/ ; World Bank. (n.d.). Gross enrollment ratio, primary, both sexes (% of relevant age group) in ZJ. Retrieved from: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.ENRL.TC.ZS?locations=ZJ&most_recent_value_desc=false

^[43] Ministerio de Educación de El Salvador. (2020, November 19). Estadísticas e indicadores. Retrieved from: https://www.mined.gob.sv/2020/11/19/estadisticas-e-indicadores/

^[44] World Bank. (n.d.). El Salvador. Retrieved from: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/elsalvador/overview

^[45] Bissonnette, I. (2019). El Salvador’s drivers of poverty: Low levels of education, lack of access to water and sanitation, and violence and crime. Global Majority E-Journal, 4.

^[46] Vandzura, A. (2021). Inclusive Education in El Salvador: Ensuring Quality Education and Gender Equality at the Primary Level. University of Ottawa.

[47] Ibid.

[48] Ibid.

^[49] Muñoz Morán, C. A. (2019). Educación inclusiva en El Salvador. Una reflexión desde las políticas educativas. Revista latinoamericana de educación inclusiva, 13(1), 21-36.

conflict Covid-19 Educational Challenges El Salvador Gang violence Inequality infraestructure low budget right to education

The Educational Crisis in Tigray: The Devastating Effects of Civil War in Northwestern Ethiopia

Written by Joan Vilalta

After enduring the hardships of the Covid-19 pandemic, which implied a range of socioeconomic challenges, including educational impoverishment due to the closure of schools, the Tigray territory in northwestern Ethiopia suffered yet another blow in November of 2020, when civil war struck the region. The consequences of the conflict between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopia’s National Defence Forces (ENDF), aided by the Eritrean military, represent one of the most devastating humanitarian crises in the world, piling on top of several longstanding crises in Ethiopia such as severe drought and acute famine. The consequences of this conflict are broad, including a critical situation regarding education.

According to the latest UN OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) report on the matter, around 85% of the schools in Tigray have been partially or entirely damaged by the conflict, and some 411.000 school-age children are in dire need of essential services, which profoundly affects their educational development. The UN plans to cover the needs of 3.6 million affected children and almost 190.000 teachers by providing accelerated learning activities for those who have been out of school for more than three years and providing psychosocial and mental health support services and learning packages.^[1]

The current conflict was prompted by a power struggle between the TPLF and the current Ethiopian president Abiy Ahmed. The TPLF ruled the country for over thirty years until Ahmed came to power in 2018 to dismantle the TPLF’s regime. As Ahmed became the president of the country, he managed to rearrange the political power while ostracizing the TPLF. Parallelly, Ahmed also managed to end the longstanding war with neighbouring Eritrea.

On the 4th of November 2020, the government accused the TPLF of attacking a military base near Mekelle and ordered a military intervention to address the situation while calling for the aid of Eritrean forces and Tigray’s neighbouring region’s militias. Since then, the scale of the conflict has grown exponentially, with both sides committing mass killings and other atrocities that have called the attention of the international community. Ethnic discrimination against Tigrayans has been speculated to be entangled with the motivations of this war. It should be considered that while the focus of the conflict was on Tigray, conflict consequences eventually extended to the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar.

In March 2022, the government agreed to an indefinite ceasefire, but the conflict resumed in August. Nevertheless, a permanent cessation of hostilities was agreed upon in November 2022. While at this moment, the situation seems to have calmed down, Ethiopia now faces the aftermath of a devastating conflict, which calls for accountability on both sides as well as amending the several crises stemming from the war, among them the educational crisis.

One of the main reasons why the war on Tigray provoked an educational crisis was the military occupation of schools to use them as bases, accompanied by the plundering, pillaging, and looting of academic centres and the extensive structural damage suffered by the buildings.

IDP families and children at Primaray School in Mekelle IDP center April 15, 2021. Photo by UNICEF Ethiopia.

There have been many examples of this on both sides of the conflict. For instance, the historical school of Atse Yohannes in Mekelle was used by the ENDF for half a year, Eritrean forces used a primary school in Basen, and the TPLF used an elementary school in Bissober. This, of course, prompted the closure of schools, impeding the attendance of teachers and students, and resulted in extensive damage to infrastructure and school material since the use of the school would make the school a likely confrontation scenario. In some cases, it even resulted in derogatory messages towards locals being painted on the school walls.

According to several sources, around 2.8 million children missed out on education because of the war, and more than 2000 causalities have been reported regarding students and teachers.

The death of teachers and principals also represents a problem since it has generated a shortage of school staff, especially in areas where access to such qualifications is reduced. Due to this shortage, teachers are now forced to have many students in each class, making monitoring students’ progress closely difficult.

Beyond the military use of schools, a range of problems regarding quality and access to education emerged from the war. Trauma and psychological duress have been rampant among students and teachers, negatively impacting their capacity to attain their learning objectives.

Families’ financial losses provoked by the conflict, combined with extreme drought, famine, and health insecurity, have prompted students to stop learning activities to contribute to their family’s economy. Poverty has also hampered the recovery of damaged schools and the capacity to provide a salary for school staff. Teachers have also been more unable to perform their duties since they had to focus on surviving the situation.

The war on Tigray has generated an estimated 3.5 million internally displaced people, mostly women and children. Internally displaced students often found themselves in precarious situations and could not attend school. Students who moved to regions with different indigenous languages also found a barrier to school integration. In many cases, even to this day, internally displaced people and refugees from the war have sheltered themselves inside schools, the occupation of the space being an obstacle to resuming regular school activity.

According to research on the impact of armed violence on students’ educational attainment in Tigray, the school enrollment rates dropped dramatically due to conflict (almost a 10% decline in the studied areas), and educational wastage overall increased, with dropout and repetition rates at risk of rising. Moreover, the long-term impact of the educational crises is the potential lack of social capital and skills of future generations, rendering the communities of Tigray even more vulnerable.

While humanitarian aid is currently reaching the affected areas in northwestern Ethiopia, it should be noted that the mere reopening of schools without further consideration won’t be a fully effective solution. Facilities will need to be safely rebuilt, and students and teachers will have to deal with the traumatic experience of war and loss in the coming years. Tigray’s educational system was not built overnight, and recovery will not be quick either. Aid and resources such as school materials or teacher training will be crucial to restore the system.

Finally, it should be noted that this educational crisis was not entirely unavoidable. The occupation and looting of schools for military purposes are rarely justified under Ethiopian law. They can constitute a war crime and a human rights violation since it deprives children of access to education. More than that, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child has urged African countries to ban the use of schools for military purposes or to enact specific measures to discourage it. The African Union Peace and Security Council has also called upon African countries to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, which contains concrete protection measures. In this sense, Broken Chalk encourages the Ethiopian authorities to support such mandates, to strengthen the law and its application to protect the educational system, as well as to provide the necessary aid sociopsychological and material to affected students and school staff during the coming years to ensure they can recover and strive for the development they deserve.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Assefa, Y., Tilwani, S. A., Moges, B. T., & Shah, M. A. (2022). The impact of armed violence on students’ educational attainment and the role of parents in resilience schooling and the education process. Heliyon, 8(12), e12192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e12192

Cable News Network (CNN). (2022, November 11). Tigray conflict: Fast facts. CNN. Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/11/world/tigray-war-fast-facts/index.html

Ethiopia Insight. (2022, August 14). Students’ learning in Tigray is being crippled by the war. Ethiopia Insight. Retrieved from: https://www.ethiopia-insight.com/2022/08/14/students-learning-in-tigray-is-being-crippled-by-the-war/

Human Rights Watch. (2021, May 28). Ethiopia: Tigray schools occupied, looted. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved from: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/05/28/ethiopia-tigray-schools-occupied-looted

Humanium. (2022, August 9). Ethnic cleansing and grave violations of children’s rights in Ethiopia’s Western Tigray region. Humanium. Retrieved from: https://www.humanium.org/en/ethnic-cleansing-and-grave-violations-of-childrens-rights-in-ethiopias-western-tigray-region/

Link Education. (2022, January 6). Impact of the Northern Ethiopian War on education. Link Education. Retrieved from: https://linkeducation.org.uk/impact-of-the-northern-ethiopian-war-on-education/

NPR. (2021, March 5). 9 things to know about the unfolding crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. NPR. Retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/05/973624991/9-things-to-know-about-the-unfolding-crisis-in-ethiopias-tigray-region

^[1] UN OCHA REPORT (https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/ethiopia/card/5TCJFYzqI4/)

conflict crisis in education current issues enrollment Ethiopia Tigray Violence

El giro de Turquía hacia el Poder Duro: La captura de escuelas Hizmet por la Fundación Maarif de Turquía

Este documento resume y analiza cómo Turquía ha extendido su misión de cerrar las escuelas Hizmet en países africanos y europeos a través de la entidad público-privada conocida como la Fundación Maarif.

El-giro-de-Turquia-hacia-el-Poder-Duro_-La-captura-de-escuelas-Hizmet-por-la-Fundacion-Maarif-de-Turquia

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Descarga de responsabilidad

Algunos artículos referenciados en este trabajo muestran cierta inclinación política y se constituyen como propaganda al referirse del movimiento Gulen como “Organización Terrorista Fetullah” (FETO).

Es importante remarcar que el gobierno turco adopto este termino como chivo expiatorio del golpe de estado fallido de 15 de Julio de 2016, atribuyéndolo al movimiento Gulen y sus miembros. Esta etiqueta busco crear la narrativa de que el movimiento Gulen tenía la única intención de reemplazar el gobierno; sin embargo, la realidad es que el movimiento y las escuelas actualmente sufren la persecución un gobierno amenazado por denuncias y escándalos, un gobierno que funciona a base de chivos expiatorios contra gente y familias inocentes.

INTRODUCCIÓN

Durante su tiempo en Turquía durante la década de 1960 y 70s, Fetullah Gulen fue un imam muy popular que predicó que la educación en inglés construía moralidad y carácter tanto como, sino más, la modestia, el altruismo, y el trabajo duro. Enfatizó que la educación era esencial para que Turquía emergiera en la era de la globalización.[i] De acuerdo con su ideología, el movimiento Gulen de los 80s fue ayudado a través de la financiación del llamado conservativo “Anatolian Tigers” para crear escuelas que transmitieran la educación basada, no formalmente, en los principios de Gulen. Estas escuelas fueron globalmente conocidas como Hizmet. La palabra “Hizmet” indicaba que la escuela enseñaba sobre luz, filosofía, reflexión, diálogo y tolerancia.[ii] Las escuelas fueron formadas primeramente por empresarios voluntarios de todo Turquía, y el personal fueron educadores que buscaban comprometerse con trabajo humanitario y caridad. Pronto se expandieron a varios países en la década de los 90, incluyendo en Norte América, Asia Central, Europa, Australia y especialmente Africa.[iii] En más de una ocasión, esto significo la primera toma de contacto informal de Turquía con otros países estableciendo lazos culturales, económicos y políticos con gobiernos extranjeros. Aunque el gobierno turco inicialmente dio soporte tácito a estas escuelas, las cosas se complicaron después de la Crisis Presidencial de 2007. Como resultado de la crisis el Partido de Justicia y Desarrollo (AKP) se aseguró del control político del país, formando una administración reticente de dejar demasiado control sobre asuntos de política nacional y exterior a las manos de agentes externos privados de dentro y fuera de Turquía.[iv] En una serie de conversaciones con el cofundador y director ejecutivo del Centro de Estudios Hizmet, el Doctor Ismail M. Sezgin explicó como la percepción del gobierno sobre las escuelas cambió a lo largo de los años. Inicialmente, el gobierno vio ventajas en asociarse con las escuelas porque la credibilidad del movimiento Gulen era bien recibida por la población turca. Sin embargo, esta percepción cambió a medida que el movimiento Gulen fue volviéndose cada vez más critico del gobierno a través de las cambiantes dinámicas políticas reflejadas en las elecciones de 2012.[v] Estas elecciones se revolvieron alrededor del entonces primer ministro y actual presidente Recep Tayyip Erdogan, resultando en cargos de corrupción, el rechazo de los ideales occidentales democráticos y la disrupción de los planes para unirse a la Unión Europea (EU). El movimiento Gulen condenó el gobierno fuertemente durante este período de tiempo, causando que este reevaluara su percepción sobre el movimiento. El Dr. Sezegin explica que cuando aún aparecieron más cargos de corrupción en 2014, Gulen se convirtió en una amenaza real, provocando que Erdogan se opusiera explícita y activamente al movimiento. En última instancia, esta reevaluación política resultó en el intento del gobierno de atribuir el golpe de estado fallido de 15 de Julio de 2016 a la ahora llamada “Organización Terrorista Fetullah” (FETO) en un complot para forzosamente reconstruir el movimiento Gulen como una amenaza para la sociedad.[vi]

El golpe de estado fallido dió a Erdogan lo que él mismo llamó “un regalo de Dios” que permitió al AKP llevar a cabo un ataque y persecución de las escuelas Hizmet. Esta inquisición empezó en Turquía, haciendo sufrir a muchos de vulneraciones de derechos humanos y abusos, incluso encarcelamiento, pero rápidamente se expandió a nivel internacional cuando el gobierno solicitó a administraciones extranjeras el cierre de escuelas, especialmente aquellas ubicadas en África. Este ataque, obviamente, afectó negativamente a los estudiantes que recibían una educación de alta calidad en las escuelas Hizmet. En muchas ubicaciones empobrecidas, estas escuelas elevaron el nivel de educación y calidad de vida. No obstante, en un intento de aplastar el movimiento Gulen, el gobierno turco creó la pseudo-entidad conocida como la ‘Fundación Maarif’ apenas unas semanas antes del fallido golpe y le otorgó una autoridad mixta público-privada para cerrar o reemplazar las escuelas Hizmet. [vii]

La siguiente sección de este informe analizará brevemente la función de la Fundación Maarif, seguida de una sección que comenta la toma cronológica de las escuelas Hizmet en Bielorrusia, Burundi, Camerún, Chad, Djibouti, Guinea Ecuatorial, Etiopía, Gabón y Guinea por parte de la Fundación. Luego, el informe analizará el cambio de Turquía desde una postura de “soft-power” de diplomacia económica hacia una forma más dura de poder que corre el riesgo de transferir las consecuencias de la política interna de Turquía a otros estados. Por último, la sección final concluirá con algunas observaciones y recomendaciones breves

LOS MECANISMOS DE LA FUNDACIÓN MAARIF

El 17 de junio de 2016, el (entonces) primer ministro de Turquia, Ahmet Davutoglu, anunció la implementación de la ley 6721 que dio nacimiento a la Fundación Maarif, “maarif” significando “educación” o “instrucción”. El presidente Erdogan y su gobierno seleccionó sus 12 miembros: 4 elegidos por el mismo presidente, 3 elegidos por el Cabinete y el resto de los ministerios de educación, asuntos exteriores y economía, en conjunción con el Consejo de Educación Superior. [viii] A la Fundación se le otorgaron poderes:

“para proporcionar becas, escuelas, educación e instalaciones como escuelas, instituciones educativas y residencias estudiantiles, para brindarles becas en todos los procesos de educación, desde la educación preescolar hasta la universitaria, con el fin de desarrollar y mejorar los servicios educativos y de distribución, únicamente para poder permitirse las instituciones que puedan participar en las instituciones, la Fundación Maarif Turca, que se encuentra en el centro de Estambul, lleva a cabo investigaciones científicas, desarrolla y mejora métodos y lleva a cabo las actividades del país en el que opera, para realizar las actividades del país.”[ix]

Estos términos de referencia indican que la Fundación es una entidad gubernamental que recibe su presupuesto y directrices de funcionarios públicos. Se distingue de otras fundaciones por su capacidad adicional para llevar a cabo sus funciones en el extranjero “mediante la fundación o adquisición de empresas con personalidad jurídica de derecho privado”, lo cual se cumple claramente en los estatutos de las escuelas Hizmet fundadas en el extranjero. [x] La verdadera intención subyacente de la Fundación se manifestó poco después del fallido golpe, cuando Erdogan solicitó que la Fundación “esté presente en 193 países (…) y dé prioridad a los países donde FETO tiene mayor influencia y es más conocido. No permitan que las escuelas de FETO se llamen ‘escuelas turcas'”.[xi] En cierta medida, esto demuestra que Turquía continúa dependiendo de actores privados y semipúblicos en el extranjero que han establecido y mantenido relaciones con otros estados en el pasado, como se mencionó anteriormente con el movimiento Gulen.

La principal barrera para los intentos de la Fundación de expropiar los bienes físicos de las escuelas Hizmet es el hecho de que las autoridades locales deben estar de acuerdo en despojar a estas escuelas en favor de la Fundación, lo que a menudo resulta en juicios largos y agotadores, como se ha visto recientemente en Etiopía. [xii] A pesar de enfrentar resistencia en sus intentos de convencer a otros países de cerrar las escuelas Hizmet o entregar las instalaciones, el gobierno turco ha tenido más éxito en África utilizando lo que se puede llamar “enfoque coercitivo”. En este enfoque, Turquía utiliza “palos”, es decir, poder duro, en lugar de “zanahorias”, es decir, poder suave, para amenazar el progreso socioeconómico de un país y sus proyectos de infraestructura a través de presión económica e inversión. Dipama y Dal (2019) discuten el uso del enfoque coercitivo por parte de Turquía, describiendo cómo Turquía puede aprovechar sus vínculos con ciertos estados africanos a través de negocios, importaciones, exportaciones e inversión extranjera directa en beneficio propio. [xiii] La próxima sección se centrará en la relación entre la Fundación y estos países africanos seleccionados antes de comparar el éxito de la Fundación en Bielorrusia y Europa continental.

LA FUNDACIÓN MAARIF EN BIELORUSSIA, BURUNDI, CAMERÚN, CHAD, DJIBOUTI, GUINEA EQUATORIAL, ETIOPÍA, GABÓN, Y GUINEA-CONACRI

Uno de los primeros países africanos en ceder a las demandas del gobierno turco fue Gabón. Los funcionarios públicos firmaron un Memorando de Entendimiento (MOU) con el vicepresidente de la Fundación Maarif, Hasan Yavuz, para ceder tres escuelas Hizmet a la Fundación, que constaban de un total de 200 estudiantes. [xiv] Chad también aceptó transferir escuelas Hizmet, pero la magnitud de la toma de posesión solo se documentó más tarde en 2017, cuando se expropió y transfirió a la Fundación Maarif un jardín de infancia, escuelas primarias, dormitorios y escuelas secundarias, previo a una visita del presidente Erdogan. [xv] En ese momento, el ministro de Educación de Chad, Ahmad Khazali Acyl, lo consideró un avance en las relaciones chadiano-turcas. Sin embargo, desde una perspectiva externa y objetiva, esto también puede considerarse una mayor eliminación de la influencia de Gulen en África para avanzar en la agenda de Erdogan, que ha retratado las escuelas Hizmet como una calidad educativa “falsa”. Es importante tener en cuenta que “[m]uchos países africanos, inmediatamente después del intento de golpe, deportaron a los miembros de Hizmet y transfirieron las escuelas dirigidas por el grupo a nuestra Fundación Maarif”.[xvi]

Durante 2017, la Fundación Maarif logró avances significativos en África, especialmente en Guinea-Conakry, Djibouti y Burundi. Un total de 10 escuelas en la capital de Guinea fueron transferidas a la Fundación después de un proceso de tres meses en el que las autoridades públicas cancelaron las licencias de Hizmet para enseñar y poseer las instalaciones privadas. Una vez que la Fundación se hizo cargo de las antiguas escuelas Hizmet, estas fueron remodeladas con frecuencia y se les dio nuevos nombres vinculados a mártires políticos supuestamente asesinados por los presuntos gulenistas durante el intento de golpe. [xvii] Los funcionarios turcos inauguraron oficialmente las escuelas en eventos que imitaban las funciones humanitarias y caritativas de los antiguos propietarios de Hizmet. Del mismo modo, Joel Nkurabagaya, el entonces embajador de Burundi en Turquía afirmó en 2017 que Burundi estaba trabajando para permitir que la Fundación abriera sus propias escuelas después de la transferencia de numerosas escuelas Hizmet. Estos desarrollos fueron precipitados por la visita de Hasan Yuvuz a Burundi en mayo de 2017, aparentemente para discutir sobre educación, pero durante la cual los funcionarios burundeses y turcos introdujeron otros intereses políticos y económicos. Por ejemplo, durante la visita de Yuvuz, el presidente de Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, solicitó que Turkish Airlines abriera vuelos directos a Burundi. [xviii] De manera similar, Djibouti transfirió una instalación a la Fundación para su uso como jardín de infancia y escuela primaria. Además, fue uno de los primeros países en África en otorgar a la Fundación una parcela de 5 hectáreas para construir su propia institución educativa Maarif. Esta tendencia empezaría a tomar fuerza en África a partir de aquel momento.[xix]

En enero de 2018, la Fundación había signado ya un total de 26 acuerdos con estados africanos, de los cuales 16 transfirieron escuelas a la Fundación, resultando en la transferencia de alrededor de 9000 estudiantes bajo la influencia de la ideología islamista del presidente Erdogan y su agenda.[xx] A estos países africanos se les unió Guinea en Septiembre de 2018, cuando Sebnem Cenk, el Embajador de Turquía en Malabo, y Fabiola Angono Miko, el viceministro de Juventud y Deportes, y el Ministerio de Exteriores, acordaron la transferencia de una escuela Hizmet basada en la capital, Malabo, a la Fundación bajo el nuevo nombre de “Colegio Maarif de Malabo”.[xxi] A principios de 2019, la Fundación también consiguió ganar la cooperación del gobierno camerunés para cerrar y transferir escuelas Hizmet. Las ceremonias de reapertura fueron presenciadas por varios oficiales cameruneses y turcos de prestigio, con el embajador turco del país, Ayşe Saraç, comentando que:

“Camerún apoyó a nuestro país y se convirtió en nuestro amigo y aliado en nuestra lucha contra [Hizmet]. Las escuelas de la Fundación Maarif son cada vez más activas en el ámbito internacional y han logrado éxitos significativos. La Fundación Maarif turca abrirá nuevas escuelas en Camerún en el próximo período. Seguimos de cerca y apoyamos todos los trabajos realizados en este sentido.”[xxii]

Uno de los campos de batalla más críticos en la toma de control de las escuelas Hizmet se puede observar claramente en relación con Etiopía. Esta dinámica comenzó a mediados de 2019 cuando la primera escuela Hizmet, ubicada en Harar, fue expropiada y transferida a la Fundación, lo cual implicó tres años de desafíos legales antes de lograr la adquisición de una segunda escuela ubicada en la ciudad de Sebata.[xxiii] Estos desafíos legales se prolongaron debido a una investigación realizada por fiscales federales y estatales etíopes sobre terrorismo y lavado de dinero en la escuela que la Fundación Maarif estaba tratando de adquirir. Según el Centro de Estocolmo para la Libertad en 2021, la empresa privada de educación STEM, compuesta por varios inversores alemanes con sede en la capital etíope, Addis Abeba, era propietaria de la escuela.[xxiv] El director de la escuela, el Dr. Norbert Helmut Dinse, explicó que la escuela era de propiedad extranjera dentro del sector educativo de Etiopía y que:

“Inicialmente, la empresa fue establecida por inversionistas turcos. Con el tiempo, los tres inversores alemanes adquirieron la inversión siguiendo todos los procedimientos requeridos por la ley. Los inversores alemanes intervinieron y volvieron a tomar el control de la empresa matriz en total cumplimiento de los requisitos de las leyes del país.”[xxv]

Inicialmente, parecía que el Ministerio de Educación de Etiopía apoyaría a la escuela Hizmet y a sus propietarios de STEM debido a la evidencia legítima de su condición de escuela de propiedad privada, incluso aprobando su licencia escolar para el año académico 2020-2021. Sin embargo, esto cambió después de que la Oficina de Educación de Oromia y Sebata, junto con varios agentes de policía armados, ingresaron ilegalmente a la escuela, instalando al personal turco de la Fundación Maarif para comenzar a enseñar en lugar de la escuela original.[xxvi] Un representante de la Fundación, Levent Sahin, declaró que “[d]espués de la investigación, los fiscales generales estatales decidieron suspender las licencias de educación de la empresa Stem perteneciente a la organización terrorista. Queremos ver que esto sea un ejemplo para las demás escuelas”. A mediados de agosto de 2021, la Fundación tomó el control de otras once escuelas anteriormente administradas por Hizmet en Etiopía, con un total de 2,000 estudiantes. Aunque el personal y los estudiantes presentaron obstáculos legales adicionales para detener estas adquisiciones, la Fundación utilizó asociaciones de padres y maestros afines para frustrar estos intentos legales e influir en la burocracia educativa a su favor.[xxvii]

Hasta el momento de escribir esto, hay una falta de información creíble sobre la única institución que fue transferida o abierta en Bielorrusia. No obstante, este desarrollo ocurrió poco después de la apertura de dos escuelas en Bucarest, Rumania, y Elbasan, Albania, a finales de 2019. Ambas escuelas reemplazaron a las escuelas Hizmet que existían en los respectivos países. [xxviii]

EVALUANDO LAS CONSEQUENCIAS:

Hasta marzo de 2021, la Fundación Maarif había tomado el control de 216 escuelas Hizmet en 44 países, afirmando que había firmado otros 77 protocolos para supervisar la gestión de escuelas en otros 45 países.[xxix] Más de la mitad de las escuelas restantes gestionadas por el personal de Hizmet se encuentran en Estados Unidos y Europa. En Estados Unidos, hay un total de 312 escuelas, cuatro universidades y 155 escuelas autónomas (charter schools), con las instalaciones más grandes en los estados federales de Texas, Ohio, California y Florida.[xxx] La rápida actividad con la que la Fundación ha obtenido el control de las escuelas Hizmet plantea muchos riesgos en varios niveles: para los niños y sus padres, para las sociedades nacionales en las que operan las escuelas Maarif y a nivel bilateral entre Turquía y los países anfitriones.

Toguslu (2017) explicó estos riesgos en primer lugar a nivel bilateral, previendo correctamente que una vez que las tensiones diplomáticas de 2016 y 2017 disminuyeran, los países africanos habían allanado el camino para que las capacidades de poder duro de Turquía se expandieran aún más en África utilizando las escuelas como una extensión, como se observó en Senegal.[xxxi] En apariencia, la Fundación quiere que los países crean que la calidad de la educación y las instalaciones ofrecidas en las escuelas Maarif es de un nivel superior y que la Fundación pondrá fin a la supuesta educación difamada o defectuosa que se ofrecía anteriormente en las escuelas Hizmet. Esta presentación superficial es evidente en la declaración de Nalova Lyonga, Ministra de Educación Secundaria de Camerún:

“Los estudiantes aprenderán francés e inglés, además de turco, y desarrollarán una cultura diferente y el hábito de vivir juntos. Damos importancia a los diferentes idiomas como parte de la cultura y acogemos con alegría la educación turca. Creo que la cultura turca nos aportará mucho.”[xxxii]

A nivel más profundo, la realidad es que Turquía está utilizando la Fundación Maarif para expandir su influencia política. Esta tendencia se evidencia a partir de comportamientos pasados, como la exportación de profesores e imanes turcos a Europa para recopilar información sobre las comunidades diaspóricas y asegurarse de que sigan las directivas e ideología del partido AKP.[xxxiii] Akgun & Ozkan (2020) también han informado sobre las aspiraciones de la Fundación de ir más allá del ámbito educativo y realizar una contribución más amplia hacia la política exterior de Turquía y las relaciones diplomáticas a través del sector educativo.[xxxiv]

Además, existen riesgos significativos asociados a la erradicación de las escuelas Hizmet. Los maestros de Hizmet ofrecían una calidad educativa superior al promedio a los estudiantes en sus países de acogida. Esto se evidencia en la excelencia académica atribuida a los estudiantes y en la alta tasa de satisfacción mostrada por los padres; las escuelas Hizmet eran reconocidas hasta el punto en que los funcionarios estatales preferían enviar a sus hijos a la educación de Hizmet.[xxxv] Organizaciones internacionales, como la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), también han encontrado que el sistema educativo de Turquía tiene un rendimiento inferior en comparación con otros países. En particular, existe un riesgo conocido de acoso sexual en las instituciones educativas y en Turquía en general, demostrado por los escándalos que rodean a la Fundación Ensar, la cual tenía estrechos vínculos con el presidente Erdogan.[xxxvi] Turquía en sí misma no proporciona una educación de calidad a sus estudiantes y, sin embargo, exporta sus propios sistemas educativos y valores a otros países. Esto plantea un riesgo fundamental para los países que importan la educación turca al disminuir el nivel de la educación en los países receptores, impidiendo que los niños reciban la educación de calidad que merecen. Por extensión, esto podría tener un impacto negativo en el desarrollo económico de los países receptores al impedir la acumulación de capital humano a través de una educación de calidad.

Un riesgo importante es la posibilidad de que la Fundación Maarif pueda promover el objetivo de Erdogan de convertirse en líder del mundo islámico utilizando la inversión como un medio para congraciarse con él y su agenda ante los musulmanes no turcos que viven en el extranjero.[xxxvii] Esta ambición es peligrosa por dos razones. En primer lugar, el enfoque de “convivencia” y apertura de las escuelas de Hizmet para dialogar con diferentes etnias, especialmente religiones, contrasta fuertemente con la ideología cerrada y exclusiva de Erdogan, quien en el pasado ha afirmado abiertamente que los musulmanes y los cristianos no deben relacionarse entre sí. En segundo lugar, África tiene problemas únicos con el terrorismo, como la proliferación del ISIS en Mozambique, Uganda y la República Democrática del Congo, así como Boko Haram en Nigeria. Si la Fundación Maarif se hiciera cargo de un sector significativo del sistema educativo en muchos países africanos, estos problemas podrían empeorar, ya que las escuelas difundirían la ideología de Erdogan, que fundamenta la política en principios religiosos.[xxxviii] Dr. Dinse expresó su preocupación respect al riesgo de desestabilización de sociedades africanas diciendo:

“Lo que ha sucedido con nuestra inversión es extraño para cualquier observador (…) En un país con un sólido sistema de estado de derecho y que alberga la sede de la Unión Africana, la Comisión Económica de las Naciones Unidas para África y muchas comunidades diplomáticas, resulta increíble que una inversión extranjera pueda ser tomada por la fuerza sin recurrir al estado de derecho.”

Las Escuelas Hizmet estaban protegidas de este riesgo porque carecían de un vínculo formal con Gülen y, por lo tanto, nunca intentaron crear un movimiento global basado únicamente en la ideología de Gülen. Ni las escuelas ni los estudiantes intentaron defender a Gülen después del fallido golpe de estado, ni se opusieron directamente a las acciones de Erdogan.[xxxix] Las escuelas se mantuvieron como instituciones educativas en lugar de herramientas políticas. La única actividad política vinculada causalmente a las escuelas Hizmet fue la protesta en defensa de la autonomía y legalidad de las escuelas frente a los intentos de adquisición de la Fundación Maarif. G. Angey (2018) documentó esta resistencia en un estudio de caso en Senegal, donde la sociedad civil, los padres y los funcionarios públicos, en lugar de turcos o personal de Hizmet, desafiaron públicamente las transferencias intentadas en los tribunales, citando los riesgos de perder oportunidades educativas valoradas.[xl]

No hay forma posible de que las escuelas Maarif estén aisladas de la política debido a que la Fundación es una institución del estado y porque Turquía mantiene una influencia económica sobre los gobiernos africanos. Por lo tanto, incluso si la sociedad civil africana, los funcionarios públicos y los organismos estatales se movilizan de manera más sustantiva contra las escuelas, los gobiernos africanos aún se verán obligados a cumplir y cooperar con las demandas de Erdogan debido a la amenaza económica de empeorar las relaciones con Turquía. Por ejemplo, la Comisión de Inversiones de Etiopía señala que Turquía es el segundo mayor inversionista en Etiopía, con $2.5 mil millones de inversión directa. Las empresas turcas también son los mayores empleadores, proporcionando aproximadamente 30,000 empleos.[xli] Estos hechos le otorgan a Erdogan el poder de influir, para bien o para mal, en el progreso socioeconómico de Etiopía y, por lo tanto, el poder de exigir acciones políticas al gobierno etíope.

CONCLUSIÓN

En resumen, el gobierno turco ha cambiado sus objetivos de política exterior hacia la exportación de la educación, especialmente hacia África. Inicialmente, este cambio fue producto del movimiento Gülen, que apoyaba la enseñanza de la moderación, el humanitarismo y el multiculturalismo. El movimiento Gülen inspiró las escuelas Hizmet, que carecían de cualquier vínculo explícito con Gülen y ciertamente no fueron planeadas por él, aunque buscaban continuar su ética innovadora. Estas escuelas allanaron el camino para la inversión privada, los vínculos culturales y la diplomacia educativa antes de la entrada de representantes públicos del gobierno turco; sin embargo, también es cierto que las escuelas Hizmet dependían de la buena voluntad del gobierno turco, utilizando redes oficiales de comunicación para abrir más escuelas en toda África. El surgimiento y la caída de Hizmet son, por lo tanto, una tragedia resultada de la identidad fluida de las escuelas. Eran tanto producto de Turquía, ya que se inspiraron en Gülen, fueron financiadas por empresarios turcos y fueron posibles gracias a las conexiones con funcionarios públicos, como producto de la sociedad local, que con el tiempo llegó a respetar y apropiarse de las instituciones donde sus hijos recibieron una educación de alta calidad. Esta localización de la propiedad formal e informal hizo que las escuelas adoptaran una identidad más africana o europea que turca. Esta dinámica es evidente en la lucha local, en lugar de internacional, contra la expropiación de las escuelas Hizmet.

Sin embargo, las narrativas relacionadas con las escuelas son divergentes. Muchas de las fuentes citadas en este informe respaldan la narrativa de que las escuelas Hizmet eran una extensión directa del movimiento Gülen que tenía la intención de aislar a Turquía y al AKP con el objetivo de derrocar al gobierno. Otros respaldan la contra-narrativa de que el movimiento y las escuelas están siendo perseguidos por el gobierno turco como parte de su campaña por el dominio político y el desprecio por los derechos humanos. Este informe avanza en esta contra-narrativa, destacando la escalada de propaganda del gobierno turco contra Gülen y las escuelas Hizmet en el extranjero, que recordaba los temores preexistentes sobre el terrorismo y la inestabilidad generalizados en África y Europa. El establecimiento de la Fundación Maarif profundizó estos temores al inculcar en las sociedades donde Hizmet había tenido éxito la idea de que las escuelas Hizmet difundían sentimientos antigubernamentales y ofrecían una educación de baja calidad. La Fundación ofreció sus propias escuelas Maarif como alternativa, afirmando que eran tanto educativamente superiores como más alineadas con los objetivos políticos de los países anfitriones. Pero la realidad es que la Fundación es un brazo extendido del régimen de Erdogan que tiene como objetivo erradicar el sistema Hizmet, recuperar el control sobre las relaciones exteriores y adquirir influencia sobre otros países y dignatarios bajo los auspicios de la sociedad civil extranjera.

[i] Toguslu, E. (2017) ‘The Turbulence between AKP and Hizmet: The African Case’. Centre for Hizmet Studies, p. 9; see also BBC (2016) ‘Tukey coup: What is Gulen movement and what does it want?’. Available online from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36855846 [Accessed 09/07/2022]; see also Norton, J. & Kasapoglu, C. (2016) ‘Turkey’s post-coup crackdown hits ‘Gulen schools’ worldwide’. BBC. Available online from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37422822 [Accessed 09/07/2022].

[ii] Toguslu, pp. 8-9.

[iii] Ibid., pp. 10-11 & 13; see also Dipama, S. & Dal, E. P. (2019) ‘Assessing the Turkish “Trading State” in Sub-Saharan Africa’, in Dal, E. P. (eds.) (2019) Turkey’s Political Economy in the 21^st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham., pp. 250-253; see also Angey, G. (2018) ‘The Gulen Movement and the Transfer of a Political Conflict from Turkey to Senegal’. Politics, Religion & Ideology, Vol. 19(1), p. 53 (“By 2013, the Gülen Movement had over 100 schools in 50-odd countries across Africa and was collaborating closely with the Turkish state on the ground.”)

[iv] Toguslu, pp. 16-17; see also Akgun, B. & Ozkan, M. (2020) ‘Turkey’s Entrance to International Education: The Case of Turkish Foundation’. Insight Turkey, Vol. 22(1), p. 60.

[v] Stockholm Center for Freedom (2021a) ‘Turkey’s Maarif Foundation took over 216 Gulen-linked schools in 44 countries, chairman says’. Available online from: https://stockholmcf.org/turkeys-maarif-foundation-took-over-216-gulen-linked-schools-in-44-countries-chairman-says/ [Accessed 16/07/2022] (In order to dissuade his followers regarding these charges, Erdogan began designated the Gulen movement as a terrorist organisation, and that these charges are merely a conspiracy to take down and usurp the government).

[vi] Dr. Sezgin likens Erdogan to Mephisto from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, explaining that Erdogan’s corrupt nature could have stopped much earlier but instead progressed towards the pinnacle moment when he felt the zeal of the public supporting him and recognized that without support, he would face persecution. The series of charges led to Erdogan committing still more corruption and criminal activity, feeding his growing paranoia and need to collect constant intelligence, growing into a vicious cycle of corruption, crimes, and lies.

[vii] Toguslu, p. 19.

[viii] Ibid.; see also Angey, p. 58.

[ix] Abstract taken from the official law: https://www.global-regulation.com/translation/turkey/3393423/turkey-maarif-foundation-law.html [Accessed 10/07/2022].

[x] Toguslu, p.; Angey, p. 59.

[xi] Toguslu, pp. 19 & 20 19 (the author notes that “What the Education Ministry should be doing is being handed over to a foundation” which further indicates that the government wishes to continue acting via actors that hold a semi-public status of not exactly representing the government but still carrying out the tacitly approved conduct of its public officials); see also Angey, pp. 59-60; see also Akgun & Ozkan, p. 65 (Despite the nature of propaganda in this article, it is interesting to see how the domestic perspective of the Gulen movement’s and Hizmet schools’ respective images. It state that “In the past, the brand of ‘Turkish schools’ abroad was mostly used, popularized and even hijacked by FETO” and that the Foundation’s activities aim at “reclaiming [the] educational soft power for Turkey.”)

[xii] Toguslu, p. 21; see also Angey, pp. 60-61; see also Donelli, p. 10; see also Tigli, I. et al. (2021) ‘Turkey’s Maarif Foundation takes over2nd FETO-linked school in Ethiopia’. Anadolu Agency. Available online from: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/education/turkeys-maarif-takes-over-2nd-feto-linked-school-in-ethiopia/2305135 [Accessed 10/07/2022]; see also Daily Sabah (2021) ‘Tukey’s Maarif Foundation takes over all FETO schools in Ethiopia’. Available online from: https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/war-on-terror/turkeys-maarif-foundation-takes-over-all-feto-schools-in-ethiopia [Accessed 10/07/2022].

[xiii] Angey, p. 60; see also Dipama & Dal, pp. 245-246, 249, and 257-263.

[xiv] Daily Sabah (2016) ‘Maarif Foundation takes over FETO schools in Gabon’. Available online from: https://www.dailysabah.com/war-on-terror/2016/12/22/maarif-foundation-take-over-feto-schools-in-gabon [Accessed 10/07/2022]

[xv] Halil, I. & Kazanci, H. (2017) ‘Turkey takes over FETO terror group schools in Chad’. Anadolu Agency. Available online from: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/turkey-takes-over-feto-terror-group-schools-in-chad/1014315 [Accessed 10/07/2022].

[xvi] Ibid.

[xvii] Paksoy, Y. (2017) ‘FETO-free era of national education begins in Guinea’. Daily Sabah. Available online from: https://www.dailysabah.com/war-on-terror/2017/02/02/feto-free-era-of-national-education-begins-in-guinea [Accessed 10/07/2022].

[xviii] Yuzbasioglu, N. (2017) ‘Burundi transferring FETO schools to Turkish Foundation’. Anadolu Agency. Available online from: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/burundi-transferring-feto-schools-to-turkish-foundation/908418 [Accessed 10/07/2022]; see also Tih, F. K. (2017) ‘Burundi to transfer FETO schools to Turkey’s Maarif’. Anadolu Agency. Available online from: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/burundi-to-transfer-feto-schools-to-turkey-s-maarif/825981 [Accessed 10/07/2022].

[xix] Daily Sabah (2017) ‘Djibouti gives Turkey’s Maarif Foundation green light to build schools’. Available online from: https://www.dailysabah.com/education/2017/03/07/djibouti-gives-turkeys-maarif-foundation-green-light-to-build-schools [Accessed 10/07/2022].

[xx] Stockholm Centre for Freedom (2018).

[xxi] Durul, T. (2018) ‘FETO-linked school in E.Guinea handed over to Maarif Foundation’. Anadolu Agency. Available online from: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/feto-linked-school-in-eguinea-handed-over-to-maarif-foundation/1255942 [Accessed 10/07/2022].

[xxii] Turkiye Maarif Vakfi (2019) ‘Official Opening of Maarif Schools in Cameroun’. Available online from: https://turkiyemaarif.org/post/7-official-opening-of-maarif-schools-in-cameroun-615?lang=en [Accessed 16/07/2022].

[xxiii] Tigli, I. et al. (2021) ‘Turkey’s Maarif takes over 2^nd FETO-linked school in Ethiopia’. Available online from: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/education/turkeys-maarif-takes-over-2nd-feto-linked-school-in-ethiopia/2305135 [Accessed 16/07/2022].

[xxiv] Stockholm Center for Freedom (2021b) ‘Turkey’s Maarif Foundation illegally seized German-run schools in Ethiopia, says manager’. Available online from: https://stockholmcf.org/turkeys-maarif-foundation-illegally-seized-german-run-school-in-ethiopia-says-manager/ [Accessed 16/07/2022].

[xxv] Ibid.

[xxvi] Ibid.

[xxvii] Daily Sabah (2021).

[xxviii] Daily Sabah (2019) ‘Maarif Foundation opens its first school in EU’. Available online from: https://www.dailysabah.com/war-on-terror/2019/09/18/maarif-foundation-opens-its-first-school-in-eu [Accessed 16/07/2022].

[xxix] Stockholm Center for Freedom (2021a).

[xxx] Usta, B. (2021) ‘Turkey’s Maarif resumes activities at full speed, taking over 214 schools across world’. Available online from: https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/war-on-terror/turkeys-maarif-resumes-activities-at-full-speed-taking-over-214-schools-across-world [Accessed 16/07/2022].

[xxxi] Toguslu, p. 21.

[xxxii] Turkiye Maarif Vakfi.

[xxxiii] Toguslu, p. 21; see also Pitel, L. (2021) ‘Erdogan’s great game: Soldiers, spies and Turkey’s quest for power’. Financial Times. Available online from: https://www.ft.com/content/8052b8aa-62b9-40c9-a40c-d7187d5cd98a [Accessed 16/07/2022]; see also San, S. (2021) ‘Turkish spies are abducting Erdogan’s political opponents abroad’. Open Democracy. Available online from: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/turkish-spies-are-abducting-erdogans-political-opponents-abroad/ [Accessed 16/07/2022]; see also Vidino, L. (2019) ‘Erdogan’s Long Arm in Europe’. Foreign Policy. Available online from: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/07/erdogans-long-arm-in-europe-germany-netherlands-milli-gorus-muslim-brotherhood-turkey-akp/ [Accessed 16/07/2022].

[xxxiv] Akgun & Ozkan, p. 68.

[xxxv] Toguslu, pp. 21-22; see also Angey, pp. 62 & 65; see also Donelli, p. 7.

[xxxvi] Toguslu, p. 22; see also Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (2018) ‘Result from PISA 2018 – Turkey’. Available online from: https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/PISA2018_CN_TUR.pdf [Accessed 16/07/2022]; see also Nordic Monitor (2019) ‘Turkey’s Ensar Foundation, caught up in child sexual abuse, became OIC partner’. Available online from: https://nordicmonitor.com/2019/09/turkeys-ensar-foundation-caught-up-in-child-sexual-abuse-became-oic-partner/ [Accessed 16/07/2022].

[xxxvii] Toguslu, pp. 23-24; see also Stockholm Center for Freedom (2018)

[xxxviii] Toguslu, pp. 22-23 & 24.

[xxxix] Angey, p. 65.

[xl] Ibid., pp. 65-66.

[xli] Daily Sabah (2021); see also Dipama & Dal, p. 260.

Cover Image :https://hizmetnews.com/24565/kyrgyzstan-rebuffs-turkish-takeover-of-gulen-schools/#.Y3CyWnbMJPY

Translated by Joan Vilalta Flo from the original https://brokenchalk.org/turkeys-hard-power-turn-handing-hizmet-schools-to-the-turkey-maarif-foundation/

Hizmet schools Maarif Turkey Turquía

Universal Periodic Review of Cape Verde

Broken Chalk is a non-profit NGO that investigates and reports human rights violations in education worldwide while advocating for and supporting human rights-focused educational development. By submitting this report, Broken Chalk aims to contribute to the 44^th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Cape Verde with a focus on the education sector, encouraging the country to continue its improvement efforts and providing further insight into how to overcome current challenges and deficiencies regarding human rights in education.
On the third UPR Cycle, Cape Verde received 18 recommendations from 17 reviewing countries. Those included multiple encouragements to ratify the Convention Against Discrimination in Education, the recommendation to education to former detainees or inmates, to extend free education to secondary school levels, to ensure access to education and improve (adult) literacy rates in rural areas (especially for women), to reduce gender inequality in education, and to continue enhancing and resourcing the Education Strategic Plan 2017–2021 to provide quality education for all and securing education access to vulnerable collectives.[i]
Regarding Human Development, the 2019 Cape Verde’s Index is 0.665, above the average for countries in the medium human development group and above the Sub-Saharan Africa average.[ii] However, regarding ensuring the right to education, against an income-adjusted benchmark, Cape Verde scored 82%, with sub-scores indicating significantly lower performance in secondary education provision than in primary education provision, all of which suggests that there still is much room for improvement.[iii] The Covid-19 pandemic, climate change shocks and the Russo-Ukrainian war effects on the global economy have exacerbated the reported preexisting inequalities by increasing poverty and unemployment in the country.[iv] Moreover, Cape Verde is considered a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), which faces specific challenges due to its remoteness, small size and susceptibility to climate and economic shocks.[v]

by Joan Vilalta

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44th_Session_UN-UPR_Country_Review_Cape_Verde

[i] UPR Info Database (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://upr-info-database.uwazi.io/en/library?q=(allAggregations:!f,filters:(cycle:(values:!(%27567eec7b-d5ab-4c36-a712-57c38fae9124%27)),issues:(values:!(%27660e6cc6-8624-4858-9cfd-ae4051da1241%27)),state_under_review:(values:!(mqylicwt2a))),includeUnpublished:!f,order:desc,sort:creationDate,treatAs:number,types:!(%275d8ce04361cde0408222e9a8%27),unpublished:!f)

[ii] National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Cabo Verde. (2021). Cabo Verde NQF Update 2021. Retrieved from https://acqf.africa/resources/mapping-study/cape-verde-country-report-update/@@display-file/file/Cabo%20Verde_NQF%20UPDATE%202021.pdf

[iii] Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI). (n.d.). Cape Verde – Equality and Non-Discrimination. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from: https://rightstracker.org/en/country/CPV?pb=adjusted&tab=report-esr&gactive=female&gactive=male&gactive=all

[iv] National Directorate of Planning. (June 2021). Cabo Verde Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/282392021_VNR_Report_Cabo_Verde.pdf

[v] Ferreira, E. S., & Loureiro, S. M. C. (2021). Challenges of a small insular developing state: Cape Verde. Revista de Estudios e Investigación en Psicología y Educación, (1), 125-134.

Cover image by Wikiwand

44th Session 4th Cycle by Joan Vilalta Cape Verde Universal Periodic Review

Halime Gülsu: La Profesora Celestial Asesinada en Prisión

Halime Gülsu –El deficiente Sistema penitenciario turco conllevó la Muerte de un alma única. Una reseña del libro “La Vida de Halime Gülsu: La Profesora Celestial Asesinada en Prisión” (2022)

Por Vivien Kretz

¿Cómo pueden los prisioneros no ser condenados a muerte, pero aun así ser asesinados? ¿Cómo pagan los civiles por sus vidas? Preguntas como estas surgen al pensar en el destino de Halime Gülsu.

Escrito por Zeynep Kayadelen y publicado por la organización de derechos humanos de los Estados Unidos Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST), el libro titulado “Halime Gülsu: La Profesora Celestial Asesinada en Prisión” se basa en los relatos de las compañeras de celda de Gülsu que fueron testigos de sus momentos finales, así como de sus amigos y familiares. Murió como reclusa en un departamento de una prisión en la provincia de Mersin, en Turquía, debido a la falta de acceso suficiente a la atención médica.

La historia de Halime Gülsu fue reconstruida por Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST), una ONG turca. La autora, Zeynep Kayadelen, comienza su obra con un prefacio: “Hemos muerto muchas veces” (Kayadelen 2022, 9). La desesperanza se asoma entre sus palabras. Dedica esta obra literaria a aquellos que han muerto dolorosamente, luchando por una causa que les importaba.

En su emotiva novela, Kayadelen habla del triste destino de Halime Gülsu, una dedicada profesora que enseñaba en Turquía y formaba parte del movimiento Hizmet. Este movimiento está influenciado por las ideas y objetivos del erudito Fethullah Gülen. El movimiento Hizmet está dedicado a una Turquía más libre, igualitaria y sostenible.

Gülsu era una profesora muy devota. Enseñaba a sus estudiantes durante su horario laboral y los apoyaba cuando muchos de ellos eran perseguidos por el régimen turco.

El régimen de Turquía se posicionó en contra de aquellos afiliados a Hizmet y aquellos que eran parte del movimiento. Gülsu y la mayoría de sus amigos estaban en una situación difícil. Se sentía vigilada en cada paso que daba. Sabía que el régimen la perseguía y que no le deseaba bien. Kayadelen lo describió como: “Si su opresión fuera un fuego, su animosidad era el viento que lo azotaba”. Sin embargo, Gülsu se negó a ceder y rechazó la oportunidad de salir del país. Gran parte de su familia vivía en Canadá, por lo que a menudo podía viajar al extranjero para ver a su familia. Sin embargo, se sentía orgullosamente turca y eligió quedarse para defenderse del régimen. Se enfatiza varias veces a lo largo del libro que se veía a sí misma como ciudadana de Turquía, y que decidió luchar por un futuro prometedor para su país. Sin embargo, los líderes del régimen no estuvieron de acuerdo con esto.

El 20 de febrero de 2018, Gülsu fue arrestada por ser parte del movimiento Hizmet. Su arresto la tomó por sorpresa. Gülsu sabía que la vigilaban, pero no esperaba ser arrestada e encarcelada. Después de que el equipo de Fuerzas Especiales Antiterroristas de Mersin hubiera registrado todo su apartamento y lo hubiera desordenado todo, la esposaron y la llevaron a la prisión de Tarsus.

Gülsu no estaba bien de salud. Padecía lupus eritematoso crónico, una enfermedad autoinmunitaria, y requería medicación diaria y semanal para tratar su enfermedad. Cuando las fuerzas turcas sacaron a la maestra de su casa, rápidamente tomó su medicación diaria y sus registros médicos para llevar con ella. Desafortunadamente, Gülsu olvidó llevar su medicamento semanal durante su arresto.

Una vez que Gülsu llegó a la prisión, pidió sus documentos médicos, que indicaban que estaba enferma y necesitaba su medicación semanal y atención médica, pero no fueron encontrados. Gülsu se encontró ante una situación aterradora y peligrosa. La colocaron en una celda abarrotada con otras mujeres. La celda estaba hecha para diez personas con diez camas, y cuando ella entró, ya estaba al doble de su capacidad. Algunas de las prisioneras tenían bebés, pero no tardaron en separar a las madres de sus hijos. A las mujeres prisioneras se les obligaba a enviar a sus hijos pequeños a casa porque se consideraba que no podían cuidar de ellos en prisión.

Gülsu experimentó todo de primera mano: las rutinas, las incertidumbres y las historias de las demás prisioneras, pero no por mucho tiempo. Tres meses después de su arresto, Gülsu murió por negligencia médica. Gülsu no recibió acceso a su medicamento semanal ni le concedieron tratamiento médico para su enfermedad crónica de lupus. Su condición empeoró y desarrolló crecimientos y bultos, pasó una terrible agonía. Gülsu se debilitaba cada día más. Cuando su hermano finalmente pudo entregarle el medicamento, ya era demasiado tarde. Gülsu no pudo sobrellevar el dolor, y la agresiva enfermedad había progresado demasiado. Según explican los reclusos y la familia, Gülsu se dio cuenta de sus últimos días.

Después de semanas de sufrimiento, finalmente se le permitió ir al hospital, pero era demasiado tarde. Después de regresar a la prisión, sus compañeras de celda, que se habían convertido en amigas cariñosas, tuvieron que cargarla porque estaba demasiado débil para caminar, la cuidaron, la alimentaron y rezaron por ella. Lamentablemente, en abril de 2018, a las 3:10, murió sola en un pasillo de la prisión. “Como un capullo vacío, su cuerpo seco fue dejado atrás, simplemente yacía allí”, escribió Kayadelen en su libro.

La autora Kayadelen narra el libro en primera persona, lo que hace que sea más fácil para el lector empatizar con lo que la maestra debió haber pasado durante su difícil tiempo en prisión. El libro de Kayadelen es una intensa experiencia de lectura con una visión personal de lo que Gülsu experimentó durante sus últimos días. A través de múltiples entrevistas con personas que trabajan en la prisión y conocidos de Gülsu, la organización reunió los relatos sobre su tiempo en prisión y creó un fuerte trasfondo para una historia contada desde el corazón.

El trabajo de Kayadelen es una voz fuerte contra todas las violaciones de los derechos humanos en las prisiones turcas. Los defensores de Silenced Turkey hicieron un excelente trabajo al dar una pequeña parte de justicia a Halime Gülsu, “la maestra celestial”. El libro se puede comprar aquí: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Halime-Gulsu-Heavenly-Murdered/dp/B0BMY9HXYW

Translated by Joan Vilalta Flo from The Life of Halime Gülsu: The Heavenly Teacher Murdered in Prison.

Halime Gulsu Maestra celestial muerte negligencia médica prisión Profesora Régimen turco Turquía

Educational challenges in Perú: Battling against intersectional discrimination

Written by Joan Vilalta Flo

Education is a fundamental human right. As dictated by the ICESCR and CESCR, everyone is entitled to non-discriminatory, quality, culturally sensitive, affordable, and accessible education. According to the Human Rights Measurement Initiative, in 2019 Perú showed fairly good results when it came to using its income to ensure the fulfillment of people’s right to education. From a low-and-middle-income assessment standard, it achieved 89.3% of the benchmark set for the global ranking, and 90.5% of its income-adjusted benchmark[i]. Indeed, there have been considerable improvements in the Peruvian education system throughout the years, such as an increase in the education budget (a 50% between 2012 and 2017) and overall greater accessibility and provision of education to the bulk of society[ii].

Nevertheless, numerous recent sources indicate, through a more nuanced view, that several obstacles still hamper accessible and quality education in Perú, especially for certain vulnerable populations, which in some cases are discriminated simultaneously at multiple levels. The following paragraphs will outline some of the current challenges that Perú faces when ensuring human rights in education.

Segregation

According to a recent in-depth study that uses data from the Peruvian Ministry of Education, the uneven distribution of students in Peruvian schools depending on socioeconomic level, but also residence location or performance is a great challenge that is barely attended. Having extremely homogenous populations in educational centers, with certain centers accumulating those with similar socioeconomic advantages, negatively affects social cohesion, the quality of education, the exchange of social capital and the access to equal opportunities.

An example of this can be found in the expansion of private education centers. Originating in the widespread prestige of private education among Peruvians since the 90’s, the popularity and demand for private centers has increased steeply. Registration to basic education centers went from 14% in 1997 to 28.4% in 2020[iii]. While the Peruvian state pushed for universal education by providing public centers, it allowed the expansion of privatization, placing little regulation upon the sector. This has coincided with an increase of segregation in education, there currently is an uneven distribution of the student population among educational centers.

Rural public schools hold a disproportionately great number of low-income students, followed by urban public centers, then low-cost private centers and finally high-cost private centers, which are mainly composed by high-income students and barely contain socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Within the private circuit, the performance of students also increases with the cost of the school, pointing to the idea that individuals get only the education they can pay for.[iv] It should be noted that student performance in the increasingly popular low-cost private centers is sometimes similar or even lower than in standardized public schools, while they sometimes lack appropriate material and teacher capacitation. This indicates that the prestige of private education is sometimes uncalled for.[v]

Another example of segregation in education is displayed by the COAR or High-Performance Centers, secondary education centers that “reward talent”. Such public institutions accumulate students with outstanding results and are sometimes framed as inclusive, since they provide the opportunity to obtain “better quality” education those who cannot afford private schools. But it is precisely in the fact that the state guarantees a better quality of education in those centers that they become problematic, since the state fails its own responsibility to ensure the same educational quality to all its citizens. The 25 existing COAR only contain around 6.700 students in total and their student investment is 12.5 times higher compared to the rest of public schools, undermining the principles of equity and equal access to opportunities.[vi] Separating high-performance students from their original schools also curtails the possibility of peer-to-peer learning and improvement for the rest of students.

Moreover, while the access to a COAR seems to be solely determined by an individual’s “merit”, it must be considered that minority and vulnerable populations (such as individuals from rural and indigenous areas, whose mother tongue is not Spanish and whose parents have a low educational level) are significantly less likely to be enrolled or accepted in a COAR. It can be argued that “talent” is, in the end, only easily recognized and displayed in contexts of advantage; it is necessary to promote inclusive educational systems that provide equal opportunities for all.

COAR students in a meeting. Photo by ANDINA.

Legal Matters

Since May 2022 there has been a controversial law in place that can deeply affect education in human and civil rights, curtailing the quality of education: the Law No. 31498. This law essentially allocates greater power to parent’s associations to overwatch the curriculum of primary and secondary school levels, including veto power. The law contemplates that a moral criterion can be applied when overwatching (or vetoing) the curriculum’s content.

Parent’s association meeting. Photo by ANDINA.

While supporters of this law claim that it can enhance the quality of the educational material, organizations such as Human Rights Watch claim that this law puts quality and independent education to risk by subjugating the expertise of teachers and the Ministry of Education to parent’s views and opinions. They acknowledge that it is important to involve the parents in the educational process, but they note that this law has, in practice, translated into the reduction or veto of education in gender and sexuality matters.[vii] Such education is crucial to promote equality, social justice, and human rights, especially considering the high teen pregnancy rates and increased sexual violence rates in Perú.[viii] In fact, one of the recommendations by the 2018 UPR highlighted the need of an integral sexual education to inform women and girls about sexual health and reproductive rights.[ix] In short, this law potentially challenges the quality of education in human rights, justice and freedom of expression while hampering the development of critical thinking skills.

Also, as regards legal improvements, it should be noted that, as noted in the 2018 UPR recommendations, fully equipping disabled people with full juridical capacity and recognition in the Civil Code could guarantee their access to adapted, inclusive, quality education, which is something that hasn’t been fully achieved yet.[x]

The Digital Gap

The Covid-19 pandemic hit the Peruvian educational system hard: in 2021, a total of 124.533 students stopped attending the classes. Although the government of Perú acted fast and implemented various policies to continue providing education for all students (including the provision of technological material to families with little resources and connectivity, and equipping teachers with capacities to adapt to virtual education)[xi], the crisis underscored a salient problem in Peruvian education: the so-called Digital Gap.

Children from a rural area using technological devices. Photo by Servindi.

Numerous studies conducted during and after the pandemic highlighted that rural, usually indigenous families (which are also often the ones with lowest income) have got less access to technological material, sometimes lack internet connection and, by extension, attain less digital literacy than those located in urban areas under better socioeconomical conditions.[xii] The lack of technological accessibility and knowledge is a widespread problem in South America and the Caribbean, where as much as 55% of the population is affected.[xiii] This gap represents a situation of inequality in education access and quality between urban, wealthier populations and poorer rural communities, and it has implications far beyond the Covid-19 pandemic in a future where digital access is increasingly essential for professional development[xiv]. Less than 10% of the Peruvian population that did not finish primary education has access to internet[xv], highlighting that the inequality also affects those with a lower educational level, making the inequality somewhat cyclical. It should also be considered that ensuring the obtention of technology is not enough: the technological item itself needs to be accessible to students with special needs, which reportedly was the most overlooked collective during the pandemic.

Illiteracy, School Dropout and Absenteeism

According to the National Statistics Institute, around 5.6% of the population over 15 years old in Perú do not know how to read and write.[xvi] Literacy is key to reduce poverty and build democratic and fair societies with respect for social equality and human rights. While steady improvements have been made in this area in Perú, the illiteracy rate remains high, especially among, again, vulnerable collectives and minorities. Most illiterate individuals live in contexts of extreme poverty located in rural areas (in which illiteracy is 4 times greater than in urban areas), are indigenous, and their mother tongue is Quichua, Aimara or another regional language.[xvii] The gender component, which will be elaborated on further on this article, also plays into illiteracy: 8.3% of Peruvian women are illiterate, compared to 2.9% of men.[xviii]

Women from a rural area attending a literacy class. Photo by Diario Correo.

The number of workers between 14 and 18 years old has reportedly increased by 485.000 in 2021.[xix] Many young individuals who live in non-urban areas in poor economic conditions, often must assume work duties to survive, which makes their school attendance irregular and negatively impacts their performance.[xx] This is especially true for girls, who are often assigned to do the bulk of domestic work by their families, or who are affected by teenage pregnancy and sometimes forced into marriage.[xxi] This represents an obstacle to alphabetization and obtention of quality education, as well as a school dropout problem: the dropout rate in Perú is of 6.3%. For the reasons mentioned above, the rate for women is of 10.2% while for men it is of 8.4%.[xxii]

The challenge here is obvious: there needs to be greater efforts to increase literacy, particularly in poverty and rural contexts, including tending to the cultural and language needs of indigenous communities by enacting more flexible and inclusive education systems.[xxiii] Gender sensitive policies to ensure the education of girls and women must also be developed, while fighting patriarchal gender roles that undermine their rights.

A child working in agriculture. Photo available in RCR.

Sexual Violence in Education

In 2018, 34.6% of the Peruvian teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 had reportedly been victims of sexual abuse either at home or at school.[xxiv] Needless to say, these experiences deeply harm children at various levels and profoundly violate their human rights, including their right to quality education. This figure is alarming enough to highlight the importance of preventing such violence in education through implementing strong reporting and detection mechanisms, applying multisectoral prevention plans against child victimization, providing education in sexual and gender matters, raising awareness as well as building a stronger and more accessible justice system.[xxv]

Discrimination

As it can be picked up from the sections above, there is a level of discrimination towards certain (vulnerable) populations in Peruvian education, expressed through situations of inequity, inequality of opportunities and access to education, and differential provision of quality education.

Discrimination by gender is one of the most pressing matters. As explained earlier, Peruvian women and girls experience inequality in access and permanence in primary, secondary, and tertiary education due to socially enforced sexist gender roles that disregard their right to quality education.[xxvi] The inequality worsens in the case of women who live in rural areas; a limited education limits their professional possibilities, driving them towards jobs that do not require professionalization, provide low incomes and poor working conditions.[xxvii] Moreover, although the legislation includes a gender lens in education since 2003, implementation of a curriculum on gender issues has been very slow, mainly due to the opposition of religious groups.[xxviii] Hence, education in Perú still enforces sexist stereotypes that perpetuate gender inequalities.

Children from rural areas attending class. Photo by Educacción Perú.

Inequality is experienced by rural populations as well, visible through the previously mentioned education access difficulties, lower quality education due to lower resource allocation in rural educational centers, lack of technological facilities, and socioeconomical constrains. Indeed, the discrimination of these individuals intersects with the discrimination of lower socioeconomic status individuals, whose conditions makes it hard to attain educational continuity and good performance. Only 1 in 10 poor youths access university, while 5 in 10 rich youths do.[xxix]

Also intersecting with the discrimination towards rural populations, there is a longstanding discrimination against indigenous peoples. Evidence of this is displayed, for example, by the fact that they are vastly underrepresented in tertiary education. Students whose mother tongue is Spanish are more than twice as likely to register in tertiary education (34.4%) than those whose mother tongue is an indigenous one (14.1%).[xxx]

Disabled students also suffer a longstanding situation of inequality that, although formally condemned by the state and legally acknowledged, in practice results in the continued segregation of disabled students and a deficient Basic Education assistance rate of 52%.[xxxi]

Disabled children attending school. Photo by Perú 21.

Yet another level of discrimination in education can be seen against Venezuelan migrant children. Venezuelan migration to Perú for sociopolitical and economic reasons has been a rising phenomenon over the last years. Unfortunately, prejudices against them and structural disadvantages has placed them in a position of vulnerability; and Venezuelan children have not been exempted from it: 42% of Venezuelan children in Perú still have not accessed formal education.[xxxii] More palpable forms of discrimination towards Venezuelan children such as xenophobic bullying have also been reported. Physical or psychological violence in the context of education has been the result of xenophobia against Venezuelans, sometimes intersecting with other forms of discrimination, such as gender-based prejudices, which have contributed to the hyper-sexualization of Venezuelan girls.[xxxiii]

All in all, it seems necessary to promote inclusive educational schemes in which centers, educators, students, and families take conscience of the existing inequalities and work together to overcome them. The state needs to properly equip institutions and professionals in order to implement policies that shape a system that truly grants universal access to the same opportunities and quality contents while ensuring a positive and safe environment for all individuals.[xxxiv]

[i] Human Rights Tracker (n.d.)

[ii] UN, Human Rights Council (2018)

[iii] Ames (2021)

[iv] Ames (2021)

[v] Aquino (2018)

[vi] Ames (2021)

[vii] Cabrera (2023)

[viii] UN Perú (2022)

[ix] UN, Human Rights Council (2018)

[x] UN, Human Rights Council (2018)

[xi] Tarazona (2021), Fundacion Weise (2021)

[xii] Ortega Murga et al. (2021), Acho Ramirez et al. (2021)

[xiii] Tarazona (2021)

[xiv] Ortega Murga et al. (2021), Fundacion Weise (2021), Acho Ramirez et al. (2021)

[xv] Tarazona (2021)

[xvi] INEI (2018)

[xvii] Plan International Perú (2022), CARE (2023), INEI (2018)

[xviii] INEI (2018)

[xix] CARE (2023)

[xx] Plan International Perú (2022), CARE (2023), Becerra Paico (2022)

[xxi] Plan International Perú (2022), Becerra Paico (2022)

[xxii] CARE (2023)

[xxiii] Castillo-Acobo et al. (2022)

[xxiv] UNICEF (2018)

[xxv] UN Perú (2022)

[xxvi] Rojas (2022), Becerra Paico (2022)

[xxvii] Santa María et al. (2020), Cuenca and Urrutia (2019)

[xxviii] Rojas (2022)

[xxix] Cuenca and Urrutia (2019)

[xxx] Ames (2021)

[xxxi] Ames (2021)

[xxxii] Navas Zaraza and Morin Cabrera (2021)

[xxxiii] Navas Zaraza and Morin Cabrera (2021)

[xxxiv] Castillo-Acobo et al. (2022)

REFERENCES

Acho Ramírez, S., Diaz Espinoza, M., Criollo Hidalgo, V., & García Camacho, O. E. (2021). La realidad de la educación inclusiva en el Perú y los retos desde la virtualidad. In EduSol, 21(77), 153-168.

Ames, P (2021). Educación,¿la mejor herencia o el mejor negocio?: La segregación educativa en el Perú y los desafíos para la formación ciudadana. In Revista Peruana de Investigación Educativa, 13(15).

Aquino, B. (2018, March 16). Costos y segmentación de la educación privada – Educación al Futuro. Educación Al Futuro. Retrieved from: https://educacionalfuturo.com/articulos/costos-y-segmentacion-de-la-educacion-privada/#:~:text=En%20cuanto%20a%20las%20pensiones,pensiones%20superiores%20a%20S%2F%201000.

Becerra Paico, B. D. (2022). Políticas públicas en educación: Discriminación por género en el sistema educativo, caso Centro Poblado Saltur del distrito de Zaña, provincia de Chiclayo en la región Lambayeque, 2018-2019. Universidad Nacional Pedro Ruiz Gallo, Facultad de Ciencias Histórico Sociales y Educación.

Cabrera, C. G. (2023, January 24). Perú amenaza la educación sobre derechos humanos. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved from: https://www.hrw.org/es/news/2023/01/24/peru-amenaza-la-educacion-sobre-derechos-humanos

CARE (2023, February 7). 5 Cifras Alarmantes de la Educación en el Perú. CARE Perú. Retrieved from: https://care.org.pe/5-cifras-alarmantes-de-la-educacion-en-el-peru/#:~:text=El%20Per%C3%BA%20tiene%20una%20tasa,a%C3%B1os%20no%20la%20ha%20culminado.

Castillo-Acobo, R., Quispe, H., Arias-Gonzáles, J., & Amaro, C. (2022). Consideraciones de los docentes sobre las barreras de la educación inclusiva. Revista De Filosofía, 39.

Cuenca, R., & Urrutia, C. E. (2019). Explorando las brechas de desigualdad educativa en el Perú. In Revista mexicana de investigación educativa, 24(81), 431-461.

Fundación Weise (2021, June 17). ¿Cómo superar los retos de la desigualdad educativa en Perú? Fundación Wiese. Retrieved from: https://www.fundacionwiese.org/blog/es/desafios-de-la-educacion-no-presencial-en-el-peru-como-superar-los-retos-de-la-desigualdad-educativa-en-peru/

Human Rights Tracker (n. d.) Right to education – Human Rights Tracker. Retrieved from:https://rightstracker.org/en/metric/education?pb=best&dir=desc®ion=americas

INEI (2018). Capítulo 6: Tasa de analfabetismo. In Perú: Indicadores de Educación por Departamentos, 2008-2018 (pp. 131–140).

Navas Zaraza, A., & Morin Cabrera, N. (2021). Documento de orientaciones para la prevención de la discriminación y el acoso escolar xenofóbico en las instituciones educativas. In repositorio.minedu.gob.pe.

Ortega Murga, O. J., Quispe Ávalos, A. M., Consuelo Navarro, B., & Tello Sifuentes, Y. (2021). La educación virtual en época de pandemia: Los más desfavorecidos en el Perú. In Horizontes Revista de Investigación en Ciencias de la Educación, 5(21), 109-122.

Plan International Perú (2022, June 22). Brecha de educación en el Perú: esta es la población más afectada. Plan International. Retrieved from: https://www.planinternational.org.pe/blog/brecha-de-educaci%C3%B3n-en-el-per%C3%BA-esta-es-la-poblaci%C3%B3n-m%C3%A1s-afectada

Rojas, E. S. A. (2022). La equidad de género en la educación peruana. In Sapienza: International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 3(1), 608-619.

Santa María, B. C., Nizama, J. L. R., Santa María, I. C., & Ramírez, G. S. (2020). Educación y recursos económicos en mujeres del campo en Perú. In Revista de ciencias sociales, 26(2), 81-93.

Tarazona, C. N. (2021). Tensiones respecto a la brecha digital en la educación peruana. In Revista peruana de investigación e innovación educativa, 1(2), e21039-e21039.

UN, Human Rights Council (2018, March 28). Informe del Grupo de Trabajo sobre el Examen Periódico Universal. Examen Periódico Universal. United Nations, A/HRC/37/8.

UN Perú (2022, April 21). Ante los casos de abuso sexual contra niñas, niños y adolescentes. UN Perú. Retrieved from: https://peru.un.org/es/178888-ante-los-casos-de-abuso-sexual-contra-ni%C3%B1as-ni%C3%B1os-y-adolescentes

UNICEF (2018, July 18). UNICEF pide tolerancia cero y acciones urgentes frente al abuso sexual de niños, niñas y adolescentes en las escuelas. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/peru/comunicados-prensa/unicef-pide-tolerancia-cero-y-acciones-urgentes-frente-al-abuso-sexual-de-ninos

access disabilities Educational Challenges inequalities Inequality in education Intersectional discrimination Peru technology

ENTREVISTA A MELEK KAYMAZ

ENTREVISTA A MELEK KAYMAZ

Por Georgette Schönberger

Melek Kaymaz es una refugiada de Turquía que actualmente trabaja como profesora de matemáticas en una escuela de secundaria internacional en Ámsterdam. En la escuela enseña matemáticas en holandés a estudiantes de MAVO, HAVO y VWO.

¿Cómo acabó en Holanda?

Melek huyó de Turquía con su marido. Antes de llegar a Países Bajos, habían vivido en Iraq durante tres años, donde Melek trabajó de profesora de matemáticas. Cuando Melek se quedó embarazada, supieron que tanto volver a Turquía como quedarse en Iraq no serían buenas opciones. Querían un futuro mejor para su hija. En un principio, no tenían ni idea de donde podrían ir, explica Melek, “No teníamos visados para viajar a un país europeo, ni tampoco una green card para mudarnos a Estados Unidos.” Después de pasar un tiempo buscando opciones en Internet, descubrieron que en Holanda estaban dispuestos a recibir refugiados, un sitio en el que recibir ayuda y ser libres. “La libertad, esto es lo importante para mí; es la razón por la que nos mudamos a Países Bajos.” Ahora, Melek y su marido llevan viviendo en Holanda des de hace 5 años.

“Fue un paso enorme, y, al principio, me costó mucho adaptarme; no tenía ni idea de lo que implicaba vivir en Países Bajos. No conocía la lengua aún y desconocía la cultura neerlandesa por completo.” Melek y su marido se mudaros a Países Bajos solos, ya que ninguno de sus

¿Por qué se convirtió en profesora de Matemáticas?

“Cuando era pequeña no era mi sueño convertirme en profesora de matemáticas. Mas tarde en la vida tuve que tomar la decisión de que dirección quería tomar, y sabía que amaba las matemáticas. Veo las matemáticas como una especie de juego, un puzle que hay que resolver. Además, también supe que me gustaba enseñar matemáticas a otras personas. En muchas ocasiones tuve que explicar cosas de matemáticas a mis hermanos o a mi familia, y siempre me gustaba hacerlo. Así, la decisión de convertirme en docente de matemáticas fue una opción perfecta.”

¿Qué retos ha encontrado a lo largo del camino?

Cuando Melek y su marido llegaron a Países Bajos, tuvieron que empezar de cero. No sabían nada de neerlandés ni conocían la cultura. En un AZC de Ámsterdam, Melek te enseñó a si misma lo esencial de la lengua holandesa usando un libro que encontró ahí. Acabó viviendo durante 10 meses en el AZC con su marido y su hija recién nacida. Ahora vive en una casa con su familia en el sureste de Ámsterdam. También completó el “Curso de Orientación para el Estatus en la Clase” (Oriëntatietraject Statushouders voor de Klas), lo que no solo le permitió mejorar su holandés sino que también le permitió conocer el sistema educativo holandés y acceder a unas prácticas de docencia en una escuela de secundaria.

Actualmente aún trabaja en esta misma escuela como profesora de matemáticas. El proceso suena más fácil de lo que fue en realidad. Melek explica que fue tremendamente difícil encontrar trabajo como docente. Por ejemplo, ella aplicó para obtener la posición en más de 40 escuelas, pero sólo 5 escuelas le respondieron. Al final, ella pudo escoger entre dos escuelas. Sin embargo, le entristeció que muchos centros la ignorasen. “Soy diferente, esto lo entiendo; aun así, espero una respuesta como mínimo, especialmente con el déficit de profesores que hay en Holanda.”

Inicialmente, Melek sintió que los neerlandeses no confiaban el ella. “Les asusta la gente de fuera, al principio no te creen, pero una vez ganas su confianza, entonces todo va bien, son muy simpáticos y agradables.”

¿Qué diferencias hay entre el sistema educativo turco y el neerlandés?

“El sistema holandés es algo diferente al turco.” Por ejemplo, Melek nos explica que en las escuelas turcas tienen también diferentes niveles, pero lo que cambia es la edad en la que los niños cambian de nivel. Así, la escuela primaria en Turquía también dura ocho años, pero los niños holandeses entran a la escuela secundaria a una edad más temprana. Por esto, Melek sintió que los niños neerlandeses que justo empezaban la secundaria eran un poco infantiles. Lo que Melek también notó es que los niños holandeses son mucho más independientes. “Los niños aquí son mucho más activos. En Turquía el profesor tiene que estar al 100% y los estudiantes solo siguen lo que les es ordenado. En Holanda, los niños y niñas trabajan autónomamente en las tareas asignadas sin la constante instrucción del profesor.” Otra diferencia es que en Holanda hay muchos tipos de escuela distintos; públicas, privadas o cristianas, por ejemplo. En Turquía, en cambio, solo hay un único tipo de escuela.

De cara al futuro.

Aunque Melek echa de menos a su familia y amigos en Turquía y a su cultura, está contenta con su decisión de mudarse a Países Bajos. Por suerte, su familia y amigos la visitan de vez en cuando, pero ella no puede volver. Lo más importante para ella es la libertad que ha obtenido en Holanda. A Melek le gustaría comunicar a otros refugiados que, aunque sea difícil mudarse a Países Bajos y encontrar trabajo docente, uno no debe rendirse y hay que darlo todo para conseguirlo. Con el tiempo se hace más fácil.

Traducido de https://brokenchalk.org/verhaal-van-melek-kaymaz-na-alle-strijd-begint-een-gevluchte-leraar-les-te-geven/

Math Teacher Melek Kaymaz refugee teacher teaching math Turkey

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