Tender irregularities and iniquity between the provincial department and food suppliers have led to food not being supplied to 5,400 schools in KwaZulu-Natal province.
In South Africa, the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) is a government programme that provides one to two nutritious meals to all students in poorer primary and secondary schools.
NSNP aims to provide better quality education by enhancing children’s active learning capacity, alleviating short-term hunger, and incentivising them to attend school. The food scheme was specially created to feed children in remote areas. Pupils receive food on all school days. They usually get breakfast around 10 am and the main meal later in the day before school ends —-for many South African children, the meal they get from the NSNP is their only daily meal.
Recently, the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Education awarded a multi-million tender to a single supplier to deliver to all the schools in KZN.
In the past, the department used to work with several suppliers to provide to different districts across the province – using local suppliers from local businesses to source the food.
Previous suppliers, school staff and community members need to understand why the department would ditch a working system and award a single service provider a million-dollar tender.
Children were eating lunch at school. from: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/MC-SchoolFeedingResponse-Zukiswa-scaled.jpg
“Now, one individual has been given the tender, but no food has been delivered to the schools, and children are starving,” said Richard Malanga, a community member from Nongoma. Thousands of schools and millions of children across the province rely on the nutrition program.
How can one individual know how to provide meals to all schools, some of which are in very remote areas and local transport service is need it? It makes no sense.”
Where is our meal?
“Children are crying,” said Malanga. “Teachers are frustrated and can’t feed the children or force them to come to school.”
“Pupils can’t be expected to learn on an empty stomach,” said a teacher from Lady Smith who did not want to be named. “Government wants good grades, but the current situation pushes back the framework of the school syllabus. It also puts pressure on parents already under enormous financial pressure while providing for their families,” the teacher said.
Earlier this year, district officials told some school principals there would be a change in the NSNP, but further details still needed to be given.
Last week, the pupils came home with letters informing parents that there would not be any food at the schools. Parents, teachers and other community members are worried about the situation and are struggling to find a solution, while the Department of Education has yet to react.
KZN Education MEC Mbali Frazer suggested that the leading supplier in charge had some logistic issues and challenges.
“This unfortunate situation currently faced by our schools, communities and service providers is deeply regretted”, said Frazer.
“The department and the stakeholders have been working around the clock to solve these challenges. I wish to reaffirm our commitment towards providing all 2.3 million pupils with a nutritious meal as expected.”
The National Department of Education is responsible for ensuring that funds are secured from National Treasury. The NSNP is funded by a conditional grant, meaning that the R7 billion budget is specially reserved for providing school meals.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube has commissioned a full-scale investigation into the tender process followed for the scheme.
Opposition political parties and civic forums have requested clarification on what led the Department of Education to strip other suppliers of their duties and award 2.1 billion Rands to a single supplier/individual.
*This is a developing story.
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*The right to sufficient food is found in section 27(1)(b) of the South African Constitution. The National School Nutrition Programme is critical for furthering learners’ constitutional rights to essential nutrition. Children have the additional right to essential nutrition in Section 28(1)(c) and primary education (Section 29(1)(a) of the Constitution).
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in west Africa. The country occupies an extensive plateau, and its geography is characterized by a savanna that is grassy in the north and gradually gives way to sparse forests in the south. A former French colony, it gained independence as Upper Volta in 1960. The name Burkina Faso, which means “Land of Incorruptible People,” was adopted in 1984.
Schoolchildren in Burkina Faso – Photo by Anadolu Agency.
Characteristics of Education in Burkina Faso
School enrollment is one of the lowest in Africa, even though the government devotes a large portion of the national budget to education. French is the language of instruction in primary and secondary education.
Education in Burkina Faso has a very similar structure to the rest of the world, primary schools, secondary schools, and higher education. The academic year in Burkina Faso runs from October to July. The Education Act enacted that schooling is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 15 but unfortunately this is not always enforced. The education system is based on the French model and teaching language in all Burkina Faso schools is French. According to the World Bank, it is notable that approximately 56% of youth have no formal education, and 16% of youth have attained at most incomplete primary education, meaning that in total 72% meaning that in total 15-24 years old have not completed primary education in Burkina Faso.
The effect of Covid-19 on Education
Like every country worldwide, the education system in Burkina Faso was also affected by Covid-19. All schools in Burkina Faso were closed for nine weeks from march 2020. After this time schools in some areas reopened, with all schooling resuming after 14 weeks (UNESCO, 2020). School closure affected more than 20,000 educational establishments, and disrupted the education of over 4.7 million learners.
The impact of Covid-19 forced the closure of schools across the country, putting the most marginalized children at risk of losing out on learning and not returning to the classroom.
Broken chalk congratulates Burkina Faso for adopting remote studying undertaken during school closures with learning materials provided via television, radio and internet for primary and secondary school (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UNICEF & World Bank, 2020). However, 84% of students lack internet access, 81% lack digital devices, and 81% had difficulty distributing hard copies of learning materials. These disadvantaged students that are unable to access remote studies fell behind with others dropping out.
Another barrier to remote education is access to technology. The MILO (Monitoring Impacts on Learning Outcomes) project indicates that the support many schools most need relates to accessing technology, rather than human capital.
Armed groups attack on teachers, students, and schools in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso’s education system is facing recurrent and growing attacks by armed groups. Schools have been attacked, teachers assaulted and killed, and educational resources destroyed. At one point, all schools were closed, disrupting the school calendar. Students and staff were sent home.
Burkina Faso is facing an education crisis, with severe deterioration in access to education due to armed violence over the past few years. Education indicators have been declining since 2018, with the gross enrolment rate at the primary level falling from 90.7% to 86.1% and the post-primary level from 52% to 47.3%, a loss of 5 points in three years. For example, in the Sahel region, which has been partially affected by insecurity, the gross enrolment rate at the primary level has fallen from 53.4% in 2018 to 20.3% in 2021. Thus, only one in four children were attending school in the Sahel region in 2021.
The attacks by armed groups have led to the closures of many schools in Burkina Faso. As of 31 May 2022, more than 4,000 schools were closed due to insecurity, representing 17% of schools nationwide, interrupting the education of more than 700,000 children. An estimated 2.6 million children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 are out of school, representing more than half of all school-aged children (51.4%).
School closures increase with safety threats from armed groups – Photo by UNICEF
Access to water, sanitation, and hygiene
54% of the population of Burkina Faso has access to improved drinking water sources while only 23% has access to improved sanitation facilities. Regarding water and sanitation facilities in schools, Burkina Faso faces challenges. 14 years old Pauline W. Somlare grade 6 at Mouni primary school located 13 km from Niou in the plateau central region. Open since October 1979, it was only in 2001 that the school got its first water pump. Despite the water installation, not everything is going as it should. A few weeks ago, the school was again facing a crucial water problem leading to thirst, lack of hygiene, late lessons, and the often-served late lunch. The latest failure in 2019 could be repaired. In December 2019, thanks to UNICEF intervention following a request from the ministry in charge of education, the water pump was rehabilitated in Jan 2020.
Quality of Education
Despite the quality management of Burkinabe education system and its numerous educational strategy: The Orientation Law, the Basic Education Sector Development Plan, the Education Sector Plan, the Integrated Strategy for the Strengthening of Pedagogical Management, the Integrated Strategy for the Continuous Training of Teachers and Pedagogical Managers, or its Quality Reference Framework for Basic Education. Burkina Faso is still not quite “top of the class”. Defining strategies isn’t enough to guarantee success.
The scarcity of financial resources is a fact, accentuated by the transfer of competencies from the State to local authorities. And, if financial resources are lacking, the diagnosis also highlights that human resources are also limited. In a system that tends to move towards greater decentralization and which entrusts a great deal of responsibility to the actors closest to the ground, their support for these new responsibilities (particularly administrative and financial) is not always equal to the challenges.
Resources that do not always match the needs. With little training and support, teachers at the concentrated areas seem to have difficulty entirely playing their role. Often burdened by a heavy administrative workload, they have difficulty keeping up with the pace and thus slow down actions to improve quality teaching.
Negative Consequences for Students, Teachers, Society.
Attacks on schools and class disruptions have reduced the quality of education students receive and put many students behind in their studies. According to Human Rights Watch, one student said that she had failed her final exam after an attack forced her school to close for weeks, leaving her unable to prepare. Another said, “It makes me unhappy, to not be able to finish, to have to retake classes, to not even have any documents to show you took the class.
Lack of psychosocial and material support to victims of attacks from the armed group of men
Human Rights Watch identified the lack of consistent and timely support for victims of education-related attacks as another major issue. Numerous teachers who were attacked or threatened said they had never received any psychosocial support from the government. Others said the support they had received was perfunctory and woefully inadequate, without any longer-term follow-up. Many still struggled with emotional or psychological issues. Teachers said they felt abandoned and undervalued, and expected to restart work following redeployments despite the lack of the required psychosocial, financial, or material support.
Conclusion
Despite the challenges facing the education system in Burkina Faso, the government of Burkina Faso and other non-governmental organizations are trying to improve education in Burkina Faso. Nearly one million students do no longer have access to education. As a response, UNICEF, the Ministry of National Education, Literacy and Promotion of National Languages (MENA), and its partners, such as King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) have developed the Radio Education Programme in 2018. This programme is ensuring continuity of learning for affected children, who fled their homes because of the attacks on their schools.
Educational Challenges in Mozambique is one of the major struggles that the country faces and the core issue that the majority of educational organizations locally have to deal with. Most of the time, this is due to an array of factors within the country, especially with Mozambique being a southern underdeveloped nation.
In 2008, more than two thirds of the labor force had either no education at all, or had not completed primary school. Mozambique is still behind its neighbors (and competitors) in educational achievement at all levels, therefore more will need to be done to ensure the country establishes a qualified labor force that can promote sustainable economic growth. Studies in Mozambique and other African nations found that households and workers with primary education were able to transition into non-farm activities, achieving a higher income and transforming their livelihoods in both rural and urban areas, but those without at least lower primary education were not (Moz Policy Note, 2012:2).
In summary, Mozambique faces several educational challenges, some of these challenges may include: limited access to education, low quality of education, poverty and inequality, limited resources and lack of relevant curriculum[i].
Mozambique has shown its commitment to education. It has abolished school fees, provided direct support to schools and free textbooks at the primary level, as well as made investments in classroom construction. The sector receives the highest share of the state budget, over 15 per cent. As a result, there has been a significant rise in primary school enrollment over the past decade. Yet quality and improvement in learning has lagged. Additionally, enrollment stagnates in upper primary and secondary despite increased provision. About 1.2 million children are out of school, the majority being girls, particularly in the secondary age group. The 2013 national learning assessment found that only 6.3 per cent of Grade 3 students had basic reading competencies. A 2014 World Bank survey showed that only 1 per cent of primary school teachers have the minimum expected knowledge, and only one in four teachers achieves two-digit subtraction. Absenteeism among teachers is high at 45 per cent, and directors at 44 per cent. About half of enrolled students are absent on any given day.
Another huge challenge is the lack of an early childhood learning service. Only an estimated 5 per cent of children between 3 and 5 years benefit from them, and most services are still located in urban areas (UNICEF).
Low quality of education
Most of underdeveloped African nations use bribery in almost all the public services like hospital, school, police services and migration as a direct result of scarcity.
In terms of quality of education, Mozambique has a high percentage in lack of educated teachers, with good skills such as pedagogical trainings. Due to scarcity and low salaries (barely enough to survive), in most of the high school and primary schools teachers, parents and educators use bribery in return for successful grades.
It costs US$116 (or US$58 per day) to provide a teacher with high-quality, two-day training on development of low-cost materials including transport, full boarding, tuition and all the materials[ii].
However, according to Sam Jones (2017)[iii] Mozambique, in common with many other developing countries, has achieved impressive increases in access to education. Since 2000, the number of children attending primary school has more than doubled, as have the number of schools. Enrollment into secondary school also has risen rapidly — in 2004, less than 8,000 young people graduated from secondary school (12a classe) in the whole country; by 2014, the number of graduates exceeded 50,000.
These trends are positive, but they only paint half the picture. The flip-side of access is whether children are learning once they are in school. The evidence here is patchy, but broadly suggests that Mozambique is lagging a long way behind many of its developing country peers in the quality, rather than the quantity, of education that it offers its children.
It is not difficult to grasp why the quality of schooling matters. Weak educational systems create burdens for both employers and workers. If educational certificates are not a good guide to the skills a person possesses, employers find it difficult to identify the suitable and qualified candidates. This can lead to higher turnover and costly recruitment processes. It can also lead employers to demand higher levels of education, even where the specific tasks of a job do not demand it. Today, technological change also is increasing the demand for skills — even labour-intensive manufacturing firms prefer better-educated workers who are able to operate equipment and follow production goals.
A major education challenge in Mozambique is to ensure that all children who start primary school go on to complete it. Data from the Ministry of Education and Human Resources suggests that in each grade of primary school, only around 80% of children go straight to the next grade. Although not all of these children drop out, the probability of a child who starts primary school completing the full seven years is less than 50%. So, many young Mozambicans are entering the labour market without having even completed a primary education.
But completing primary education does not mean young Mozambicans learn enough through schooling. This is revealed by a recent face-to-face survey of children in Nampula implemented by TPC Moçambique, part of Facilidade-ICDS (Instituto para Cidadania e Desenvolvimento Sustentável). The survey follows a model originally developed by Pratham in India, now used in many countries. The data from these surveys are not strictly comparable, but they are informative about broad differences.
Using the survey, Table 1 compares attainment in literacy and numeracy across a range of countries. In all cases, the competencies tested refer to skills taken from each country’s curriculum that should be mastered by children after completing two years of education. We see that there are many children attending grade 5 who do not master grade 2-level skills. In Nampula, the majority of children finishing in the first phase of primary school are not mastering the basics: less than 1 in 3 children in grade 5 can read a simple story and do basic subtraction. Moreover, attainments in Mozambique appear substantially below those of children in the same grade in other low-income countries.
Table 1: Share of children enrolled in grade 3 and grade 5 able to achieve specific competencie
Notes: table is adapted from Jones et al. (2014), adding data from TPC Moçambique (2017).
The worrying situation in Mozambique is echoed by a World Bank investigation of service quality in the education sector. As set out in the study by Bold et al. (2017), which compares results across various countries, only 38% of Mozambican 4th grade students were able to recognize letters, compared to 89% in Kenya and 50% in Nigeria. A possible reason for this situation is suggested — not only are many teachers absent from school and/or class — which means Mozambican pupils are receiving less than half the recommended four hours of teaching per day — but also, many teachers show a poor knowledge of the curriculum they are supposed to teach.
In addition, JICA (2015:25) makes a comparative analysis of access by group, where he points in both lower- and upper-primary education, that Maputo City, Nampula, Sofala, Niassa and Maputo Provinces have higher dropout rates than the national average. Repetition rates are higher in Tete, Sofala, Niassa, Nampula and Manica Provinces. Overall, northern and central provinces have higher dropout and repetition rates than the national average. In particular, repetition rates in Niassa Province are, in comparison to the national average, 4.4 point higher in lower-primary education and 5.1 point higher in upper-primary education.
Dropout rates by gender show that female dropout rates are 0.2 point higher than the male’s in both lower- and upper-primary education. Looking by province, female dropout rates in primary education are higher in Maputo City, Gaza, Inhambane and Maputo Provinces, suggesting that female students drop out more than their male counterparts in the southern parts of the country. On national average, female repetition rates are 0.3 point and 0.4 point higher than the male’s in lowerand upper-primary education, respectively. By province, all except Zambezia Province had higher female repetition rates.
The Mozambican government has paid special attention to gender in every sector’s planning stage in order to narrow the gender gap. In the education sector, girls’ education has been promoted from the first Education Strategic Plan, and PEEC 2006-2011 has also identified universal primary education—especially focusing on girls’ education—as a major target issue. Due to these governmental efforts, gender gap in primary education has almost been corrected (PEE 2012-2016, P.41-42[iv]).
Poverty and inequality
Poverty is a major barrier to education in Mozambique, as many families cannot afford to pay for school fees or related expenses such as uniforms and textbooks. In addition, girls and children from rural areas are often at a disadvantage due to social and cultural barriers, such as early marriage and traditional gender roles (Chatgpt, 2023).
The poverty limits education in Mozambique in many families. The normal salaries are most of the times for food, the basic need. People do a lot of times struggle to pay school and college expendidures reason why the small informal businesses are an outlet.
For education to be successful, it is not enough to ensure that children attend school but importantly, they also need to learn while they are in school. The expansion in primary education, because of limited resources, put pressure on quality of the education. Children and parents frequently complain about the low quality of infrastructure, lack of availability of books, and increasing class sizes (Moz policy note, 2012:3).
For Bonde and Matavel (2022:2) education funding is one of the problems that most underdeveloped countries face daily. Many of these countries are economically dependent due to their respective States’ fragility and postcolonial condition (Crossley, 2001; Williams, 2009). Vieira, Vidal, and Queiroz (2021) argue that “education financing is a key theme of the debate on educational policy. Far from being exhaustedly discussed by the literature in the field, it represents a challenge fruitful and permanent to reflection” (Vieira; Vidal; Queiroz, 2021, p. 1).
In the case of Mozambique, since the country’s independence in 1975, the Government has faced problems in financing its education. About this reality, Oliveira (1995) states that “enabling democratic and quality public education implies providing financing sources” (Oliveira, 1995, p. 76) see page 2.
The difficulty of financing the Mozambican education resulted in inquiring its international partners to assist within this sector. In a first phase, external funding came from several countries (bilateral and multilateral), from the period of socialist orientation (1975-1986) and in the later phase of multipartidarism (1990). These financings were directed to the General State Budget until 2001. In 2002, the Education Sector Support Fund (FASE) was created, which is the main instrument for channeling external funds to the sector. “The Common Fund (FASE) is the most aligned instrument for channeling external funds to finance the sector’s annual plan, using state procedures and instruments regarding planning, implementation, and monitoring”, says the Ministry of Education and Human Development (MINEDH, 2010, p. 56). page 2
The Common Fund (FASE), by which most of the external funding to the sector is channeled, contributes to the financing of key programs focusing on funding programs for basic education, such as the textbook, direct support to schools, teacher training, supervision, and accelerated construction of classrooms. Half of the FASE spending is continuous.
Among the many objectives of the FASE, the following stand out: [1] – achieve the Millennium Development Goal; [2] – achieve Universal Primary Education for all; and [3] – ensure the completion of primary education for all children in 2015. The FASE was created by the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI). FTI follows the commitment of the international community established at the 4th World Education for All Forum in Dakar, stating that no country committed to providing basic education for all and with a credible plan would be limited to achieving this goal due to the lack of financial resources (MINEDH, 2010, p. 8). Therefore, it was by the FTI that the Direct Support to Schools (ADE) was introduced. Hanlon (1997) considers that “Mozambique has become the country most dependent on foreign aid and probably still is” (Hanlon, 1997, p. 15). Abrahamsson and Nilsson (1994) state that “Mozambique is now in a considerably worse situation than at the time of independence” (Abrahamsson; Nilsson, 1994, 73). We understand that the country should reduce foreign aid and create its own sources of investment for education and other social and economic areas, for local problems must have local solutions. As long as partners continue to fund education, they will continue to outline Mozambique’s educational policies and we will hardly leave this external dependence.
World Bank documents highlight this reality. The Education for All Global Monitoring Report tells that “external models of good educational practices, defended without much conviction by different groups of agencies, are generally not sufficiently attuned to local circumstances” (UNESCO, 2005, p. 23). Unable to manage and finance education, the Mozambican Government has opted for privatizing education since 1990 to get rid of the financial burden. Therefore, Mozambique has forgotten that there is not a single experience in the world that has developed high educational standards with discourses, but with resources. Silva and Oliveira (2020) claims that “[…] when governments rely on privatization to expand access to education, this approach may conflict with the promotion of universal access, especially for the most marginalized populations” (Silva; Oliveira, 2020, p. 14).
Lack of relevant curriculum
The curriculum in Mozambique is often seen as outdated and not relevant to the needs of students or the economy. This can lead to a mismatch between the skills students learn in school and the skills required by employers, limiting their opportunities for future employment (chatgpt, 2023).
Mozambique has made impressive advancement in improving access to lower and upper primary school since the education reforms of 2004, which abolished all national primary school fees, provided free textbooks and introduced a new curriculum, while maintaining the high pace of school construction and teacher training. Enrollment in primary schools surged as the combination of lower costs and supply of schools increased access particularly for poorer families. The study shows that in lower primary (EP1), access improved the most the response to the reforms was highest for poorer families, whereas in upper primary (EP2), the gains for poor families were limited. Overall, the primary system has become more inclusive (Moz policy note, 2012:2).
To conclude, Mozambique is an underdeveloped nation which educational challenges has to deal with poverty, quality, limited access and limited resources. However, there are some great results on education access in the rural communities such as in Nampula, where some organization like “Girl Move”, has been working with young girls. More could be done to reduce these challenges, such as the government investing more money in education, increasing teachers salaries and quality of skills, which consequently would improve children and young people education.
Abrahamsson, Hans; Nilsson, Anders. Moçambique em transição: um estudo da história de desenvolvimento durante o período de 1974-1992. Maputo: Padrigu, 1994.
Crossley, Michael. Cross-cultural inssue, small states and research: Capacity Building in Belize. International Jounal of Education Development, v. 21, n. 3, p. 217- 229, 2001.
Hanlon, Joseph. Paz sem Beneficio. Como o FMI Bloqueia a Reconstrução de Moçambique. Maputo: Centro de Estudos Africanos, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, 1997. (Coleção Nosso Chaão).
Japan International Cooperation Agency: Study on Basic Education Sector in Africa Mozambique. Basic Education Sector Analysis Report. 2015.
MINED: Manual de Apoio a ZIP. 2010.
Mozambique Policy Note: Education Reform in Mozambique: Lessons and Challenges. 2012.
Oliveira, Romualdo P. Educação e Cidadania: o Direito à Educação na Constituição de 1988 da República Federativa do Brasil. 1995. Tese (Doutorado em Educação) – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, Universidade de São Paulo, 1995.
Rui Amadeu Bonde and Princidónio Abrão Matavel: Education Financing in Mozambique and its Challenges. Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo/SP Brazil & Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos/SP – Brazil. 2022.
Silva, Rui da; Oliveira, Joana. Privatização da educação em 24 países africanos:
tendências, pontos comuns e atípicos. Educação & Sociedade, Campinas, v. 41, 2020.
UNESCO. Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, a Ciência e a Cultura. Educação para todos: o imperativo da qualidade. Relatório de monitoramento global. Brasília, DF: Unesco; São Paulo: Moderna, 2005.
Vieira, Sofia Lerche; Vidal, Eloisa Maia; Queiroz, Paulo Alexandre Sousa. Financiamento e Expansão do Ensino Médio: o caso da diversificação da oferta no Ceará. EccoS – Rev. Cient., São Paulo, n. 58, p. 1-23, jul./set. 2021.
Cameroon is known as “Africa in miniature”, a country located in central Africa, bordered by Nigeria to the west, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south, and Equatorial Guinea to the southwest. With a population over 25 million, Cameroon is one of the most ethnically diverse countries within the African continent, with more than 250 ethnic groups and languages. The country is known for its unique cultural heritage, natural beauty, and abundant natural resources, including oil, gas and minerals. However, Cameroon also faces an array of challenges inclusive of educational barriers, high poverty, inequality, political instability, and environmental degradation. Despite these challenges, the country has made significant progress in recent years, and is working towards achieving sustainable development, and economic stability overall.
Cameroon, like many other nations in the African continent, faces a range of educational challenges that limit access to quality education and hinder the development of human capital. Despite progress in recent years, significant gaps in access, quality and relevance of education persist, particularly in rural areas and among marginalized populations. Inadequate infrastructure and resources, gender inequalities, poor quality of education, vocational training mismatches, and limited funding area some of the key challenges that Cameroon’s education system faces. Addressing these challenges is crucial for improving and promoting inclusive and sustainable development, reduction of poverty, and improving the overall well-being of the country’s citizens. Addressing the obstacles of Cameroons educational challenges will require a concerted effort from the government, civil society, and the international community to increase access to education, and ensure that students are receiving the skills and training required to further succeed in the job market.
Access is largely to blame in regards to the country’s challenges on the topic of education. Despite the nations progress in recent years, many children, particularly in rural areas, still lack access to quality education. This is due to a severe lack of infrastructure and resources including schools, textbooks, and qualified teachers. Many educational institutions in Cameroon are poor in condition, with inadequate facilities and a shortage of lecturers, professors and teachers.
Additionally, there is a significant gender disparity in access to education, with girls facing particular challenges in accessing education due to cultural beliefs and attitudes, poverty, early marriage, and pregnancy. These are particularly acute in rural areas, where the majority of families struggle to afford the costs of education, and there are fewer schools and teachers. As a result, many children find themselves forced to drop out of school prematurely or are never able to attend to begin with, which results in a limitation of opportunities for economic and social advancement. Lack of access to education not only limits individuals ability to secure employment and earn a sustainable income and life, but also limits the potential of individuals to improve their living standards and overcome and reduce poverty on a national scale. In order to address these challenges, the government of Cameroon must work towards the investment of educational infrastructure, increase the number of educators, and directly address the underlying social and economic barriers that enable limitation of access to education for marginalized communities.
Cameroon’s education system faces notable challenges with regard to gender disparities and gender inequalities. Girls continue to face significant barriers to accessing education. Cultural attitudes, poverty, early marriage, and pregnancy all contribute to lower enrollment rates and higher drop out rates among girls. This not only limits their opportunities for independent, personal growth and development but also hinders the overall development of the nation as a whole. In addition to lower enrollment rates, girls also face discrimination in the classroom. They are often subjected to lower expectations, receiving less attention from teachers, and are therefore given fewer opportunities for advanced study. This hinders social mobility and perpetuates a cycle of gender inequality that limits the potential of girls and women alike, both in terms of personal achievement and contributions to the country’s economy and society.
According to UNESCO data, in 2019, the net enrollment rate for girls in primary school in Cameroon was 83.5%, compared to 92.4% for boys. For secondary school, the net enrollment rate for girls was 33.5%, compared to 42.1% for boys. Drop out rates for girls are also significantly higher than for boys at both the primary and secondary levels. According to the Ministry of Basic Education, the primary school dropout rates for girls was at 10.6% in 2018, compared to 7.6% for boys. At the secondary level, the dropout rate for girls was 36.5% , compared to 26.2% for boys.
Cameroon has implemented a range of policies and programs aimed at promoting gender equality within the education system. These efforts include elimination of gender stereotypes in the classroom promotion of girls’ education in rural areas, and provide financial support to families in hopes to offset the costs of schooling. Non-governmental organizations and civil society groups have played a critical role in advancing gender equality in education, working to raise awareness of the importance of girls’ education by supporting programs that promote access to these marginalized groups. Despite these efforts, progress has been slow, and significant challenges very much remain. Further action and effort is required to address social norms that perpetuated gender inequality, and promote equal opportunities for all students, regardless of their gender or socio-economic background and status. By actively addressing these challenges, Cameroon can assist in ensuring that all of its citizens have the opportunity to reach their full potential and contribute to the overall growth and development of their nation.
The lack of quality in Cameroon’s education system is another vital concern. The quality of education and the system remains low, with limited resources and inadequate teacher training and certification. According to the World Bank, only 47% of students can read a simple sentence in French or English by the end of primary school, and only 32% can do basic mathematics. This lack of quality in education results in significant implications for the country’s overall development and advancement, as it limits the potential of its citizens and therefore inhibits economic growth. The access to quality education is ever more linked to socio-economic status, with children from poorer families less likely to have access to quality education. This contributes to a never ending cycle of poverty and inequality, with limited opportunities for those who are unable to access said education. Cameroon’s policies and efforts to provide advanced training to teachers, increase access to newer textbooks and alike learning materials, and promote the use of technology within classrooms has fallen short – much more needs to be done to ensure access to quality education.
Non-governmental organizations and civil society groups have played a critical role in promoting access to education, working to improve trainings and through support programs in hopes of better learning outcomes. These efforts have been imperative in advancing access for marginalized communities. Moreover, the majority of educational materials and textbooks used are outdated, with little effort made to update the content or incorporate new teaching methods. This has led to a mismatch between the skills taught in schools and the demands of the ever evolving job market, hindering the ability of students to develop the skills required to succeed in todays modern economy.
Alongside the lack of material, Cameroon’s significant challenge lays in overcrowded educational institutions, which are more prevalent in rural areas. According to a report by the World Bank, the student-teacher ratio in primary schools is approximately 49:1, which is substantially higher than the recommended ratio of 30:1. This places a strain on the education infrastructure and disables teachers from providing individualized attentions students. Educational institutions lack basic facilities such as classrooms, desks and chairs, resulting in students sitting on the floor or sharing desks, which can lead to further distractions in an already deficient environment – hindering their ability to learn and develop new skills. As many schools are underfunded and struggle to meet basic needs, let alone invest in newer resources – resulting in outdated textbooks, resources and equipment and further results in failure to engage and motivate students. Additionally, the procurement process for textbooks and learning materials can be slow and bureaucratic, making it difficult to obtain the latest materials in a timely manner, or in any way at all. Lack of internet access and digital infrastructure is another major challenge faced by the education institutions in Cameroon.
Unemployment is a staggering challenge, particularity among the youth of Cameroon. According to the World Bank, the youth unemployment rate was estimated to be over 13% in 2019, and this figure is ever likely to already be higher in reality due to underemployment and informal work. One major factor contributing to this issue is the lack of vocational training programs. Vocational training programs have successfully proven to provide skills and experience required to enter the workforce and further build sustainable livelihoods. However, these programs are often limited in scope and accessibility, or completely nonexistent due to the high cost of tuition as well as limited availability of said programs. Additionally, there is often a mismatch between the skills taught in vocational training programs alongside the needs of employers within the current, yet ever changing job market. Lack of vocational training programs contributes to a cycle of poverty and unemployment, particularly in rural areas where access to formal education and thereafter job opportunities, if existent, is limited. This results in youth taking on low-paying jobs, as well as work in the informal economy, where wages are inadequate and working conditions are uncontrolled, and can be hazardous. In order to take action towards this concern, the government of Cameroon has launched a “National Vocational Training Strategy” aimed at expanding the reach and scope of vocational training programs across the country, as well as partnering alongside already established international organizations in providing funding and further support. Said NGOs, and international organizations alike have providing further independent funding and resources in advocating for policy reforms aimed at expanding access to quality vocational training. By ensuring these programs are tailored to the needs of the labor market, Cameroon can assist in the reduction of unemployment and provide its citizens with the skills and required experience to build sustainable livelihoods, as this would be in the interest to the economic advancement of the country as a whole.
In recent years, education funding in Cameroon has been a high topic of concern as the government continues to fall short in meeting the needs. Despite the governments commitment to education, the allocation of resources to the sector has been inadequate, leading to an array of setbacks and shortcomings. According to a recent report by the United Nations Development Program, Cameroon’s education sector is facing a funding shortfall of over $300 million. This funding gap has had a severe impact on the quality of education in the country, where schools often lack basic amenities as aforementioned. A critical issue being the lack of investment in the training and recruitment of educators. The majority of educational institutions in the nation struggle to attract and retain qualified teachers due to poor working conditions and even lower salaries, resulting in students left with inadequate instruction. Infrastructure is also underfunded, resulting in a lack of running water, electricity and proper sanitation facilities, making it difficult for students to study and pursue their studies in a conducive environment. This lack of infrastructure has led to a high drop out rate. Despite these challenges, the government has implemented the “Education Sector Plan” (ESP) in 2018. The ESP aims to improve access to quality education, particularly for girls, and increase investment in teacher training as well as recruitment. However, critics argue that the governments efforts fall short and much more needs to be done in addressing the shortcomings within the country’s education sector. They point to the fact that Cameroon’s education spending is well below the recommendation of 20% of the national budget, with only 13% allocated to the sector in 2020. Education funding in Cameroon remains a staggering challenge that requires immediate, urgent and transparent attention. The government must prioritize investment in the sectors to ensure that all students have access to quality education in order to achieve their full potential. Failure to do so will mean long-term implications for the country’s social and economical development.
Lack of education exacerbates health problems in Cameroon. Education plays a vital and imperative role in promoting health, particularly in areas such as maternal and child health, infectious diseases, and nutrition. Lack of education hinders the populations ability to access health education and information, leading to preventable health issues and lack of knowledge and skills to take care of their health in preventing diseases, seek appropriate medical care, or understanding in the importance of vaccinations and other preventative measures. Secondly, many Cameroonians may not be aware of the risks of certain behaviors, such as unprotected sex, that can lead to the transmission of diseases. Lack of education limits their understanding of health-related issues and reduces the individuals ability to make informed decisions accordingly. Thirdly, lack of education statistically contributes directly to poor nutrition, which is a significant health problem in this western African nation. Malnutrition affects a significant portion of the population, specifically children under the age of 5. It is studied that without education, individuals may not known how to grow, prepare, and consume a balanced diet.
Additionally, the lack of education directly hinders the country’s ability to address public health issues such as epidemics and pandemics. During Covid-19, the lack of education was directly connected to the difficulties endured by the population to understand and comply with health guidelines, leading to increased transmission rates. Lastly, women who lack education are less likely to seek medical care when necessary, as lack of education limits their ability to access health care altogether which directly results in higher rates of maternal and child mortality. In addition to strengthening the education sector, the health education should also be integrated into the curriculum in a safe, conclusive and secure manner for both genders alike.
Additionally, the lack of education contributes to social unrest as well as political instability. When individuals are unable to secure employment or participate fully in the economy, they are more likely to become involved in criminal activities or even join extremist groups. In Cameroon, the lack of education has been identified as a contributing factor to the rise of Boko Haram and other extremist groups. Boko Haram are recognized as a group seeking to establish the Islamic state, whilst opposing western education, which they view as a threat to their ideology, this extremist group is a concern within Cameroon in regards to the education sector. Boko Haram has specifically targeted schools, particularly those in the northern regions of the country, where poverty and lack of education are prevalent. The group has abducted school children and attacked institutions, resulting in the closure of schools and hindering children’s access to education. Boko Haram has been recognized in using education as a recruitment tool, targeting vulnerable youth who lack access to education by promising them ‘a better life’ if they join the group. Poverty has fueled hopelessness among youth in Cameroon, making them vulnerable to extremist ideologies. Additionally, this has perpetuated social inequality, particularly gender disparities, which have resulted in the exploitation of girls and women by the extremist groups. To counter the rise of existing and creation of further extremist groups, the focus on education is imperative.
Cameroon’s English speaking minority has been marginalized by the dominant francophone nation since 2017. The unresolved and ongoing civil war conflict has resulted in at least 15 attacks at in schools, resulting in the shut down and depriving 700,000 students from education. The education system has been held hostage by this military-separatist war. “Armed separatists bear full responsibility for these targeted attacks on education, but the response of the Cameroonian government and security forces has been inadequate and is hampered by the numerous abusive counterinsurgency operations in the Anglophone regions, which have spread deep mistrust among the civilian population victimized by these operations,” according to HRW. This has resulted in “uneducated generation of Anglophone youth joining criminal fighters because they lack other economic survival skills” writes journalist Aurore Bonny for the Anadolu Agency.
Cameroon faces various educational challenges that consistently hinder the country’s progress towards sustainable development. While significant progress has been made, much still needs to be accomplished in order to ensure that every Cameroonian has access to equal and quality education. Addressing these challenges will demand a collective, unified and transparent effort from the government, civil society organizations, and international partners. Only then can Cameroon provide its citizens with the tools required in order to build a prosperous future and contribute to the development of their nation.
Namibia, known to be the driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, is a geographically large nation. This country, which borders South Africa, Angola, Botswana, and Zambia, also has a 1,500-kilometre south Atlantic coastline. Although, Namibia is quite vast, only approximately 2.53 million people live here. Sound economic management and political stability have reduced poverty levels and, in turn, has allowed Namibia to be recognised as an upper-middle-income country. Nonetheless, socioeconomic inequalities, heightened by the past apartheid government systems, remain quite high (1).
Currently, the education system in Namibia is structured into four different levels, including pre-primary (kindergarten), primary (grades 1 to 7), secondary (grades 8 to 12), and tertiary education. Education is compulsory for all children between the ages of 6 and 16 years old respectively. With roughly two million citizens, approximately 1500 schools exist in this country, with around 100 of these being privately owned (2). Since 2016, primary and secondary education in government-owned schools have been free. As school is only mandatory till the age of 16 (or Grade 10), once students successfully complete this grade they receive a Junior Secondary School Certificate.
Figure 1 Student taking examination in Namibia.
As stated and seen in the Constitution:
Children shall not be allowed to leave school until they have completed their primary education cycle or have attained the age of sixteen (16) years, whichever is the sooner, save in so far as this may be authorised by Act of Parliament on grounds of health or other considerations pertaining to the public interest (Constitution of the Republic of Namibia Article 20). (7)
Additionally, should students choose to continue their education, students will receive a Namibia Senior Secondary Education Certificate once Grade 12 has been successfully completed (4).
Despite primary school being compulsory and free, enrolment rates in Namibian school is only around 80%, with gender and regional differences existing. Additionally, the drop-out rate ranges between 1% and 10%, with these being particularly high in Grades 1, 5, and 10 (5). In a country bigger than Belgium and France put together, with great areas of desert, the proper authorities are struggling to provide quality education to hard-to-reach communities and, furthermore, ensure that children remain in the system. It has been found that there is a repetition rate of over 20% in Grade 5 and close to 50% of students in Grade 10 fail their exams (6).
Main Educational Problems in Namibia
Access to Education:
Although primary school attendance rates have increased over the past years, getting an education in rural and outlying locations continues to be difficult. Many schools in these regions lack basic amenities like electricity and water, and students frequently have to travel great distances to get to school (6). Learners from these vulnerable communities often see high repetition rates (especially in Grades 1,5, and 8) and soaring drop-out rates (particularly after Grade 10, after school is compulsory anymore). Additionally, on average, only 1 out 100 learners living in rural Namibia graduate from Grade 12 (7).
Education Quality:
Although the government has made investments to raise education standards in Namibia, this issue still exists. Several schools lack sufficient skilled instructors, instructional supplies, and fundamental infrastructure, which, as a result, has a severe effect on the standard of education that students receive (6). As a result, in all 13 defined educational regions, the majority of the learners are not able to reach the minimum standards in the English reading level. For example, at the overall national level, only 16.6% of the learners were able to reach the minimum level (learners who will barely survive the next year of schooling) in reading literacy, while only a 6.7% managed to reach the desirable level (learners who will definitely succeed the following academic year) (3).
Additionally, data continues to show that a lack of sufficient and adequate teaching and learning materials, sanitation, physical facilities, and other necessary conditions exist to allow a good teaching and learning environment. This disparity is even more obvious in former disadvantaged areas and regions. This data, however, seems to severely contradict the Namibian constitution and policy documents, specifically the ‘Towards Education for All’ document, which requires that:
To provide education for all, we must expand access to our education system. For that, we need not just have more schools but schools and other education programmes where learning is truly accessible to all Namibians (MEC, 1993:34,103) (3).
Inequality and High drop-out rates:
In Namibia, education disparity is a serious problem. Challenges remain in the access for pastoralists and nomadic groups, HIV/AIDS pandemic, and natural disasters. As a result, many kids, who often face financial difficulties, a lack of access to basic amenities as well as subpar academic results, often decide to leave school prematurely (8). When compared to their peers from more fortunate circumstances, students from underprivileged backgrounds frequently have less access to high-quality education (7). Additionally, ‘school under the tree’ is still very common in this country. This image truly symbolises the unequal distribution of facilities and resources amongst the urban and rural schools. For example, more than 47 000 primary school children are still taught under trees or in ‘traditional’ classrooms, with a large portion of these not having any basic services such as clean water, toilets, and electricity (3).
Quality and equity are important components and are well embodied in education policy documents and official reports. These documents and reports highlight the access expansions, access to high quality of education, and facilitation of economic growth and competitiveness. The ‘Towards Education for All’ policy document in Namibia emphasises that a major hurdle for quality and equity in this country’s education system is the obvious inequitable distribution of resources amongst the different regions, which is linked to the history of Namibia (3). Additionally, this policy emphasises that:
Education for all does not simply mean more schools or more children in school. Nor does it mean that they simply start literacy classes or increase the number of places in programmes for out of school youth. Education for all requires that the government develop its system of education and training and how it organises it (MEC, 1993) (3).
EDUCATIONAL DIFFICULTIES RESULTING FROM THE EFFECTS OF COVID
Following the effects COVID-19 had on face-to-face teaching and learning time, nearly 90% of high school students in Namibia could not graduate at the end of 2022. Out of the 38,000 students that wrote their final 2022 high school examinations, only around 5,000 of these managed to pass. Even though schools were not closed altogether during the of COVID, the significant loss of face-to-face teaching have led to the poor results seen in 2022. Out of the 198 school days planned learners were unable to master all the academic competencies needed to successfully progress to following grades. Additionally, during this time, the poor education infrastructure has become more obvious, with a shortage of classrooms, learning and teaching resources, as well as the absence of systematic support for teachers and learners at school levels. Furthermore, discipline amongst learners and teachers has slowly been declining and, as a result, weak monitoring and evaluation occurs at all levels of education (8).
Figure 2 Student sanitized her hand at a school in Windhoek, capital of Namibia (Photo by Ndalimpinga Iita/Xinhua)
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
The World Bank. “Overview.” World Bank, 2016, www.worldbank.org/en/country/namibia/overview. Accessed 29 Mar. 2023.
Shusko, Lisa. “The Successes and Challenges of the Namibian Education System.” Our Peace Corps Namibia Blog, 23 June 2015, shusko.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/the-successes-and-challenges-of-the-namibian-education-system/. Accessed 31 Mar. 2023.
Hailombe, O. (2011). Education Equity and Quality in Namibia: A case study of Mobile Schools in the Kunene Region. Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/24256/Complete.pdf?sequence=10
World Bank. Namibia Education Overview. 2020, www.worldbank.org/en/country/namibia/brief/namibia-education-overview. Accessed 31 Mar. 2023.
Wikan, G. (2008). Challenges in the primary education in Namibia. Retrieved April 4, 2023, from https://brage.inn.no/inn-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/133746/rapp07_2008.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y.
Bellamy, C., & Sousa, G. (n.d.). Equitable access to Quality Education: Challenges in Namibia. Equitable Access to Quality Education: Challenges in Namibia | Capacity4dev. Retrieved April 4, 2023, from https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/articles/equitable-access-quality-education-challenges-namibia
UNICEF. (2018, April 9). Improving school participation in Namibia. UNICEF Office of Innovation . Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://www.unicef.org/innovation/stories/digital-learning-platform-namibia
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.
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.
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]
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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.
Education in Georgia is repatriated in three levels: primary (classes I-IV), basic (classes VII-IX), and secondary (classes X-XII), the first two levels being mandatory.[1] Children start receiving grades in basic school, being assessed on a 1 to 10 points scale. Every school needs to follow the national curriculum, which can be modified in exceptional cases, such as for students with special needs. The curriculum is modified based on the subjects with which the children struggle.[2] Furthermore, home education is allowed in such cases, the child being enrolled in school but following a study plan from home. However, there is factual evidence that reveals systematic hardships faced by children with special needs in the Georgian education system.[3] While there have been significant improvements, struggles still occur. According to UNICEF, one of the biggest problems Georgia faces is the quality of education, with the country`s expenditure being lower than that of other countries with the same GDP.[4] It is important to keep in mind the tumultuous history of Georgia before analyzing the various challenges of its education system. Georgia still has to confront systematic hiccups, as a result of the long time spent under the USSR. As a relatively new democracy, gaining its independence in 1991, the state still has the potential to further improve its educational system in the next decades.
Children with special needs
Special-needs teacher Lia Tabatadze assists a boy in a seventh-grade math class in Tbilisi’s School #124 on Oct. 20. Since 2013, Georgia’s education ministry has provided training for 4,700 school professionals and psychologists in special-needs education. (Photo: Monica Ellena)
As mentioned above, Georgia has strong legislation that is meant to ensure that every child is able to achieve academic success. Taking into account the website of the Ministry of Education, one would expect that youngsters have equal access to quality education. This idea is further reinforced by Georgia`s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of people with disabilities. Article 24 of the convention underlines states should ensure non-discriminatory education on the basis of the right to equal opportunity[5]. While this Convention does not have a legally binding character, it illustrates the acknowledgment of signatories, including Georgia, of the relevance of inclusive education. This approval of international norms has been consolidated by national legislation. In 2005, Georgia approves the Law of General Education, which stresses the importance of inclusive education, that can provide children with the essential basis for successful development. However, this ideal is not fulfilled in practice, given the struggles faced by children with special needs.
While Georgia prides itself in its almost 100% literacy rate for 14- to 24-year-olds, a population census reveals that it drops to 86.2 percent respectively 87.0 percent for men and women with disabilities.[6] Furthermore, an even more troublesome finding is that out of the 11,765 children with disabilities registered in Social Service Agency only 1,244 children are registered in schools.[7] While inclusive education in Georgia has been implemented 10 years ago, only 65% of public schools report having students with special educational needs.[8] Because the state does not collect statistics about children outside of formal education, no reliable analysis can be done on their rates of success. This implies that no clear strategy can be created in order to ensure the fruitful development of every child, based on factual evidence.
While the government permits certain changes to the curriculum, The NGO Georgian Young Lawyers Association states the national curriculum does not offer the possibility of alternative learning that cater to the specific academic needs of a child.[9] The Situation Analysis On the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Georgia, created by UNDP, mentions the fact that a central cause for this imbalance in the educational system is the lack of resources offered to children with disabilities. Better infrastructure, learning material, and training of professionals working in the field could improve the chances of a successful academic experience for children with disabilities.[10]
Legal steps to remodel the system have been made. One example is the 2018 amendment to the above-mentioned Law of General Education, which proposes a clear plan for financing educational institutions to cater to the needs of students with disabilities.[11] Another vital improvement is the increase from 2018 to 2019 four times in staff specifically trained to supervise children with disabilities.[12] Regardless of this new legal framework, it is undeniable that at the moment the prime benefactors of such resources are children in privileged areas. However, it is a first step towards improving the quality of life of children, which could receive better opportunities throughout their lives if they are encouraged in having solid education.
Georgia prides itself on high graduation rates for primary and lower secondary schools. At a first glance, it could be assumed that the rate of completion of upper secondary school is relatively high, with 76% of students graduating in Tbilisi.[13] However, when other regions are taken into account, it can be observed that poorer areas are not as lucky. For example, in Kakheti, the drop-out rate is 58%.[14] Why such strong regional disparities can be observed, with discrepancies of over 30 % in completion rates? In a UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, responses from Georgians are analyzed in order to find reliable data on access and compilation of education.[15] One of the main findings is that the lowest completion rates in the country can be identified in the poorest regions. This could open a discussion regarding the connection between financial resources and the quality of education. Not only children in rural areas, that come from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to have the personal means to finish their education, but public funding is as well not as often offered to smaller educational institutions. Even when looking at primary school completion rates, while discrepancies are not as evident, children raised in an urban rich area are more likely to finish school.[16]
Furthermore, it can be observed that factors such as ethnicity play a role as well in access to education. For example, three times more Azeri children, part of Georgia`s biggest ethnic minority, are likely to be out of school than Georgian children.[17]
The differences become even more stagnant when analyzing the results of Georgian children at the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, which assess children in four areas (reading, mathematics, science, and skills to meet real-life challenges). Students in rural areas score 44 points less in 2015 than those from urban areas, which would be the equivalent of one year and a half of studying[18]. This gap has actually increased over time, with the difference between rural and urban assessment takers being only 33 points in 2009.
The data presented above highlights an underlying problem in the Georgian education system. While it could be argued that regional disparities are present all over the states of the world in terms of educational funding and opportunities, it is a problem that needs to be addressed. A conversation could be opened regarding the need for a more comparative way of analyzing the success rates of an educational system, without overlooking underprivileged areas.
QUALITY OF EDUCATION:
Children from Tbilisi’s kindergartens; Source: https://georgiaabout.com/2014/10/21/kindergarten-autumn-festival-in-tbilisi/
In order to assess the quality of an education system, a number of factors need to be analyzed. Firstly, modernizing teaching is paramount in achieving quality, up-to-date education. In order to modernize a system, it is necessary to have well-trained professionals, willing to implement new technologies in their method of teaching and assessing. According to OECD Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education, Georgia ranks low on modernization, primarily because of the age of teachers.[19] A quarter of them are over 60, which could lead to a preference for more traditional forms of teaching.[20] While the debate on modernization is more nuanced, the combination of age with the low pay of educational staff and observable phenomena, it could be assumed that Georgia still has to improve its tactics in incentivizing teachers to implement modern methods in the class.
Second, educational performance can be analyzed in order to assess if an education system is qualitative or not. The performance of its students at international assessments, such as PISA, mentioned in the previous section, is extremely relevant in the case of Georgia.[21] A clear improvement between Gorgia`s performance in 2009 and the one in 2015, in reading, science, and mathematics.[22] However, while this increase is note-worthy, Georgian students still score lower than other children assessed. For example, only 1% of children would be considered top-performing, lower than the average of 8% of OECD countries.[23] Furthermore, one of the highest shares of low achievers in science comes from Georgia.
The lack of modernization and the performance of students at international assessments could be linked and showcase a structural problem in the Georgian education system. A better comprehension of ways pedagogy can be done, combined with a better incentivization system for teachers could potentially increase student performance.
Conclusion
Georgia has gone through a vast number of reforms throughout the last decade. An increase in the quality of education can be observed, as well as the attempt to create new legislative projects that can sustain factual change. Nevertheless, Georgia still faces a number of educational challenges that affect the lives of children throughout the country. While some may be more susceptible to feeling the implications of such challenges, as presented above, the improvement of the education system could benefit everyone.
Malawi, a hidden gem located in the heart of South-East Africa, is facing a crisis that threatens to rob its future generations of their right to education and a better life. This small state, surrounded by Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania, has a population of approximately 19 million people and a complex array of educational challenges that require immediate attention.
Malawi is a landlocked country located in southeast Africa. Its economy is primarily based on agriculture, with tobacco being the main cash crop. Despite its small size, Malawi is rich in natural resources, including forests, wildlife, and minerals. However, the country faces several challenges, including poverty, food insecurity, poor infrastructures and access to quality education.
The Right to Education: A Distant Dream for Malawi’s Children
Access to education is a fundamental human right, yet in Malawi, this right remains a distant dream for many children. According to data from UNICEF, only 61% of children in the country attend primary school, and the situation only worsens as they progress through the education system. Of the children who attend primary school, just over a third go on to attend secondary school, leaving the majority of Malawi’s children without access to quality education.
Consequences of Lack of Education
Malawi’s lack of education has serious implications for the nation and its future generations. It reduces work opportunities, increases poverty, and keeps people in the cycle of illiteracy. Additionally, a lack of progress and development in the nation might be connected to education.
Lack of Funding
One of the major obstacles to improving education in Malawi is a lack of funding. The education sector is underfunded, and as a result, many schools lack basic facilities such as clean water and sanitation. This not only makes it difficult for children to learn in a safe and healthy environment but also perpetuates the cycle of poverty, as children from disadvantaged backgrounds are unable to access quality education. The World Bank reports that only 4.1% of Malawi’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is allocated to the education sector, making it one of the lowest in the world.
Shortage of Teachers
In addition to the lack of funding, the education sector in Malawi is also facing a shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in rural areas of the country. The African Development Bank reports that this shortage has a significant impact on the quality of education because classes are often overcrowded, and teachers are unable to give individual attention to each student. This not only affects the children’s learning but also stunts their future and perpetuates the cycle of poverty. According to data from the Ministry of Education, there is a shortage of over 17,000 teachers in Malawi, with the majority of this shortage being felt in rural areas.
Despite these challenges, there have been successful initiatives aimed at improving education in Malawi. For example, organizations such as UNICEF have been working to provide education and training to teachers in rural areas. These efforts have led to improved learning outcomes and better educational opportunities for children in these areas.
However, even though such successful initiatives are taking place, the government, NGOs, and other stakeholders must work together to help address the shortage of qualified teachers, lack of funding, and inadequate infrastructure in the education sector. Additionally, the government needs to prioritize education in its budget and allocate sufficient resources to ensure that all children have access to quality education.
In conclusion, the future of Malawi depends on its ability to provide quality education to its children. Only by investing in education can the country break the cycle of poverty and provide its future generations with a brighter future. Education is a key factor in driving economic growth and social development. It is the duty of all stakeholders to ensure that the right to education is realised for every child in Malawi. By addressing the challenges in the education sector, the country can secure a brighter future for its children and create a foundation for sustained growth and development.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ([OECD], 2016) “China has the largest education system in the world”, with almost 260 million students and over 15 million teachers in about 514,000 schools. While China prides itself in its advancements in the educational sector and has in fact paid a great deal of attention to its shortcomings, this article reveals that with such a large system come many challenges.
Setting the stage: China’s education system
Education bears great importance for the Chinese government (OECD, 2016). China has continued to invest heavily in its educational system on an absolute basis. Over the past 10 years, China has raised its educational spending by an average of 19%. With its belief that education is the foundation for national growth and modernisation, ensuring the compatibility of the system with the nation’s rate of such growth and modernisation as well as new educational demands and trends has meant continuous modifications and development in education reforms and programmes (OECD, 2016).
A particularly significant development in Chinese educational history was the Law on Compulsory Education passed in 1986, which held that all school-age children of Chinese nationality are entitled to compulsory education, and parents are responsible for registering their children in school and ensuring that they complete the required nine years of education (OECD, 2016). This law built an exhaustive system, outlining standards for schools, instructors, teaching and learning, as well as for funding education and the legal responsibilities of social sectors. Since the legislation was changed in 2006, all students enrolled in compulsory education are now exempt from paying tuition and other fees. Moreover, according to the law’s 2015 revision, textbook prices are limited to marginal profit (OECD, 2016).
As to the specifics, China’s education system is managed by the state, with limited involvement from private companies, and continues to grow more decentralised (OECD, 2016). The Ministry of Education has recently moved away from direct control of the educational system and towards system-wide monitoring, directing educational reform through legislative initiatives, plans, financial support, informational services, policy recommendations, and administrative tools. Governments at the county level are in charge of running and providing education in schools. Most of the time, provincial governments are in charge of managing higher education institutions (OECD, 2016).
As has been previously stated, students must complete nine years of compulsory education (OECD, 2016). Figure 2 presents a chart with an overview of the organisation of China’s education system. Prior to the 1990s, secondary schools accepted students based on the results of admission exams. The government has replaced the entrance exam for secondary school with a policy of mandatory enrollment based on the area of residence (hukou) to emphasise the compulsory nature of junior secondary schools and as part of an attempt to shift the focus of education away from test scores and towards a more integrated approach to learning (OECD, 2016).
Students have the option to continue with senior secondary education after completing the compulsory education (OECD, 2016). General senior secondary, technical or specialised secondary, adult secondary, vocational secondary, and crafts schools are the five different categories of senior secondary schools in China. Prior to enrolling in senior secondary schools, students must take the Zhongkao, a public test whose results determine admission. The government assigns pupils to various senior secondary schools based on these scores. In recent years, China has made major efforts to increase enrollment in secondary vocational schools in order to satisfy the rapidly changing economic and labour demands of the nation. Despite the fact that senior secondary education is not required in China, 95% of junior secondary school graduates completed their studies there in 2014, a particularly significant figure considering it was only around 40% in 2005 (OECD, 2016).
The first ten years of the twenty-first century saw a significant increase in tertiary education in China as well (OECD, 2016). The gross enrollment ratio for postsecondary education in China increased from 21% in 2006 to 39% in 2014. Various institutions and initiatives were founded during this time, and there was a significant increase in the promotion of international collaboration and mobility. The tertiary education system become more varied as a result. Undergraduate programmes’ admissions are based on students’ college entrance examination (gaokao) scores. Admissions at the graduate level are based on another entrance examination (OECD, 2016).
Main challenges to the Chinese education system
Too large an emphasis on tests
As has been touched on in the Background section, test scores play a highly significant role in the education system in China. Although the country has replaced the entrance exam for secondary school with hukou, senior secondary education and undergraduate as well as graduate programmes still heavily rely on evaluation scores.
A departure from the former system, a New Curriculum Reform has been underway since 2001 that addresses every aspect of the educational system, including educational philosophy, goal, content, methodology, and assessment systems at all educational levels (OECD, 2016). The new approach changes the examination-focused study mode to lessen the load on the students by relying on a variety of metrics for student achievements. The goal of this new evaluation method is to assist students in realising their potential, understanding who they are, and gaining confidence. Teachers should be able to examine and enhance their teaching techniques with the aid of the evaluation system. The new assessment system mandates periodic evaluation of curriculum implementation and study of implementation-related issues in order to assist schools in developing their curriculum systems (OECD, 2016).
Major adjustments are also being made to the gaokao (OECD, 2016). In 2014, the State Council released formal recommendations for the gaokao system overhaul. To lessen the impact of standardised testing, changes have been made to examinations at various levels. This examination reform attempts to create a contemporary examination system made up of standardised exams, thorough evaluation, and various admittance criteria. It also seeks to support overall education system change. As agreed upon with the central government, Shanghai and the province of Zhejiang will serve as the new system’s experimental pilot regions. Each province has created its own strategy to implement this change. Other towns and provinces have also revealed their own reform initiatives for the gaokao, including Beijing, Jiangsu and Guangdong (OECD, 2016).
Still, however, many sources within China as well as reports highlight the still-existing emphasis on test scores. In an article by Didi Kristen Tatlow (2014) in the New York Times, professor of education at the University of Oregon Yong Zhao revealed that the fundamental disregard for children’s individuality, hobbies, and passions in the Chinese educational system has resulted in a uniform student body. Because it compels students to spend practically all of their free time studying for exams, it leaves little time for leisurely pursuits like exercise. The intense rivalry also puts Chinese students under a lot of stress, which can harm their confidence and impair their self-esteem. Zhao also claimed a meaningful education, which focuses more on assisting each kid in growing than on pressuring them to get high test scores, is hampered in China by an overemphasis on test results (Tatlow, 2014).
In another article, one by Mark Kitto (2012) for Prospect Magazine, the focus on testing and scores is further illustrated as Kitto states that “the domestic Chinese lower education system does not educate. It is a test centre. The curriculum is designed to teach children how to pass them.” He continues, “schools do not produce well-rounded, sociable, self-reliant young people with inquiring minds. They produce winners and losers. Winners go on to college or university to take “business studies.” Losers go back to the farm or the local factory their parents were hoping they could escape” (Kitto, 2012).
Finally, reports on Chinese schools have led education experts to contend that this emphasis on exam-based education is the main cause of China’s high dropout rate (Moxley, 2010). A study by Northeast Normal University’s Institute of Rural Education from May claimed that the dropout rate in some rural areas was as high as 40 percent. The findings were ascribed in the research to “school weariness,” or exhaustion and apathy brought on by memorization drills and cramming (Moxley, 2010).
A cutthroat system and mental health
Worthy of its own section, albeit related to the previous challenge ascribed to the large emphasis on test scores, are the consequences on the mental health of Chinese students as a result of the harsh educational system in China.
According to the Annual Report on China’s Education (2014), or the Blue Book of Education, researchers closely examined 79 elementary and middle school suicide cases from 2013 and discovered that nearly all – 92 percent – occurred after a teen had experienced stress related to school, in some cases an argument with a teacher (Xinying, 2014). The second part of the school year, when children often suffer higher stress because of high school and college admission examinations, saw a 63 percent increase. The study included cases such as that of a middle school student in Hohhot who committed suicide by jumping off a building after learning that his test scores had dropped and of a 13-year-old boy in Nanjing who hanged himself at home for failing to finish his homework. The case of a girl in Sichuan province who cut her wrist and ingested poison afterlearning the results of her college entrance exam was also included. Suicides like these reveal the immense pressure students feel in China as a result of their studies, a concerning image of its educational system (Xinying, 2014).
The rural-urban gap
A third, rather crucial challenge to China’s education system has to do with the large gap between access to education in rural China compared to its urban counterparts.
China’s unprecedented levels and rates of urbanisation, with the urban population approximately tripling, hundreds of millions of Chinese have seen their quality of life improve and transformed by urbanisation (OECD, 2016). Nonetheless, it has also brought forth a number of significant societal problems. Among the most important issue is equal access to education. Not only should every child have access to school, but they should also have equal access to quality education.
Although the Chinese government has prioritised educational equity in compulsory education through a number of programmes in order to narrow the rural-urban gap, these have only solved a part of the problem (OECD, 2016). For instance, improvements have been made in infrastructural areas but even while the educational environment is improved, other considerations, such as fewer opportunities for advancement and a poorer standard of living in rural regions, make the teaching force deficit a significant issue. In this regard, policies have been made to attract more teachers in rural areas, but there is more required than just policies; broader efforts to improve social and economic opportunities in less developed parts of the country need to be addressed first (OECD, 2016).
An opinion piece by Helen Gao (2014) for the New York Times also explores this, arguing that “While many of their urban peers attend schools equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and well-trained teachers, rural students often huddle in decrepit school buildings and struggle to graspadvanced subjects such as English and chemistry amid a dearth of qualified instructors.” Additionally, she highlights research showing that a candidate from Beijing has a 41-fold higher chance of being accepted to ‘Peking University’ than a comparable applicant from the underdeveloped, predominantly rural province of Anhui (Gao, 2014).
Gao’s (2014) piece also connected the rural-urban gap to corruptive practices, stating “Parents fork out tens of thousands of dollars under the guise of “voluntary donations” to secure a slot for their children in elite elementary schools. (…) Further advantage can be purchased by parents who can pay handsomely to hire teachers to offer extra tutoring to their children, a practice discouraged by the authorities but widespread in reality” (Gao, 2014).
An added challenge to the presented gap stems from the hukou system (OECD, 2016). Large-scale internal migration brought on by China’s economic growth has substantial educational implications for both families and the government. With neighbourhood residency as the main basis for determining school enrolment in China, this means that migrant children must remain the same as their place of birth. Those who choose to remain with their parents will have restricted access to schooling (OECD, 2016). Gao (2014) also touches on the effects of this as she explains that the hukou system denies rural children the right to enter urban public schools, forcing many of these migrant children to attend private schools that charge higher tuition fees. The unfortunate reality for many, she states, is that they “have no choice but to send their children back to their rural hometowns. Then, on the other hand, there are the children who separate from their parents and stay in their home regions, commonly referred to as “left-behind” children. They, more often than not, suffer from both mental health and educational effects (Gao, 2014).
Authoritarianism in higher education
According to political scientist Elizabeth J. Perry (2015), China’s Communist party-state has created a variety of techniques to monitor and control student behaviour. Politically dependable peers serve as the leaders of the “homerooms” (banji) and “class years” (nianji) and act as a conduit for information to and from the university administration. Peer pressure and oversight are integrated into the professional monitoring hierarchy. The “guidance counsellors” (fudaoyuan), trained employees entrusted with maintaining careful tabs on their student charges to ensure that their ideas and behaviour do not cross predetermined lines, form the cornerstone of the control system. These guidance counsellors, who are aided by student informants, report directly to the deputy party secretaries responsible for student work (Perry, 2015).
These control procedures have even “modernised” in recent years thanks to new methodologies and tools (Perry, 2015). For instance, mental health facilities are now a common sight on Chinese college campuses. However, in China, the term “mental illness” is used to refer to beliefs and tendencies that the government deems to be politically dangerous, and the findings of the required mental health screenings given to first-year students are shared with political cadres for analysis and potential preventative or punitive action. Furthermore, the proliferation of the internet and social media has made it possible to gauge (and direct) student opinion in yet another “modernised” way. Counsellors and cadres counteract suspicious or subversive information on popular social media platforms (such as Weibo and WeChat) by commissioning counter-posts that support the officially sanctioned viewpoint in addition to censoring it (Perry, 2015).
In an effort to sway student sentiment in favour of the CCP’s objectives, the party-state uses both proactive and reactive methods (Perry, 2015). Military training (junxun) and ideological and political education (sixiang zhengzhi jiaoyu) have been required courses at universities since the 1990s. These lessons and activities aim to instil dispositions and conduct that support the dictatorship. Teaching “cultural proficiency” (wenhua sushi) and “national character” (guoqing), which present Chinese history, art, philosophy, and literature in ways that present a natural relationship and fundamental compatibility between the splendours of China’s ancient “tradition” and its modern “socialist” system, has gained importance in recent years. As such, universities are a crucial element of a vast party-state project in cultural governance that aims to persuade people that CCP rule is justified by “Chinese characteristics” that make it both essential and natural (Perry, 2015).
Key takeaways
Although education in China has become a priority in recent decades, and has made great progress in its achievements and reforms, the country still faces some significant challenges. From an overemphasis on test scores that fail to create more well-rounded students and has adverse effects on students’ mental health to discrepancies brought about by the rural-urban gap, China needs to reform their zhongkao, gaokao and hukou systems to ensure a more balanced, equitable, quality education for all.
The fourth challenge discussed in this article, namely the control and subtle propaganda systems infiltrating the higher education levels in China, from a democratic perspective, limits students’ ability to form essential critical abilities. This challenge in particular is one that seems difficult to see addressed as it is actively pursued by the government and would therefore, rather than be seen as a challenge, be seen as a tool. This makes this challenge particularly complex.
Perry, E. J. (2015). Higher Education and Authoritarian Resilience: The Case of China, Past and Present. Harvard-Yenching Institute Working Paper Series. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:30822717
The Democratic Republic of Congo is the largest sovereign nation in the African continent with a population of over 84 million inhabitants. The DRC is considered one of the richest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of natural resources, however, its population is further away from experiencing its wealth. According to the World Bank, 64% of the population lived under the poverty threshold with less than 2.15$ a day in 2021 (The World Bank, 2015). The DRC is faced with a wide range of political, socio-economic, and health issues coupled with ongoing armed conflict, and the state of the country continues to experience a steady decline following the Covid-19 pandemic (Pinshi 2020; Sasidharan and Dhillon 2021).
The Education system in the DRC is one of the national structures that has suffered the most from the lack of access to that national wealth. The educational system of the DRC has been reported as weak due to the low prosperity level of the country and plagued by poor quality and deep social inequalities. According to USAID, more the 45% of children begin school later, after the age of 6 which is the recommended year to begin primary school (The Global Economy, 2021), of those who successfully enter the first grade, only 67% will reach the 6th grade (USAID, 2023). The two main challenges hindering the education system in the DRC are poor quality and low coverage on the structural level when national challenges such as war, conflict, gender-based violence, food insecurity, and poverty have major repercussions on accessibility to equal and equitable education.
Figure 1 Image by The World Bank, 2020.
The following article will explore the current educational challenges and experiences in the DRC. An overall description of the DRC education system will be provided, followed by an exploration of their challenges, and will conclude by mentioning recent educational reform and their potential implication on the education system.
The DRC Education System, an Overview.
Due to poverty, military conflicts, and a lack of infrastructure, the school system in the Republic Democratic of Congo (DRC) suffers several difficulties (Education Cannot Wait 2023). Although, the country’s constitution recognizes the right to an education as a fundamental one, numerous youngsters remain out of school as a result of exorbitant tuition fees and subpar instructional materials (USAID 2023). With limited access to intermediate and university education, primary education in the DRC is free but not mandated (Kingiela 2018). An estimated 77.04% of people are literate, however, there is a large gender gap because women are more likely than males to be illiterate (UNESCO 2020). When compared to other African nations, the government’s expenditure on education is small, which causes teachers shortage and subpar classroom facilities (Kingiela 2018). Additionally, the colonial-based curriculum of the nation’s educational system, which disregards regional contexts and cultures, restricts the level of education that can be provided to children.
The education system of the DRC is mainly organized across ideology and social groups, of which the catholic, protestants and unsubsidized schools form 80% of the country’s educational network, furthermore, urban provinces count the highest number of children enrolled in schools, the highest number of girls enrolled in schools and highest number of educators available as high as 20% for each construct, while predominantly rural and provinces affected by armed conflict represent the lowest number of enrolled children, enrolled girls, as well as available educators (Cellule Technique pour les Statistiques de l’Education (CTSE) 2015)
Challenges in the DRC Education System
Poor quality
Inadequate finance is one of the biggest problems facing the DRC’s educational system (Education Cannot Wait 2023). Only a small portion of the total government expenditure on education is spent on raising standards. The government’s investment in education has decreased over time, which has caused a drop in educational quality (Sasidharan and Dhillon 2021). The lack of finance has led to inadequate teacher preparation, a shortage of classroom supplies, and a lack of school infrastructure. UNESCO reports that the government only devotes 2.3% of its Gross Domestic Product to education, which is much less than the 20% suggested by the Dakar Framework for Action (UNESCO 2000, 2020). Due to little funding, education is of poor quality. There were just 16,500 elementary schools and 2,700 secondary schools in the nation in 2013 (Cellule Technique pour les Statistiques de l’Education (CTSE) 2015).
Corruption is another issue that results in insufficient funding. Officials embezzle funds intended for education because corruption is rampant in the country’s educational system making it challenging for schools to deliver high-quality instruction, particularly in rural areas where schools have few resources (Centre de Recherche sur l’anti-corruption 2022).
Low coverage
In the DRC, it can be difficult for children to get access to education, especially if they live in remote areas. About 3.5 million children of primary school age do not attend, with girls being disproportionately impacted (USAID, 2023). Children in remote locations have a tough time getting to school due to a lack of transportation options, including roads (World Bank, 2005). As a result of many youngsters being obliged to labor to support their families, poverty is another big impediment to schooling (Musarandega et al. 2021).
The fact that many institutions offer low-quality education just makes the lack of access to education worse (Kinsala, 2020). The ineffectiveness of instruction is hampered by the shortage of textbooks and other educational tools (World Vision, 2023). Additionally, many teachers lack the necessary credentials and have poor training (Kinsala, 2020).
Lack of infrastructure
The lack of infrastructure is another issue that has hampered education in the DRC. Most schools lack basic amenities such as water, electricity, and proper sanitation facilities (The World Bank 2015). This lack of infrastructure has contributed to the high dropout rates, particularly for girls who have to walk long distances to attend school (Musarandega et al. 2021). In addition, the lack of infrastructure makes it difficult for teachers to deliver quality education.
Impact of Conflict on Education
The ongoing conflict in the DRC has had a significant impact on education in the country. The conflict has disrupted the education system, with many schools being destroyed or closed down (Jones and Naylor 2014). Children have been forced to flee their homes, and some have been recruited as soldiers, denying them access to education. The conflict has also created a sense of insecurity, making it difficult for children to attend school. Many parents fear for their children’s safety and choose to keep them at home, even if they have access to education (Omaamaka 2015). This has contributed to the low enrollment rates in many parts of the country.
Conclusion
Education is essential for the development of any country. In the DRC, however, education faces many challenges, including inadequate funding, limited access to education, inadequate infrastructure and materials, and the impact of the conflict on education(USAID 2023). Addressing these challenges will require a collective effort by the government, civil society, and the international community. This includes increased funding for education, improving access to education, investing in infrastructure and materials, and promoting peace and security in the country. Only by addressing these challenges can the DRC fulfil its potential and provide quality education for all its citizens.
References
Cellule Technique pour les and Statistiques de l’Education (CTSE). 2015. “ANNUAIRE STATISTIQUE DE L’ENSEIGNEMENT PRIMAIRE, SECONDAIRE ET PROFESSIONNEL ANNEE SCOLAIRE 2013-2014.”
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Cameroon is known as “Africa in miniature”, a country located in central Africa, bordered by Nigeria to the west, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south, and Equatorial Guinea to the southwest. With a population over 25 million, Cameroon is one of the most ethnically diverse countries within the African continent, with more than 250 ethnic groups and languages. The country is known for its unique cultural heritage, natural beauty, and abundant natural resources, including oil, gas and minerals. However, Cameroon also faces an array of challenges inclusive of educational barriers, high poverty, inequality, political instability, and environmental degradation. Despite these challenges, the country has made significant progress in recent years, and is working towards achieving sustainable development, and economic stability overall.
Cameroon’s education system faces notable challenges with regard to gender disparities and gender inequalities. Girls continue to face significant barriers to accessing education. Cultural attitudes, poverty, early marriage, and pregnancy all contribute to lower enrollment rates and higher drop out rates among girls. This not only limits their opportunities for independent, personal growth and development but also hinders the overall development of the nation as a whole. In addition to lower enrollment rates, girls also face discrimination in the classroom. They are often subjected to lower expectations, receiving less attention from teachers, and are therefore given fewer opportunities for advanced study. This hinders social mobility and perpetuates a cycle of gender inequality that limits the potential of girls and women alike, both in terms of personal achievement and contributions to the country’s economy and society.
Additionally, the lack of education directly hinders the country’s ability to address public health issues such as epidemics and pandemics. During Covid-19, the lack of education was directly connected to the difficulties endured by the population to understand and comply with health guidelines, leading to increased transmission rates. Lastly, women who lack education are less likely to seek medical care when necessary, as lack of education limits their ability to access health care altogether which directly results in higher rates of maternal and child mortality. In addition to strengthening the education sector, the health education should also be integrated into the curriculum in a safe, conclusive and secure manner for both genders alike.
Cameroon faces various educational challenges that consistently hinder the country’s progress towards sustainable development. While significant progress has been made, much still needs to be accomplished in order to ensure that every Cameroonian has access to equal and quality education. Addressing these challenges will demand a collective, unified and transparent effort from the government, civil society organizations, and international partners. Only then can Cameroon provide its citizens with the tools required in order to build a prosperous future and contribute to the development of their nation.
