Educational Challenges in Syria

The Borgen Project: ‘The Education Crisis in Syria’ accessible in <https://borgenproject.org/education-crisis-in-syria/>

Syria’s educational system has faced challenges for a long time, but the situation improved before the war’s outbreak in 2011. In the decades that preceded the crisis, the educational sector in Syria was witnessing improvements concerning school and university enrolments. Nevertheless, the Syrian government was, at the time, taking initiatives and showing interest in fighting illiteracy as well as increasing the number of primary and preparatory schools throughout the country. 

Following the outbreak of the civil war, Syrian children of all ages were left without access to education. According to recent data published, there are more than 2.4 million Syrian children currently out of school.

 

Syrian children are currently facing several challenges that make it extremely difficult to attend their school or continue their education. The conflict has led to people’s displacement from their homes, poverty, and the inability of families to pay for school materials. In addition, the Syrian civil war has dangerously normalized and dramatically increased the issue of child labour. The stories shared by some of the affected children highlight the gravity of their situation. Issa, a 12-year-old boy, expressed his feeling of bitterness when he could not attend school for years after his family was displaced due to the war. Or Salim, a victim of displacement and child labour who was forced to seek refuge in Lebanon, where he currently works daily carrying potato bags. 

Albeit the employment of children under the age of 15 is illegal under Syrian legislation, no prominent governmental initiatives have been taken in the past few years to address this issue. However, UNICEF is taking steps to tackle the problem by adopting and implementing friendly policies designed to assist Syrian children in the enjoyment of their rights. 

A 2012 International Labour Organisation report recommended the Syrian national legislation to reform and impose further regulatory norms in the field of children’s work. The report also highlights how Syrian penalty laws are not severe enough to prevent employers from hiring children. Although the Syrian crisis slowed down the ILO’s work, in 2018, it adopted a ‘multi-sectoral approach’ to prevent child labour. This approach is meant to protect children’s rights to education and livelihood. It is also led and coordinated by several parties, including the Syrian Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, as well as the United Nations. Perhaps this multi-sided tactic, including a governmental representative, will reduce the number of children who are working rather than attending school. 

Unfortunately, Syria’s educational system faces other challenges as well. One of these is the limited access to electricity. The electrical energy infrastructure in Syria was damaged severely after the crisis, leaving most cities in the country, such as Aleppo and Damascus, without electricity for most hours of the day. Most schools in Syria were affected, and students had to struggle in dark classrooms. However, the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and UNICEF intervened in some places and saved the situation. For instance, in Aleppo, ECHO and UNICEF supplied 30 schools with solar panels, a successful step that positively changed the situation for students and teachers.

Nonetheless, implementing solar panels in all schools throughout the country is lengthy and costly. Since students of all age groups need electricity at home to prepare for exams, it would also fail to solve the issue in its entirety. The situation is undoubtedly precarious, but the government can take initiatives to assist students to study in more adequate conditions. Both the UN and ECHO could provide public city libraries with solar panels for electricity generation. This would allow students to learn in quiet and well-lit surroundings, thus contributing to their educational success. 

Another major challenge in Syria’s educational sector is the severe lack of fuel which directly affects students’ capabilities to access educational institutions. The Covid-19 pandemic, in addition, forced schools and universities to shut down for months, leading to the dropping out of a vast number of students. 

As mentioned above, UNICEF is taking several steps to improve these circumstances and combat the so-called ‘lost generation’. According to recently published data, UNICEF has not only been active in Syria throughout the past ten years but has also helped over 1.5 million children since 2016 by providing them with study materials and better chances for education. Furthermore, UNESCO has played an active role in Syria by launching several platforms to support Syrian children, psychologically as well as educationally. An example of this can be seen in the creation of “The Second Chance Program” by CapED, which assists the students who failed their final exams in retaking these during the summer, thereby providing them with a second opportunity to move onto the next grade. 

Overall, the situation in Syria is chaotic and complex, and governmental administrations fail to prioritise education. According to a report published by The Middle East Institute in 2022, the limited and short-term nature of the funding, insufficiency and inefficiency of data collection, and the delays in the embracement of new approaches are significant factors hampering Syria’s educational success. Education in Syria is in dire need of funding and rebuilding to improve students’ situations and guarantee their basic human rights. 

Cover image -Photo by Omar Ram on Unsplash

Written by Noor Mousa 

Edited by Olga Ruiz Pilato 

Summary of Indicator D5. Who are the teachers?

Summary of Indicator D5. Who are the teachers?

The demand for teachers depends on an array of different factors including class size, required instruction time for students, the use and availability of teaching assistants, enrolment rates at each level of education and the years of compulsory education.
The large number of teachers will reach the retirement age in many OECD countries within the next decade alongside the increase of the school-age population (in some countries), must be addressed or else will result in teacher deficit. Furthermore, the calibre of teachers is the most in-school determining factor of student achievement, therefore there is a need to attract top quality teachers and provide them with high-quality training. Hence, governments need to develop effective policies to attract and retain teachers in the teaching profession (see Indicator D7).
Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges for education systems around the world, notably to ensure the safe return to school (for teachers and students) after the reopening of schools.

Gender profile of teachers

On average, among all OECD countries, 70% of teachers are women in all levels of education combined. The proportion of female teachers decreases with the increase of level of education where they teach. In fact – on average − women represent the 96% of teaching staff in pre-primary schools, 82% at primary level, 63% at secondary level, and only 44% at tertiary level (Figure D5.1).
Hence, at the tertiary level, the gender profile of teachers is reversed, making men the majority among teachers. Only in Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, and the Russian Federation more than 50% of teachers at this level of education are women (Figure D5.1).

Source: OECD/UIS/Eurostat (2021), Table D5.1. See Source section for more information and Annex 3 for notes https://www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance/EAG2021_Annex3_ChapterD.pdf

 

The share of women among upper secondary teachers tends to be higher in general than in vocational programmes, although women are over-represented in both types of programmes. In general education, women represent, on average, 63% of all teachers, but in vocational training they amount for a smaller share of teachers: 56% on average across OECD countries.

In particular, the share of female teachers differs significantly (at least 10%) between general and vocational programmes in: Austria, Brazil, Chile, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, and Lithuania. Differently the share of female teachers in general and vocational programmes is the same in the Czech Republic (at 60%), Norway (55%), and Slovenia (67%).

Potential sources and implications of gender imbalances in the teaching profession

Several factors may contribute to gender imbalances in the teaching profession. A main explanation is that social perceptions linking certain professions with a particular gender influence both men and women’s career choices. Furthermore, within the teaching profession there are gender imbalances related to the fields of study. In fact, at the lower secondary level, female teachers are less than male ones in science, mathematics, and technology. This is due to the social perception that these fields are of masculine domain.

Economic factors also contribute to the imbalance. Indeed, on average across OECD countries, male teachers earn less than other men with same level of education do in other professions, whereas this does not occur for women, thus making the teaching profession less appealing to men.

Aiming for a better balance among teachers’ genders by contributing to students developing positive gender identities and challenging stereotypes could have positive effects on students.

Trends in the gender profile of teachers

In most countries, the share of women is higher among young teachers (under the age of 30) than among older teachers (aged 50 or older). Furthermore, the difference grows larger at upper secondary level: on average across OECD countries, 63% of young teachers are women at this level, compared to 57% in the older group. The higher share of young female teachers (50% on average) compared to older ones (39% on average) at the tertiary level suggests that, in the near future, the gap between male and female teachers at this level will decrease.

Between 2005 and 2019, there has been an increase of the gender gap by 3% for the primary and secondary levels combined, in Slovenia this increase reaches 11%. On average among all OECD countries with available data for relevant years, female teachers represented 69% of teachers in 2005 and 72% in 2019. In comparison, at the tertiary level, there was a 5% decrease in the gender gap since the share of female teachers increased from 39% in 2005 to 44% in 2019.

This proves that the gender imbalance in the teaching profession has been consistent over the years, raising concerns among states. In response, for example, the United Kingdom has implemented policies aimed at encouraging the recruitment of diverse and inclusive teacher workforce.

Teachers’ age distribution

Teachers’ age distribution varies considerably across countries and levels of education. Young teachers (below the age of 30) only account for a small proportion of the teaching population: 12% in primary education, 11% in lower secondary, and 8% in upper secondary on average across OECD countries. The data for the upper secondary level is particularly striking, whereby young teachers make up less than 10% of all teachers in most countries.

The share of older teachers (aged 50 and over) increases with the education level, from 33% in primary education to 38% in secondary education and 40% in tertiary education. There is, however, a high level of variation across countries, with the share at tertiary level ranging from 13% in Luxembourg to 56% in Italy (Figure D5.3).

Source: OECD/UIS/Eurostat (2021), Table D5.3 and Education at a Glance Database, http://stats.oecd.org/ . See Source section for more information and Annex 3 for notes https://www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance/EAG2021_Annex3_ChapterD.pdf

The aging of the teaching force has many consequences such as the need to put efforts in substituting retiring teachers and the impact of budgets, since, generally, salaries increase with teachers’ experience. Thus, the aging of teachers increases school costs which can result in limiting the resources available for other initiatives (see Indicator C7).

In addition, during the COVID-19 crisis, the high share of teachers over the age of 50 may raise health concerns, as older individuals are more at risk of developing severe forms of the disease. Hence, several countries including Austria, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, and Slovenia have prioritized teachers’ vaccination as of March 2021.

Methodology

The share of teachers in the population corresponds to the proportion of teachers in a given age group (e.g., below the age of 30) among the total population of the same age group. For more information, please see the OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics 2018 (OECD, 2018).

Source

Data refers to the academic year 2018/19 and are based on the UNESCO-UIS/OECD/EUROSTAT data collection on education statistics administered by the OECD in 2020 (for details, see https://www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance/EAG2021_Annex3_ChapterD.pdf).

 

Summarized by Francisca Orrego Galarce and edited by Olga Ruiz Pilato from OECD, Education at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators – Indicator D5. Who are the teachers?

Featured image source : https://cdn-res.keymedia.com/cms/images/ca/126/0321_637187533557067196.jpg

A Guide to Writing Proposals for European Union Projects: A Presentation by the Intercultural Dialogue Platform

Introduction

On the 14th of April 2022, several organizations joined online for a Zoom webinar that focused on guiding them on how to choose, write, and coordinate project proposals in line with the calls for funding requested by bodies of the European Union. The meeting was hosted by the Intercultural Dialogue Platform (IDP), introduced by its Executive Director Mehmet A. Bayrak as a non-profit civil society organization based in Brussels, focused on achieving a mutual understanding and harmonious coexistence amongst individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. So far, it has conducted three large scale and successful Horizon projects.[1] Following this, Mehmet introduced the main speaker of the webinar, Ludmila Malai, the IDP EU Project Manager. She is educated in politics and international law, and for the last few years has coordinated projects around extremism, identity building, and cultural dialogue.

 

A Call for Proposals

Ludmila started by explaining that, to find new calls for proposals, one must view the European Commission’s website under the ‘Find call for funding – by topic’ section, using the platform to search for projects that are of interest to an organization, choosing from calls that are either still open or forthcoming in the criteria options. This will still result in too many visible calls, so she suggested adding further criteria by programme type such as: Citizens, Equality, Rights, and Values (CERV), Horizon 2020, EU External Action, Digital Europe Programme, Connecting Europe Facility, Gender Equality, calls coming from the European Parliament, Asylum Migration & Integration Fund; Erasmus+ Programmes, Creative Europe, and so on. As a sidenote, she explains that, although Horizon 2020 programmes are at the forefront of EU projects, it is highly research-based and requires a firm background in the chosen topic or a consortium of partners that can achieve innovative outcomes, a factor that is further expanded on below.

Since the current trend for European programmes has shifted to increasingly involve not only public authorities but also civil actors, she decides to use CERV as the primary example for civil society organizations seeking to submit proposals in line with their values or mission statement, such as the current ‘Call for Proposals to Protect & Promote the Rights of the Child’.[2] From this call, it is crucial that any organizations firstly check the deadline model, which can either be a single-stage submission that requires submitting just the ‘Project proposal – Technical description (Part B)’ or a multiple-stage process which requires an organization to submit various documents at different stages. In the case of this call, the deadline model is of a single-stage, and has a deadline of approximately a month until the submission process closes on the 18th of May 2022. Ludmila recommended that, to draw up a proposal document, one should leave approximately between 6-8 weeks, as a month is too tight and complicated to submit a well-drawn up proposal. The next section examines the budget overview which displays an indicative (total) budget available of €3,010,000 to fund all the projects that end up accepted, giving any organization a good indication about what can be reasonably proposed and allows for better preparation.

 

The Call Document

After viewing these details, Ludmila emphasises that, prior to writing a proposal, an organization should rigorously study what is known as the ‘Call Document’. The document provides clear guidelines to match projects with what the European Commission will ultimately grant funding towards. Continuing with the call document of children’s rights,[3] one should start by looking at the ‘Eligibility’ criteria, namely: that your organization is a legal entity of a public or private nature; it is established in particular regions or countries of the EU or non-EU countries associated with the CERV programme or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before the grant signature; that, if the organization is profit-oriented, then it must submit applications in partnership with public entities or private NPOs; that the proposed project can be either be conducted in a national or transnational context (in the case of the latter, it requires that at least two different European countries are participating in the project – one of whom may be the organization coordinating the project as was required in this case); that the EU grant applied for cannot be lower than €75,000 (the minimum budget being asked for any proposal being submitted); and that the beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the ‘Participant Register’ before submitting the proposal and will have to be validated by the Central Validation Service.

When asked about the right budget (in this case beyond the €75,000 minimum budget and the maximum indicative budget of €3,000,000), Ludmila replied that it is all about how cost-effective the project activities are and suggested that organizations should not ask too much nor too little, but that it remains context-dependent (on the goals of the project). For example, creating a guide, toolkit, or handbook would require a certain amount of calculation for the different features included, but is independent from the other proposed actions, like implementing 20 training sessions for youth workers may require you to ask for €100,000. It may even be the case that you propose an action that requires €2,000,000 to implement a policy of school meals to tackle food security, in line with the proposal.

By satisfying these requirements, the organization can then move on to reading the content of the call, consisting of its background, objectives, the themes and priorities, the appropriate activities, and the expected impacts of any activities or deliverables that form a core part of your proposed project. Ludmila explained what these sections involve in turn.

 

Background

This section refers to the context that the call is founded upon, in terms of why such a call was proposed, its origin, and what main issues are tackled. Ludmila emphasises that it is crucial for a proposal to be centred around the needs and assessment of the call background, which proves that the project really understands the field of the call itself and ensures it is in line with any particular documents that are drafted by the European Commission, such as, in this case, the ‘EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child’.

 

Objectives

The scope of the objectives for any proposal should be to support, advance and implement a set of comprehensive policies that aim to protect and promote the rights of the child and policies, as well as making sure once again that these objectives fit the initiatives supported in the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child.

 

Theme & Priorities

Ludmila explains the importance for organizations to carefully choose what you want to tackle in terms of the proposal’s priorities. The sentence structure could look like: ‘This call for proposals will contribute to’, for instance, ‘protecting children against exploitative behaviour’, or ‘expanding the access of children to social services, health, a safe environment of work and play, a quality education’ and so on. This shows that a proposal has conducted a clear reading of the major themes and priorities being addressed within the call document and is structured to match the document throughout the proposal.

 

Activities

Ludmila noted that it is easy to come together as an organization or consortium to brainstorm a number of activities to conduct during a project’s lifecycle; however, you may come up with a good activity which does not match the activities that will be funded within the call document, so it is highly advisable to adapt to what the call is asking for, which, in this case, comprises mutual learning, teaching activities, capacity building, cooperation, identifying good practices, and awareness raising activities. The main drawback to suggesting activities that do not accomplish what the call document is describing is a loss of points in the proposal evaluation process, which will be discussed further below.

 

Expected Impact

After outlining the activities, they must be accompanied by the positive, tangible, and visible impacts that your project expects to see, bridging the connections to other actions within the project and the call document. Once again, you can propose good actions which do not generate the expected impacts in line with the call document, resulting in a risk of failure of the proposal. A major factor connected to this section is the time required for these impacts to emerge. If the impacts surpass the project’s lifecycle, which usually lasts between two to three years, then it is best to review the proposal and ensure that the actions result in impacts of a timely manner.

 

Evaluation of Proposals

Following the submission of a proposal, it will be evaluated to meet the threshold of points against three main elements, which may vary depending on the given call but which, in this case, are listed as 70 points to be awarded approval.[4] The three elements are as follows:

  • Relevance (40 points) which requires that a proposal can accomplish exactly what is expected from what is included in the call document and centred around the EU’s strategic and legislative contexts; the eligibility criteria; the use of results from other projects, studies, or national programmes; the level of replicability of your project in other contexts and domestic settings; the appropriate inclusion of gender perspectives; and whether the proposal has a transnational dimension. Therefore, it is essential to adhere to this element, especially because it can destabilise a proposal given the fact that out of all three elements, relevance requires any proposal to attain 25 points out of the total 40 for the funding to be granted.

 

  • Quality (40 points) means that a proposal should be well written in terms of the logical links to identified problems, needs, and solutions mentioned in the call document. This requires the development of what is called a logical frame concept. It includes the chosen methodology for implementing the project; incorporating a gender perspective; maintaining a firm coherence throughout the proposal; acknowledging ethical issues; showing a high rate of visibility in terms of the time proposed for impacts; and considering a coherently reasonable proposed budget results in the best value for money.

 

  • Impact (20 points). Here, Ludmila explains that European projects are usually funded for a maximum of two or three years, so they usually have a short lifecycle that may lead to a limited amount of publicity for chosen projects. This why any project should establish platforms or pathways that extend the lifecycle of the project beyond their completion, buttressing the project with strong elements of sustainable end goals that can be easily replicated in other contexts, as well as incorporating open access mechanisms for methods and data that are freely accessible to others.

These elements are critical to any project being awarded funding. Ludmila concludes that given the increased inflation of proposals being submitted for calls, a proposed project must visibly show a high quality that stands out amongst other proposed projects. Therefore, it pays off to spend as much time and effort on drawing up a proposal that captures the attention of the evaluators because it fits all the criteria, aims to provide deliverables, activities, and impacts in line with the call document, and goes the extra mile by incorporating mechanisms that sustains the effective outcomes of the projects for other future projects that can springboard off its results.

 

Structuring Your Proposal

When necessary, another crucial factor is for the coordinating organization to search for other partner organizations, establishing what is called a consortium that displays a clear capacity of implementing the proposed project, asking which organizations can add a high quality of value to your project. These may be civil society organizations that address specific issues, public bodies, institutions, schools, centres and so on. In this sense, partners that have experience in the topic of choice, will directly impact the credibility of the project by helping to achieve its goals, needs, and effects. Likewise, during the search, the organization should target partners located in other countries that vocalise the issues addressed in the call document. For example, if the call addresses antisemitism, then the countries that the organizations ought to look at would be France, Germany, or Poland. The key is to aim for diversity, because the more variety there is in the consortium network, the more likely it would be to instil a variety of experiences and activities that can generate amazing work packages that will show positive results.

The next step should be forming a solid definition of the problem the project will tackle, engaging in research analysis of what current gaps exist in recent research, finding a methodology which matches the call, conducting brainstorming sessions for activities, developing a visual idea of the project plan, creating a timetable, consulting with the whole team, and engaging in feedback channels that ensure no elements are left out from the overall plan.

The submission document itself requires a name, a technical outline that clearly describes the proposed project, a project summary, the elements of relevance, quality, communicating the expected impacts, the chosen methodology, background, and so on. It will also require a management plan that explains how the coordinator will establish quality control, such as by adopting high standards and monitoring mechanisms that measure the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of impacts that will display the success of the project. Other measures include the avoidance of producing unknown facts from project activities through risk management procedures that link actions with security measures that show how these elements are addressed in a smooth manner, as well as possibly drawing up a work plan for the work packages set with a timetable that outlines a realistic timeline to implement actions.

 

Important Tips

Nearing the end of Ludmilla’s presentation, a dedicated time for questions and answers led to her providing a few extra tips to further guide the writing and submission process of the proposal:

  • Always keep in mind the project objectives – It is easy to run ahead when generating ideas and having a lot of enthusiasm, but it may end up with taking a wrong turn in the process or providing a project that is not coherent with your objectives.

 

  • Avoid complicated sentences – It is better to stick to clear ideas and keeping the proposal simple, through devoting time in evaluating the project to ensure that is it of good quality. Formulating it in an uneasy way may lead to a loss of points because evaluators might get tired of reading your proposal and ideas. Clarity can be accomplished through using bullet points for objects, activities, or any particular points that may need to be emphasised. Even difficult issues can be explained easily, even when avoiding simple vocabulary. It is encouraged to use necessary academic terms, especially in the case of Horizon 2020 projects, but ensuring that they are included in the proposal text in a way that does not tire the reader.

 

  • Initially, every process seems complicated – Along the various sections, the project will gradually become easier because, by integrating information, a routine will become established. This will naturally guide the choices and answers of what will be the most important information that you need to include, and, with time, you learn what you need to pay attention to and what you should prioritise. The process is meant to be an interesting experience of acquiring new information on topics that are currently relevant in society.

 

  • Proofreading – It is advisable that, if an organization would like to present a draft copy of the proposal to any external parties for proofreading, it should be ready two weeks before submitting the proposal to ensure that there is ample space and time for feedback and to make any necessary corrections. Likewise, if the organization is simply planning to share the draft with an external party that is already familiar with the proposed project, then a week suffices, but it is always optimal to have it ready in advance. It is also a good idea to finish the first draft in advance and take some time to relax after writing before returning to it after a few days. This will clear the head and potentially help you find new elements to include or remove.

 

  • Evaluation – Lastly, Ludmila mentioned that after submitting a project proposal, it takes between 4 to 6 months before the application results in an award. It is thus a lengthy process.

 

Written by Karl Baldacchino

Edited by Olga Ruiz Pilato

 

___________________________

[1] More information can be found on their website at Dialogue Platform, ‘About – Dialogue Platform’. Available online from : https://dialogueplatform.eu/about-dialogue-platform/ [Accessed 16/04/2022].

[2] European Commission (2021a), ‘Funding and Tenders Portal – Call for proposals to protect and promote the rights of the child’. Available online from: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/cerv-2022-child [Accessed 16/04/2022].

[3] European Commission (2021b) ‘Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) – Call for proposals to protect and promote the rights of the child – CERV-2022-CHILD’. Available online from: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/cerv/wp-call/2022/call-fiche_cerv-2022-child_en.pdf [Accessed 16/04/2022].

[4] European Commission (2021b), p. 17.

Educational Challenges in the Republic of Malta

Introduction

The Republic of Malta is a small island located in the Mediterranean Sea, just below Sicily, East of Tunisia, and above Libya. Historically, it served as a gateway between North Africa and Europe, as explained by its long history as a part of imperial conquests by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, the Knights of St. John, the French, and lastly the British, gaining its independence by 1964 and becoming a Republic in 1974.[i] It became a member of the European Union (EU) in 2004, leading to a flurry of reforms for social development in terms of education, health, and socioeconomic status in order to meet EU benchmarks.[ii] In this regard, attaining a quality education has increased across the board for students and what they are equipped with following compulsory education as a result.

Characteristics of Malta’s Education System

The ‘Education Act’, pursuant to Chapter 327 of the Laws of Malta, states that education is compulsory for all children and youth in Malta between the ages of five and sixteen, split into six years of primary education proceeded by five years of secondary education. Parents have the liberty to send their children either to public, state-run schools, or Church-run schools that are full-time and mostly free or to private schools that require annual tuition fees.[iii] There also exists a strong promotion and supply of early childhood education and care (ECEC) from birth until the age of three, followed by kindergarten centres that help prepare children to enter primary education with ease, seeing a total of 143 registered childcare centres by November 2019.[iv]

Primary education consists of mixed-ability classes combining the three core subjects of English, Maths, Maltese, and science, religion/ethics, and physical education. It includes cross-curricular soft skills like e-learning, sustainable development, intercultural education, entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation.[v] This level exists within the state ‘College Networks’ that ease the flow of children attending the same primary and secondary schools within specific geographic proximity, using particular checklists to assess literacy, numeracy, and e-literacy between the first and third grades, coupled with continuous formative assessments via the ‘End of Primary Benchmark’ for the three core subjects.[vi]

Secondary education is split into lower and upper-secondary. The former lasts two years and is referred to as ‘Middle School’, including the three core subjects as well as geography, history, religion/ethics, physics, PSCD (personal, social, and career development), art, foreign languages (e.g., Italian, German, French, Arabic, Spanish), and so on. The following upper-secondary education generally consists of students attending elective classes chosen in the second year of Middle School alongside both one foreign language and science of their choice.[vii] This level relies on continuous forms of assessments and annual centrally-set exams at the end of each year, culminating into the national Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) examinations organised by the Matriculation and Secondary Education Certificate (MATSEC) board of the University of Malta (UOM), whereby all students at the age of sixteen take exams focused on the three core subjects and chosen electives to attain qualifications recognised across Malta and by the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning (EQF).[viii]

(Source: ‘Malta: Organisation of the education system and of its structure’, European Commission)

Post-secondary education ensures that students who were unable to pass the SEC examinations have a second chance through revision programmes at the Guze Ellul Mercer (GEM) 16+ School or at the Higher Secondary Schools in Malta and Gozo. It also entails that students who passed the three core subjects and another three subjects can opt to attain higher levels of education in two-year programmes either at Junior College or Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary in preparation for tertiary education at the UOM via the Advanced and Intermediate Levels exams; or may also take a more practical approach by attending the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), which offers a range of vocational programmes, diplomas and degrees in science, engineering, accounting and ICT; or the Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS), focused on the tourism industry as a primary backbone of Malta’s economy.[ix]

UOM provides a diverse range of Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD programmes traditionally focused on law, medicine, communications, psychology, and humanities. It has recently expanded into new digital fields like blockchain technology and cybersecurity.[x] However, other public and private institutions compete with UOM by targeting niche market demands for adult education, as seen by programmes offered by the Centre for Liberal Arts and Sciences at UOM, as well as the University of the Third Age (U3E), to provide challenging programmes to strengthen critical thinking and skills attainment.[xi]

This system boasts a strong structure focused on education for all to enter the labour market with ease, ensuring free access throughout and significant governmental assistance such as free textbooks and transport, as well as maintenance grants and monthly stipends for those continuing onto higher levels of education.[xii] It is evident that Malta has made major strides to invest heavily in its education system, having among the highest general government expenditures on education at 14.2%, and dedicating 5.3% portion of its gross domestic product (GDP) to education, which is above the EU averages of 10% and 4.7%, respectively.[xiii] However, despite this positive progress, the system remains heavily burdened in meeting benchmarks, its educators coping with the rapid pace of reforms, and the significant increase of the migrant population.

Failing to Meet Educational Benchmarks

2009 and 2018 data from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and calculated results from Eurostat highlight how the percentage of 15-year-olds underperforming in literacy, numeracy, and science remained well above EU averages, standing at 35.6%, 29.1% and 32.5%, respectively. The level of reading and writing in English of Grade 5 children in primary schools show that 65.8% of them could speak English, sometimes beyond C1 level, but 32.8% of children displayed a weakness in writing at A1 level.[xiv] Furthermore, 2011 data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) ranked Malta 35th out of 45 participating countries in the study. Students’ literacy levels are comparable to Trinidad and Tobago, with 25% scoring low in English reading. The mean score for Maltese reading was worse than the mean score for English reading, which highlights a discrepancy between state and both church and private institutions.[xv] The latter problem is due to a lack of resources, wherein Bonnici (2021), explained in his article that, ‘Malta has created an environment where some students have access to better resources simply because they can afford it’. This demonstrates that education is unequal in state schools, a view that has been confirmed by the European Commission’s 2020 study. The study suggests that the gap between state and private or church schools is as much as two years of teaching.[xvi] Despite targeted reforms, classrooms remain quite large, with policies capping the size at 26 pupils per class but failing to address teacher-student ratio, which ranks amongst the lowest in the EU. It stood at 12.8, 6.5, and 7.5 for primary, lower- and-upper-secondary levels in 2019, giving an indirect indication of individual focus for students.[xvii]

Another historical issue for Malta has been the high rate of early school leavers (ESLs), which Eurostat defined as ‘those between 18 and 24 years of age, who do not have at least the equivalent SEC passes (grades 1 to 7) in five different subjects and who are not in education or training’. Standing at 33% in 2005, it decreased to 16.7% by 2020, leaving Malta with the second-largest rate and higher than the EU benchmark of 10%.[xviii] The employment rate of those having attained low education levels of education is 71.7%: the highest in the EU, which explains why school dropouts are a persistent issue. It shows that, even with few qualifications, people still found employment in the tourism industry, which, besides being poorly paid, also hinders the success of policies aiming to lower the cost-benefit of enrolling on higher levels of education, as suggested by some researchers, placing this cohort at risk of social exclusion and unemployment in the future as new industries are carved out.[xix] This may also be a generational problem. One-third of the total workforce has a secondary level of education, whilst 50% remain without SEC qualifications. In the year 2000, 7.4% of 30 to 34-year-olds attained tertiary qualifications, increasing to 39.7% by 2020. The latter amounted to a successfully reached benchmark, which included a gender gap of 46.5% of women having attained tertiary education in comparison to 34.1% for men.[xx]

The students’ high failing in MATSEC core subjects across secondary and post-secondary levels indicates the system’s failure to meet benchmarks. In 2021, 17% (642 out of 3706), 18% (762 out of 4162), and 14% (575 out of 4086) of students failed Maltese, Maths, and English, in comparison to the 2019 results of 19%, 17%, and 12% respectively. The former Minister of Education, Justyne Caruana, stated that this failure cannot be attributed to the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020.[xxi] In reaction to this, the Government announced a UOM decision that entering Junior College will no longer require students to pass all the core subjects, a foreign language, and a science; but that only passing one core subject would be the new requirement. This decision received backlash from stakeholders, especially the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT), who had not been consulted. They questioned the decision as an election tactic, considering that the 2022 parliamentary elections saw 16-year-olds allowed to vote for the first time.[xxii] The Government supports the decision because it may positively address the issue of ESLs, insofar as higher levels of education posed a barrier for the youth. Requirements to enter UOM still remain a barrier in this respect, but many wonder if this is the direction that education should take.

Educators Unable to Cope

There are not enough teachers to cater for all students, especially for the three core subjects;[xxiii] however, rather than seeing education as a so-called ‘elitist bastion’ and pinning educational development solely on the shoulders of educators, a better approach would be to tackle the attitudinal and systematic imbalances of how educators in Malta are treated. It is attitudinal in the sense that the profession is considered amongst the lowest and least respected in Maltese society, which affects the crucial instruction that students receive from educators, an issue that is amplified by the fact that parents and social communities have, for a long time and until recently, not desired to be involved in the education of their children and the future of the labour market, risking the widening of socio-economic inequalities.[xxiv] On the other hand, for the last three years the MUT, alongside others, have lambasted governmental reforms being introduced without their consultation, without providing training and professional development for the new reforms, nor have these reforms shown success thus far to gain educators’ support, instead arguing that the rapid pace is akin to a ‘rat race’ resulting in ‘reform fatigue’.[xxv] This is why educators are feeling burnt out with the amount of paperwork they must prioritise over other core responsibilities, in turn being unable to tackle the lack of student discipline and appropriate behaviour in their classrooms. They are instead calling for reforms to not be solely student-centred as a way to bypass the need for a balanced approach that also takes educators’ needs into account, a crucial reason why many educators are leaving the field.[xxvi]

The study conducted by Dr. Chircop in 2020 focused on how educators construct an image of Maltese society within the classroom, and revealed how the rapid pace of socio-economic reforms since Malta’s accession into the EU by introducing divorce, civil union, same-sex marriage, changes in migration policies, and even the recent legalization of hemp production has left educators with a double duty of having to reconcile these changes with their own religious, cultural, and moral systems, indirectly increasing the barriers to creating a more tolerant society inside and outside of schools.[xxvii] This risks systematizing issues of racism and the exclusion of certain sexualities that lingered in society but have become more pronounced and visible over the last two decades, becoming entrenched boundaries of ‘us’ vs ‘them’ due to the fears that the Maltese identity will be detached from its cultural, religious, and social roots in exchange for more modern, European, or even North African and Mediterranean linked to Malta’s history and relations with various cultures.[xxviii] It points towards a wider cross-cutting issue that has existed in Malta since 2002, that of an increased foreign population within the country.

From Economic Necessity to Racism

The topic of racism in Malta has a contradictory nature since, in the past, the labour market required a supply of highly skilled individuals who were not present amongst the Maltese population and became dependent on the attraction of foreign workers to fill the skills gap, a dependency that continues today with the latest market development of the gaming industry (roughly 60% of which consist of foreign employees).[xxix] Racist attitudes became more prevalent due to the fact that the foreign population grew from 14,725 in 2008 to 83,267 by 2019, or from 4% of the total Maltese population to 17%. It added pressure on the 1,322 inhabitants per square kilometre – significantly higher than the U.K., with 244.3 inhabitants/km2, or Italy, with 19.2 244.3 inhabitants/km2. This was reflected in schools, as more third-country nationals students (TNCs) from Syria, Libya, and Serbia enrolled on schools in the North, the Northern Harbour, and the South-Eastern districts of Malta, such as in St. Theresa College, St. Benedict College, and St. Clare College.[xxx] Despite its limitations, a study by Frendo in 2021 displayed firm signs of exclusion and discrimination against migrant students in post-secondary education with regards to being treated differently by peers in the classroom due to their skin colour or clothing, being asked racist questions by educators, and being made invisible by the use of Maltese as the language of instruction, concluding that these same cultural and ethnic markers may also be present in other levels of education.[xxxi]

Racism is a critical issue that must be addressed by providing more professional development and training to educators in terms of pedagogical methods and teaching of language, as well as by accommodating the educational and emotional needs of those who may possess trauma due to their migratory journey or experiences of abuse, creating an intercultural rather than a multicultural environment of assimilation. In addition, the wider educational system in Malta must increase the allocation of resources and focus on schools and districts that are serving concentrated pools of foreign students. This would challenge the wider perception of foreigners posing ‘threats’ to their culture, language, and employment prospects.[xxxii]

Conclusion

Having been born, raised, and passing through the education system of Malta, I have come across these issues first-hand and befriended many current and future educators in the field who publicly debate and discuss these current issues. The system itself has found its footing over the years, and there is clear evidence that past, current, and future generations have positive access to quality education. However, the system must fill the remaining gaps since all the stakeholders involved are falling through the cracks. There is a serious need for all stakeholders to come together to reassess the teaching methods, content, training, and student pool to ensure that they all benefit from the system as originally intended.

Written by Karl Baldacchino

Edited by Olga Ruiz Pilato

Sources;

[i] Fenech, C. & Seguna, A. (2020) ‘Internationalisation of Maltese Society and Education’. Malta Journal of Education, Vol. 1(1), pp. 31-32.

[ii] Ibid., p. 30; see also Chircop, L. (2020) ‘Educators’ Constructions of Maltese Society’. Malta Journal of Education, Vol. 1(1), pp. 59-60; Gauci, T. M. (2021) ‘An Analysis of Educational Attainment in Malta: Policy Note’. Central Bank of Malta, pp. 4 & 12-13; see also European Commission (2019) ‘Education and Training Monitor 2019: Malta’, pp. 5-6.

[iii] European Commission, ‘Malta: Organisation of the education system and of its structure’. Eurydice. Available online from: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/organisation-education-system-and-its-structure-49_en#:~:text=Education%20in%20Malta%20is%20compulsory,five%20years%20of%20secondary%20education. [Accessed 29/04/2022].

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] Ibid.

[ix] Ibid.

[x] Ibid.

[xi] Ibid.; see also Mayo, P. (2012) ‘Adult Education in Malta: Challenges and Prospects’.  Journal of Adult Continuing Education, Vol. 18(1), p. 52.

[xii] Ibid.; see also Gauci, p. 5; see also Mayo, p. 58.

[xiii] Gauci, p. 22; see also European Commission (2019), p. 7; see also Bonnici, J. (2021) ‘Malta’s Educational System is Failing While We Play Dumb’. Lovin Malta. Available online from: https://lovinmalta.com/opinion/analysis/maltas-educational-system-is-failing-while-we-play-dumb/ [Accessed on 30/04/2022].

[xiv] European Commission (2019), p. 5; see also European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, ‘Raising the Achievement of All Learners in Inclusive Education – Country Report: Malta’, p. 2.

[xv] European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, pp. 5-6.

[xvi] Bonnici; see also European Commission (2020) ‘Equity in School Education in Europe: Structures, Policies and Student Performance’, pp. 65 & 239-240.

[xvii] Gauci, pp. 22-23.

[xviii] Ibid., p. 4; see also European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, p. 6; see also Carabott, S. (2019) ‘Malta with Second Largest Number of Early School Leavers in Europe’. Times of Malta. Available online from: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/malta-with-second-largest-number-of-early-school-leavers-in-europe.708292#:~:text=Malta%20has%20the%20second%20largest,2018%2C%20according%20to%20European%20data. [Accessed on 30/04/2022].

[xix] Ibid., pp. 10-11 European Commission (2019), pp. 8-9; see also Bonnici.

[xx] Ibid., pp. 8-11; see also European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, p. 4; see also Carabott.

[xxi] Fenech, J. (2021) ‘MATSEC Results to be Evaluated to Find Reasons for Poor Outcome – Education Minister’. Independent. Available online from: https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2021-08-27/local-news/MATSEC-results-to-be-evaluated-to-find-reasons-for-poor-outcome-Education-Minister-6736236248 [Accessed on 30/04/2022].

[xxii] Farrugia, C. (2022) ‘Junior College No Longer Requires Passes in All Three Core Subjects’. Times of Malta. Available online from: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/junior-college-no-longer-requires-passes-in-all-three-core-subjects.943710#:~:text=Students%20previously%20needed%20passes%20in%20Maltese%2C%20English%20and%20Maths&text=Students%20applying%20to%20enter%20Junior,one%20of%20three%20science%20subjects. [Accessed on 30/04/2022].

[xxiii] Times of Malta (2019) ‘The Failing Education System’. Available online from: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/the-failing-education-system.701290 [Accessed 30/04/2022].

[xxiv] Ibid.; see also Bonnici; see also Vella, L. (2021) ‘Teachers Call for Action on Expert’s Report on State School Educators’ Challenges’. Malta Today. Available online from: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/111164/teachers_call_for_action_on_experts_report_on_state_school_educators_challenges#.Ym1EO9pBzIV [Accessed on 30/04/2022].

[xxv] Vella (2021); see also Vella, Matthew (2020) ‘Teachers Left Breathless by Reforms “Rat Race”, Says Union Boss’.  Malta Today. Available online from: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/100137/teachers_left_breathless_by_reforms_rat_race#.Yme-htpBzIW [Accessed on 30/04/2022].

[xxvi] Ibid.; see also Vella (2020); see also General Workers’ Union Malta, ‘Study: “Challenges that Educators Face”’. Available online from: https://gwu.org.mt/en/study-challenges-that-educators-face/ [Accessed on 30/04/2022].

[xxvii] Chircop, L. (2020) ‘Educators’ Constructions of Maltese Society’. Malta Journal of Education, Vol. 1(1), pp. 57-66.

[xxviii] Ibid., pp. 57, 59, 60 & 67-69.

[xxix] Times of Malta (2019); see also Bonnici.

[xxx] Fenech & Seguna, pp. 29-30, 34-38 & 40-41.

[xxxi] Frendo, F. (2021) ‘Reflections on the Little Rock: Assessing Migrant Inclusion in Maltese Post-Secondary Education’. Malta Journal of Education, Vol. 2(2), pp. 143, 145 & 150-153.

[xxxii] Ibid., pp. 154-155; see also Fenech & Seguna, pp. 40-41, 43-45 & 46.

Cover photo – https://www.kindpng.com/imgv/ihJhJbo_malta-map-flag-with-coat-of-arms-clip/, Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Melek Çetinkaya: A Mother’s Struggle For Justice

Ms. Melek Çetinkaya is the mother of Taha Furkan Çetinkaya, a military student. She believes in her son’s innocence and tries to make her voice heard on social media so that her son, who is currently held imprisoned, is released. Ms. Çetinkaya stayed at home with her children for three and a half years, believing that the state would provide justice until she finally decided to take to the streets to protest government unfairness through peaceful demonstrations and marches.[i] According to the Turkish Constitution, every citizen has the right to act peacefully without permission, stone, stick or weapon. However, every time she protests, she is fined 390 Turkish Liras (TL) and is taken to the police station, where she is kept for several hours. One of the times she was arrested, she was forced to stay in the anti-terror department (TEM) for two days.[ii]

 

Melek Çetinkaya is known for her campaigns and peaceful protests to raise awareness on her son’s victimization known to large masses and for the release of his son and hundreds of others’ unlawful arrests. The protests stem from the ineffectiveness of the Turkish judicial system under Erdogan’s regime.

Çetinkaya’s son, Taha, was a military student at the Turkish Air Force Academy. Taha was on summer vacation at home after completing his first year at the Air Force Academy. On July 10th, 2016, five days before the attempted coup, cadets were invited to the annual 3-week routine military camp. These camps were one of the programs determined one year in advance and included in the military students’ yearly program calendar.[iii]

On the morning of July 15th, Air Forces Commander General Abidin Ünal made an unplanned visit to the cadet camp and gave a speech to the cadets. Ünal visited the cadet camp every year, but not unnoticed. He usually made a scheduled visit to the centre. The cadets would clean the campsite, cook, and upkeep the spaces s and, as preparation for high profile visits. Only once this is done will the visitors meet the cadets.[iv]

The cadets passed police points when arriving at the Osmangazi Bridge, but none of the police asked them where they were going. The commanders carried no money on them, so when they reached the toll, both the cadets paid the fee with cash they had individually collected and crossed the bridge. The authorities stopped the bus with the cadets in Sultanbeyli after crossing the bridge and were told there had been a coup, a news that came as a shock to the cadets. The public offered the cadets water and cigarettes and sang the national anthem.[v] At approximately 2 am, two policemen stated, “Okay, we have these kids; you can disperse”. The cadets did as they were told, reiterating they were not coup plotters. Later in the morning, the police arrested the cadets and made them wait on the bridge until 8 am instead of taking the cadets to the police station or the air force school.[vi]

Throughout the morning, people started arriving at the bridge carrying weapons, knives, skewers, and sticks and started attacking the cadets. They first broke the bus’s windows and proceeded to get on the bus and start kicking the cadets. One of the armed persons shot the gas tank and shouted, “kill them”. The cadets hid their weapons under their arms in response to the fear and terror that had broken out, and fortunately, no cadets were killed. However, the children present were taken to the police station in Sultanbeyli and held in detention for four days.[vii]

The institutional facilities had severely poor conditions. The fact that the cadets were arbitrarily detained for over five years, the children subjected to torture for four consecutive days under police authority, and dogs were tied up and deprived of food and water highlights grave human rights violations. When the cadets asked to go to the toilet, they were taken by banging their backs, shoulders, and heads against the wall. The prison authorities filled 40-person detention rooms with 120 people.[viii]

The cadet’s indictments sought three life sentences for overthrowing the Turkish Constitution. The authorities separated the imprisoned cadets into five cases, namely ‘the Sultanbeyli case’, the ‘TRT/Digiturk case’, the ‘Orhanlı case’, the ‘Bosporus bridge case,’ and the ‘Fatih Sultan Mehmet (FSM) bridge case’. The Court of Cassation overturned the ‘TRT/Digiturk case’ with 37 cadets, reopening the trial. However, the cadet students were sentenced to life after the Appeal Trial. The judicial process has proven that, in Turkey, lower instance courts do not abide by the higher courts’ decisions but instead act upon government orders. The ‘Sultanbeyli case’, where Ms. Melek Çetinkaya’s children are, is currently under review at the Court of Cassation and will probably be overturned in the coming months. Still, as in the ‘TRT/Digiturk case’, she believes the courts will not abide by this decision, and the detention of the children will continue. She hopes to be wrong and wishes that all the children are released, but the current government’s practices have proved it unlikely.[ix]

Ms. Melek Çetinkaya applied to the United Nations Human Rights Council Arbitrary Detention Working Group on behalf of her son for his case to be examined and decided. The file was indeed reviewed and decided upon, resulting in the immediate release of Taha Çetinkaya. Despite this, the Turkish legal system currently does not recognize either the European Court of Human Rights or any organs of the United Nations. As such, the decision is deemed invalid to the case at hand.

There are approximately 341 imprisoned student cadets. Three of them are female, and three of them passed away.[x]

Murat Tekin and Ragıp Enes Katran were brutally murdered by being lynched on the Bosphorus Bridge during the July 15th bloody coup attempt. They were found in the morgue after 12 days together and were unrecognizable. Their parents recognized the children by their fingernails. The families were not given a funeral vehicle or coffins and were refused to perform prayers. In addition, no funeral ceremonies were held, and they were told to bury the children in silence. The families were not given burial land for the corpses of these students. Still, their respective relatives had bought a family cemetery in advance, and the bodies could be buried there. The third student, Yusuf Kurt, died later. He was incarcerated for nine months, and extreme stress and pressure levels exacerbated a cancer development. Yusuf passed away a year ago with the burden of the pain he endured.[xi]

As mentioned above, three female students are held behind bars for the same reasons. They are detained in the Bakırköy Women’s closed prison. Their names are Nimet Ecem Gönüllü, Nagihan Yavuz and Sena Ogut Alan. These girls were 20 years old when they were arrested. Nagihan lost her father on 1st March 2022, but she could not attend her father’s funeral. Nimet Ecem, on the other hand, is a martyr’s daughter. Her father was martyred when she was three years old while he was serving as a senior lieutenant in the Turkish Air Force (TAF). Albeit a martyr’s daughter, she received a life sentence on a baseless allegation of being a member of a terrorist organization. The father of the other female detainee is an officer who retired from the TAF. Despite this, she was sentenced to life imprisonment for being a ‘traitor’ and a ‘terrorist’.

Melek Çetinkaya became the subject of a European thesis. Helena Vodopija, a graduate of Turcology and Anthropology, met with Çetinkaya for her master’s thesis “on the memories” of military students and their families who were sentenced to life imprisonment within the scope of the European Human Rights and Democratization Master’s Program of Luxembourg University on July 15th and the following period.[xii]

Melek Çetinkaya was a mother of three, living a modest life in Turkey. On the evening of July 15th, 2016, she became a mother seeking justice on the streets. She will continue her rightful struggle until she accomplishes releasing all arbitrarily detained cadets.

 

Written by Berkan Doğan Ünes

Edited by Olga Ruiz Pilato

 

Sources;

[i] https://politurco.com/arrest-of-ms-melek-cetinkaya-is-an-intervention-to-democracy.html [Accessed on 03/04/2022]

[ii] https://politurco.com/melek-cetinkaya-turkish-state-under-erdogan-regime-took-me-out-on-the-street.html [Accessed on 03/04/2022]

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] https://www.duvarenglish.com/human-rights/2020/01/25/my-son-is-not-a-coup-plotter-a-mothers-struggle-to-prove-her-cadet-sons-innocence [Accessed on 03/04/2022]

[vi] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND5snMwA2JQ [Accessed on 03/04/2022]

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] https://politurco.com/melek-cetinkaya-turkish-state-under-erdogan-regime-took-me-out-on-the-street.html [Accessed on 03/04/2022]

[ix] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HB6cRgf15w [Accessed on 03/04/2022]

[x] https://politurco.com/melek-cetinkaya-turkish-state-under-erdogan-regime-took-me-out-on-the-street.html [Accessed on 03/04/2022]

[xi] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tofQTvdJlqk&t=290s [Accessed on 03/04/2022]

[xii] https://ahvalnews.com/tr/melek-cetinkaya/melek-cetinkaya-avrupada-tez-konusu-oldu [Accessed on 03/04/2022]

 

*Crop image from: https://www.tr724.com/melek-cetinkayanin-ogluna-hucre-cezasi/

Ilham Tohti: An Activist Smiling in the Face of Injustice

Ilham Tohti,* a former ethnic Uyghur economics professor at the Beijing Minzu University, recently referred to as ‘China’s Mandela’ by the Guardian,[i] was detained on January 14th, 2014, for inciting separatism, ethnic hatred, and supporting terrorist activities because of his open criticism towards the Chinese governmental policies.[ii] Following his arrest, the two-day show trial between September 17th and 18th, 2014, that led to his condemnation and life imprisonment sentence, came as a great shock to many foreign as well as domestic observers, friends, and organizations who supported Ilham due to his prominent, intimidating, and foremost activism defending the autonomy, linguistic, cultural, and religious rights of minority ethnic Uyghurs. The Uyghurs are a Turkic-speaking and commonly Muslim group, mostly inhabiting in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (henceforth XUAR). Ilham has been referred to as ‘the Uyghur people’s conscience’.[iii]

 

Background

Ilham’s activism began in 1994 when he started writing about the violations suffered by Uyghurs in the XUAR. In 2006, he shifted the attention online when he and other scholars co-founded the website ‘Uyghur Online’ at uighurbiz.org. The website was a Chinese-language platform seeking to bridge the ongoing divisions between the Uyghur minority and the Han Chinese.[iv] The platform essentially served as a space on which Ilham could make the Uyghur voice heard domestically and internationally. It delved into how the Uyghur’s plight contained them feeling looked down upon by the general society and forgotten by the Chinese government regarding socio-economic development. Ilham would invite the Han to an open, peaceful, and rational platform to discuss and debate their differing views because, as he emphasised, the Han were not the enemies of the Uyghurs, despite their discriminatory and often violent attitude towards them.[v]

Through his website, Ilham promoted a peaceful and holistic approach and never once incited or encouraged violence. He was careful about clashing with governmental laws or underlying agreements that exist in civic society.[vi] However, the website began to attract the ire of the Chinese government, which shut the website down for the first time in June 2008 before China hosted the Olympic games. The government reasoned the shutdown on the basis that it publicised links to so-called Uyghur extremists based abroad.[vii] The major ethnic riots in Urumqi, the capital of the XUAR, and terrorist attacks inspired by a more aggressive reading of Islam on July 5th, 2009,[viii] resulted in approximately 200 people killed, 18,000 detained, and between 34 to 37 disappearances. Following this, Ilham openly spoke about the incident and published the names and faces of those who remained disappeared, eventually leading to his house arrest and later incommunicado detention on July 14th for roughly five weeks until, following international pressure, he was released.[ix]

Another crucial moment came when Ilham and his daughter, Jewher, were at the airport to board a flight to the U.S. because Ilham was to take up a position at Indiana University as a visiting scholar. He was stopped by the authorities, beaten, detained, and saw Jewher being put on the flight to the U.S. alone.[x] This incident marked the climax of Ilham’s story. In October 2013, an Uyghur family crashed their Jeep on the Jingshui Bridge of Tiananmen Square, which had been set on fire. The Chinese government labelled it a terrorist attack, which consequently resulted in Ilham increasing his visibility on foreign media of Britain, France, and the U.S., and led to ‘political policemen’ ramming into Ilham’s car on November 2nd when he was on his way to the airport to pick his mother up. The authorities used violence and intimidation, issuing threats to his family’s life if he did not stop talking to the foreign media.[xi] With the pressure being dialled up on Ilham to cease his vocal concerns, he began to express worry about his safety to his personal friends and, somewhat prophetically, in a telephone statement to Mihray Abdilim, a Uyghur Service reporter for Radio Free Asia, that surveillance on him by state security agents increased and felt as if his voice would soon be silenced. Based on this concern, he asked for his last words to be recorded and published only after his detention.[xii]

 

Arrest, violations, and a show trial

In January 2014, around 20 police officers raided Ilham’s apartment in Beijing and beat him in front of his two young children. They detained him and permanently shut his website down. On the following day, Hong Lei, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry, explained that he had been ‘criminally detained’. The charges for his detention were disclosed in February when the Bureau of Public Security announced his formal arrest for ‘separatism’ – a vague account that allows for capital punishment – and for recruiting followers from his website.[xiii] His arrest triggered a wave of support for Ilham on the grounds that he had visibly argued against calls for XUAR independence and was in favour of the region remaining a part of China. The website Foreign Policy published their analysis on several of Ilham’s cached articles as part of his evidentiary record, and nowhere did they find any direct or indirect expression of separatism or independence.[xiv] Ilham was held at an undisclosed location for five months, barred from any contact with family or friends, and withheld from meeting his lawyer, Li Fangping, until June 26th, when Li reported that Ilham was enervated at being shackled during the first 20 days of his detention and was refused Halal food for the first 10 days of March. These acts constitute violations of international law and arguably fall under the scope of acts of cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment. Many believe and fear that Ilham may have possibly endured torture.[xv]

Ilham only saw his family after eight months of his hasty and unfair trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment by September 23rd, but denies all charges brought against him.[xvi] During the trial, the Prosecutors said that Ilham was portraying terrorists as heroes in his classes, internationalised the ‘Uyghur Question’, and made use of student testimonies that are assumed to have been obtained under duress. Some students faced forced strip searches after Ilham’s arrest, were detained, and some of whom remained missing for long periods, thus highlighting the prosecutors’ attempt to build an incriminating case alleging that Ilham was not the peaceful person who made himself out to be but was instead dangerous in the eyes of Chinese security and had to be silenced by being locked away.[xvii]

 

Behind Ilham’s struggle

But what is Ilham Tohti’s case really about? Uyghur-Han tensions have existed since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), simmering into pockets of unrest bursting from time to time and triggering harsher policies against Uyghurs, especially after Xi Jinping took the helm of government in March 2013 and later unveiled the ‘grand strategic plan’ for the XUAR in December of the same year, with Ilham expressing concerns that the pressure on Uyghurs was about to increase.[xviii] The Chinese government has framed the issue as the ‘Uyghur Question’ or the ‘Xinjiang Problem’ which they have attempted to solve through a process of Sinification, one that has existed for many centuries in Chinese history and that entails the promotion of assimilation rather than integration. It later encouraged the Han Chinese to migrate to the region through policies that favoured the Han over the Uyghurs, and which resulted in an imbalance of socio-economic development. Ilham fell victim to China’s use of censorship technology and laws, where today, even a single post on the Twitter-like app of Sina Weibo can land its author in jail if it seemingly criticises the Chinese government.[xix] Ilham’s imprisonment proves that the Chinese government does not acknowledge the bridge between Uyghurs and the Han. In response to the supposed terror attack by the Uyghurs on Han Chinese in the Kunming train station in March 2014, the government declared a ‘People’s War on Terror’ and targeted scholars, activists, journalists, writers, and human rights lawyers throughout 2014.[xx] The underlying contradiction is that the internet serves as the primary tool to connect human beings across geographical, social, cultural, and linguistic borders and on which much of today’s commerce and communication takes place. Instead, the Chinese government’s ‘Great Firewall’ blocks the consumption of foreign content from entering China and uses the internet as a bludgeoning tool to censor and control digital content according to the approved narrative of China’s image, interests, and policies, criminalizing the spreading of ‘rumours’ online and establishing a pre-registration requirement for any online account that shares political opinions or statements.[xxi]

As the author of this piece, and along with my colleagues at Broken Chalk, I feel a close affinity to the tragic story of Ilham Tohti and many others like him because I, too, have a personal blog where I discuss my concerns about current global affairs. Exercising freedom of expression in the way that Ilham did through his ‘bridge blog’ is not a crime, nor should it unjustly label Ilham as a terrorism supporter, a drug peddler, a weapon seller, or an American agent. He truly sought to get Uyghurs and the Han to engage in conversations, overlook their differences, and become more united as common people. He chose to use peaceful and informed ways of educating others about Uyghurs opposing the narrative that paints them as terrorists, evil, and security risks to the ethos or foundation of Chinese society. Instead, he became a political martyr for ethnic Uyghurs in XUAR, receiving numerous awards for defending and seeking to expand human rights and freedoms,[xxii] and a beacon that continues to shed light upon the precarious situation that Uyghurs have faced in China’s internment camps since 2017, where numerous human rights violations take the form of beatings, torture, rape, killings, forced labour, and the sterilisation of Uyghur women.[xxiii]

Ultimately, Ilham is remembered as knowledgeable and courageous and as having a drive and determination to fight for ethnic Uyghurs, keeping his head up in the face of injustice and intimidation by Chinese authorities.

 

* To read and learn more about Ilham Tohti, there is a recent publication named ‘We Uyghurs Have No Say: An Imprisoned Writer Speaks’ (Verso Books). It is a series of collected essays and articles by Ilham prior to his detention. A paperback and eBook version are available at: https://bit.ly/3wiP6Mv

*Author’s note: throughout the article, his first name is used. In Uyghur culture, his last name, ‘Tohti’, refers to his father’s name, akin to saying that Ilham is the son of Tohti.

 

Written by Karl Baldacchino

Edited by Olga Ruiz Pilato

 

Sources;

[i] Kennedy, H. (2022) ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’. The Guardian. Available online from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/09/we-uyghurs-have-no-say-ilham-tohti-review-background-genocide-china [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[ii] Makinen, J. (2014) ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’. Los Angeles Times. Available online from: https://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-china-detention-professor-20140117-story.html#axzz2qljh0LfJ [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wong, E. (2014) ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’. The New York Times. Available online from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/world/asia/separatism-trial-of-ilham-tohti-uighur-scholar-begins-in-china.html?_r=0 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Wertime, D. (2014) ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/media/internet-where-nobody-says-anything [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Amnesty International, ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’. Available online from: https://www.amnesty.nl/wat-we-doen/themas/sport-en-mensenrechten/ilham-tohti [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also Denyer, S. & Rauhala, E. (2016) ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’. The Washington Post. Available online from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/to-beijings-dismay-jailed-uighur-scholar-wins-human-rights-award/2016/10/11/d07dff8c-8f85-11e6-81c3-fb2fde4e7164_story.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’. Available online from: https://pen.org/advocacy-case/ilham-tohti/ [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iii] Woeser, T. (2009) ‘Interview with Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQT0iN1nMk8 [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also Johnson, I. (2014) ‘”They Don’t Want Moderate Uighurs”’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/they-dont-want-moderate-uighurs [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[iv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’; see also Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress. Available online from: https://humanrightscommission.house.gov/defending-freedom-project/prisoners-by-country/China/Ilham%20Tohti#:~:text=Biography%3A%20Ilham%20Tohti%20is%20a,regional%20autonomy%20laws%20in%20China. [Accessed on 19/03/2022].

[v] ) ‘Interview With Uyghur Scholar Ilham Tohti’; see also PEN America (2014) ‘Ilham Tohti: 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Winner’. YouTube. Available online from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm6YLWrnKPw [Accessed 19/03/2022].

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[viii] known as 7/5 due to it being a sensitive date in China

[ix] ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘The Wounds of the Uyghur People Have Not Healed’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/wounds-07052013134813.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[x] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’.

[xi] Ibid.; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also Tohti, I. (2013) ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’. Radio Free Asia. Available online from: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/interview-02072014182032.html [Accessed on 19/03/2022]; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’.

[xii] ‘Uyghur Scholar Tohti Speaks About His Concerns Before Detention’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’.

[xiii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘Ilham Tohti’. United States Congress; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xiv] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’

[xv] Ibid.; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also Cao, Y. (2014) ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’. China File. Available online from: https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/china-2014-through-eyes-human-rights-advocate [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xvi] ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti: Levenslang Gevangengezet’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘Uighur Scholar Ilham Tohti Goes in Trial in China on Separatist Charges’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xvii] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘China’s Detention of Uighur Professor Ilham Tohti Worries U.S.’; see also ‘They Don’t Want Moderate Uyghurs’; see also ‘To Beijing’s Dismay, Jailed Uighur Scholar Winds Human Rights Award’.

[xviii] PEN America, ‘Ilham Tohti’; see also European Foundation for South Asia Studies, ‘Language, Religion, and Surveillance: A Comparative Analysis of China’s Governance Models in Tibet and Xinjiang’. Available online from: https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/comparative-analysis-of-governance-models-in-tibet-and-xinjiang/ [Accessed on 20/03/2022].

[xix] Ibid.; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’; see also ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’.

[xx] ‘An Internet Where Nobody Says Anything’; see also ‘China in 2014 Through the Eyes of a Human Rights Advocate’.

[xxi] Ibid.

[xxii] Ilham Tohti is the recipient of PEN America’s 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders who show deep commitment and face great personal risk, Liberal International’s 2017 Prize for Freedom, was nominated in 2019 and 2020 for the Nobel Peace Prize, and awarded in 2019 Freedom Award by Freedom House, the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

[xxiii] ‘We Uyghur’s Have No Say by Ilham Tohti Review – A People Ignored’; see also ‘Academicus Ilham Tohti.

 

*cover photo taken from: https://www.omct.org/fr/ressources/declarations/ilham-tohti-2016-martin-ennals-award-laureate-for-human-rights-defender

Educational Challenges in Ecuador

Ecuador’s educational system has undergone a series of significant reforms and investments that have improved the access to and quality of education. However, there are prevailing obstacles for Ecuador to overcome. This article will touch upon some of Ecuador’s educational challenges today.

Quality of education

Despite the significant improvements regarding access to primary and secondary education in Ecuador, education results show substantial gaps in the context of geography, location, socio-economic status, and ethnicity.[1] For instance, among black and indigenous populations, completed years of education are 3 and 4 years lower than the national average – 7.3 years.[2] The drop-out rates for higher education remains high, despite the significant improvements in its gross enrollment rates.[3] This could be attributed to some students’ low levels of academic preparation or to the lengthy higher education (HR) programs, which run for over five years, and can thus tire students, resulting in higher drop-out rates.[4] In addition, schools are often over-crowded and teachers overwhelmed with the number of students per classroom.[5]

Illiteracy rates are showing improvement, but the numbers are still high among the Indigenous population as well as people of African descent in comparison to the illiteracy rates of the mestizo population.[6] The OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies undertook the Survey of Adult Skills, which showed that less than 1 in 10 adults are proficient at Literacy Level 3 or higher in Ecuador.[7] The survey also highlighted that Ecuador is among the countries/economies with one of the largest proportions of adults (71.2%) who scored at Literacy Level 1 or lower, meaning that these adults have no more than the basic reading skills.[8] The expansion of educational provision currently unequal since, in rural areas, indigenous populations and the black community are often left behind.[9]

Teacher absenteeism and frequent teacher strikes affect the retention rates and the quality of education.[10]  Teacher strikes mainly affect primary and secondary schools. In 2003, an article stated that, in poorer areas, an average of nine school days per month are wasted due to strikes and teacher absenteeism.[11] At the end of 2003, public schools were closed for two months due to a teacher strike over a salary increase.[12] Although there are no current evaluations to verify the impact of these strikes, this is a major issue that Ecuador must tackle.[13]

Schools of the Millennium (SOM) is one of the most critical governmental projects to improve public education. Each classroom has a digital whiteboard, kitchens, recreational areas, eating areas, science labs, virtual libraries, and computer labs with broadband internet.[14] While this is an excellent achievement by the government in bettering public education, teachers feel that these resources are not utilized effectively due to the lack of teacher training and, in some cases, lack of teachers.[15]

 

Poverty and discrimination in education

Poverty is hugely detrimental to students’ learning access and opportunities. It affects factors such as the student’s health and well-being, literacy and language development, access to physical and material resources, and level of mobility.[16] There are currently regions in Ecuador, particularly in rural areas, where 50% of children and adolescents live in poor households without access to drinking water, sanitation, or healthcare facilities.[17] 35% of Ecuadorians residing in rural areas live in overcrowded housing.[18]

 

 

School dropout rates are still a problem, with the two most vulnerable groups being pregnant teenagers and indigenous populations, which have the lowest completion rates in their secondary studies.[19] In regard to bullying and violence at school, almost a third of children and teenagers suffer violent treatment or disciplinary punishments. This rises alarmingly among mixed-race and indigenous children, of whom 42% suffer this form of violence.[20] Afro-Ecuadorian children are often subject to discrimination in access to education, and, in some cases, parents are illegally required to pay a sum of money to enrol their child at a ‘free-of-charge’ public school.[21] Children from lower-income families, predominately Afro-Ecuadorian and Indigenous, drop out of school to provide financial support to their families.[22]

Public schools in urban zones often present conditions that hinder learning, such as large class sizes and teaching staff shortages.[23] There is only one teacher for each level – composed of 50 to 60 students. Occasionally there are not enough classrooms for each grade level, so children from different grades are taught in the same classroom.[24]

 

Sexual violence in education

Between 2015 and 2017, there were 4.584 reports of sexual abuse in Ecuadorian schools, with teachers registered as the main aggressors.[25] Three out of ten adolescents in Latin America have suffered from sexual harassment in schools, and 1.1 million girls within the region have suffered some form of sexual violence.[26]

Although Ecuador has taken important steps to handle the issue and expedite justice since 2017, the policies and protocols are not adequately enforced in many schools.[27] Huma Rights Watch found that teachers, school staff, janitors, and school bus drivers are amongst those committing acts of sexual violence against children of all ages, including children with disabilities, in both public and private schools.[28]

Ecuador declared a zero-tolerance policy, requiring teachers, school counsellors, and other staff to report allegations of sexual violence within 24 hours. Human Rights Watch found severe gaps in the carrying out of this policy and ensuring adherence to its binding protocol.[29]

 

 

Written by Alejandra Latinez

Edited by Olga Ruiz Pilato

 

Sources;

[1] Angel-Urdinola & Vera Jibaj. (2018). Achievements and challenges of Ecuador’s education sector in the 21st Century.

[2] Un.org. (2004) – Education.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Children International. Education in Children International communities – Ecuador.

[6] Castellano, J. M., Stefos, E., & Goodrich, L. G. W. (2017). The educational and social profile of the indigenous People of Ecuador: A Multidimensional Analysis.

[7]Skills Matter: Additional Results From The Survey Of Adult Skills

 Ecuador – OECD (2018, April).

[8] Ibid.

[9] Torres, Rosa María (2005). Real options for policy and practice in Ecuador

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Fajardo-Dack M Tammy. (2016). Teacher Disempowerment in the Education System of Ecuador.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Budge, Kathleen & Parrett William. (2016). How Does Poverty Influence Learning?

[17] Humanium. Children of Ecuador – Realizing children’s rights in Ecuador

[18] Ibid.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Ibid.

[21] Universal Periodic Review 13th session. (2012). Situation on the Rights of the Child in Ecuador

[22] Ibid.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Coral, Martinez Catalina & Martinez, Cecilia Carmen. (2021). Sexual Violence against girls in schools as a public health issue

[26] Ibid.

[27] Human Rights Watch. (2020). Ecuador: High Levels of Sexual Violence in Schools

[28] Ibid.

[29] Ibid.

Covid – 19 Leads to Education Suffering in India

Education has been suffering across the world due to Covid-19. The pandemic has resulted in disruption to life as people knew it. In most countries, the pandemic has resulted in the closing of classrooms and the deprivation of face-to-face contact and teaching. This has had an especially devastating impact for countries in the developing world. In rural India where internet facilities are still sparse to non-existent, the impact has been particularly terrible for students who are in need for education. While speaking to Education Times, Umakant Kumar, a headmaster in Banka Uttar Pradesh state, named states:

 

“The academic level of students has gone down to ground zero due to the prolonged closure of schools. The slight improvement that the students showed prior to the emergence of pandemic has completely disappeared. The syllabus for various classes has also not been completed which further adds to the challenges faced by us. Little that students knew, has also gone amiss due to the long gap in studies caused by the pandemic. Now when schools have reopened, we are helping students to retune them to the schooling culture and also working on how to bridge the learning deficiencies. It would be a herculean task at hand for us to complete a year’s syllabus in just a month as we haven’t been able to teach anything due to the closure of schools.”

 

In Mahahrashtra state, Kashinath D Bhoir, principal of Maharashtra Military school in Murbad town of Thane district says “Students have suffered a lot due to the closure of schools since the last two years as they have forgotten to read and write. Their writing speed has also decreased to a great extent. In addition to this, due to online classes many studies have got addicted to playing games on their mobile phones which also adds up to the weakening of their academic base.”

 

The real-life issues faced by the students and the education system can also be seen from a numbers perspective to gain a better idea of where things truly stand in India.

 

 

A study by the Institute for South Asian Studies in October 2021 estimates that schools in India had been closed for 69 weeks, which is the largest among the major economies. As a result of this, 1.5 million schools were shut down and 247 million primary and secondary students have been out of school since the lockdown of March 2020. A well-known Belgian born Indian economist Jean Dreze notes that in India’s poorest state, Jharkhand, close to “35 per cent of the students in cities and 42 per cent of the students in villages could not read more than few letters.”

 

In another state, Andhra Pradesh, as of mid-July 2021, “60,000 dropouts were estimated and enrolment for Grade 1 was only at 25 per cent.”

 

Due to these problems, hard-earned gains that India made since the early 1990s in educating the population and thus bringing Indian talent to professions such as IT, BPO, financial services to the forefront may be lost in the long term. Between the 1950s and the 1980s, upward mobility had barely changed in India thus creating a situation in which income remained stagnant. The kind of jobs created before the 1990s also as a result remained poor.

 

The school closures due to the pandemic has led to “learning losses from prolonged school closures” that “could cost India more than U$400 billion (S$542.88 billion) in future earnings, and could also result in social problems, income inequality and a ceiling on upward mobility” notes the study.

 

It is thus imperative for India to revive economic growth and prioritize the education of students with the urgency it deserves so that another lost generation as from the 50s the 80s is avoided.

 

By Aniruddh Rajendran

 

References:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/rural-school-students-pushed-far-behind-due-to-covid/articleshow/90013770.cms.

 

https://www.isas.nus.edu.sg/papers/education-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-india/.

Innocent Turkish Teachers Deported from Liberia

On the 20th of April, 2022 about 10 Turkish teachers and their families were deported from Liberia by the local government. The Turkish officials were administrators at Light International School System (LISS) located in Monrovia, Liberia.According to frontpageAfrica the names of some of the staff deported are as follows;the principal and general manager, Roman Mamedov, head of primary section, Mrs. Mamedov; English teacher and accountant, Elvin Rahimov; Mrs. Rahimov; Moral Education Teacher and Vice President for Administration Mehmet Simsek; Mrs. Ramazan. Ceray, Esma, a little girl in 6th grade and Enest, a boy in pre-primary section. It is reported that on wednesday, 20th of April, state security rounded up the schools Turkish staff and their families and deported them the same day.

 

According to sources, the deportation happens to be a request from the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan(“Erdogan’s Long Arm Reached Liberia: Turkish Teachers Deported – Politurco.com”, 2022).  There has been no comments regarding this matter from both the government of Turkey as well as the government of Liberia. Following a meeting that was held at  Turkish Light International School by parents and other officials to share this saddening news. The parents were simply told that the school’s Turkish administrators had been deported without any reasonable explanation(Writer, 2022). This saddening incident has affected students, local staff as well as parents in connection to Light international school as well as those from other international schools in the country. Although sources have not provided much regarding this matter, nonetheless it breaches human rights of these families as well as limiting the student under their management, the quality of education provided by the Turkish officials in Liberia.

 

The fourth United Nations Sustainable Development Goal, states that “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”(“Goal 4: Quality education”, 2022). The Turkish families who were deported from Liberia, supported this goal and were committed to making this a reality. The school that was under management of the deported family, Light International school brought a different perspective to the education system in Liberia with its high education quality, various programs such as science fairs, cultural festivals, mathematics Olympiads and abroad trips.

 

Despite all this beauty, the government of Liberia and the government of Turkey has not yet responded or taken action towards this incident to stand with the affected families.

 

Written by Ntchindi Chilongozi Theu

 

Bibliography

 

1.Erdogan’s Long Arm Reached Liberia: Turkish Teachers Deported – Politurco.com. (2022). Retrieved 27 April 2022, from https://politurco.com/erdogans-long-arm-reached-liberia-turkish-teachers-deported.html

 

2. Writer, S. (2022). ‘It is so sad for Liberia’ – Ali Kaya decries deportation of Light Int’l School’s Turkish Officials – Heritage Newspaper Liberia. Retrieved 29 April 2022, from https://www.heritagenewslib.com/index.php/component/k2/item/3624-it-is-so-sad-for-liberia-ali-kaya-decries-deportation-of-light-int-l-school-s-turkish-officials

 

3. Goal 4: Quality education. (2022). Retrieved 29 April 2022, from https://www1.undp.org/content/oslo-governance-centre/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-4-quality-education.html?utm_source=EN&utm_medium=GSR&utm_content=US_UNDP_PaidSearch_Brand_English&utm_campaign=CENTRAL&c_src=CENTRAL&c_src2=GSR&gclid=Cj0KCQjwma6TBhDIARIsAOKuANw9AjpTJe5dKGsib3cfL9MvujUxTay2IWDNG6pfDdipG4q5D13PcIMaAq7SEALw_wcB

Chapter C – Indicator C3: How much public and private investment in educational institutions is there?

Education at a Glance 2021

OECD INDICATORS

Chapter C. Financial resources invested in education

 

Indicator C3. How much public and private investment in educational institutions is there?

The balance between public and private education funding differs significantly between OECD countries. At the pre-primary and tertiary levels of education, total or nearly total public funding is less prevalent. At these levels, private funding is mostly provided by households, raising questions about equality in educational access.

Some stakeholders are concerned that the balance between public and private education funding would prevent aspiring students from enrolling in tertiary education. Others consider that governments should greatly increase public assistance for students, such as student loans or grants. Student loans can reduce the load of private spending and reduce the cost to taxpayers of direct government funding by moving the education costs to a period when students often start earning more.

 

Share of public and private expenditure on educational institutions:

Most of the fundings on primary to tertiary educational institutions in OECD countries comes from public sources, with private funding being an essential part of tertiary education. However, private and international funding differs from one country to another.

Based on analyzing figure C3.1, we can conclude the following:

  • In 2018, the average funding across OECD countries for primary to tertiary educational institutions that came directly from public sources was 82%, and 16% from private sources.
  • In Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden, private funds constitute 5% or less of expenditure on educational institutions.
  • In Australia, Chile, the United Kingdom, and the United States, private funds make up around one-third of educational expenditure.
  • International sources contribute 1% of total expenditure, reaching 4% or more in Estonia, Latvia, and Portugal.

 

Non-tertiary educational institutions:

Figure C3.2 indicates that in all countries, public funding dominates non-tertiary education. In 2018, on average across OECD countries, private funding reached 10% of expenditure at non-tertiary levels of education, while this number exceeds by 20% in Chile, Colombia, and Turkey. In most of the countries, most of the private expenditure on non-tertiary education comes from households and is mostly used for tuition fees (Table C3.1 and Figure C3.2).

The share of private expenditure on educational institutions differs per country and education level. Primary educational institutes in Norway and Sweden are totally funded by the government. Private funding accounts for more than 15% of Chile’s, Colombia’s, Mexico’s, Spain’s, and Turkey’s education budgets. The share of private funding at the lower secondary level is close the share of primary level. Across the OECD countries, around 9% of educational expenditure on lower secondary institutions is funded privately. Private expenditure makes for less than 10% of overall expenditure at this level, but it accounts for more than 20% in Australia, Chile, Colombia, and Turkey.

Upper secondary education is more reliant on private funding than primary and lower secondary education, which reaches to an average of 14% in OECD countries. Private funding provides a similar proportion to spending on vocational and general programmes, accounting for nearly 12% of spending on upper secondary institutions in OECD countries. Meanwhile, in Germany, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, the share of private funding in vocational upper secondary education is at least 20% higher than

in general education. The percentage of public funds currently committed to vocational programmes in different countries is the result of multiple national policy developments on vocational education aimed at improving the transition from school to work.

According to current statistics, the average amount of public funding in post-secondary non-tertiary education among OECD nations stands on 72%. Unlike the three lower levels discussed above, post-secondary non-tertiary education in Germany, Ireland, Israel, and the United States are mainly reliant on private rather than governmental finance.

 

Tertiary educational institutions:

The share of private expenditure on education following public-to-private transfers is much higher at the tertiary level than at other levels of education. When private payments are required, several countries have implemented financial support measures to lessen the burden on people. After transfers, the private sector accounted for 30% of total tertiary institution expenditure in 2018. (See Figure C3.2 and Table C3.1.)

In Australia, Chile, Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States, private funding accounts for 60% or more of tertiary institution funding. In countries where tuition costs are minimal or non-existent, such as Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Norway, the private sector accounts for less than 10% of total expenditure.

Households contribute 72% of private expenditure on tertiary institutions in OECD countries on average. While household expenditure is the major source of private funds in the most OECD countries, in Denmark and Finland nearly all private funding comes from other private entities (mostly for research and development) (Figure C3.2).

Trends in the share of public and private expenditure on educational institutions:

Educational institutions’ reliance on private funding is moderately growing (Table C3.3). Increases in the share of private funding have been reported in about half of the OECD and partner countries, with the United Kingdom showing the largest increases (12 percentage points).  Colombia, on the other hand, experienced the largest fall in the share of private spending (11 percentage points), which was balanced by an equal increase from public sources (Table C3.3).

Chile, Estonia, Italy, and Latvia saw the greatest increases in the share of private funding for non-tertiary education by approximately 3 percentage points or more between 2012 and 2018, while Portugal and the Slovak Republic saw a decrease in the share of private spending by approximately 3 percentage points (Table C3.3 and Figure C3.3).

At tertiary level, in the United Kingdom, the share of public spending decreased by 30 percentage points in 2018 compared to 2012 levels. On the other hand, the share of public spending increased by at least 10 percentage points in Chile, Colombia, Hungary, and Portugal (Table C3.3 and Figure C3.3).

 

Public transfers to the private sector:

Although a substantial portion of government funding goes directly to educational institutions, funds are also transferred through several other allocation mechanisms. Channeling funds for institutions through students increases competition among institutions and results in more efficient education funding. Governments use transfers to provide institutions with incentives to better organize their education programmes and teaching in order to better fulfill the needs of students.

At the non-tertiary educational level, public transfers to the private sector are not a significant feature. Public-private transfers are more prevalent in upper secondary education, accounting for 2% of total expenditure across OECD countries. While public transfers cover most of the private spending in some countries, government and international assistance cover just a tiny portion of private spending in others. This complicates access and learning since increased private spending may discourage students from enrolling in tertiary education, particularly in countries with high tuition fees.

In 2018, public-to-private transfers accounted for 8% of the total funds allocated to tertiary institutions across OECD countries. Countries with the highest transfer rates also have the highest tuition fees. In countries with no or low fees, such as Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, and Sweden, the percentage of public transfers was less than 1%. Despite high levels of private spending, public transfers to the private sector are minimal in certain countries, such as France, Lithuania, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, and Turkey.

 

Original text written by: Education at a Glance 2021 OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) INDICATORS

Summarized by Zinat Asadova

Edited by Olga Ruiz Pilato