Inequality in education -

Educational challenges in Panama

Written by Francisca Rosales

Panama is a country in Central America with a population of approximately 4.2 million people in 2020 (Puertas et al. 2023). Panama has a Human Development Index of 0.815 due to widespread socioeconomic inequality, especially among the country’s indigenous population (ibid.).

The Panamanian education system is divided into different stages: preschool; primary school; pre-secondary school and secondary school. Education is free until middle school (The Oxford Business Group 2023). Despite recent progress in children’s access to education, Panama’s educational system is still facing grave challenges, especially as the quality of the country’s education continues to lag (The Oxford Business Group 2023; UNICEF 2021). There are still great disparities in dropout rates between rural and urban areas, and the number and professional qualification of teachers remains unsatisfactory (The Oxford Business Group 2023). The state budget for education continues to be disappointing (Herrera et al. 2018). In 2020, the Panamanian government only invested 3.9 percent of its GDP in education (Trading Economics 2023). Currently 17.2% of children aged between 15 and 24 are not enrolled in education or employment, entailing that many adolescents lack access to education and to the necessary skills to find an employment (Unicef 2020).

This report highlights educational challenges that Panama is facing at the moment; namely, the lack of quality education and infrastructure, and inequalities in access to education that affect especially rural and indigenous communities. The report concludes with recommendations to improve the Panamanian educational system.

Elementary school in Boquete, Panama. Photo by Fran Hogan on Wikimedia Commons.

Quality of Education & Infrastructure

The quality of education in Panama continues to fall behind (UNESCO 2020). There are not sufficient services at schools to ensure quality education for students, especially in rural and indigenous communities (UNICEF 2021). To illustrate, approximately 30 percent of children do not have access to preschool education (UNICEF 2021). Also, educational infrastructure is deteriorating due to poor maintenance (Herrera et al. 2018). The lack of capacity to accommodate students has led to the introduction of the two-shift school day to optimize school infrastructure (The Oxford Business Group 2023). This strategy entails that one shift of students attends school during the morning, while another shift attends school in the afternoon. However, this has hampered the development of students’ basic skills. The physical infrastructure of schools in rural areas is lower than in urban schools (Unesco 2020). Rural schools face major infrastructure challenges: there is a lack of infrastructure to accommodate the local demand for school; this results in children dropping out of school or forces children to walk for long distances to access their schools. Also, compared to schools in urban centers, schools in rural areas often lack the necessary learning materials, such as textbooks and notebooks (Unesco 2020).

Moreover, the educational style remains old-fashioned, as the curriculum is still based on memorizing concepts rather than developing key competencies and developing skills important for students’ future employability (UNICEF 2021). The lack of enforcement of a bilingual curriculum and, therefore, the lack of proficiency in English has negatively affected students’ preparedness for the labor market, especially in the sector of tourism. As a response, the government implemented a Bilingual Program in 2015, to improve basic and secondary teachers’ proficiency in English (The Oxford Business Group 2023). Furthermore, schools lack a clear approach to teaching in schools in indigenous communities, which compromises the quality of education for students with an indigenous background. In fact, many teachers teaching in schools in indigenous communities follow non-inclusive educational practices (Unesco 2020). For example, non-indigenous teachers often do not allow students to speak in indigenous languages among themselves, creating tensions in the classroom environment and the current bilingual curriculum fails to include indigenous languages (Unesco 2020).

Inequalities in Access to Education

According to UNICEF, 3 out of 10 children are affected by multidimensional poverty in Panama (UNICEF 2022). Children living in poverty and children with an indigenous background lack access to quality services (UNICEF 2022). Although preschool education is compulsory, approximately 40 percent of children aged between 4 to 5 years do not attend preschool (UNICEF 2020). Ensuring children’s access to preschool education is essential since the level of oral language kindergarten can have a great impact on a child’s learning outcomes through primary school in reading and writing, as well as mathematics (Puertas et al. 2023). The educational system also does not reach all adolescents to the same extent: only 7 in 10 children aged between 12 and 14 years were enrolled in pre-secondary school before Covid-19, while only 5 in 10 adolescents between 15 and 17 years were enrolled in high school (UNICEF 2020). Consequently, only 35 percent of students reached the minimum proficiency levels for literacy according to the Sustainable Development Goals (UNICEF 2020). Also, 19 percent of boys and 16 percent of girls in pre-secondary schools are overaged; this fact points that unsatisfactory learning leads to school dropout, curtailing the possibility for young adults to acquire the necessary skills for future employability (UNICEF 2020).

Inequalities greatly affect children with indigenous backgrounds, as indigenous children display lower achievement in literacy and numeracy rates. The indigenous population in Panama mostly lives in rural areas, where the supply of schools is substantially lower, compared to urban areas (Unesco 2020). To illustrate, adolescent girls from indigenous communities are more likely to be excluded from access to education and to complete secondary education and 1 in 10 children from rural areas are more likely to not be enrolled in school (UNICEF 2021; Unesco 2020). The literacy rate for women from indigenous backgrounds between 15 and 24 years of age is 84 percent, which is lower than the national average (97 percent) (Unesco 2020). Also, schools in indigenous communities have poorer infrastructure and lower school attainment. Violence, including abandonment, or neglect, currently affects 44.5 percent of children, and indigenous girls show higher vulnerability to violence (UNICEF 2020). Children with disabilities also face exclusion in access to education as 1 in 4 children with disabilities does not attend school (UNICEF 2021).

Students’ reading performance greatly decreased after Covid especially due to inequality (Puertas et al. 2023). At the end of 2020, only 51 percent of children in primary schools and 42 percent of high school students could read proficiently (Puerta et al. 2023). A large portion of the population does not have access to internet from home or electricity. In fact, only 40 percent of households with children in public schools have internet access (Puertas et al. 2023). During the Covid lockdow, children from higher-income households could use online platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, to engage with their teachers; however, students in lower-income households often only had WhatsApp as a means of communication with their teachers. Consequently, thousands of students were at risk of dropping out of school during this period (UNICEF 2022).

Conclusion and Recommendations

This report highlights that the major educational challenges in Panama lie in the lack of appropriate infrastructure to ensure that students have access to quality education and social inequality that hinders students from achieving satisfactory educational outcomes. Education is an essential mechanism for development. Thus, the government of Panama must commit to expanding the current budget for education to improve schools’ physical infrastructure and quality to ensure that its population can access the necessary skills and increase its capabilities. Also, it is essential to continue investing in teachers’ capacity building to improve the quality of teaching and develop a curriculum that enables students to develop essential skills for the job market.

The government should also prioritize children from indigenous communities to close the current gap in unequal access to education. The government should invest more in schools in indigenous communities to improve learning outcomes in reading and mathematics among primary school and high school students. This is only possible through the implementation of inclusive policies that take into consideration students’ educational needs and recognize the disproportional exclusion of children with indigenous background from accessing quality education. Ensuring that students with an indigenous background have access to quality education is essential to prevent students from dropping out of school and from being further marginalized from society.

References

Cubilla-Bonnetier, D., Grajales-Barrios, M., Ortega-Espinosa, A., Puertas, L. and De León Sautú, N. (2023). “Unequal literacy development and access to online education in public versus private Panamanian schools during COVID-19 pandemic”. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 8, p. 989872). Frontiers.

Herrera M, L.C., Torres-Lista, V. and Montenegro, M. (2018). Analysis of the State Budget for Education of the Republic of Panama from 1990 to 2017. International Education Studies, 11(7), pp.71-82.

Oxford Business Group. (2023). “Panama makes progress towards sustainable education growth”. https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/reports/panama/2015-report/economy/learning-curve-progress-is-being-made-towards-sustainable-growth-via-a-rising-budget-and-a-push-to-raise-post-secondary-offerings#:~:text=The%20Panamanian%20education%20system%20is,five%2Dyear%2Dold%20children

Trading Economics. (2023). “Panama – Public Spending on Education”. https://tradingeconomics.com/panama/public-spending-on-education-total-percent-of-gdp-wb-data.html#:~:text=Government%20expenditure%20on%20education%2C%20total,compiled%20from%20officially%20recognized%20sources

Unesco. (2020). “Rurality and education in Panama”. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374672

UNICEF. (2021). “All children learn in Palama”. https://www.unicef.org/lac/en/all-children-learn-panama

UNICEF. (2022). “Country annual report 2022: Panama”. https://www.unicef.org/media/136316/file/Panama-2022-COAR.pdf

UNICEF. (2020). “Country Programme document”. https://www.unicef.org/executiveboard/media/3176/file/2021-PL9-Panama_CPD-EN-ODS.pdf

Education Challenges in Hong Kong

Written by Gianna Chen

The sociocultural context of Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s education system has undergone various influences. The colonization period by the British Empire after the Opium War introduced the English language as the medium of instruction (EMI). The four years of Japanese occupation transformed Hong Kong into the centre of international trade and further emerged as the centre of industry, business, and finance during the period between 1945 and 1997. Consequently, the population increase rapidly with migrants moving from mainland China and other South Asian countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia. Shortage of teachers, unequal distribution of resources and differences in education opportunities were shortly followed as a result. Since the handover of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China, the promotion of Chinese-medium instruction (CMI) in the school system has been introduced, alongside an increase in learning the Chinese language (Putonghua known as Mandarin) and culture. New problems occurred with a change in language policies and education reform after 1971, the appealing form of education that meets the needs and abilities of Cantonese-speaking students in the Chinese cultural context neglected ethnic minority students in the Education system.

Children learn about robotics. Photo by What The Fox Studio

The problem with the education system in Hong Kong

The article further reveals the problem with Hong Kong’s education reform and the adoption of a new language policy since 1997. Given the background of Hong Kong’s diverse education system, different types of schools were introduced to support the cultural demand. There are three types of schools in Hong Kong recognized by the education bureau: Public local schools (aided schools) that are either operated by the government or by local charitable or religious organizations. Both adopted local curricula where Chinese lessons are mandatory for students, but they can be taught in either English or Chinese as a medium of instruction. However, education is provided free of charge only for Hong Kong permanent residents. Private schools that are not funded by the Hong Kong government or educational sector, provide students and parents with a language choice of English, Chinese/ English and Chinese; International schools on the other hand, have full autonomy in student admission, course content, tuition fees, and deliver curricula that are widely accepted in several countries, such as the International Baccalaureate program. It is a common choice for expatriate or English-speaking families living in Hong Kong.

As of today, the issue of education inequality exists through different schooling systems, portraying social stratification through education opportunities, gender perception and mobility. Further calls for segregation and racial discrimination in society, limiting students’ future career prospects. Thus, by outlining the cause of unequal educational opportunities in Hong Kong, a wide range of recognition is needed to raise public awareness of Hong Kong’s education system.

Inequalities in Education

Education inequality not only includes opportunities to receive education, teaching recourses, faculty expenses, and continuation in participation, but the process of sustaining education opportunities should be equally desirable and concluded in the term. The educational reform in 1971 promoting 6 years of free primary education and the nine-year of compulsory education since 1978 has remarkably increased citizens’ literacy rates and life expectancy. However, while an escalation in the diffusion of education can be seen, quality and education opportunities continue to grow a gap in different groups. For instance, the 6 years of free primary education only applies to Hong Kong permanent residents with a limited number of positions open due to insufficient teaching faculties. Hence, competition rises between government-funded primary and secondary schools. Those who did not get into public local schools choose private or international schools as an alternative. Nonetheless, the quality of education differs between different types of schools. Since private schools are profit-oriented, it is often found that the teaching qualities are lower compared to public schools and international schools. Results in students from public schools or international schools having a sense of superiority among other students, enhancing education differences via grouping and alienation based on different schools and curricula. Therefore, the current contradiction in Hong Kong’s educational reform helps some children move up but keeps others on lower tracks and socializes them to blame for their own lack of success to themselves.

On the other hand, Hong Kong’s colonial culture enforces the idea of the English language as a medium of Instruction that is more beneficial for the reason that it was presented as ‘high culture’ used by members of the dominant class. As an example, the children of high-level government servants were often exposed to situations where they have to interact with colonials through English. Accordingly, students from the dominant class are more likely to do well on examinations and graduate from upper secondary schools and go on to universities. Another social factor that contributed to this fraction is family background. It is evident that the higher the socioeconomic status of the student’s family, the higher his or her academic achievements would be. On that account, the stratification of students in different school systems prolonged the capitalist society into levels of hierarchy, where workers’ children will have lower expectations in their world-view compared to upper-level workers’ children, who will position themselves in a higher innovative position and have richer expectations of themselves. More importantly, due to an influx of migrants from the mainland after the Civil War, newly arrived children (NAC) were a large proportion of the education system. However, most NAC are deprived of fair access to equal opportunity in schooling in EMI schools for the reason that their English level was too weak, hence, they have a hard time catching up with the Hong Kongers. Prevails an averaging issue when they do not have the ability to move on to the next educational level.

Influence of education reform and policy change

The immediate problem after the education reform in 1971 is the increase in the number of enrolments. Nine years of compulsory education prompt a rise in schools and faculty demand. The government of Hong Kong heavily rely on opening new public schools and private schools to meet the requirement. However, due to the fact that there was never a consistent pedagogical education in the history of Hong Kong, not only there is a shortage of teaching staff, but stability in the quality of teaching is also questionable. Most teachers do not have any qualifications in teaching but merely obtained a graduate degree in secondary or college degree Moreover, it pours a great amount of stress on the teaching staff, generating mental health problems in the early stages of the reform. Despite this fact, starting from 1982 onwards, faculty training slowly begins to catch up, raising qualifications to become a teacher. While the problem begins to compromise, the new language policy after the handover in 1997 induces new challenges.

The adoption of the Chinese-oriented language policy in 1997 aimed to promote the national language in the education system under a Chinese cultural context. The majority of students are required to attend Chinese-medium schools in which English is taught as a language subject. Regarding ethnic minorities, which consist nearly 9% of Hong Kong’s population, it became harder to gain proper education in mainstream schools. On top of that, the system of designated schools, which were designated for ethnic minorities in primary and secondary education, was abolished in 2013 for the reason to boost the multicultural educational environment in Hong Kong. Chinese language learning opportunities in former designated schools were limited, therefore the abolishment act strengthens racial discrimination encountered by ethnic minorities. Considering all students in local schools must pass every Chinese examination to advance to the next grade, the lack of opportunity to study Chinese has deprived ethnic minorities of the chance to develop an interest in learning the Chinese language. While private and international schools could be an alternative for admissions, the average tuition fee of over HKD100,000 is hardly a reasonable choice for most parents and immigrant families. This subsequently leads to ethnic minorities being marginalized in the Hong Kong education curriculum. As a result, more young people from ethnic minorities were getting denied in mainstream schools and were getting involved in gangs, creating social segregation from a lack of education attainability.

Inclusive education. Photo by The Hong Kong Society for the Deaf.

Gender Inequality

Nevertheless, while language is becoming a barrier to reaching equal education opportunities, gender segregation has endured since the very beginning. Even though the six years of free primary education and the nine years of compulsory education have reduced family burden and influenced gender to raise education opportunities for women, family’s socioeconomic background and ‘gender segregation’ still manifest limitations for women to achieve equal academic recognition. The traditional gender value in terms of “men outside of the home, women inside” has modelled students’ gender cognition since they were young. After secondary education, gender segregation was enhanced from the subjects they choose. It is widely agreed upon in society that girls should study liberal arts, and boys should study science. The restriction of choices later on influences their advanced studies, career path and societal status. The recognition of their role was further strengthened through literature such as examples from their textbook, sexual division of labour at school, reinforcement of female quality as obedience, passive and quiet, and separation of gender in physical education classes. The stereotyping of gender roles and the unequal sexual structure in education enlarges academic achievement between men, women and third genders. Ignoring gender education as part of the curriculum, especially towards helping students to form their own self-image and realize their potential.

Recommendations for solutions

As an ending remark, the inequality in Hong Kong’s education system could be improved from three different aspects. To sustain the process of education opportunities provided to students, individual-level development is the keystone to the issue. Personal qualities, mutual understanding, humanitarianism and inclusivity should be addressed and respected in the system of teaching, learning and examination. On the curriculum level, more flexible language learning subjects should be adopted into the education structure. Provide ethnic minorities and newly arrived children with language support to give them equal chances in learning abilities. On top of that, neutralization in gender education is consequential to shorten the gap of gender segregation, and encourage equal opportunities for both girls and boys to find the subjects they desire and are passionate about. In addition to language and gender curriculum, recommendations on a structure level are essential, for instance, a more flexible public examination for the compulsory academic subjects, and diversity in teaching staff and faculty members are needed to approach social justice and equality.

References

謝均才(1998). 教育機會差異在香港：現狀與研究議題評述 (Vol. 14). 香港教育研究所.

胡惠闵王鉴君(1997). 香港师范教育的沿革与面临的问题 (Vol. 15, Issue 2). 华东师范大学学报（教育科学版）.

C. Stella. (2012) The Hong Kong policy of quality education for all: a multi-level analysis of its impacts on newly arrived children, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 16:3, 235-247, DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2010.481430.

Evans, S. (2017) ‘Language policy in Hong Kong education: A historical overview’, European Journal of Language Policy, 9(1), pp. 67–84. doi:10.3828/ejlp.2017.5.

Gerard A, P. and W. O, L. (1997) Schooling in Hong Kong: Organization, teaching and Social Context, Schooling in Hong Kong: Organization, teaching and social context | Hong Kong Education Bibliographic Database. Available at: https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/ac62ffec (Accessed: 24 July 2023).

Hung, J. et al. (2019) Racism in Hong Kong: The Failure of Race Discrimination Ordinance in Educational Settings, ippr.com. Available at: https://ippr-journal.com/2019/01/23/racism-in-hong-kong-the-failure-of-race-discrimination-ordinance-in-educational-settings-2/ (Accessed: 24 July 2023).

Stephen Evans et al. (2007) Why EAP is necessary: A survey of hong kong tertiary students, Journal of English for Academic Purposes. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1475158506000634 (Accessed: 24 July 2023).

Uphill struggle for Hong Kong’s ethnic minority to learn Chinese (2022) Young Post. Available at: https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/news/hong-kong/article/3187252/hong-kongs-ethnic-minority-students-face-uphill-battle (Accessed: 24 July 2023).

Educational Challenges Hong Kong Inequality in education technology

Educational Challenges in Greece: Managing education after two crises

Written by Mara Vasile

From the financial crisis of 2008 to the Covid measures that moved education online, Greece has been faced with numerous challenges that increased the inequality in the education sector. In this article, we will dive into some of the most important ones.

Classes are back in person, after Covid. But challenges are still present.

Covid-19

According to the European Commission’s Education and Training Monitor, digital education is a priority in Greece. Like all countries, during Covid-19 Greece made efforts to move education online, but nevertheless encountered implementation and access issues.

Performances in subjects like math and science have declined, and socioeconomic background is a significant factor that impacts achievement levels. On a brighter note, higher education is beginning to be modernized, with changes in funding and quality assurance.

One important problem regarding education is the exclusion of disadvantaged students. This can happen due to many reasons, but during Covid, it was amplified by the lack of digital equipment: In 2018, one-fifth of students did not have a computer for school work. Moreover, not many students have above-average digital skills: only 32%, compared to the EU average of 57%. While Greece tried to improve its digital infrastructure, it still does not compare to any other EU countries. (Source: European Commission)

More statistics regarding Covid educational challenges:

90.6% of students had problems during distance education

53.1% didn’t have a proper internet connection.

45.8% had technical problems with platforms
(Source: European Commission)

Inequality

Inequality represents a fundamental problem in Greece’s educational system. For example, rural schools do far worse than urban schools on the PISA tests, and schools of students with a migrant background lag behind the ones with non-migrant students.

Another issue of inequality is the impact of socioeconomic background on educational performance. 46.4% of students from the lowest socio-economic quartile are underachievers in reading, for example, while students from the highest quartile do not face this problem as much.

In addition, migrants are facing challenges in integrating into the educational system, and many of them remain out of school.

Other issues

Issues like bullying and schools not having enough teachers further worsen the conditions of education in Greece. Children feeling safe in school is a prerequisitive for them being able to learn, and bullying often times makes pupils adopt a fearful attitude towards the educational space. Moreover, the lack of teachers creates staff and administrative problems.

Education is underfunded in Greece, especially at the university level. In 2018, Greece invested only 3.9% of its GDP in education, being one of the lowest values in the EU.

Financial crisis

The financial crisis of 2008 left significant marks on Greece’s economy – and this was also reflected in the education system. Greece’s education system became one of the most unequal systems in the developed world. Because the bailout agreements made during the crisis also forced public schools to impose spending cuts.

Private tuition

Another harmful practice that is happening in Greece is the normalization of expensive private tuition, according to BBC, students pay for private tutoring in order to pass the Panhellenic exams, the exams for getting into university.

This parallel education system of private classes is also called “frontistiria” and brings challenges for students from low socio-economical backgrounds, who cannot afford to pay for the expensive classes.

Education bills

Different legal issues also took place in the education sphere, like one student protest reported by the Guardian. Students protested in 2021 against an education bill that was supposed to create a special campus police force. Although this is not related to the quality of education, it shows the lack of consensus in education measures that are adopted in the country.

Final remarks

As such, based on reports from the EU Commission and UNICEF, Greece is facing multiple challenges regarding education. This is why fundamental reforms are needed, including more funding in the educational sector, investing in digital infrastructure, and getting rid of the private tuition market that disproportionately disadvantages people from lower economic backgrounds.

Bibliography

Smith, H. (2021). Greek students at the barricades in a dispute over education bills. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/11/greek-students-at-the-barricades-in-dispute-over-education-bill

European Commission. (2020). Education and Training Monitor. Retrieved from: https://op.europa.eu/webpub/eac/education-and-training-monitor-2020/countries/greece.html

Pickles, B. M. (2015). Greek tragedy for education opportunities. BBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-34384671

UNICEF. (2022). Impact evaluation of COVID-19 restriction measures on Children’s Rights – Greece. https://www.unicef.org/greece/en/reports/impact-evaluation-covid-19-restriction-measures-childrens-rights-greece

Covid-19 Crisis Educational Challenges Greece Inequality in education

Educational Challenges in Mozambique

Written by Néusia Cossa

Educational Challenges in Mozambique is one of the major struggles that the country faces and the core issue that the majority of educational organizations locally have to deal with. Most of the time, this is due to an array of factors within the country, especially with Mozambique being a southern underdeveloped nation.

In 2008, more than two thirds of the labor force had either no education at all, or had not completed primary school. Mozambique is still behind its neighbors (and competitors) in educational achievement at all levels, therefore more will need to be done to ensure the country establishes a qualified labor force that can promote sustainable economic growth. Studies in Mozambique and other African nations found that households and workers with primary education were able to transition into non-farm activities, achieving a higher income and transforming their livelihoods in both rural and urban areas, but those without at least lower primary education were not (Moz Policy Note, 2012:2).

In summary, Mozambique faces several educational challenges, some of these challenges may include: limited access to education, low quality of education, poverty and inequality, limited resources and lack of relevant curriculum^[i].

Limited access to education

Mozambique has shown its commitment to education. It has abolished school fees, provided direct support to schools and free textbooks at the primary level, as well as made investments in classroom construction. The sector receives the highest share of the state budget, over 15 per cent. As a result, there has been a significant rise in primary school enrollment over the past decade. Yet quality and improvement in learning has lagged. Additionally, enrollment stagnates in upper primary and secondary despite increased provision. About 1.2 million children are out of school, the majority being girls, particularly in the secondary age group. The 2013 national learning assessment found that only 6.3 per cent of Grade 3 students had basic reading competencies. A 2014 World Bank survey showed that only 1 per cent of primary school teachers have the minimum expected knowledge, and only one in four teachers achieves two-digit subtraction. Absenteeism among teachers is high at 45 per cent, and directors at 44 per cent. About half of enrolled students are absent on any given day.

Another huge challenge is the lack of an early childhood learning service. Only an estimated 5 per cent of children between 3 and 5 years benefit from them, and most services are still located in urban areas (UNICEF).

Low quality of education

Most of underdeveloped African nations use bribery in almost all the public services like hospital, school, police services and migration as a direct result of scarcity.

In terms of quality of education, Mozambique has a high percentage in lack of educated teachers, with good skills such as pedagogical trainings. Due to scarcity and low salaries (barely enough to survive), in most of the high school and primary schools teachers, parents and educators use bribery in return for successful grades.

It costs US$116 (or US$58 per day) to provide a teacher with high-quality, two-day training on development of low-cost materials including transport, full boarding, tuition and all the materials^[ii].

However, according to Sam Jones (2017)^[iii] Mozambique, in common with many other developing countries, has achieved impressive increases in access to education. Since 2000, the number of children attending primary school has more than doubled, as have the number of schools. Enrollment into secondary school also has risen rapidly — in 2004, less than 8,000 young people graduated from secondary school (12a classe) in the whole country; by 2014, the number of graduates exceeded 50,000.

These trends are positive, but they only paint half the picture. The flip-side of access is whether children are learning once they are in school. The evidence here is patchy, but broadly suggests that Mozambique is lagging a long way behind many of its developing country peers in the quality, rather than the quantity, of education that it offers its children.

It is not difficult to grasp why the quality of schooling matters. Weak educational systems create burdens for both employers and workers. If educational certificates are not a good guide to the skills a person possesses, employers find it difficult to identify the suitable and qualified candidates. This can lead to higher turnover and costly recruitment processes. It can also lead employers to demand higher levels of education, even where the specific tasks of a job do not demand it. Today, technological change also is increasing the demand for skills — even labour-intensive manufacturing firms prefer better-educated workers who are able to operate equipment and follow production goals.

A major education challenge in Mozambique is to ensure that all children who start primary school go on to complete it. Data from the Ministry of Education and Human Resources suggests that in each grade of primary school, only around 80% of children go straight to the next grade. Although not all of these children drop out, the probability of a child who starts primary school completing the full seven years is less than 50%. So, many young Mozambicans are entering the labour market without having even completed a primary education.

But completing primary education does not mean young Mozambicans learn enough through schooling. This is revealed by a recent face-to-face survey of children in Nampula implemented by TPC Moçambique, part of Facilidade-ICDS (Instituto para Cidadania e Desenvolvimento Sustentável). The survey follows a model originally developed by Pratham in India, now used in many countries. The data from these surveys are not strictly comparable, but they are informative about broad differences.

Using the survey, Table 1 compares attainment in literacy and numeracy across a range of countries. In all cases, the competencies tested refer to skills taken from each country’s curriculum that should be mastered by children after completing two years of education. We see that there are many children attending grade 5 who do not master grade 2-level skills. In Nampula, the majority of children finishing in the first phase of primary school are not mastering the basics: less than 1 in 3 children in grade 5 can read a simple story and do basic subtraction. Moreover, attainments in Mozambique appear substantially below those of children in the same grade in other low-income countries.

Table 1: Share of children enrolled in grade 3 and grade 5 able to achieve specific competencie

Notes: table is adapted from Jones et al. (2014), adding data from TPC Moçambique (2017).

The worrying situation in Mozambique is echoed by a World Bank investigation of service quality in the education sector. As set out in the study by Bold et al. (2017), which compares results across various countries, only 38% of Mozambican 4th grade students were able to recognize letters, compared to 89% in Kenya and 50% in Nigeria. A possible reason for this situation is suggested — not only are many teachers absent from school and/or class — which means Mozambican pupils are receiving less than half the recommended four hours of teaching per day — but also, many teachers show a poor knowledge of the curriculum they are supposed to teach.

In addition, JICA (2015:25) makes a comparative analysis of access by group, where he points in both lower- and upper-primary education, that Maputo City, Nampula, Sofala, Niassa and Maputo Provinces have higher dropout rates than the national average. Repetition rates are higher in Tete, Sofala, Niassa, Nampula and Manica Provinces. Overall, northern and central provinces have higher dropout and repetition rates than the national average. In particular, repetition rates in Niassa Province are, in comparison to the national average, 4.4 point higher in lower-primary education and 5.1 point higher in upper-primary education.

Dropout rates by gender show that female dropout rates are 0.2 point higher than the male’s in both lower- and upper-primary education. Looking by province, female dropout rates in primary education are higher in Maputo City, Gaza, Inhambane and Maputo Provinces, suggesting that female students drop out more than their male counterparts in the southern parts of the country. On national average, female repetition rates are 0.3 point and 0.4 point higher than the male’s in lowerand upper-primary education, respectively. By province, all except Zambezia Province had higher female repetition rates.

The Mozambican government has paid special attention to gender in every sector’s planning stage in order to narrow the gender gap. In the education sector, girls’ education has been promoted from the first Education Strategic Plan, and PEEC 2006-2011 has also identified universal primary education—especially focusing on girls’ education—as a major target issue. Due to these governmental efforts, gender gap in primary education has almost been corrected (PEE 2012-2016, P.41-42^[iv]).

Poverty and inequality

Poverty is a major barrier to education in Mozambique, as many families cannot afford to pay for school fees or related expenses such as uniforms and textbooks. In addition, girls and children from rural areas are often at a disadvantage due to social and cultural barriers, such as early marriage and traditional gender roles (Chatgpt, 2023).

The poverty limits education in Mozambique in many families. The normal salaries are most of the times for food, the basic need. People do a lot of times struggle to pay school and college expendidures reason why the small informal businesses are an outlet.

Schoolchildren in Mozambique – Photo by Sebastian Rich, UNICEF.

Limited resources

For education to be successful, it is not enough to ensure that children attend school but importantly, they also need to learn while they are in school. The expansion in primary education, because of limited resources, put pressure on quality of the education. Children and parents frequently complain about the low quality of infrastructure, lack of availability of books, and increasing class sizes (Moz policy note, 2012:3).

For Bonde and Matavel (2022:2) education funding is one of the problems that most underdeveloped countries face daily. Many of these countries are economically dependent due to their respective States’ fragility and postcolonial condition (Crossley, 2001; Williams, 2009). Vieira, Vidal, and Queiroz (2021) argue that “education financing is a key theme of the debate on educational policy. Far from being exhaustedly discussed by the literature in the field, it represents a challenge fruitful and permanent to reflection” (Vieira; Vidal; Queiroz, 2021, p. 1).

In the case of Mozambique, since the country’s independence in 1975, the Government has faced problems in financing its education. About this reality, Oliveira (1995) states that “enabling democratic and quality public education implies providing financing sources” (Oliveira, 1995, p. 76) see page 2.

The difficulty of financing the Mozambican education resulted in inquiring its international partners to assist within this sector. In a first phase, external funding came from several countries (bilateral and multilateral), from the period of socialist orientation (1975-1986) and in the later phase of multipartidarism (1990). These financings were directed to the General State Budget until 2001. In 2002, the Education Sector Support Fund (FASE) was created, which is the main instrument for channeling external funds to the sector. “The Common Fund (FASE) is the most aligned instrument for channeling external funds to finance the sector’s annual plan, using state procedures and instruments regarding planning, implementation, and monitoring”, says the Ministry of Education and Human Development (MINEDH, 2010, p. 56). page 2

The Common Fund (FASE), by which most of the external funding to the sector is channeled, contributes to the financing of key programs focusing on funding programs for basic education, such as the textbook, direct support to schools, teacher training, supervision, and accelerated construction of classrooms. Half of the FASE spending is continuous.

Among the many objectives of the FASE, the following stand out: [1] – achieve the Millennium Development Goal; [2] – achieve Universal Primary Education for all; and [3] – ensure the completion of primary education for all children in 2015. The FASE was created by the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI). FTI follows the commitment of the international community established at the 4th World Education for All Forum in Dakar, stating that no country committed to providing basic education for all and with a credible plan would be limited to achieving this goal due to the lack of financial resources (MINEDH, 2010, p. 8). Therefore, it was by the FTI that the Direct Support to Schools (ADE) was introduced. Hanlon (1997) considers that “Mozambique has become the country most dependent on foreign aid and probably still is” (Hanlon, 1997, p. 15). Abrahamsson and Nilsson (1994) state that “Mozambique is now in a considerably worse situation than at the time of independence” (Abrahamsson; Nilsson, 1994, 73). We understand that the country should reduce foreign aid and create its own sources of investment for education and other social and economic areas, for local problems must have local solutions. As long as partners continue to fund education, they will continue to outline Mozambique’s educational policies and we will hardly leave this external dependence.

World Bank documents highlight this reality. The Education for All Global Monitoring Report tells that “external models of good educational practices, defended without much conviction by different groups of agencies, are generally not sufficiently attuned to local circumstances” (UNESCO, 2005, p. 23). Unable to manage and finance education, the Mozambican Government has opted for privatizing education since 1990 to get rid of the financial burden. Therefore, Mozambique has forgotten that there is not a single experience in the world that has developed high educational standards with discourses, but with resources. Silva and Oliveira (2020) claims that “[…] when governments rely on privatization to expand access to education, this approach may conflict with the promotion of universal access, especially for the most marginalized populations” (Silva; Oliveira, 2020, p. 14).

Lack of relevant curriculum

The curriculum in Mozambique is often seen as outdated and not relevant to the needs of students or the economy. This can lead to a mismatch between the skills students learn in school and the skills required by employers, limiting their opportunities for future employment (chatgpt, 2023).

Mozambique has made impressive advancement in improving access to lower and upper primary school since the education reforms of 2004, which abolished all national primary school fees, provided free textbooks and introduced a new curriculum, while maintaining the high pace of school construction and teacher training. Enrollment in primary schools surged as the combination of lower costs and supply of schools increased access particularly for poorer families. The study shows that in lower primary (EP1), access improved the most the response to the reforms was highest for poorer families, whereas in upper primary (EP2), the gains for poor families were limited. Overall, the primary system has become more inclusive (Moz policy note, 2012:2).

To conclude, Mozambique is an underdeveloped nation which educational challenges has to deal with poverty, quality, limited access and limited resources. However, there are some great results on education access in the rural communities such as in Nampula, where some organization like “Girl Move”, has been working with young girls. More could be done to reduce these challenges, such as the government investing more money in education, increasing teachers salaries and quality of skills, which consequently would improve children and young people education.

^[i] https://chat.openai.com/chat 27^th February, 2023 12:36

^[ii] https://www.unicef.org/mozambique/en/education 27^th February 27, 2023 13:22

^[iii] https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/has-quality-mozambique%E2%80%99s-education-been-sacrificed-altar-access 4^th March, 2023 22:05

iv https://www.portaldogoverno.gov.mz/por/Imprensa/Noticias/Plano-Estrategico-da-Educacao-PEE-2012-2016-9-no-ultimo-ano-de-implementacao March, 2023 by 11:40

References

Abrahamsson, Hans; Nilsson, Anders. Moçambique em transição: um estudo da história de desenvolvimento durante o período de 1974-1992. Maputo: Padrigu, 1994.

Crossley, Michael. Cross-cultural inssue, small states and research: Capacity Building in Belize. International Jounal of Education Development, v. 21, n. 3, p. 217- 229, 2001.

Hanlon, Joseph. Paz sem Beneficio. Como o FMI Bloqueia a Reconstrução de Moçambique. Maputo: Centro de Estudos Africanos, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, 1997. (Coleção Nosso Chaão).

Japan International Cooperation Agency: Study on Basic Education Sector in Africa Mozambique. Basic Education Sector Analysis Report. 2015.

MINED: Manual de Apoio a ZIP. 2010.

Mozambique Policy Note: Education Reform in Mozambique: Lessons and Challenges. 2012.

Oliveira, Romualdo P. Educação e Cidadania: o Direito à Educação na Constituição de 1988 da República Federativa do Brasil. 1995. Tese (Doutorado em Educação) – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, Universidade de São Paulo, 1995.

Rui Amadeu Bonde and Princidónio Abrão Matavel: Education Financing in Mozambique and its Challenges. Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo/SP Brazil & Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos/SP – Brazil. 2022.

Silva, Rui da; Oliveira, Joana. Privatização da educação em 24 países africanos:

tendências, pontos comuns e atípicos. Educação & Sociedade, Campinas, v. 41, 2020.

UNESCO. Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, a Ciência e a Cultura. Educação para todos: o imperativo da qualidade. Relatório de monitoramento global. Brasília, DF: Unesco; São Paulo: Moderna, 2005.

Vieira, Sofia Lerche; Vidal, Eloisa Maia; Queiroz, Paulo Alexandre Sousa. Financiamento e Expansão do Ensino Médio: o caso da diversificação da oferta no Ceará. EccoS – Rev. Cient., São Paulo, n. 58, p. 1-23, jul./set. 2021.

access Educational Challenges Inequality in education Limited resources Mozambique Quality of Education rural communities

Educational challenges in Perú: Battling against intersectional discrimination

Written by Joan Vilalta Flo

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

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

Segregation

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

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

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

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

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

COAR students in a meeting. Photo by ANDINA.

Legal Matters

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

Parent’s association meeting. Photo by ANDINA.

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

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

The Digital Gap

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

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

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

Illiteracy, School Dropout and Absenteeism

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

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

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

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

A child working in agriculture. Photo available in RCR.

Sexual Violence in Education

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

Discrimination

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

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

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

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

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

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

Disabled children attending school. Photo by Perú 21.

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

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

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

[ii] UN, Human Rights Council (2018)

[iii] Ames (2021)

[iv] Ames (2021)

[v] Aquino (2018)

[vi] Ames (2021)

[vii] Cabrera (2023)

[viii] UN Perú (2022)

[ix] UN, Human Rights Council (2018)

[x] UN, Human Rights Council (2018)

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

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

[xiii] Tarazona (2021)

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

[xv] Tarazona (2021)

[xvi] INEI (2018)

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

[xviii] INEI (2018)

[xix] CARE (2023)

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

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

[xxii] CARE (2023)

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

[xxiv] UNICEF (2018)

[xxv] UN Perú (2022)

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

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

[xxviii] Rojas (2022)

[xxix] Cuenca and Urrutia (2019)

[xxx] Ames (2021)

[xxxi] Ames (2021)

[xxxii] Navas Zaraza and Morin Cabrera (2021)

[xxxiii] Navas Zaraza and Morin Cabrera (2021)

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

REFERENCES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sfide nel sistema educativo del Sudafrica

Per rispettare gli standard nazionali e internazionali in materia di diritti umani, il Sudafrica deve affrontare diversi ostacoli nella sua sfera educativa. Questo articolo presenterà alcune delle sfide educative più diffuse nel Paese.

Infrastrutture

Uno dei problemi principali del settore educativo oggi è rappresentato dalle strutture a disposizione degli studenti. È di fondamentale importanza che le scuole includano strutture sicure e protette per i bambini e le attrezzature necessarie agli studenti per proseguire la loro istruzione. Secondo Equal Education (EE, 2016), nel 2013 il ministro dell’Istruzione di base, Angie Montshegka, ha accettato una legge che obbliga le scuole di tutto il Paese a disporre almeno di acqua, elettricità, internet, aule sicure con un massimo di 40 studenti in classe, sicurezza e le strutture necessarie per studiare e praticare diversi sport. Sebbene l’obiettivo sia stato fissato per il 2016, oggi molte scuole hanno problemi ben più gravi di una cattiva connessione a Internet. Il Paese sta cercando di raggiungere gli obiettivi prefissati, ma la strada da percorrere è ancora lunga. Numerosi articoli evidenziano i casi di morte di studenti a causa di infrastrutture inadeguate. Inoltre, le carenze igieniche delle scuole sono un problema che influisce sulla salute degli studenti. Un esempio è dato dai servizi igienici e dalle latrine a fossa, dove gli studenti sono a rischio di problemi di salute a causa dell’igiene inadeguata. Questi ostacoli impediscono agli studenti di concentrarsi sull’istruzione e sullo sviluppo.

Disuguaglianza nell’istruzione

Le disuguaglianze sono ampiamente visibili nelle scuole sudafricane. Secondo Amnesty International, i bambini delle prime 200 scuole ottengono punteggi più alti in matematica rispetto ai bambini delle altre 6.600 scuole. Altre statistiche evidenziano che oltre il 75% dei bambini di nove anni non è in grado di leggere in modo significativo. In alcune province, la percentuale raggiunge il 91%. Il sistema educativo si sta ancora riprendendo dall’era dell’Apartheid, con il risultato che i bambini vengono trattati in modo diverso a causa della loro provenienza, della ricchezza o del colore della pelle. The Quality of Primary Education in South Africa, un rapporto dell’UNESCO, afferma che, in teoria, tutti i bambini hanno uguale accesso ai tre livelli di istruzione del Paese. Tuttavia, molti istituti che ospitano studenti provenienti da comunità a basso reddito non sono riusciti a migliorare la qualità dell’istruzione impartita. Il governo deve affrontare il problema della povertà e dell’istruzione.

Istruzione scadente

Inoltre, la qualità dell’istruzione scolastica è un problema prevalente in Sudafrica. Secondo una ricerca condotta da Gustafsson nel 2021, il pensionamento degli insegnanti in Sudafrica raggiungerà il picco massimo entro il 2030, il che comporterà di conseguenza la necessità di nuovi educatori formati e la ristrutturazione di classi e istituti. Attualmente, la metà delle classi ha 30 studenti per classe, ma il restante 50% può superare i 50 bambini in una classe. Per ridurre il numero, si stima che circa 100.000 nuovi insegnanti entrino nel sistema educativo, il che richiede formazione e finanziamenti su larga scala.

Un’altra sfida che il settore educativo sudafricano deve affrontare oggi è la qualità degli insegnanti. Oltre 5.000 degli attuali insegnanti non sono qualificati per la loro professione. Gli insegnanti non sono competitivi sul mercato del lavoro; hanno una scarsa comprensione dei programmi di studio e nessuna competenza pedagogica, il che porta gli studenti a diplomarsi senza le conoscenze necessarie.

Ciclo di analfabetismo

Infine, secondo il rapporto OCSE del 2019, il Sudafrica ha la più alta percentuale di persone di età compresa tra i 20 e i 24 anni nel settore NEET (né occupazione né istruzione). Il Sudafrica ha ottenuto un punteggio di quasi il 50% su questo criterio, il più alto tra tutti i Paesi esaminati dal rapporto dell’OCSE. Il rapporto 2021 del professor Khuluvhe parla della gravità del problema dell’analfabetismo, affermando che, nel 2019, il tasso di adulti analfabeti (di età superiore ai 20 anni) era del 12,1%, ovvero circa 4,4 milioni. Ciò equivale a una parte considerevole della popolazione che non ha raggiunto un livello di istruzione di 7° grado o superiore. L’analfabetismo comporta conseguenze di vasta portata per la popolazione, tra cui una prole non istruita e il mancato contributo alla società, danneggiando così l’economia del Paese. Il Sudafrica deve affrontare questo problema e ridurre il più possibile la percentuale di analfabetismo.

Bibliografia

1. EE. (2006, July 19). School Infrastructure. Eqaleducation.Org.Za. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://equaleducation.org.za/campaigns/school-infrastructure/

2. Amnesty International. (2020, February 7). South Africa: Broken and unequal education perpetuating poverty and inequality. Www.Amnesty.Org. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/02/south-africa-broken-and-unequal-education-perpetuating-poverty-and-inequality/

3. Gustafsson, M. (2021, August 26). A teacher retirement wave is about to hit South Africa: what it means for class size. The Conversation. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://theconversation.com/a-teacher-retirement-wave-is-about-to-hit-south-africa-what-it-means-for-class-size-164345

4. Khuluvhe, M. K. (2021, March 1). Adult illiteracy in South Africa. Www.Dhet.Gov.Za. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://www.dhet.gov.za/Planning%20Monitoring%20and%20Evaluation%20Coordination/Fact%20Sheet%20on%20Adult%20Illiteracy%20in%20South%20Africa%20-%20March%202021.pdf

5. Editor. (2019, December 27). Opinion: The Challenges Facing The Education System In South Africa. iAfrica. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://iafrica.com/opinion-the-challenges-facing-the-education-system-in-south-africa/

Educational Challenges in South Africa Inequality in education OECD Posted by Beyza Nur Dag

Sfidat në sistemin arsimor të Afrikës së Jugut

Në mënyrë që të jetë në përputhje me standardet kombëtare dhe ndërkombëtare të të drejtave të njeriut, Afrika e Jugut duhet të përballet me disa pengesa në sferën e tyre arsimore. Ky artikull do të paraqesë disa nga sfidat më të përhapura arsimore në vend.

Infrastruktura

Një nga problemet kryesore në sektorin arsimor sot janë mjediset në dispozicion të nxënësve. Është shumë e rëndësishme që shkollat të përfshijnë ambiente të sigurta për fëmijët, si dhe pajisje të nevojshme për nxënësit për të vazhduar shkollimin e tyre. Sipas Equal Education (EE, 2016) në vitin 2013, Ministrja e Arsimit Bazë, Angie Montshegka, pranoi një ligj që detyronte shkollat në të gjithë vendin të kenë të paktën ujë, energji elektrike, internet, klasa të sigurta me deri në 40 nxënës në klasë, siguri, dhe mjediset e nevojshme për të studiuar dhe praktikuar sporte të ndryshme. Edhe pse objektivi ishte vendosur për vitin 2016, sot, shumë shkolla kanë probleme shumë më të këqija se një lidhje e keqe e internetit.

Vendi po shikon drejt përmbushjes së objektivave të vendosura, por ka ende shumë për të bërë. Artikuj të shumtë theksojnë vdekjet e raportuara të nxënësve për shkak të infrastrukturës së dobët.

Gjithashtu, higjiena jo-adekuate e shkollave është një çështje që ndikon në shëndetin e nxënësve. Një shembull i kësaj shihet në tualetet e tyre, ku studentët janë në rrezik të problemeve shëndetësore për shkak të higjienës së tyre jo të duhur. Këto pengesa i pengojnë studentët të përqendrohen në edukimin dhe zhvillimin e tyre.

Pabarazi ne edukim

Pabarazia është kryesisht e dukshme në shkollat e Afrikës së Jugut. Sipas Amnesty International, fëmijët në 200 shkollat e para shënojnë rezultate më të larta në matematikë sesa fëmijët në 6600 shkollat e tjera. Statistikat e tjera theksojnë se më shumë se 75% e nëntëvjeçarëve nuk mund të lexojnë me kuptim. Në disa krahina, përqindja është deri në 91%. Sistemi arsimor është ende duke u shëruar nga epoka e aparteidit, duke rezultuar që fëmijët të trajtohen ndryshe për shkak të prejardhjes, pasurisë ose ngjyrës së lëkurës së tyre. Persa i perket cilesise se arsimit fillor në Afrikën e Jugut, një raport i UNESCO-s, thotë se, teorikisht, të gjithë fëmijët kanë akses të barabartë në të tre nivelet e arsimit në vend. Megjithatë, shumë institucione shkollore, studentë nga komunitetet me të ardhura të ulëta nuk kanë arritur të përmirësojnë cilësinë e arsimit që ofrojnë. Qeveria duhet të trajtojë problemin e varfërisë dhe arsimit.

Edukim i varfer

Për më tepër, cilësia e arsimit të shkollave është një çështje e përhapur në Afrikën e Jugut. Sipas hulumtimit të ndërmarrë nga Gustafsson në vitin 2021, pensionimi i mësuesve në Afrikën e Jugut do të arrijë një numër maksimal deri në vitin 2030, gjë që rrjedhimisht do të rezultojë në nevojën për edukatorë të rinj të trajnuar dhe ristrukturimin e klasave dhe institucioneve. Aktualisht, gjysma e klasave kanë 30 nxënës për klasë, por 50%-eshi tjetër mund të kalojë deri në 50 fëmijë në një klasë. Për të reduktuar shifrat, llogaritet se rreth 100,000 mësues të rinj hyjnë në sistemin arsimor, i cili kërkon trajnim dhe financim në shkallë të gjerë.

Një sfidë tjetër me të cilën përballet sot sektori arsimor në Afrikën e Jugut është cilësia e instruktorëve. Mbi 5000 nga mësuesit aktualë janë të nënkualifikuar për profesionin e tyre. Instruktorët nuk janë konkurrues në tregun e punës; ata kanë pak njohuri për kurrikulën dhe nuk kanë kompetencë pedagogjike, duke bërë që studentët të mbarojnë shkollën pa njohuritë e nevojshme.

Cikli i analfabetizmit

Më në fund, sipas Raportit të OECD nga 2019, Afrika e Jugut ka përqindjen më të lartë të njerëzve të moshës 20 deri në 24 vjeç në sektorin NEET (as punësim, as arsim). Afrika e Jugut shënoi pothuajse 50% për këtë kriter, më i madhi nga të gjitha vendet e ekzaminuara nga raporti i OECD. Raporti i Profesor Khuluvhe për vitin 2021 diskuton seriozitetin e problemit të analfabetizmit, duke deklaruar se, në vitin 2019, shkalla e të rriturve analfabetë (mbi moshën 20 vjeç ) ishte 12,1%, ose rreth 4,4 milionë. Kjo barazohet me faktin se një pjesë e konsiderueshme e popullsisë nuk arrin një nivel të arsimit të klasës së 7-të ose më të lartë. Analfabetizmi sjell pasoja të mëdha për popullatën, përfshirë pasardhësit e paarsimuar dhe moskontributin në shoqëri, duke dëmtuar kështu ekonominë e vendit. Afrika e Jugut duhet ta trajtojë këtë çështje dhe të minimizojë përqindjen e analfabetizmit sa më shumë që të jetë e mundur.

Translated by Xhina Cekani from : https://brokenchalk.org/challenges-in-the-educational-system-of-south-africa/

References

1. EE. (2006, July 19). School Infrastructure. Eqaleducation.Org.Za. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://equaleducation.org.za/campaigns/school-infrastructure/

Educational Challenges in South Africa Inequality in education OECD Posted by Beyza Nur Dag

Education Issues in HRW 2022 Report

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WORLD REPORT 2022

Afghanistan

Taliban’s Impact on Education

After the Taliban takeover of the country in August, the protracted Afghanistan conflict abruptly gave way to an accelerating human rights and humanitarian crisis.

Most secondary schools for girls were closed, and women were prohibited from working in most government jobs and many other areas.

In the weeks after the Taliban takeover, Taliban authorities announced a steady stream of policies and regulations rolling back women’s and girls’ rights. These included measures severely curtailing access to employment and education and restricting the right to peaceful assembly.

The Taliban have said they support education for girls and women, but on September 18 they ordered secondary schools to reopen only for boys. Some secondary schools for girls subsequently reopened in a few provinces, but as of October the vast majority remained shut. On August 29, the acting minister of higher education announced that girls and women could participate in higher education but could not study with boys and men. A lack of female teachers, especially in higher education, likely means this policy will lead to de facto denial of access to education for many girls and women.

Women who had taught boys in classes above sixth grade or men in mixed classes at university have been dismissed in some areas because teaching males is no longer allowed. In many parts of Afghanistan, Taliban officials have banned or restricted female humanitarian workers—a move that could likely worsen access to health care and humanitarian aid.

Algeria

2021’s Educational Challenges in Algeria

On April 23, police arrested university scholar and human rights defender Kaddour Chouicha, and the journalists and human rights activists Jamila Loukil (Chouicha’s wife) and Said Boudour, in Oran.

On April 22, a court in Algiers sentenced religion scholar Saïd Djabelkhir to three years in prison for “offending the Prophet of Islam” and “denigrating the dogma or precepts of Islam,” after private citizens complained about his critical writings on Islam.

Though a party to the African and UN refugee conventions, Algeria continued to lack a national asylum law and protection framework. Refugees and asylum seekers had free access to public education and primary healthcare, but administrative barriers hindered their access to school and work.

Angola

Covid-19 Impact on Education

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, 18 percent of Angolan children were out of primary school. After the pandemic’s start in 2020, schools were closed for 195 days, and partially open to certain ages or in certain areas, for 106 days, affecting 8.7 million children. In 2021, schools were partially closed in January and February, but open for the remainder of the year.

The new penal code removed the contentious provisions that punished people who “habitually indulge in the practice of vices against nature,” which targeted the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and limited their access to employment, health care, and education.

Argentina

Indigenous People & Covid-19 Challenges

Indigenous people face obstacles accessing justice, land, education, health care, and basic services.

At least 357,000 children—and up to 694,000—discontinued their schooling during 2020 in Argentina, UNICEF reported. Due to Covid-19 related restrictions, most schools were closed between March and December 2020 and for shorter periods in some parts of the country in 2021, when a gradual return to classes took place. The impact was greatest on low-income families, UNICEF said, and around 20 percent of those who dropped out in 2020 were still without schooling in May 2021.

Armenia

Aftermath of the Nagorno-Karabakh War

In 2021, authorities continued to establish inclusive education across the country. In April, the government approved a plan to establish inclusive education in preschools, which contained 16 action steps to be completed by 2023. Nevertheless, many children with disabilities remain segregated in orphanages, special schools, or at home with little or no education.

Australia

Censorship & Restrictive Freedom on Education

Human Rights Watch research found that Australian universities are failing to protect the academic freedom of students from China and of academics who criticize the Chinese Communist Party, leaving them vulnerable to harassment and intimidation by Chinese government supporters. Chinese pro-democracy students in Australia alter their behavior and self-censor to avoid threats and harassment from fellow classmates and being “reported on” by them to authorities back home.

Azerbaijan

Nagorno-Karabakh’s Impact on Education

The 2020 truce ending the six-week war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in and around Nagorno-Karabakh largely held, but periodic skirmishes made for a fragile situation on the post-war front lines.

The fighting compounded the loss of education due to Covid-19-related school closures. According to official data, at least 71 schools were damaged or destroyed on the Armenian side and 54 on the Azerbaijani side. Despite the severe damage to schools during the conflict, Azerbaijan had yet to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, an international agreement to protect education during armed conflict signed by 112 countries.

Bahrain

No notes on education-related human rights violations.

Bangladesh

Educational Challenges after Covid-19 Pandemic

At time of writing, schools had been closed for more than 450 days since the pandemic’s start in 2020. Over 1.6 million students were affected, with many facing barriers to accessing remote education, including lack of internet access, lack of electricity, and needing to work to support their families. A BRAC survey found that more than half of students surveyed were not following government-televised classes. Girls in particular faced barriers to staying in school, and nongovernmental organizations reported a concerning rise in child marriage.

The main refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar is severely overcrowded, with risks of communicable diseases, fires, monsoons, and lack of prevention efforts and services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Refugees faced tightened restrictions on their rights to information, movement, and livelihood. Education in camp “learning centers” has been halted since March 2020 due to Covid-19 lockdowns.

Belarus

No comments on education-related human rights violations.

Bolivia

Educational challenges in 2021

The Áñez government closed schools in March 2020. In August, it cancelled the rest of the school year, which was scheduled to end in December. Classes restarted in February 2021, mostly online. Thousands of students could not access classes for lack of devices or internet. By September, 77 percent of schools had resumed some in-person classes, the government said.

In November 2020, the Ombudsperson’s Office documented overcrowding in 4 of Bolivia’s 16 juvenile detention centers, and inadequate access to health care, education, and sanitation.

The 2009 constitution includes comprehensive guarantees of Indigenous peoples’ rights to collective land titling, intercultural education, prior consultation on development projects, and protection of Indigenous justice systems.

Yet Indigenous peoples continue to face barriers to exercise their right to free, prior, and informed consent regarding measures that may affect them.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Educational Challenges in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In the 2020/21 school year, Roma, people living in poverty, and children with disabilities experienced greater obstacles in accessing online education due to lack of devices, reliable internet, and special assistance.

A June European Parliament resolution called on the government to adopt a deinstitutionalization strategy for people with disabilities and condemned a law allowing them to be deprived of their legal capacity, or the right to make decisions for themselves.

In July, the Constitutional Court of BiH found the practice of “two schools under one roof” discriminates against children because it physically segregates children at school based on ethnicity.

Research published in June by the Sarajevo Open Center, an LGBTI and women’s rights group, found that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people face discrimination in education, employment, and housing.

Brazil

Covid-19’s Severe Impact on Education

The Brazilian government has failed to address the huge impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education. Brazilian schools were mostly closed for 69 weeks between March 2020 and August 2021 due to Covid-19, UNESCO reported. Lack of access to adequate devices and internet connectivity necessary for online education excluded millions of children from schooling, particularly Black and Indigenous children, and those from low-income households.

In August, the Minister of Education defended a new national policy that appeared to be aimed at establishing segregated schools for certain children with disabilities, arguing they “disturbed” other students. As of September, the Supreme Court was examining whether the policy is constitutional.

Burkina Faso

Children’s Rights and Attacks on Education

Armed groups, notably armed Islamists, increased their recruitment and use of children. At least 15 children were among those detained in the high security prison. Over 300,000 children were out of school due to the closure of 2,244 schools as a result of insecurity as of May, approximately 10 percent of the country’s schools, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF.) During 2021, at least 30 education-related attacks by Islamist armed groups, including damaging or pillaging schools and abducting, detaining, or threatening teachers, were documented by Human Rights Watch or reported by Burkina Faso’s Education Ministry or the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) Project.

In response to the gravity and number of attacks on schools and the killing and maiming of children, the UN secretary-general included Burkina Faso as a situation of concern for the UN’s monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations against children during armed conflict.

Burundi

No notes on education-related human rights violations.

Cambodia

Educational Challenges for People with Disabilities

Human Rights Watch obtained in March a copy of a draft disability law that fails to adopt a human rights-based approach to ensure equal rights for people with disabilities. The draft law reinforces stigma against people with disabilities rather than ensuring equal access to education, employment, transportation, social and legal services, and independent living.

Cameroon

Abuses by Armed Separatists

Separatists, who have violently enforced a boycott on education since 2017, continued to attack students and education professionals.

Separatist fighters continued to kill, torture, assault, and kidnap civilians. They also continued their attacks against education. According to the United Nations, 700,000 students were out of school in March 2021 as a result of the crisis.

On January 9, suspected separatist fighters killed the principal of a high school in Eyumojock, South-West region, and wounded a principal from another high school in Tinto, South-West region. On January 12, separatist fighters shot and injured a female public-school teacher in Bamenda, North-West region.

Canada

Burial Sites at Residential Schools

From May to July, hundreds of unmarked graves were found at former government-funded and church-run residential schools in the provinces of British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Approximately 150,000 Indigenous children were removed from their families and communities and placed in residential schools, where they were forbidden to speak their own languages or practice their culture. Many also suffered physical and sexual abuse at residential schools, which operated until the 1990s.

Prime Minister Trudeau called on the Roman Catholic Church, which ran residential schools across Canada, to make a formal apology and publish their records. Indigenous groups and the former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called for an independent investigation and resources from the federal government to continue forensic investigations of burial sites at former residential schools.

Central African Republic

Abuses by National Forces and Foreign Allies

Members of the national army, the Forces armées centrafricaines (FACA), allegedly committed serious human rights violations including the extrajudicial executions of eight suspected CPC members in Ombella M’Poko province between late December and mid-January 2021. In the course of military operations, they also attacked civilians, occupied schools, and looted private property, according to the UN.

Chad

No notes on education-related human rights violations.

Chile

Covid-19 Pandemic – Its Effect on Education

In March 2020, schools closed to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus, affecting 3.5 million students. The Ministry of Education provided educational content through an online platform, but acknowledged that only 27 percent of low-income students had access to online education. In-person education resumed in July 2021, although, as of October, attendance was not mandatory and remained low.

Chile denounced arbitrary detention of presidential candidates, students, and members of civil society organizations in Nicaragua, and called for free and fair elections there.

China

Numerous Educational Challenges Throughout the Country

Hong Kong

Academic freedom deteriorated. University administrations were hostile towards student unions throughout 2021, while a number of academics were fired, or their contracts were not renewed, because of their pro-democracy views.

Tibet

The government stepped up coercive assimilationist policies. Chinese language classes were already compulsory for schoolteachers, local officials, and vocational trainees. In July, authorities announced that kindergartens in ethnic minority areas must use Chinese as a medium of instruction. In August, President Xi emphasized the subordination of minority identities to a single national identity at the national “Ethnic Work” conference.
Authorities’ hightened surveillance and intimidation at all levels, from online to neighborhoods to schools, and have rendered protests—such as those over the downgrading of minority language in Inner Mongolia in 2020—virtually impossible in Tibetan areas.

In some cases, the police physically restrained people to forcibly inoculate them; in others, authorities announced that they would suspend government benefits for anyone who refused vaccination or conditioned school enrollment on the vaccination of the student’s entire family.

In February, a court in Jiangsu province ruled in favor of a publisher that described homosexuality as a “psychological disorder” in a university textbook. In July, social media platform WeChat removed dozens of LGBT accounts run by university students, claiming some had broken rules on online information.

Few universities in democracies took steps to protect their students’ and scholars’ free speech involving criticism of the Chinese government. In Australia, Human Rights Watch research showed only weak efforts to push back against such problems. At the same time, none of the universities with ties to academia in Hong Kong publicly challenged Hong Kong authorities’ clear assault on academic freedom—including harassing student unions and firing pro-democracy faculty—in the territory.

Colombia

No notes on education-related human rights violations.

Cuba

Inhumane Treatment to 17-year-old Student Gabriela Zequeira Hernández

Gabriela Zequeira Hernández, a 17-year-old student, was arrested in San Miguel de Padrón, Havana province, as she was walking past a demonstration on July 11. During detention, two female officers made her strip and squat naked five times. One of them told her to inspect her own vagina with her finger. Days later, a male officer threatened to take her and two men to the area known as the “pavilion,” where detainees have conjugal visits. Officers repeatedly woke her up at night for interrogations, asking why she had protested and who was “financing” her. Days later, she was convicted and sentenced to eight months in prison for “public disorder,” though she was allowed to serve her sentence in house arrest. She was only permitted to see her private lawyer a few minutes before the hearing.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Educational Challenges in DRC

School closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic affected 19.2 million children. After the pandemic’s start in 2020, schools were fully or partially closed for 179 days, including several weeks in early 2021.

On April 29, dozens of students calling for peace were violently accosted and rounded up by police forces in Beni. Tshisekedi later apologized to all children involved, but only after he appointed the police commander in charge of the round-up, François Kabeya, as mayor of Goma.

Ecuador

Children’s Rights

Sexual violence is a longstanding, pervasive problem in public and private schools. Between January 2014 and February 2021, Ecuador’s Education Ministry registered 3,777 complaints of school-related sexual violence by teachers, administrative staff, and other students, including online.

On August 14, Ecuador commemorated its first national day against sexual violence in schools, complying with a 2020 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling in the Paola Guzman Albarracín case. Paola, who was 14 when her vice principal raped and abused her, took her own life in 2002. At time of writing, Ecuador had not complied fully with measures ordered by the court, including publishing data on school-related sexual violence, and training education staff on how to treat and prevent situations of sexual violence and assist victims of school-related sexual violence and their families.

In March, the National Assembly changed Ecuador’s education law, adding mechanisms against violence in schools and guaranteeing free access to information about sexuality and sexual and reproductive rights.

The government’s pandemic response included nationwide school closures, starting in April 2020. Ecuador ranked 13th, worldwide in total days of school closures, UNICEF reported, with 169 as of February 2021. Almost 4.5 million students have missed at least three-quarters of a year of classroom instruction. During the pandemic, only 4 out of 10 households with children under 5 have had access to early childhood development services, including pre-primary education.

Egypt

Government’s Failure to Protect Students

On February 1, police arrested Ahmed Samir Santawy, a Central European University student, and held him incommunicado for five days during which, his lawyer said, he was severely beaten.

Most children in Egypt experience corporal punishment at home or at school. Egypt promised to ban corporal punishment in all settings during its UN Universal Periodic Review in 2019 but did not revise the penal code or other laws that exempt the practice from penalty.

El Salvador

The Impact of Covid-29 on Education

Between March 2020 and April 2021, the government closed schools to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Approximately 1.4 million students missed “almost all classroom instruction” between March 2020 and February 2021, according to UNICEF. The government implemented a range of distance learning initiatives, including online classes.

Eritrea

Conscription Obligations for Students

For secondary students, some as young as 16, conscription begins at the Sawa military camp where students finish secondary school and undergo compulsory military training. Students are under military command, with harsh military punishments and discipline, and female students have reported sexual harassment and exploitation.

The government continued to rely on poorly trained national service teachers, which affects the quality of primary and secondary education, and teacher retention.

Covid-related restrictions kept schools largely closed during the first three months of the year, disrupting education for more than 600,000 students. However, the government continued to force final year high-school students to attend Sawa, where dormitories are crowded, and water supplies and health facilities limited. Students were not released from Sawa despite concerns that the virus that causes Covid-19 could easily spread in the cramped and unsanitary conditions.

Eswastini

The Aftermath of Widespread Protests

In June, violent protests triggered by the king’s decree banning petitions to the government calling for democratic reforms broke out across the country. At least 50 people were killed and property worth an estimated R3 billion (US$19.4 million) was looted or damaged.

The waves of protests began in May 2021, when students and teachers protested killing of Thabani Nkomonye, a law student at the University of Swaziland.

Schools were closed for 237 days, and partially open to certain ages or in certain areas, for 159 days since the pandemic’s start in 2020. In 2021, 350,000 students were affected. Before the pandemic, 16 percent of children were out of primary school.

Ethiopia

Ongoing Conflict

In Tigray, government forces and allies committed forcible displacement, large-scale massacres, widespread sexual violence, indiscriminate shelling, pillage, and attacks on schools and hospitals.

On February 14, security forces arrested Oromo Mohammed Deksisso, a graduating student in Jimma, after calling for the release of Oromo politicians and justice for murdered Oromo singer Hachalu Hundessa. Mohammed was held for five months, faced serious due process violations before his release.

European Union

Educational Inequality Throughout the EU

The European Committee of Social Rights of the Council of Europe (CoE) said in a March report that the pandemic had a dire impact on schooling during the 2020-2021 academic year, including in EU member states. Inequalities were exacerbated particularly for marginalized and socially disadvantaged children and those in greater need of educational support such as children with disabilities.

In March, the European Commission adopted a strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities 2021-2030, prioritizing accessibility; deinstitutionalization and independent living; countering discrimination and achieving equal access in employment, justice, education, health, and political participation; and promoting disability rights globally. The 2021 Fundamental Rights Agency annual report noted particular risks for people with disabilities in institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as increased obstacles to accessing essential services, education, and healthcare.

France

Educational Deprivation

In a February report, the controller general of places of deprivation of liberty expressed concerns about the increase in detention of children, the frequent failure to strictly separate children and adults in prisons and in police custody cells, and the lack of access of children deprived of their liberty to education and mental and physical care.

In its September concluding observations, the UN Committee on the Rights of People with Disabilities expressed concerns about discrimination; limited implementation of accessibility in public services and facilities; deprivation of legal capacity and the lack of supported decision-making; deprivation of liberty on grounds of disability; the high number of children with disabilities in segregated education settings; and barriers in access to justice.

Georgia

School Closure

Schools were closed for 155 days, and partially closed to certain ages or in certain areas, for another 84 days since the pandemic’s start in 2020. UNICEF estimated that at least 50,000 children lost access to education when Georgia switched to online schooling. Many students faced barriers to accessing remote education, primarily due to limited internet access in mountainous regions, the lack of suitable electronic devices among families living in poverty, and the lack of teachers’ experience with online education.

Germany

No notes on education-related human rights violations.

Greece

Inequality & Pandemic Impact on Students

In a January landmark decision, the European Committee of Social Rights found that Greece violates the rights of asylum-seeking children, citing inadequate, unhealthy, and dangerous living conditions, homelessness, and inadequate access to healthcare and education.

Data on school closures in Greece linked to Covid-19 underscored significant disruption to education for children in the country during 2021. According to the ombudsman for children’s rights, only one in seven asylum-seeking children living in camps on the mainland, and none on the islands, was able to attend school in the 2020-2021 school year. During school closures, no Wi-Fi hotspots, tablets, or laptops were provided to children in camps. Some camps were locked down to prevent the spread of Covid-19, with children unable to leave for school and no alternative education provided. In some cases, local officials prevented children from enrolling in public schools in nearby communities. There were persistent delays in opening classes for children who do not speak Greek.

Guatemala

Pandemic Impact on Education

From March 2020 through February 2021, 4.2 million students missed at least three-quarters of classroom instruction due to Covid closures, according to UNICEF. Schools partially opened in January 2021.

Guinea

Pandemic Effects on Educational System

School closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic affected 2.6 million children. After the pandemic’s start in 2020, schools were closed for 151 days, but reopened in September 2020 and remained open through 2021.

Haiti

Abuses by Security Forces, Inequality, and Barriers to Education

Protests against the government continued to be repressed with excessive use of force. The RNDDH, in January 2021, reported at least 8 journalists injured, 10 demonstrators and 13 political activists arbitrarily arrested, and 2 students beaten by police during several protests. In February, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) reported two cases of journalists injured with rubber bullets.

Just under half of Haitians aged 15 and older are illiterate. The country’s education system is highly unequal. The quality of public education is generally very poor, and 85 percent of schools are private, charging fees that exclude most children from low-income families.

Over 3 million children had been unable to attend school for months at a time during the past two years, for security reasons, as well as Covid-19 related restrictions.

The 2021 earthquake destroyed or heavily damaged 308 schools, affecting 100,000 children. Schools were set to open on September 21, but the opening delayed until October 4 in the affected area. Before the earthquake, UNICEF estimated that 500,000 children were at risk of dropping out.

Although Haiti ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, its legislative framework has not been harmonized and includes offensive and discriminatory provisions against people with disabilities. People with disabilities continue experiencing discrimination in access to public services such as health, education, and justice and are at higher risk of suffering violence due to the significant social stigma and exclusion they face. Civil legislation restricts legal capacity for people with certain types of disabilities.

Honduras

Human Rights Abuses

LGBT people are frequently targets of discrimination, extortion, and violence from gangs, the national civil police and military police, and members of the public. Discrimination is also common in schools, the workplace, and in the home.

Honduras’ fragile institutions fail to protect the rights of children, including adolescents, and ensure that they have access to basic services such as education and healthcare, the IACHR reported in 2019.

In 2019, more than 360,000 children between 5 and 17 years old worked, and only half of children under 18 years old attended school, according to the National Statistics Unit.

The Covid-19 pandemic has further limited access to education. Schools were closed in March 2020 and had not yet returned to full in-person classes by September 2021.

Child recruitment by gangs has caused many children to flee and abandon school. The average age of first contact with gangs is 13 years old, a 2020 UN Development Programme report found.

Hungary

Academic Freedom & Discrimination Against Roma

The government continued its attacks on academic freedom during the year. In May, the government pushed through a law to privatize public resources and public universities by creating “public trust funds performing a public function” and designated 32 entities, of which most manage higher education institutions, as universities. The entities receive large amounts of public funds and assets, members of governing bodies are loyal to the ruling party, and public scrutiny is impossible.

Workplaces and schools continued to discriminate against Roma and many Roma live in abject poverty. At the early stages of vaccine rollout, authorities effectively excluded many Roma as registration for vaccine appointments was only available online and many Roma lack internet connectivity or have inadequate technical knowledge and digital literacy to navigate the internet. Local authorities in many cases failed to provide proper information and assistance to Roma for vaccine registration; instead, local activists in Roma communities aided residents to register online. The lack of devices and connectivity significantly impacted Roma children’s ability to access distance learning during school closures, further entrenching existing education inequalities.

India

Children’s Rights during Covid-19 Pandemic

By September 2021, several states in India began to reopen schools that had been shut for the most part since March 2020, affecting around 320 million children in India. An August report by a parliamentary standing committee noted that children’s learning had “suffered immensely and because education sector also provides help, nutrition and psychological services, the overall welfare of the children has declined substantially.” The report noted that 77 percent of students were deprived of attending online classes, while 40 percent of students had not accessed any remote learning.

A February study by Azim Premji University covering approximately 16,000 students across grade 2 to 6 in five states found significant learning losses. Another report led by some economists found devastating impact of school closures on children’s learning, especially in rural areas and in poor and marginalized households.

School disruptions accompanied by declines in earnings and loss of jobs, particularly in marginalized communities, resulted in an increase in child labor, early marriage, and trafficking. A UNICEF report said about 10 million students are at risk of never returning to school.

Indonesia

Women’s and Girls’ Rights

On May 3, a panel of three male judges at the Supreme Court ruled that a new government regulation issued in February, which allowed millions of girls and women in thousands of state schools a basic freedom—to choose whether or not to wear a jilbab (Muslim apparel that covers the head, neck, and chest)—had “violated four national laws.” The ruling stated that children under 18 have no right to choose their clothes.

The government adopted the regulation after a father in Padang, West Sumatra, publicized his daughter being forced to wear a jilbab. A Human Rights Watch report documented widespread bullying of girls and women into wearing a jilbab, and the deep psychological distress it can cause. Girls who do not comply have been forced to leave school or withdraw under pressure, while female civil servants, including teachers and university lecturers, have lost their jobs or resigned. Many Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and other non-Muslim students and teachers have also been forced to wear the jilbab. Human Rights Watch is aware of at least 64 mandatory jilbab regulations in Indonesia.

Iran

Treatment of Minorities

Iranian law denies freedom of religion to Baha’is and discriminates against them. Authorities continue to arrest and prosecute members of the Baha’i faith on vague national security charges and to close businesses owned by them. Iranian authorities also systematically refuse to allow Baha’is to register at public universities because of their faith.

Iraq

Freedom of Education Restrictions & Challenges

In 2021, security forces continued to deny security clearances, required to obtain identity cards and other essential civil documentation, to thousands of Iraqi families the authorities perceived to have ISIS affiliation, usually based on accusations that an immediate family member of theirs had joined the group. This denied them freedom of movement, their rights to education and work, and access to social benefits and birth and death certificates needed to inherit property or remarry.

Authorities continued to prevent thousands of children without civil documentation from enrolling in state schools, including state schools inside camps for displaced people.

Iraq failed to secure political rights, in particular the right to vote, for Iraqis with disabilities. People with disabilities are often effectively denied their right to vote due to discriminatory legislation that strips the right to vote or run for office for people considered not “fully competent” under the law, inaccessible polling places, and legislative and political obstacles, like requirements for a certain level of education that many people with disabilities are unable to attain.

Israel and Palestine

Gaza Strip

During the May hostilities, 260 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children, and 2,200 were wounded, “some of whom may suffer a long-term disability requiring rehabilitation,” according to OCHA. Authorities in Gaza said that 2,400 housing units were made uninhabitable and over 50,000 units were damaged. 8,250 people remained internally displaced as of October 14, OCHA said. The fighting also damaged 331 educational facilities, 10 hospitals, and 23 primary health clinics. The World Bank estimated $380 million in total physical damage and $190 million in economic losses.

Save the Children considered, as of February, more than 50 kindergartens and primary schools, serving more than 5,000 Palestinian kids in the West Bank, at risk of demolition.

Israeli authorities continued to systematically deny asylum claims of the roughly 31,000 Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers in the country. Over the years the government has imposed restrictions on their movement, work permits, and access to health care and to education in order to pressure them to leave.

Italy

Coronavirus Impact on Education

Schools throughout the country and at different grade levels adopted hybrid and entirely distance learning approaches, with elementary schools largely returning to in-person schooling. Approximately 3 million Italian students may not have been able to access remote learning during school closures due to a lack of internet connectivity or devices at home, according to estimates by the Italian National Institute of Statistics. Some schools adopted positive measures to ensure quality education for students with disabilities, safe in-person learning, though organizations representing people with disabilities said that many children with disabilities did not receive a quality, inclusive education, or in some cases, any education at all during the pandemic.

Japan

Children’s Rights

In February, the Osaka District Court rules that a public high school forcing a student to dye her hair black according to school rules was legal. In October, the Osaka High Court ruled against the student’s appeal, judging the school’s actions as legal. Many schools in Japan continue to dictate the color of their students’ hair, clothes, and, in certain cases, their underwear.

In May, Japan’s parliament passed a law to curb sexual abuse against children by teachers. The new law included the revision of the School Teacher’s License Act to allow regional educational boards to refuse the reissuing of teaching licenses to teachers who lost their teaching licenses for sexually abusing children. Previously, the authorities were not able to do so if three years had passed since teachers’ licenses were revoked.

After the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, Japan’s response for fleeing Afghan civilians at risk has been to provide visas for a limited number of Afghans with past ties to Japan. Pledges for resettlement have not been announced. At time of writing, Afghans eligible for the scheme were those who worked directly with the Japanese government and their families, those who worked directly with private Japanese organizations, and Afghan students who studied in Japan, but not family members. Details of the scheme had not been publicly disclosed.

Jordan

Educational Inequalities

According to the UNHCR, Jordan also hosted asylum seekers and refugees from other countries in 2021, including 66,665 Iraqis, 12,866 Yemenis, 6,013 Sudanese, 696 Somalis, and 1,453 from other countries. Authorities continued to enforce a January 2019 decision banning the UNHCR from registering as asylum seekers individuals who officially entered the country for the purposes of medical treatment, study, tourism, or work, effectively barring recognition of non-Syrians as refugees and leaving many without UNHCR documentation or access to services.

The roughly 230,000 school-age Syrian refugees in Jordan face multiple obstacles to education that are most acute for children ages 12 and older, including poverty-driven child labor and child marriage, lack of affordable school transportation, government policies that limit access to education, and lack of inclusive education and accommodation for children with disabilities.

Only a quarter of secondary-school-age Syrian refugee children in Jordan were enrolled in school. Non-Syrians refugees and asylum seekers were in many cases prevented from enrolling their children in school in 2021. Children without official identification numbers were unable to access online learning platforms during Covid-19 school closures.

In March, Jordanian authorities issued a suspension of detentions for failure to repay a debt until the end of the year. The announcement came shortly after Human Rights Watch issued Jordan’s harsh treatment of people unable to repay their debts. The report showed how in the absence of an adequate social security net, tens of thousands of Jordanians feel compelled to take out loans to cover utilities, groceries, school fees, and medical bills, often using unregulated informal lenders, and face months of detention when they fail to repay.

Kazakhstan

Pandemic’s Effect in Kazakhstan

During 2021, the Kazakh government continued to claim it is pursuing human rights reforms, despite the absence of meaningful improvements in its rights record. Authorities cracked down on government critics using overbroad “extremism” charges, restricted the right to peaceful protest, suppressed free speech, and failed to address impunity for domestic violence and torture. The government did not extend Covid-19 related economic assistance into 2021, although the pandemic continued to affect living standards, employment, and schooling.

A new inclusive education law is a positive development, but many children with disabilities continue to be denied the right to education.

In June, Kazakhstan adopted a new inclusive education law which removed multiple references to a problematic medical and educational exam as a prerequisite for enrolment in a mainstream school and introduced new provisions that make it state responsibility to provide children with disabilities with reasonable accommodations.

In practice, many children do not have access to inclusive education and remain isolated in segregated special schools or residential institutions, where they can face violence, neglect, physical restraint, and overmedication. Kazakhstan has no national plan to close such institutions. Covid-related restrictions on in-person education in the first half of the year continued to negatively impact children with disabilities, because of poor internet connectivity and because digital learning platforms are not sufficiently adapted to their needs.

Kenya

No notes on education-related human rights violations.

KUWAIT

Migrant Workers

Two-thirds of Kuwait’s population is comprised of migrant workers, who remain vulnerable to abuse, largely due to the kafala (sponsorship) system which ties migrants’ visas to their employers and requires that migrants get their employers’ consent to leave or change jobs. Migrant domestic workers continue to face additional forms of abuse including being forcibly confined in their employers’ homes, and verbal, physical and sexual abuse.

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, many migrant workers found themselves dismissed without their wages, trapped in the country, unable to leave due to travel restrictions and more expensive flight tickets, or dismissed from their jobs and deported. In April 2021, Migrant-rights.org reported that migrant workers in the food and beverage sector were among those most affected, with many losing jobs, facing denial of wages for months or severe salary deductions.

In 2020, the government said that it seeks to reduce the number of migrant workers from 70 to 30 percent of the population. In January, the Public Authority for Manpower reportedly began implementing a 2020 administrative decision to prohibit issuing or renewing work permits for migrants aged 60 and above who hold only high school diplomas or below. On July 14, local papers reported that the authorities decided to allow for the renewal of work permits of migrant workers over age 60 but for a high fee of 2,000 Kuwaiti dinar ($6,650) per year. Following citizens and residents taking to social media to oppose the decision critiquing it as extortion of the elderly, in August, local media reported that officials were considering halving the fee to 1,000 Kuwaiti dinar (approximately $3,300).

Kyrgyzstan

Labor Rights

Parliament twice tried to push a restrictive trade union bill that had been stalled in parliament since 2019. The bill would grant the Federation of Trade Unions a monopoly over all federal-level union activity and require industrial and regional trade unions to affiliate with the federation. It would undermine trade union pluralism and the right of trade unions to freely determine their structures and statutes. The International Labour Organization (ILO) and IndustriALL Global Union criticized the proposed law. President Japarov vetoed the bill twice, in May and August.

Disability Rights

Despite ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2019, the government has yet to adopt a comprehensive plan on its implementation. A September 2021 presidential decree increased the monthly social benefit payments to people with disabilities, primarily benefiting various groups of children with certain types of disabilities. Children with disabilities face significant barriers to inclusive education, with only 1,067 enrolled in mainstream schools since the beginning of the year as part of a pilot project run by an NGO. Others remain in segregated schools and residential institutions, or out of education altogether.

Lebanon

Migrant Workers

An estimated 250,000 migrant domestic workers, primarily from Ethiopia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, are excluded from Lebanon’s labor law protections, and their status in the country is regulated by the restrictive kafala (sponsorship) system, which ties migrant workers’ legal residency to their employer.

Abuse against migrant domestic workers has increased amid Lebanon’s economic crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic, including employers forcing domestic workers to work without pay or at highly reduced salaries, confining them to the household, to work long hours without rest or a day off, and verbal, physical and sexual abuse. The International Labour Organization has warned that migrant workers in Lebanon now face conditions that “greatly increase their risk of entering forced or bonded labor.”

Refugees

Lebanon hosts nearly 900,000 registered Syrian refugees, and the government estimates another 500,000 live in the country informally. Only 20 percent of Syrian refugees have legal residency, making most of them vulnerable to harassment, arrest, detention, and deportation.

The government continues to pursue policies designed to coerce Syrian refugees to leave, and the acute economic crisis and staggering inflation have made it exceedingly difficult for refugees to afford the most basic necessities; 90 percent of Syrian families in Lebanon live in extreme poverty, relying on increasing levels of debt to survive.

Although the Lebanese government continues to publicly state its commitment to the principle of nonrefoulement, it has deported more than 6,000 Syrians in recent years.

According to the Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee, there are approximately 174,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, where they continue to face restrictions, including on their right to work and own property.

Syrian refugees who returned to Syria from Lebanon between 2017 and 2021 faced grave human rights abuses and persecution at the hands of the Syrian government and affiliated militias.

Childrens’ Rights

Many Lebanese and nearly all Syrian refugee children received no meaningful education as the government closed schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic without ensuring access to distance learning. Children with disabilities were particularly hard hit, as they could not access remote education on an equal basis with others amid a lack of government support.

The authorities’ planning failures delayed the start of the 2021-22 school year to October 11 and led to concerns public schools would not remain open.

Corporal punishment of children was widespread and permitted under the criminal code.

LIBYA

No content related to educational issues.

MALAYSIA

Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Trafficking Victims

Malaysia has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention. Over 179,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mostly from Myanmar, are registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) office but are not granted legal status and remain unable to work or enroll in government schools.

The government has denied UNHCR access to immigration detention centers since August 2019, and the home minister has rejected calls for access. Malaysia’s Home Ministry reported that, as of October 26, 2020, 756 children were being held in immigration detention facilities nationwide, including 326 from Myanmar who are detained without parents or guardians. In May, the Suhakam child commissioner expressed concern that Rohingya girls who had been trafficked to Malaysia as child brides were being detained in an immigration detention center. In February, Malaysia deported 1086 Myanmar nationals just weeks after a coup overthrew that country’s elected government.

The immigration authorities conducted repeated raids and detained thousands of undocumented workers, despite concerns that doing so would discourage them from seeking vaccination or treatment for Covid-19.

The United States downgraded Malaysia to Tier 3 in its annual Trafficking in Persons report, noting that the government was “not making significant efforts” to eliminate trafficking.

WORLD REPORT 2022

MALDIVES

Migrant Workers

Roughly one-third of the population in the Maldives comprises foreign migrant workers, at least 60,000 of them undocumented. The vast majority work in the construction and tourism industries.

In August, Member of Parliament Ahmed Riza was charged with human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation. The case first came to light in July 2020 when workers on Bodufinolhu island, a tourist resort, protested months of non-payment.

While the Maldives made progress on its anti-human trafficking efforts and was upgraded to Tier 2 on the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons report in 2021, the government failed to implement adequate measures to identify and support trafficking victims or investigate and prosecute perpetrators. A draft bill is pending in parliament to bring the existing Anti-Human Trafficking law in compliance with the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons.

Freedoms of Expression, Association, Assembly

The Solih government has taken steps to end repressive restrictions on the media and speech. According to the Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, Maldives rose to a ranking of 72 in 2021 from 120 in 2018.

However, the government has not effectively confronted threats by Islamist groups targeting activists and civil society organizations. In August 2021 a social media campaign targeted the local chapter of Transparency International, Transparency Maldives, calling for it to be banned and accusing the government of colluding with civil society to “make the Maldivian education system secular.” This followed an announcement by Ministry of Education that it was partnering with Transparency Maldives.

Covid-19

The Maldives experienced a surge in Covid-19 cases in 2021. About 18 percent of the confirmed cases were among migrant workers, who also had to cope with economic hardship due to non-payment of wages.

The government provided vaccinations free of charge to everyone residing in the Maldives, including migrant workers, including those without documentation.

Despite the findings by an expert committee pointing to unhealthy conditions and overcrowding in prisons, the government did not enforce its recommendations to improve hygiene. In September, Maafushi Prison was brought under a state of emergency after a corrections officer contracted Covid-19, leading to fear of an outbreak.

Women’s and Girls’ Rights

A March 2021 UN report analyzing reporting of gender-based violence in 2020 found that confinement in the home with abusers, financial insecurity, and other problems exacerbated by lockdown restrictions contributed to an escalation of reported cases of abuse. In April, protests broke out across Malé, the capital, in response to an increase in reported incidents of sexual assault and domestic violence.

In February, Gender Minister Aishath Mohamed Didi and four women parliamentarians joined civil society groups in condemning the authorities for allowing the former tourism minister, Ali Waheed, to travel to the United Kingdom despite the fact that he was on trial at the time for multiple charges of sexual assault against ministry employees. Waheed was arrested and is currently detained in the UK.

MALI

Women and Girls Rights

An estimated 91 percent of Malian women and girls continued to undergo female genital mutilation and numerous women were subjected to sexual abuse by different armed groups. During 2021, seven officials with Mali’s Basketball Federation were fired or suspended, and the head coach was indicted, for their involvement in the sexual abuse of teenage players with Mali’s national youth team.

MEXICO

Disability Rights

Under the López Obrador administration, serious gaps remain in protecting the rights of people with disabilities. They lack access to justice, education, legal standing, legal capacity, protection from domestic violence, and informed consent in health decisions. In 2019, Human Rights Watch documented cases of state-run hospitals and private individuals who shackled people with disabilities. They lack access to buildings, transportation, and public spaces. Women with disabilities suffer disproportionate violence.

The only policy to assist people with disabilities is a non-contributive disability pension that reaches only 933,000 people of the 6,179,890 who live in the country. Its distribution is opaque and discretionary.

In many states, people with disabilities have no choice but to depend on their families for assistance or to live in institutions, which is inconsistent with their right to live independently and be included in the community under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. People with disabilities receive little government protection or support and are at higher risk of abuse and neglect by their families.

In October 2021, following a CRPD committee recommendation, the government publicly apologized to a man with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities who had been imprisoned for four years although there was no evidence he had committed a crime and a judge had found him unfit to stand trial, leaving him without the opportunity to defend himself.

Since President López Obrador took office, the National Council on People with Disabilities, the principal government body coordinating efforts to implement disability rights, has been effectively non-operational.

Morocco and Western Sahara

Refugees and Asylum Seekers

The government has yet to approve a draft of Morocco’s first law on the right to asylum, introduced in 2013. A 2003 migration law remained in effect, with provisions criminalizing illegal entry that failed to provide an exception for refugees and asylum seekers. As of September 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had granted, or started the administrative process for granting, refugee cards, along with special residency permits and work authorizations to 856 persons, most of them sub-Saharan Africans, whom the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had recognized in recent years. All of the 8,853 refugees recognized by UNHCR as of September 2021 had access to health services and where applicable public education, but only about half of them had regular residency permits and work authorizations, according to UNHCR. Morocco also hosted 6,902 registered asylum seekers as of September.

Human rights violations against migrants by Moroccan authorities, as reported by the media and non-governmental organizations during 2021, included abusive raids targeting sub-Saharan migrants for forced internal displacements, usually toward the south of the country, and arbitrary detention of migrants, including children. In a positive step, the Moroccan government stated it would include refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in its national Covid-19 vaccination campaign, which launched in January 2021. As of September, 547 refugees had been vaccinated.

On July 19, Idris Hasan, an Uyghur activist who had been living in Turkey, was arrested upon landing in Casablanca airport. A court agreed to China’s extradition request on December 15 but he had not been extradited yet at time of writing. Extraditing Hasan would violate Morocco’s obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1984 Convention against Torture, which prohibit forcibly sending anyone to a place where they would risk persecution and torture.

Mozambique

Attacks on Refugees and Asylum Seekers

In June, the Mozambican government announced that Tanzania would not create a refugee camp to accommodate Mozambicans fleeing violence in Cabo Delgado. The government spokesman said the two governments had agreed that fleeing citizens would be repatriated to Mozambique. These people have continued to be forcibly returned by Tanzanian authorities. As of September, according to UNHCR, more than 10,300 asylum seekers had been sent back to Mozambique since the start of the year. Tanzania’s actions violated the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits forcibly returning people to threats to their lives or freedom.

Mozambican authorities failed to protect Rwandan asylum seekers in the country from attacks, and on at least one occasion were implicated in the enforced disappearance of a Rwandan national. Although the authorities denied knowledge of the whereabouts of Cassien Ntamuhanga, a Rwandan asylum seeker who disappeared on May 23, four witnesses told Human Rights Watch that they saw seven uniformed agents of the Mozambican National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) arrest and take Ntamuhanga to the local police station on Inhaca island. Ntamuhanga’s whereabouts remained unknown at time of writing.

On September 13, Révocat Karemangingo, a prominent member of the Rwandan refugee community in Mozambique, and former Rwandan army official, was shot dead by unknown individuals. In October, the Mozambican Human Rights Defenders Network, (RMDDH), denounced threats from unknown individuals against a Rwandan refugee known as Innocent Abubakar. In September, members of the Rwandan community in Mozambique told journalists that they lived in fear following the killing of Karemangingo.

Myanmar

Threats to Women’s and Girls’ Rights

Women have led and taken part in mass protests as part of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against the junta. Female protesters were some of the first killed by security forces and arbitrarily detained. Many women reported being beaten by security forces during their arrests, and some reported credible allegations of sexual violence and humiliating treatment by security forces during their detention.

Trafficking of women and girls remains a serious problem in Shan and Kachin States, where conflict and economic desperation has made them vulnerable to being lured to China under false promises and sold into sexual slavery and forced reproduction as “brides.”

The NLD government, prior to the coup, was unable to pass the Prevention of Violence Against Woman Law. While the law had been criticized for falling well short of international standards, the absence of targeted legislation has stalled efforts to prevent gender-based violence, assist survivors, and bring perpetrators to justice.

Morocco and Western Sahara

Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Nepal

Health and Education 

During a major wave of Covid-19 infections, which peaked in May, senior health officials described a system at the breaking point, with patients dying due to lack of bottled oxygen.

The government had failed to prepare for the scale of the outbreak. The situation was made worse by a shortage of vaccines, reflecting both global scarcity—wealthy governments blocked an intellectual property waiver that would have allowed for increased international production of vaccines and failed to require more widespread technology transfers—and delays in procurement by the government amid allegations of corruption. Those living in poverty, and members of marginalized social groups, were often least able to obtain treatment, and most vulnerable to economic hardship resulting from lockdowns.

After decades of progress in maternal and neonatal health, there was a substantial drop in the number of births at health facilities, which were overstretched by the pandemic. This was accompanied by increases in neonatal deaths, still births, and pre-term births.

Nepal had made progress in reducing child labor in recent years, but the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, together with school closures and inadequate government assistance, pushed children back into exploitative and dangerous child labor.

Nicaragua

(No education related data)

Nigeria

Children

Schools were open in 2021 following extended closures in 2020 to control the spread of Covid-19. Before the pandemic, an estimated 10.5 million children were out of school, although primary education is supposedly free and compulsory. Successive kidnappings of school children in northern parts of the country have also seriously impacted education. Girls who are not in school are often married off at an early age and the varied adoption or lack of legislation against child marriage presents opportunities for families to force their daughters into early marriage. In October, the Nigerian government hosted the fourth international Safe Schools Conference, which aimed to galvanize action on protecting education from attack.

North Korea

( no education related data)

Pakistan

Children’s Rights to Education

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, over 5 million primary school-age children in Pakistan were out of school, most of them girls. Human Rights Watch research found girls miss school for reasons including lack of schools, costs associated with studying, child marriage, harmful child labor, and gender discrimination. School closures to protect against the spread of Covid-19 affected almost 45 million students for most of the year; Pakistan’s poor internet connectivity hampered online learning.

Papua New Guinea

Children’s Rights to Health and Education

One in 13 children die each year of preventable disease. Children living in rural areas are twice as likely to die in their first five years of life compared to children living in urban areas. Covid-19 has put child health outcomes at risk due to interrupted vaccination and other health programs.

In March, 2.1 million children were affected by a four-week school closure. Before the pandemic, 7 percent of children—over 86,000 children—were out of primary, and 14 percent were out of lower-secondary school, because of barriers to access including remoteness, gender inequality, and a lack of learning resources.

Peru

Economic and Social Rights

The Covid-19 pandemic, and measures in place to control it, had a devastating impact on poverty and inequality in Peru. In May, government authorities reported that poverty had increased by 9.9 percent in 2020, despite some state measures to mitigate it.

Schools have remained closed in Peru since March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic at time of writing. While the government took some measures to ensure remote teaching, many students have not been able to attend. The Ministry of Education said in September 2020 that 230,000 students had dropped out of school and 200,000 others were not attending classes, despite being enrolled. The ministry had announced schools would start reopening in 2021, but implementation has been sluggish.

Philippines

(no education related data found)

Poland

Migration and Asylum

With increasing number of migrants irregularly crossing from Belarus to Poland since May, the Polish government in September declared a state of emergency on its border with Belarus, banning journalists, activists, humanitarian aid workers, and others from accessing the border area. As of August, credible reports of pushbacks of migrants and asylum seekers to Belarus by Polish border officials, sometimes violent, increased, with five migrant deaths confirmed in the woods on the Poland-Belarusian border.

Polish authorities sought to justify their abusive migration approach by arguing that they were responding to a deliberate policy by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko of allowing migrants to travel freely into Belarus and towards EU borders, in retaliation for EU sanctions against Belarus. Their justifications ignored the fact that Poland’s actions violate its obligations under EU and international law and put migrants at risk of harm, including death, and the fact that its practice of migrant pushbacks predates those currently entering via Belarus.

Qatar

( no education related data found)

Russia

(no education related data found)

Rwanda

(no education related data found)

Saudi Arabia

Migrant Workers

Millions of migrant workers fill mostly manual, clerical, and service jobs in Saudi Arabia despite government attempts to increase citizen employment. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) annual statistics for 2020 released in 2021 reflected that 49,600 foreigners worked in the public sector and 6.3 million in the private sector during that year.

Migrant workers routinely report abuse and exploitation. The abusive kafala (visa sponsorship) system gives their employers excessive power over their mobility and legal status in the country and underpins their vulnerability to a wide range of abuses, from passport confiscation to delayed wages and forced labor.

Saudi Arabia introduced labor reforms in March that, if implemented, will allow some migrant workers to change jobs without employer consent under certain narrow circumstances but do not dismantle the kafala system and exclude migrant workers not covered by the labor law, including domestic workers and farmers, who are among the most vulnerable to abuse. The reforms allow migrant workers to request an exit permit without the employer’s permission but do not abolish the exit permit. The reform notifies employers of exit permit requests and allows them to lodge an inquiry into the request within 10 days. It remains unclear what criteria the ministry intends to use to determine whether to accept workers’ exit requests and whether the employer’s inquiry could be used to deny the worker the exit permit.

In July 2021, Saudi authorities began to terminate or not renew contracts of Yemeni professionals working in Saudi Arabia, leaving them vulnerable to arrest, detention and deportation to the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen as a result of not having legal status in the country.

In November 2017, Saudi Arabia launched a campaign to detain all foreigners found to be in violation of existing labor, residency, or border security laws, including those without valid residency or work permits, or those found working for an employer other than their legal sponsor. By the end of 2019 the campaign had totaled over 4.4 million arrests, including for over 3.4 million residency law violations and over 675,000 labor law violations. Authorities did not publish updates in 2020, but in 2021 authorities began weekly updates. Between September 3 and 9, for example, the Interior Ministry announced that it had made 17,598 arrests, including 202 individuals apprehended while trying to cross the southern border from Yemen illegally.

In December 2020 Human Rights Watch reported that a deportation center in Riyadh was holding hundreds of mostly Ethiopian migrant workers in conditions so degrading that they amount to ill-treatment. Detainees alleged to Human Rights Watch that they were held in extremely overcrowded rooms for extended periods, and that guards tortured and beat them with rubber-coated metal rods, leading to at least three alleged deaths in custody between October and November 2020.

Saudi Arabia is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not have an asylum system under which people fearing persecution in their home country can seek protection, leading to a real risk of deporting them to harm.

Senegal

Abuses against Talibé Children in Quranic Schools

Abuse, exploitation, and neglect of children attending Senegal’s still-unregulated, traditional Quranic boarding schools (daaras) continued at alarming rates. Human Rights Watch has estimated that over 100,000 children known as “talibés” are forced by their Quranic teachers in Senegal to beg daily for money, food, rice, or sugar. Many Quranic teachers (also known as marabouts) and their assistants continue to set daily begging quotas enforced by beatings, and subjected talibés to neglect. Some committed other forms of abuse, such as chaining talibé children.

Each year thousands of talibés, including Senegalese and foreign children, migrate to major cities to attend Senegal’s daaras. Thousands of talibés are victims of human trafficking. Trafficking under Senegalese law includes the act of exploiting children for money through forced begging, as well as the recruitment or transport of children for this purpose.

Despite strong domestic laws banning child abuse and human trafficking, and government efforts to address these issues, sustained commitment by Senegalese authorities to stop forced begging and abuse of talibés has proven elusive.. There were some prosecutions and convictions of Quranic teachers for abuses against talibé children in 2021, including for beating and chaining children and for the death of a boy following a beating in 2020, but enforcement of existing laws against exploitation through forced begging remained limited. The government continued its programs to “modernize” and support daaras. Some local governments continued efforts to reduce child begging and “remove children from the streets” in 2021, following the government’s rollout of the third phase of this program nationally in 2020.

Serbia/Kosovo

Disability Rights

Children with disabilities continue to be overrepresented in institutional settings (73.9 percent of children in institutions have disabilities) and lack access to inclusive education. The government has yet to adopt a time-bound deinstitutionalization strategy to move people with disabilities out of institutions and ensure independent living in the community.

Singapore

(no education related data found)

Somalia

(no education related data found)

South Africa

(no education related data found)

South Korea

(no education related data found)

South Sudan

(no data found)

Syria

(no data)

Tajikistan

In October, the Tajik parliament started consideration of amendments to the criminal code on tightening penalties for illegal religious education, including online education, with imprisonment of up to three years. Previously this was punishable with an administrative fine of up to 72,000 somoni (approximately US$6,000) or a prison term of up to three years for a repeat offence.

Tanzania

Children’s Rights

On November 24, 2021, Tanzania’s Ministry of Education lifted a ban that explicitly barred students who are adolescent mothers from attending public schools.

In June 2017, Magufuli officially declared a ban on pregnant students and adolescent mothers attending school. Pursuant to its agreement with the World Bank, tied to a $500 million loan for the government’s Secondary Education Quality Improvement Program, the Tanzanian government announced that it would allow students who were pregnant or were mothers to enroll in a parallel accelerated education program, described as “alternative education pathways.” However, these centers are often not accessible because of the long distances students must travel to reach them and because they charge fees, unlike public primary and secondary schools that are tuition-free.

At time of writing, the government had not outlawed child marriage, meaning the authorities had not complied with a 2016 High Court decision to amend the Marriage Act to raise the legal age of marriage to 18 years for girls and boys.

Thailand

(no data)

Tunisia

( no data)

Turkey

Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Migrants

Turkey continues to host the world’s largest number of refugees, around 3.7 million from Syria granted temporary protection status, and over 400,000 from Afghanistan, Iraq, and other non-European countries, who under Turkish law cannot be fully recognized as refugees.

Continuing its policy of securing its borders against the entry of more asylum seekers and migrants, Turkey continued building a wall in 2021 along its eastern border with Iran, and summarily pushing back Afghans and others apprehended attempting to cross the border.

There have been signs of a rise in racist and xenophobic attacks against foreigners. On August 10, groups of youths attacked workplaces and homes of Syrians in a neighborhood in Ankara a day after a fight during which a Syrian youth allegedly stabbed two Turkish youths, killing one. Two Syrian youths are on trial for murder. The prosecutor’s investigation into dozens of youths for damaging property, theft, and other crimes continues. Opposition politicians have made speeches that fuel anti-refugee sentiment and suggest that Syrians should be returned to war-torn Syria.

There were reports, including by the Turkish coast guard, that migrants attempting to cross into Greece from Turkey through sea and land borders were summarily and violently pushed back by Greek security forces.

Turkmenistan

No data found

Uganda

Children’s Rights

To stop the spread of Covid-19, President Museveni ordered the closure of all schools on March 18, 2020, affecting more than 15 million students. Schools were partially open for university, secondary and primary candidate classes in 2021, but largely remained closed since the pandemic’s start in 2020. On September 22, President Museveni announced the reopening of post-secondary institutions in November 2021, and other schools at the beginning of January 2022.

Uganda adopted universal primary education in 1997 and universal secondary education in 2007, abolishing tuition fees and prohibiting schools from introducing other costs that could create barriers for students from low-income households and those living in poverty. In practice, many public schools still levy fees. Prohibitive school fees and the under-resourcing of public primary and secondary schools are significant barriers for many children.

Child labor rates rose in 2020 as the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, together with school closures and inadequate government assistance, pushed children into exploitative and dangerous work. Working children told Human Rights Watch that in addition to helping their family during the Covid-19 pandemic, they also hoped to save money to cover school fees once schools re-opened.

Ukraine

No data found

United Arab Emirates

Na data found

United Kingdom

Children’s Rights

In March, Scotland’s parliament passed a law incorporating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scottish law. In October, the UK Supreme Court ruled, following a constitutional challenge by the UK government, that the Scottish legislature had acted beyond its powers and asked for the legislation to be revised.

In July, the Supreme Court rejected a human rights challenge to the “two child limit” welfare policy, which caps payments to families with more than two children born after April 2017. Although the court accepted that the policy disproportionately affected women and children, it found it objectively justifiable. Official statistics published later that month estimated that the policy affected 1.1 million children in Great Britain.

In an important case about access to health care for trans young people, the Court of Appeal affirmed in September that children under 16 are capable of consent to treatment, and that clinicians rather than courts can determine if they have exercised it.

The number of people living in “temporary accommodation” or housing or hostel places provided by local government for homeless families increased by 75 percent over the prior decade. Official data published in September estimated that 30,700 households with children were living in temporary accommodation in London alone and growing up in substandard conditions, due to a lack of suitable affordable permanent alternatives. Children faced severe impact on their rights to an adequate standard of living and education.

United States

Racial Justice

Black, Latinx, and Native communities have been disproportionately burdened by the negative impacts of Covid-19, which has deepened existing racial injustices in healthcare, housing, employment, education, and wealth accumulation. While poverty fell overall due to stimulus checks and unemployment aid, the Black-white wealth gap, which is still as big as it was in 1968, persisted.

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan adopted a new law on religion in early July. Officials did not make public the bill before it was adopted. In a joint July 29 communication to President Mirziyoyev, five UN special rapporteurs expressed serious concern about provisions in the law, such as the prohibition of all forms of peaceful missionary activity and the banning of non-state-approved religious education and of the manufacture, import, and distribution of non-state-approved religious material.

Venezuela

Refugee Crisis

Some 5.9 million Venezuelans, approximately 20 percent of the country’s estimated total population, have fled their country since 2014, the Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela reports.

While many neighboring governments welcomed Venezuelans, lack of a coordinated regional strategy left many stranded in inadequate conditions or unable to receive refugee status or other legal protections. In some countries, Venezuelans are being deported or facing xenophobia and difficulties obtaining affordable health care, education, or legal status that would allow them to work.

The economic impact of the pandemic and host government lockdowns led an estimated 151,000 Venezuelans to return home between March 2020 and March 2021, the United Nations System reported. Returnees were held in overcrowded, unsanitary quarantine centers, suffering threats, harassment, and abuse by Venezuelan authorities and colectivos.

Vietnam

No data found

Yemen
no data found

Zimbabwe

No data found

SOURCE : https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022

Educational Challenges in South Africa Inequality in education OECD Posted by Beyza Nur Dag

दक्षिण अफ्रीका की शिक्षा प्रणाली में चुनौतियाँ

राष्ट्रीय और अंतर्राष्ट्रीय दोनों मानवाधिकार मानकों का पालन करने के लिए, दक्षिण अफ्रीका को अपने शैक्षिक क्षेत्र में कई बाधाओं का सामना करना होगा। यह लेख देश में कुछ सबसे प्रचलित शैक्षिक चुनौतियों को प्रस्तुत करेगा।

आधारभूत संरचना

आज शैक्षिक क्षेत्र में मुख्य समस्याओं में से एक छात्रों के लिए उपलब्ध सुविधाएं हैं। यह अत्यंत महत्वपूर्ण है कि स्कूलों में ऐसी सुविधाएं शामिल हैं जो बच्चों के लिए सुरक्षित हैं, और छात्रों के लिए उनकी शिक्षा को आगे बढ़ाने के लिए आवश्यक उपकरण हैं। 2013 में समान शिक्षा (ईई, 2016) के अनुसार, बुनियादी शिक्षा मंत्री एंजी मोंटशेगका ने देश भर के स्कूलों को कम से कम पानी, बिजली, इंटरनेट, कक्षा में 40 छात्रों के साथ सुरक्षित कक्षाओं के लिए बाध्य करने वाले कानून को स्वीकार किया, सुरक्षा, और विभिन्न खेलों के अध्ययन और अभ्यास के लिए आवश्यक सुविधाएं। हालांकि, लक्ष्य 2016 के लिए निर्धारित किया गया था, आज, कई स्कूलों में खराब इंटरनेट कनेक्शन की तुलना में कहीं अधिक समस्याएं हैं। देश निर्धारित लक्ष्यों को पूरा करने की ओर देख रहा है, लेकिन अभी भी एक लंबा रास्ता तय करना है। कई लेख खराब सुविधा बुनियादी ढांचे के कारण शिक्षार्थियों की मौत की सूचना पर प्रकाश डालते हैं। इसके अतिरिक्त, स्कूलों की अपर्याप्त स्वच्छता एक ऐसा मुद्दा है जो छात्रों के स्वास्थ्य को प्रभावित करता है। इसका एक उदाहरण उनके शौचालयों और गड्ढे वाले शौचालयों में देखा जाता है, जहां छात्रों को उनकी अनुचित स्वच्छता के कारण स्वास्थ्य संबंधी समस्याओं का खतरा होता है। ये बाधाएं छात्रों को उनकी शिक्षा और विकास पर ध्यान केंद्रित करने से रोकती हैं।

शिक्षा में असमानता

दक्षिण अफ्रीकी स्कूलों में असमानता काफी हद तक दिखाई देती है। एमनेस्टी इंटरनेशनल के अनुसार, शीर्ष 200 स्कूलों के बच्चे गणित में अन्य 6,600 स्कूलों के बच्चों की तुलना में अधिक अंक प्राप्त करते हैं। अन्य आंकड़े बताते हैं कि नौ साल के 75% से अधिक बच्चे अर्थ के लिए नहीं पढ़ सकते हैं। कुछ प्रांतों में यह प्रतिशत 91% तक है। शिक्षा प्रणाली अभी भी रंगभेद युग से ठीक हो रही है, जिसके परिणामस्वरूप बच्चों को उनकी पृष्ठभूमि, धन या त्वचा के रंग के कारण अलग तरह से व्यवहार किया जाता है। दक्षिण अफ्रीका में प्राथमिक शिक्षा की गुणवत्ता, यूनेस्को की एक रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि सैद्धांतिक रूप से, देश में सभी बच्चों की शिक्षा के तीन स्तरों तक समान पहुंच है। हालांकि, कम आय वाले समुदायों के छात्रों को स्कूली शिक्षा देने वाले कई संस्थान अपने द्वारा प्रदान की जाने वाली शिक्षा की गुणवत्ता में सुधार करने में विफल रहे हैं। सरकार को गरीबी और शिक्षा की समस्या से निपटना चाहिए।

खराब शिक्षा

इसके अलावा, स्कूलों की शिक्षा की गुणवत्ता दक्षिण अफ्रीका में एक प्रचलित मुद्दा है। 2021 में गुस्ताफसन द्वारा किए गए शोध के अनुसार, दक्षिण अफ्रीका में शिक्षकों की सेवानिवृत्ति 2030 तक चरम पर पहुंच जाएगी, जिसके परिणामस्वरूप नए प्रशिक्षित शिक्षकों और कक्षाओं और संस्थानों के पुनर्गठन की आवश्यकता होगी। वर्तमान में, आधी कक्षाओं में प्रति कक्षा 30 छात्र हैं, लेकिन अन्य 50% एक कक्षा में 50 बच्चों से अधिक हो सकते हैं। संख्या को कम करने के लिए, यह अनुमान है कि लगभग 100,000 नए शिक्षक शैक्षिक प्रणाली में प्रवेश करते हैं, जिसके लिए बड़े पैमाने पर प्रशिक्षण और वित्तपोषण की आवश्यकता होती है।

एक और चुनौती जो आज दक्षिण अफ्रीका में शैक्षिक क्षेत्र के सामने है, वह है प्रशिक्षकों की गुणवत्ता। वर्तमान शिक्षकों में से 5,000 से अधिक अपने पेशे के लिए अयोग्य हैं। नौकरी के बाजार में प्रशिक्षक प्रतिस्पर्धी नहीं हैं; उन्हें पाठ्यक्रम की बहुत कम समझ है और कोई शैक्षणिक योग्यता नहीं है, जिसके कारण छात्रों को आवश्यक ज्ञान के बिना स्कूल से स्नातक होना पड़ता है।

निरक्षरता का चक्र

अंत में, 2019 से ओईसीडी की रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, दक्षिण अफ्रीका में एनईईटी क्षेत्र (न तो रोजगार और न ही शिक्षा) में 20 से 24 वर्ष की आयु के लोगों की हिस्सेदारी सबसे अधिक है। दक्षिण अफ्रीका ने इस मानदंड पर लगभग 50% स्कोर किया, ओईसीडी रिपोर्ट द्वारा जांचे गए सभी देशों में सबसे बड़ा। प्रोफेसर खुलुवे की 2021 की रिपोर्ट में निरक्षरता की समस्या की गंभीरता पर चर्चा की गई है, जिसमें कहा गया है कि 2019 में, निरक्षर वयस्कों की दर (20 वर्ष से अधिक आयु) ) 12,1% या लगभग 4,4 मिलियन थी। यह आबादी के एक बड़े हिस्से के बराबर है जो 7वीं कक्षा या उच्च स्तर की शिक्षा प्राप्त नहीं कर रहा है। निरक्षरता अशिक्षित संतानों और समाज के लिए गैर-योगदान सहित जनसंख्या के लिए दूरगामी परिणाम प्रस्तुत करती है, इस प्रकार देश की अर्थव्यवस्था को नुकसान पहुंचाती है। दक्षिण अफ्रीका को इस मुद्दे से निपटने और जहां तक संभव हो निरक्षरता के प्रतिशत को कम करने की जरूरत है।

English Versiyon : https://brokenchalk.org/challenges-in-the-educational-system-of-south-africa/

Translated by Yoshita Mehta

संदर्भ

ईई (2006, 19 जुलाई)। स्कूल का बुनियादी ढांचा। Eqaleducation.Org.Za। 17 फरवरी, 2022 को https://equaleducation.org.za/campaigns/school-infrastructure/ से लिया गया।

अंतराष्ट्रिय क्षमा। (2020, 7 फरवरी)। दक्षिण अफ्रीका: गरीबी और असमानता को कायम रखने वाली टूटी-फूटी और असमान शिक्षा। वाह.एमनेस्टी.संगठन. 17 फरवरी, 2022 को https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/02/south-africa-broken-and-unequal-education-perpetuating-poverty-and-inequality/ से लिया गया।

गुस्ताफसन, एम। (2021, 26 अगस्त)। दक्षिण अफ्रीका में शिक्षक सेवानिवृत्ति की लहर आने वाली है: कक्षा के आकार के लिए इसका क्या अर्थ है। बातचीत। 17 फरवरी, 2022 को https://theconversation.com/a-teacher-retirement-wave-is-about-to-hit-south-africa-what-it-means-for-class-size-164345 से लिया गया

खुलुवे, एम. के. (2021, 1 मार्च)। दक्षिण अफ्रीका में वयस्क निरक्षरता। Www.Dhet.Gov.Za। 17 फरवरी, 2022 को https://www.dhet.gov.za/Planning%20Monitoring%20and%20Evaluation%20Coordination/Fact%20Sheet%20on%20Adult%20Illiteracy%20in%20South%20Africa%20-%20March% से प्राप्त किया गया 202021.pdf

संपादक। (2019, 27 दिसंबर)। राय: दक्षिण अफ्रीका में शिक्षा प्रणाली का सामना करने वाली चुनौतियाँ। आईअफ्रीका। 17 फरवरी, 2022 को https://iafrica.com/opinion-the-challenges-facing-the-education-system-in-south-africa/ से लिया गया।

Educational Challenges in South Africa Inequality in education OECD

Desafíos en el sistema educativo de Sudáfrica

Para cumplir con las normas nacionales e internacionales de derechos humanos, Sudáfrica debe hacer frente a varios problemas en su ámbito educativo. Este artículo presentará algunos de los desafíos educativos más prevalentes del país.

Infraestructura

Uno de los problemas principales del sector educativo de Sudáfrica es la infraestructura. Las facilidades de las que disponen los estudiantes son inadecuadas a las necesidades de estos. Es de suma importancia que las escuelas incluyan instalaciones que sean seguras para los niños y el equipo necesario para que los estudiantes puedan continuar la educación. Según Equal Education (EE, 2016) de 2013, la Ministra de Educación Básica, Angie Montshegka, aceptó una ley que obligaba a las escuelas de todo el país a tener como mínimo agua, luz, internet, aulas seguras con hasta 40 alumnos por clase, seguridad, y las instalaciones necesarias para estudiar y practicar una variedad de deportes. Aunque el objetivo se fijó para 2016, hoy en día muchas escuelas cuentan con problemas mucho mayores que una mala conexión a Internet. El país mira hacia el cumplimiento de las metas trazadas, pero aún queda un largo camino por recorrer. Numerosos artículos destacan las muertes reportadas de estudiantes debido a la mala infraestructura de las instalaciones. Adicionalmente, el saneamiento inadecuado de las escuelas es un problema que afecta la salud de los estudiantes. Un ejemplo de esto se ve en sus baños y letrinas de pozo, donde los estudiantes corren el riesgo de tener problemas de salud debido a su higiene inadecuada. Estos obstáculos impiden que los estudiantes se concentren en su educación y desarrollo.

Desigualdad en la educación

La desigualdad es notoriamente visible en las escuelas sudafricanas. Según Amnesty International, los niños educados en las 200 mejores escuelas obtienen mejores calificaciones en matemáticas que los niños de las otras 6,600 escuelas. Otras estadísticas destacan que más del 75% de los niños de nueve años no tienen niveles suficientes de comprensión lectora. En algunas provincias, este porcentaje alcanza el 91%. El sistema educativo aún se está recuperando de la era del Apartheid, lo que hace que los niños reciban un trato diferente debido a su origen, riqueza o tono de piel. La Calidad de la Educación Primaria en Sudáfrica, un informe de la UNESCO, establece que, en teoría, todos los niños tienen el mismo acceso a los tres niveles de educación en el país. Sin embargo, muchas de las instituciones que educan a estudiantes de comunidades de bajos ingresos no han logrado mejorar la calidad de la educación que brindan. El gobierno debe abordar los problemas de la pobreza y la educación, pues son problemas directamente conectados.

Mala educación

La calidad educativa que ofrecen las escuelas en Sudáfrica es otro de los problemas más prevalentes en este sector. Según una investigación realizada por Gustafsson en 2021, la jubilación de docentes en Sudáfrica alcanzará niveles máximos en el año 2030, lo que, consecuentemente, resultará en la necesidad de establecer un nuevo profesorado y una reestructuración de aulas e instituciones. Actualmente, la mitad de las clases tienen 30 alumnos por clase, pero el otro 50% puede superar hasta los 50 niños por clase. Para reducir las cifras, se estima que alrededor de 100,000 nuevos docentes deberán integrarse en el sistema educativo, lo que requiere capacitación y financiamiento a gran escala.

Otro desafío que enfrenta el sector educativo en Sudáfrica hoy en día es la calidad de los instructores. Más de 5,000 de los profesores actuales no están lo suficientemente capacitados para su profesión. Los instructores no son competitivos en el mercado laboral; tienen poca comprensión de los planes de estudios y ninguna competencia pedagógica, lo que hace que los estudiantes se gradúen de la escuela sin los conocimientos necesarios.

Ciclo del analfabetismo

Finalmente, según el informe de la OCDE de 2019, Sudáfrica tiene la mayor proporción de personas de entre 20 y 24 años en el sector NINI (ni trabajo ni educación). Sudáfrica obtuvo casi el 50% en este criterio, el mayor de todos los países examinados por el informe de la OCDE. El informe de 2021 del profesor Khuluvhe analiza la gravedad del problema del analfabetismo y afirma que, en 2019, la tasa de adultos analfabetos (mayores de 20 años) era del 12,1%, o alrededor de 4,4 millones. Esto equivale a que una parte considerable de la población no haya alcanzado un nivel superior de educación. El analfabetismo tiene consecuencias de gran alcance para la población, incluida la descendencia sin educación y la falta de contribución a la sociedad, lo que perjudica la economía del país. Sudáfrica necesita hacer frente a este problema y minimizar el porcentaje de analfabetismo lo máximo posible.

Traducido por Olga Ruiz Pilato from [Challenges In The Educational System of South Africa]

Referencias

1. EE. (2006, July 19). School Infrastructure. Eqaleducation.Org.Za. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://equaleducation.org.za/campaigns/school-infrastructure/

Educational Challenges in South Africa Inequality in education OECD Posted by Beyza Nur Dag

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