poverty

Educational Challenges in Uganda

Written by Luna Plet

Uganda, also known as the “Pearl of Africa” is home to more than 32.0 million people and is rich in culture and diversity.^[i] Since the colonial period, the education system has undergone many systematic changes. After gaining independence in 1962, several committees and other government actors were created to monitor educational systems and standards throughout the country. This has positively influenced the nation, as literacy rates have grown exponentially in the past years. Most recently, the literacy rate (of those 15 and older) has increased by 2.47% from 2018 to about 79% in 2021.^[ii] In Uganda, children view school as a vital and happiness-inducing aspect of their lives, strongly linking it to their aspirations for achieving future success and securing good jobs.^[iii] They relish their interactions with their peers. The situation is a source of sadness and anxiety for those not in school, as they fear it may jeopardize their prospects. However, obtaining an education remains one of their foremost life goals, and they are determined to attain it. Therefore, this article will delve deep into the challenges that Uganda is facing that result in the barrier between children and education.

Poverty and education are inextricably linked, as individuals living in poverty may drop out of school to engage in activities that provide immediate livelihood improvements. While income inequality, gender disparities, and regional disparities present significant obstacles, Ugandans are leveraging education to carve brighter futures for themselves.^[iv] This progress is evident through government initiatives, private school alternatives, and the enduring zeal for education among the Ugandan populace.

Public Education Initiatives

Uganda instituted the Universal Primary Education Policy in 1997, which eliminated fees for students attending the first seven years of school, covering primary 1 to primary 7. Although attendance remained voluntary, parents were still responsible for providing essential supplies and contributing to the construction of school facilities. Remarkably, primary school attendance surged by 145% within six years of implementing this policy. In 2007, the program expanded to encompass secondary education.^[v] This remarkable increase in attendance reflects the profound thirst for education within Uganda. Although this can help combat poverty by ensuring universal access to education, the program’s impact on poverty remains limited. John Ekaju argues that this ‘UPE-centric’ approach overlooks the predicament of a considerable number of illiterate children, youth, and adults.^[vi] Although the UPE policy eliminated general fees, the reality is that schooling is not entirely free, as families continue to grapple with expenses such as Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) fees, books, materials, mid-day meals, examination fees, and uniforms.^[vii] Moreover, children, both in primary and secondary levels, are plagued by concerns about the threat of physical violence and sexual abuse from teachers or peers, rampant teacher absenteeism, and overcrowded and inadequately maintained facilities, often citing these as reasons for their non-attendance or dropout^[viii]. Therefore, Ekaju suggests a reevaluation of the policy, predicting that enhanced higher education could halve poverty rates.

Moreover, poverty profoundly impacts school readiness, which reflects a child’s ability to thrive academically and socially in a school environment. Poverty negatively affects school readiness through various factors, including health issues stemming from inadequate nutrition, homelessness, food insecurity, and the inability to access medical treatment for illnesses. These factors place immense stress on learners, hindering their ability to succeed in school.

Challenges in Secondary and Higher Education

Education in Uganda is intensely competitive, with rigorous examinations following primary school dictating access to secondary education. Often, this selection process favours the best-performing students, with schools striving to enhance their grade averages and national rankings. While primary education attendance has improved, the quality of education itself has not kept pace. The dearth of resources coupled with an overwhelming student-to-teacher ratio, sometimes reaching 100 students per class, creates adverse conditions for educators and learners.^[ix] This impairs the effectiveness of individualized instruction, a critical component of quality education. Consequently, students who aspire to receive a quality education often turn to costly private schools.

Gender Roles in Education

Remarkably, girls have achieved significant educational progress, with higher primary and secondary enrollment rates than boys.^[x] However, they still confront gender-based obstacles to staying in school, including early marriages and negative community attitudes towards girls’ education, such as the perception that fees are wasted on them. Some girls are additionally hindered by their inability to afford sanitary pads, leading to occasional absences and, in some cases, permanent dropouts.

Role of Private Education

Boarding and private schools offer a higher quality of education, supported by better-qualified teachers who can provide personalized attention to students. This option is promising for some families but remains inaccessible to those entrenched in poverty. Many families in Uganda survive on less than $2 a day, and the typical annual costs for primary schools range from $50 to $150 for day schools, making them financially unattainable. The Initiative for Social and Economic Rights emphasizes that the fees charged by private schools perpetuate discrimination and further exclude children from low-income households.

COVID-19

March 2020 will forever be etched in the annals of the education community in Uganda as the month when all schools across the nation shuttered their doors.^[xi] The government’s decision to institute nationwide school closures was a response to the looming threat of the deadly coronavirus pandemic. The far-reaching consequences of this decision affected pupils and students across the country.

Despite the widening income gap among Ugandan families, a substantial portion of whom benefit from Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE), the swift implementation of these closures necessitated an abrupt shift to internet, television, radios, and newspapers for learning, particularly among the candidate classes. This inevitable transition placed immense pressure on candidates, leaving little room for comprehensive planning. According to recent poverty statistics released by the Ministry of Finance, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated poverty levels in Uganda, with a rise to 28 per cent.^[xii] The Eastern region, with a higher poverty rate and a higher likelihood of falling into poverty, surged to 53.3 percent from 28.9 percent, followed by the Northern region at 44.8 percent from 30.3 percent. Unsurprisingly, the general performance levels in the final 2020 Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) exams, both for UPE and USE, serve as a reflection of the income disparities in the country, particularly between regions.

Poverty and education are inextricably linked, as individuals living in poverty may drop out of school to engage in activities that provide immediate livelihood improvements. Despite government promises to ensure continuity of learning during school closures, there was little progress in providing learners with access to devices such as radios and televisions, particularly in rural households and villages. Furthermore, many households lacked dry cells for radios, and most rural areas suffered from a lack of electricity. Combined with challenges in internet connectivity and network coverage, as well as economic pressures on families, distance learning became an unrealistic solution. Overall, resource inequalities between rural and urban areas have persisted for decades, with rural areas lacking the necessary technology and infrastructure for transformation. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these disparities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, recognizing the significance of investing in children is paramount for national development. With children and young people constituting a substantial portion of the population, they represent invaluable assets for Uganda’s future. Child poverty transcends individual and household levels, extending to lifelong consequences such as compromised education and diminished earning potential for those whose growth is stunted in their formative years. The ripple effect extends to the economy, with estimates indicating that Uganda experiences an annual GDP loss of 5.6% due to undernutrition.^[xiii] Consequently, it is imperative that interventions in health, education, and protection target children at the right juncture. Such investments guarantee the fulfilment of children’s rights and set in motion a virtuous cycle of growth and human development, benefiting the nation as a whole.

Overall, these findings underscore the pressing need to address educational challenges in Uganda to ensure that children, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds, have equal access to quality education, fostering their personal development and the nation’s future growth and development.

References

^[i] “Facts & Figures | Uganda National Web Portal.”

^[ii] “Uganda Literacy Rate 1991-2023.”

^[iii] UNICEF, “Situation Analysis of Child Poverty and Deprivation in Uganda.”

^[iv] “EDUCATION CHALLENGES FACED BY UGANDAN CHILDREN IN RURAL AREAS.”

^[v] Thelwell, “The Impact of Education on Poverty in Uganda.”

^[vi] Thelwell.

^[vii] UNICEF, “Situation Analysis of Child Poverty and Deprivation in Uganda.”

^[viii] UNICEF.

^[ix] Thelwell, “The Impact of Education on Poverty in Uganda.”

^[x] UNICEF, “Situation Analysis of Child Poverty and Deprivation in Uganda.”

^[xi] The independent, “Poverty Undermines Uganda’s Public Education.”

^[xii] The independent.

^[xiii] UNICEF, “Situation Analysis of Child Poverty and Deprivation in Uganda.”

“Facts & Figures | Uganda National Web Portal.” Accessed October 17, 2023. https://www.gou.go.ug/topics/facts-figures.

The independent. “Poverty Undermines Uganda’s Public Education.” The Independent Uganda: (blog), August 12, 2021. https://www.independent.co.ug/poverty-undermines-ugandas-public-education/.

Thelwell, Kim. “The Impact of Education on Poverty in Uganda.” The Borgen Project (blog), July 23, 2020. https://borgenproject.org/education-and-poverty-in-uganda/.

Tuyambe – Kinder Not in Africa. “EDUCATION CHALLENGES FACED BY UGANDAN CHILDREN IN RURAL AREAS,” September 28, 2020. https://www.tuyambe.org/education-challenges-faced-by-ugandan-children-in-rural-areas.

“Uganda Literacy Rate 1991-2023.” Accessed October 17, 2023. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/UGA/uganda/literacy-rate.

UNICEF. “Situation Analysis of Child Poverty and Deprivation in Uganda,” 2014.

Cover Image by bill wegener on Unsplash

Educational Challenges in Burundi

Written by Joseph Kamanga

Introduction

Burundi, a small landlocked country in East Africa with a population of over 11 million people, has been plagued by political instability and violence throughout its history. These challenges have severely impacted the country’s education system, hindering progress and development. While some improvements have been made in recent years to enhance access to education, Burundi continues to face several critical challenges, including substandard school infrastructure, limited access to education, low quality of education, and high dropout rates. Addressing these issues requires a collaborative effort involving the government, donors, and civil society to implement sustainable solutions.

Students are eagerly waiting for the completion of their new school in Mabayi, Burundi. Photo by United Nations Development Programme.

Substandard School Infrastructure

One of the primary obstacles affecting education in Burundi is the substandard condition of school infrastructure. Many schools lack the necessary facilities and resources, impeding effective teaching and learning. The critical problems associated with school infrastructure in Burundi include:

Lack of classrooms:

A significant number of schools in Burundi suffer from a shortage of classrooms, resulting in overcrowding. Students often have to sit on the floor or study outside, hampering their ability to learn and concentrate.

Insufficient number of teachers:

In 2017, Burundi had only 40,000 teachers for a population of over 11 million, resulting in an alarming student-to-teacher ratio. The lack of teachers compromises the quality of education as individual attention to students becomes challenging.

Shortage of textbooks and learning materials:

Access to textbooks and learning materials is limited, with only 50% of students having access to these resources in 2017. This scarcity hampers students’ ability to actively participate in class and complete their assignments effectively.

Inadequate water and sanitation facilities:

Approximately 50% of schools lack proper water and sanitation facilities, depriving students of clean water and hygienic toilets. This lack of basic amenities contributes to the spread of diseases, making it difficult for students to attend school regularly.

Insufficient electricity:

Only 30% of schools in Burundi have access to electricity, restricting the use of electronic devices and hindering the integration of technology in teaching and learning practices.

Deteriorating school buildings:

Approximately 30% of schools in Burundi require urgent repairs, rendering them unsafe and unsuitable for students. Dilapidated infrastructure adds to the challenges faced by both students and teachers.

Limited Access to Education

Access to education in rural areas of Burundi is significantly limited due to various factors:

Poverty:

Poverty is a significant barrier preventing families from sending their children to school, even when educational institutions are available. The inability to afford school fees and related expenses hampers children’s access to education.

Distance:

The geographical remoteness of rural areas in Burundi makes it challenging for children to access schools, resulting in limited educational opportunities.

Gender discrimination:

Girls, particularly in rural areas, face gender-based barriers to education. Cultural beliefs often dictate that girls should prioritize household responsibilities, impeding their access to formal education. Additionally, the lack of adequate sanitation facilities specifically designed for girls discourages their attendance.

The combined effect of poverty, distance, and gender discrimination has led to an estimated 600,000 girls in Burundi not attending school during the 2017-2018 academic year.

Low Quality of Education

The issue of low quality of education in Burundi encompasses various factors that contribute to a substandard learning experience for students. These factors can be attributed to the lack of resources, inadequate teacher training, outdated curriculum, and insufficient focus on student-centred learning approaches as follows:

Insufficient focus on student-centred learning: A student-centred approach to education emphasizes active participation, collaboration, and critical thinking. However, the traditional teaching methods employed in Burundi often prioritize rote memorization and passive learning. Shifting towards student-centred approaches, such as project-based learning, inquiry-based learning, and interactive teaching methods, can foster a deeper understanding of concepts and improve students’ ability to apply knowledge in practical situations.

The quality of education in Burundi is generally low, attributed to several factors:

Lack of qualified teachers:

A considerable number of teachers in Burundi need to be qualified or adequately trained. Moreover, the low salaries offered to qualified teachers often discourage highly skilled individuals from pursuing a career in education. As a result, the quality of instruction suffers. The quality of education is closely linked to the competence and skills of teachers. In Burundi, there is a need to invest in comprehensive teacher training programs that focus on pedagogical techniques, subject knowledge, and classroom management. Without proper training, teachers may rely on outdated teaching methods or struggle to effectively engage students in the learning process. Ongoing professional development opportunities can help teachers stay updated with best practices and enhance their instructional strategies.

Poor quality textbooks:

Many textbooks in Burundi are outdated or inaccurate, failing to provide up-to-date and accurate information to students. This hinders their ability to acquire knowledge effectively.

Outdated Curriculum:

The curriculum used in Burundi’s education system may suffer from outdated content, limited relevance to real-world contexts, and a lack of alignment with modern educational standards. Updating the curriculum to reflect current knowledge and skills required in the job market is crucial. A contemporary curriculum should promote critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and digital literacy, equipping students with the competencies necessary for future success.

Insufficient resources:

Many schools in Burundi need more essential resources, such as textbooks, learning materials, and technological equipment. Without access to up-to-date and relevant resources, students may struggle to grasp concepts and engage in meaningful learning. Insufficient resources also limit teachers’ ability to deliver comprehensive lessons and provide students with hands-on experiences that enhance their understanding of subjects.

High dropout rates:

Burundi experiences alarmingly high dropout rates among girls and children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Factors contributing to these high dropout rates include:

a. Poverty: Economic constraints force many families to prioritize immediate needs over education, making it difficult for children to continue their studies.

b. Early marriage: The prevalence of early marriage in Burundi prevents girls from pursuing education beyond a certain age. Early marriage often leads to the discontinuation of their schooling.

c. The need to work: Many children in Burundi are compelled to work to support their families, leaving them with no time or opportunity to attend school.

Addressing these complex challenges requires a multifaceted approach involving various stakeholders.

The Charlemagne School in Burundi. Photo by Bernd Weisbrod

Challenges faced by Children with disability

Children with disabilities face significant challenges in accessing quality education in Burundi. The educational system in the country often lacks the necessary infrastructure, resources, and inclusive policies to accommodate their diverse needs. Here are some key challenges faced by children with disabilities in Burundi’s education system:

Inadequate infrastructure and facilities:

Many schools in Burundi lack the necessary infrastructure and facilities to support children with disabilities. This includes wheelchair-accessible ramps, adapted classrooms, and accessible toilets. The physical barriers in schools make it difficult for children with mobility impairments to navigate the campus and fully participate in educational activities.

Limited availability of specialized support:

Specialized support services, such as trained teachers, therapists, and assistive devices, are scarce for children with disabilities in Burundi. These children often require individualized attention and tailored instructional approaches to address their specific learning needs. The need for more trained professionals and appropriate assistive technology hampers their educational progress.

Discrimination and stigma:

Children with disabilities in Burundi often face discrimination and stigma within their communities and schools. This can create psychological barriers affecting their self-esteem, confidence, and willingness to engage in learning. Negative attitudes and misconceptions about disability can lead to exclusion and social isolation.

Limited awareness and understanding:

There is a lack of awareness and understanding among educators, parents, and the wider community about disabilities and inclusive education. This can result in a failure to recognize and accommodate the diverse learning needs of children with disabilities. Promoting awareness campaigns and training teachers and stakeholders to foster an inclusive and supportive learning environment is crucial.

Inaccessible curriculum and teaching methods:

Burundi’s curriculum and teaching methods often do not consider the diverse learning styles and needs of children with disabilities. The instructional materials and assessments may not be adapted to cater to their specific requirements, hindering their full participation in the educational process. Adapting the curriculum and employing inclusive teaching strategies can help ensure that children with disabilities receive an equitable education.

Interventions to Improve Burundi’s Education System

To enhance the education system in Burundi, the following vital interventions are necessary:

Teacher Training and Professional Development:

To improve the quality of education in Burundi, a strong emphasis should be placed on teacher training and professional development programs. The government, in collaboration with educational institutions and international partners, should establish comprehensive training programs to enhance teachers’ skills and pedagogical techniques. Ongoing professional development opportunities should be provided to ensure that teachers are equipped with the latest teaching methodologies and subject knowledge. By investing in the professional growth of teachers, the overall quality of education in Burundi can be significantly improved.

Promoting Inclusive Education:

Another critical aspect of enhancing the education system in Burundi is promoting inclusive education. Efforts should be made to ensure that children with disabilities, those from marginalized communities, and those with special learning needs have equal access to education. This requires developing inclusive policies, providing necessary support services and resources, and effectively training teachers to cater to diverse learning needs. Inclusive education not only fosters a sense of equality and social cohesion but also maximizes the potential of all children, contributing to the nation’s overall development.

Enhancing Parent and Community Involvement:

To create a holistic and supportive learning environment, it is essential to enhance the involvement of parents and the wider community in education. Establishing partnerships between schools, parents, and community organizations can facilitate collaborative efforts in promoting education. This can involve initiatives such as parent-teacher associations, community outreach programs, and awareness campaigns on the importance of education. Engaging parents and the community can contribute to increased school attendance, reduced dropout rates, and improved educational outcomes for children in Burundi.

Integration of Technology in Education:

Integrating technology in education can revolutionize the learning experience for students in Burundi. Access to computers, internet connectivity, and digital learning resources can enhance teaching and learning methods, promote interactive and self-directed learning, and foster digital literacy skills. The government should prioritize initiatives to provide schools with the necessary technological infrastructure and ensure that teachers receive adequate training to utilize technology in their classrooms effectively. By embracing technology, Burundi can bridge the digital divide and equip its students with the skills needed for the modern world.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

A robust monitoring and evaluation system should be established to assess the progress and impact of education initiatives in Burundi. Regular assessments of school infrastructure, teacher quality, student performance, and dropout rates are essential to identify areas of improvement and make informed policy decisions. Additionally, collecting data on gender disparities, educational equity, and access to education can help design targeted interventions. Monitoring and evaluation provide the necessary feedback loop to ensure that efforts to enhance the education system in Burundi are effective and sustainable.

Violence has affected the infraestructure of schools in the country. Photo by EU/ECHO/Anouk Delafortrie

Investing in school infrastructure:

The government should prioritize investments in the construction and rehabilitation of schools. Adequate classrooms, furniture, and facilities are essential for creating a conducive learning environment.

Expanding access to education:

Efforts should be made to improve access to education, particularly in rural areas. This can be achieved by constructing additional schools, recruiting and training more qualified teachers, and providing transportation subsidies to ensure students can reach schools despite the distance.

Improving the quality of education:

The government must focus on improving the quality of education by enhancing teacher training programs and attracting skilled educators. Additionally, ensuring the availability of updated textbooks, learning materials, and technological resources is crucial for fostering a quality learning environment.

Reducing dropout rates:

To address the high dropout rates, comprehensive strategies must be implemented. This includes targeted interventions to alleviate poverty, awareness campaigns to discourage early marriages, and initiatives to provide financial assistance to families struggling with school fees.

Addressing these challenges for children with a disability requires a concerted effort from the government, educators, families, and civil society organizations. The following interventions can help improve educational opportunities for children with disabilities:

Inclusive policies and legislation:

The government should establish and enforce inclusive education policies that protect the rights of children with disabilities and ensure their access to quality education. This includes promoting inclusive practices, providing reasonable accommodations, and eliminating school discrimination.

Training and professional development:

Teachers and education professionals need specialized training on inclusive education and strategies to support children with disabilities. This training should focus on adapting teaching methods, creating accessible learning materials, and using assistive technology effectively.

Provision of support services:

Adequate resources should be allocated to provide necessary support services, such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, and psychological support, to children with disabilities. This includes recruiting and training specialized professionals who can work directly with these children.

Infrastructure and accessibility:

Schools should be equipped with appropriate infrastructure and facilities to ensure accessibility for children with disabilities. This involves constructing wheelchair ramps, installing accessible toilets, and adapting classrooms to accommodate different types of disabilities.

Awareness and community engagement:

Conducting awareness campaigns to combat stigma, raise awareness about disabilities, and promote the importance of inclusive education is essential. Engaging parents, communities, and local organizations in educating children with disabilities can help foster an inclusive and supportive environment.

By addressing these challenges and implementing inclusive practices, Burundi can create a more inclusive education system that ensures equal educational opportunities for all children, including those with disabilities.

Conclusion

Burundi’s education system faces significant challenges, including substandard school infrastructure, limited access to education, low quality of education, and high dropout rates. These issues have profound implications for the country’s development and the well-being of its population. However, these challenges can be overcome with the joint efforts of the government, donors, and civil society. By investing in school infrastructure, expanding access to education, improving the quality of instruction, and implementing strategies to reduce dropout rates, Burundi can pave the way for a brighter future, ensuring that all children have equal opportunities to access quality education.

References:

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2018). Education for All Global Monitoring Report: Education Progress and Challenges in Burundi. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000246736

World Bank. (2020). Burundi Education Sector Analysis: Challenges and Opportunities for System Improvement. Retrieved from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/33776

UNICEF. (2019). Education in Emergencies Annual Report 2019 – Burundi. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/burundi/reports/education-emergencies-annual-report-2019

Human Rights Watch. (2017). Burundi: Girls’ Education under Threat. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/07/burundi-girls-education-under-threat

Save the Children. (2020). Education in Burundi: Challenges and Opportunities. Retrieved from https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/node/18701/pdf/education_in_burundi.pdf

Plan International. (2019). Education in Burundi: Challenges and Solutions. Retrieved from https://plan-international.org/publications/education-burundi-challenges-and-solutions

Handicap International. (2018). Education for All in Burundi: Study on Inclusive Education. Retrieved from https://www.hi-us.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/education-for-all-in-burundi-study-on-inclusive-education.pdf

Burundi Ministry of Education. (2019). Strategic Plan for Education and Vocational Training 2018-2027. Retrieved from http://www.men.estburundi.org/plan-strategique

African Development Bank Group. (2017). Burundi Country Strategy Paper 2017-2021. Retrieved from https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Project-and-Operations/Burundi_-_CSP_2017-2021_With_CAADP.pdf

The New Humanitarian. (2020). Burundi’s Education System Faces Multiple Crises. Retrieved from https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2020/01/20/burundi-education-crisis-challenges

Burundi Educational Challenges infraestructure poverty Quality of Education teacher shortage Violence

Challenges facing the Education System in Angola

Written by Ruth Lakica

The Cidade Alta in Luanda, Angola, stretches along a ridge lined by pink colonial buildings including the president’s and archbishop’s palaces. Photo by David Stanley on Flickr.

Introduction

Education is a fundamental right for all humans around the globe. Regardless of one’s economic or social status, they should be able to have access to education. Even though this seems obvious and like common knowledge, it is not the reality for many Angolans. Nevertheless, the government has and is making significant efforts to cab illiteracy. For instance, in recent years, Angola has significantly reformed its education system, improving literacy and enrollment rates. However, school completion rates indicate high levels of dropout. The Angolan Education Law (2021) makes primary education free and compulsory for six years, but approximately 2 million children are still out of school. The country’s long-term strategy–Estratégia de Longo Prazo Angola 2025–promotes the human and educational development of the Angolan people.

Conflicts and insecurity

Despite the civil war ending more than 15 years ago, Angola still faces—and will continue to face—challenges in its education system that date back to these years of violence. Primary education in Angola is compulsory and free for four years for children between 7 and 11, but the government estimates that approximately two million children are not attending school.

In areas where classrooms were utterly demolished during the war and have not yet been rebuilt, classes typically are held outside and often must be cancelled due to bad weather. Where classrooms exist, they tend to be overcrowded and undersupplied, with outdated or insufficient books and pencils and not enough desks and chairs.

Lack of enough qualified teachers

Debates about teacher quality lack in Angolan educational institutions are constant. These were and continue to be pointed out as teachers without the desired quality to teach in higher education, in addition to being few, forcing them to become multipurpose: the teachers lack in Angolan educational institutions causes the few teachers to teach a large number of subjects, and in many cases, subjects outside their comfort area.

The Angolan government focused on education expansion for a long time and forgot about teaching quality in the same institutions. Therefore, the institutions, especially private ones, arise without verification of the curriculum they presented, which was never in accordance with the requirements for their functioning, many of them without appropriate facilities and without enough teachers to follow the several existing courses. And several other factors contributed to the higher education institutions’ quality being relatively low.

Household poverty

The educational level was directly related to the incidence of poverty in Angola from March 2018 to February 2019. According to Statista, among people with no education, 56.5 per cent lived with a level of consumption below the poverty line. Among individuals with primary education, the rate amounted to 54.9 per cent. Even though the poverty incidence among people with higher education was the lowest, 17.3 per cent of people with an upper secondary education or more were living above the poverty line. In December 2018, the total poverty line in Angola was estimated at roughly 12.2 thousand Kwanzas (approximately 22 U.S. dollars).

Impact of drought

The challenges for accessing education imposed by the cyclical pastoral migration in Cunene – particularly for boys – are well-known. However, the severe drought plaguing the South Region of Angola has intensified the phenomenon, causing unprecedented stress on the province’s education system.

According to Reliefweb, In the municipality of Curoca, one of the hardest hit, 13 schools have closed since the beginning of the year due to student absences. Of Cunene’s 887 primary schools, 614 are affected by the drought in some way, which is causing severe disruption to no less than 70% of the province’s 214,000 students.

When children must split their time between fetching water and protecting their families’ greatest wealth, the livestock, their education suffers.

Impact of Covid-19

The pandemic caused by the SARS Covid-19 came to monitor investments made not only in the health sector but also in education and, above all, in the higher education subsystem. The pandemic led governments to close university campuses and face-to-face classes suspension for a considerable period of time as a measure to prevent the virus contamination from spreading. Some countries with the distance learning modality in their school curricula were forced to make it a strategy, intensifying them to reduce the pedagogical damage that was felt due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19. Given the uncertainty of an end date for the pandemic, other countries were forced to bet on this modality of distance learning.

Until 2020, the Angolan State did not recognize any studies carried out at a distance, both within the country and abroad (Presidential Decree n° 59/20, of 3 March). The emergence of the pandemic was necessary to show the importance of distance. It blended learning, leading it to adopt the strategy used by most countries to avoid a catastrophe at the educational level.

Green Schools campaign in Eiffel School, in Angola. Photo by Mayada Marrom on Wikimedia Commons.

Water, sanitation and hygiene

According to USAID, “nearly half the population of Angola (49.3%) lacks access to clean drinking water and (54.7%) of households do not have access to adequate sanitation facilities.” As a result, many Angolans face a high risk of exposure to waterborne illnesses, further burdening the nation’s existing healthcare infrastructure, worsening malnutrition and negatively impacting the economy.

Moreover, the southern regions of Angola are experiencing a prolonged drought, which has gravely impacted the nation’s health, sanitation, water access and education services. More than 1.2 million Angolans face water scarcity due to the drought. In the Cunene province, the drought has caused “serious disruptions” to school access for nearly 70% of students.

Teenage pregnancy and child marriages

Angola has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the world. Underlying factors include limited knowledge of family planning, inadequate availability of commodities, limited access to skilled health workers, and insufficient household resources allocated to sexual and reproductive health. The high rate of teenage pregnancy increases the already existing vulnerability of girls, as pregnancy is often an impediment to continuing education, exemplified by the low literacy rates of only 36.5% for young women aged 15 to 24. The country has 10 million girls and women of reproductive age. Although 75% of girls attend primary education, this proportion drops to around 15.5% in secondary education, coinciding with the first menstruation age. High fertility rates and high levels of teenage pregnancy also increase the risk of maternal mortality. In this context, behaviour change interventions are crucial to empowering young women and men to make better decisions to protect themselves.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Angola’s government, therefore, has a responsibility to extend better social services in rural areas, such as roads, schools, and hospitals, to facilitate development in those areas and hence improve people’s living standards and education for poor kids.

As the government seeks to alleviate the effects of the lockdown brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasis should be placed on ensuring that systems that are supposed to protect girls and women from child marriages are not compromised. Clean water must be readily available for people to improve their hygiene habits, as must soap. And girls must have privacy and dignity when using sanitation facilities. The Government of Angola should respond to the drought in the southern region, which also affects the provinces of Namibe, Huila and Bie, so that children can focus on their education.

References

Global partnership for education. (2022, November 22). The Angolan Education law(2021). https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/angola

The Borgen Project. (2018, July 17). Improving education and literacy in angola in the aftermath of civil war. https://borgenproject.org/education-and-literacy-in-angola/

The Borgen Project. (2022, October 1). A community-centered approach: improving sanitation in angola. https://borgenproject.org/sanitation-in-angola/

United Nations Population Fund. (2022, March 8). SYP in Angola: Young Women Leading for a Better Future. https://angola.unfpa.org/en/news/syp-angola-young-women-leading-better-future

Statista. (2022, August 1). Poverty incidence in Angola 2018-2019, by educational level. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1135257/poverty-incidence-in-angola-by-educational-level/
Reliefwed. (2019, october 1). UNICEF. Children out of school: the impact of the drought for education in Angola. https://reliefweb.int/report/angola/children-out-school-impact-drought-education-angola

Angola Child marriages Covid-19 Educational Challenges Lack of teachers poverty Sanitation Teenage pregnancy

Educational challenges in Papua New Guinea

Written by Fenna Eelkema

Introduction

Flag of Papua New Guinea. Kumul Flying high on the 16th of September 2022 across the Southern Cross. Photo by Spencer Wungin on Unsplash

Papua New Guinea is a beautiful country consisting of 600 islands and a population of 10 million. There are more than 800 different languages used in Papua New Guinea, making it one of the world’s most linguistically diverse nations. After being colonised by various countries for 250 years, Papua New Guinea finally gained independence in 1975. Since gaining this independence, Papua New Guinea has been on a quest to provide accessible and quality education for its children. Despite these efforts, Papua New Guinea still faces educational challenges, such as a low literacy rate, a high drop-out rate, and a teacher shortage. Additionally, school is not accessible to all children due to financial, health, or geographical reasons.

Education in Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea, the journey towards providing accessible and quality education has undergone several transformations over the past fifty years. In 1973, a significant milestone was achieved with the establishment of the first national unified education system. This system adopted the structure of 6+4+2, wherein students completed six years in primary school, four years in high school, and lastly, two years in either a national high school or directly entering colleges. Despite its intentions, this rigid system limited students’ autonomy over their learning, and the education sector still fell short of achieving wanted goals.

In the 1990s, Papua New Guinea established a new educational system in response to the need for change. The structure was changed to 3+6+4, with three years in elementary school, six years in primary school, and four years in secondary school. This shift aimed to implement an outcomes-based curriculum designed to align education with desired learning objectives. However, challenges persisted, and this education system struggled to meet wanted goals.

Therefore in 2021, there was another transformation; the new 1+6+6 structure was introduced, outlining a curriculum that begins with one year of Early Child Education and Development, followed by six years of primary education and an additional six years of secondary education. A distinctive feature of this structure is adopting a standards-based curriculum, outlining precise learning benchmarks for students and providing educators with clear guidelines for teaching and assessment strategies. Hopefully, this new structure will help improve Papua New Guinea’s education for all children.

Low literacy rate

The low literacy rate in Papua New Guinea has been a concern for a long time; while there has been some improvement over the last two decades, still more than three million people are illiterate. In 2000, the literacy rate was 57 per cent; in 2010, it was 61%; and in 2015, it was 63 per cent. The combination of linguistic diversity and insufficient resources has contributed to this long-standing problem.

The high dropout rates are another reason for the low literacy rate. Around a quarter of children aged 6 to 18 are out of school, and the rate of primary school students transitioning into lower secondary school is only 56%. Economic pressure/poverty, family responsibility, or inaccessible schools are some factors that lead students to drop out.

To hopefully lower the drop-out rate, some high schools have started using the FODE (Flexible Open Distance Education) concept, which allows students to pursue their education beyond the confines of the conventional classroom setting with flexibility; students are allowed to study at their own pace within their communities, liberating them from the limitations of urban centres. This program has seen promising results, with over 80,000 students returning to education.

Remember: there is always something to smile about in the world. Photo by Vika Jordanov on Unsplash

Quality education in remote areas

Papua New Guinea’s unique geography and many remote areas make providing quality education to these hard-to-reach regions hard. The key to quality education is quality teachers. Unfortunately, there is a teacher shortage in all of Papua New Guinea; this shortage is so dire that it has even led to instances where children were left without a school to attend. In 2016, approximately 10,000 teaching positions were vacant, with the majority of these vacancies being in remote areas. Drawing teachers to these remote areas has proven to be a considerable struggle. While initiatives like ‘remote school allowances’ and scholarships have been established to encourage teachers to work in these remote regions, poor motivation and reluctance to work in these areas have contributed to persistent teacher shortages. There are also reports of teachers who were entitled to these allowances but did not receive them; this discouraged some teachers from doing their best work.

Many teachers have also not been receiving in-service training. This is due to a lack of funding. The government has been relying on donors to finance, but the budget is inadequate. Furthermore, there are no structures or regular training posts to support teachers in schools. Now that the educational system is transforming into the 1+6+6 standards-based curriculum, it is imperative that teachers receive the proper training to implement the curriculum accordingly.

Financial problems are another reason why there are issues in remote areas. Families in poor, remote areas often cannot afford school fees, which can amount to more than half of their earnings. While some school fees were abolished by the national government in 1993, schools continue to charge some fees, leading to a financial barrier that hinders equitable access to education. Additionally, sizeable towns in urban areas usually have local secondary schools, whereas students in remote areas often rely on provincial boarding schools; sending your child to a boarding school typically costs more money, which puts the families at an even more significant setback.

Poverty and Health Care

Many children in Papua New Guinea are dealing with health-related challenges. Some of these health challenges stem from poverty, disproportionately affecting remote and rural areas where 85 per cent of the population lives.

One of the health challenges is that the immunisation coverage in Papua New Guinea has been stuck around 60 per cent for nearly ten years. This places children at unnecessary risk of preventable diseases that could be controlled through vaccinations. Additionally, for many individuals, it is hard to access clean sanitation and safe drinking water; this makes it hard always to practice good hygiene leading to contagious diseases easily spread among children.

Malnutrition is another health issue in Papua New Guinea, the underlying cause of almost half of all under-five deaths. Nearly half of all the children aged 6 to 59 months (5 years) suffer from stunted growth, indicating chronic undernutrition during critical developmental periods. Stunting not only endangers a child’s chance of survival but is also harmful to a child’s general health and cognitive growth, which could lead to long-lasting negative consequences.

Another issue is that, for many people, healthcare facilities are not easily accessible. The ratio of doctors to people is one doctor for every 17,068 people, compared to, for instance, Australia, where the ratio is one doctor for every 302 people. Additionally, 90% of the doctors are based in urban areas, whereas 85% of the population lives in rural areas, leaving these rural areas with even fewer doctors. Children often reside hours away from the nearest health clinic, facing difficult journeys on foot, by boat, or by unreliable local transportation. This lack of accessibility worsens children’s difficulties obtaining crucial medical care and other treatments.

Because of its geographical location, Papua New Guinea is frequently subjected to natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, landslides, tsunamis, and cyclones. These events threaten people’s health, disrupt healthcare services, and increase existing vulnerabilities.

To address these health challenges, Papua New Guinea must focus on improving general health care, raising immunisation coverage, promoting better nutrition, improving healthcare accessibility, and strengthening disaster preparedness. By doing so, Papua New Guinea can make significant steps toward ensuring a healthier and more promising future for its children.

Conclusion

To conclude, Papua New Guinea’s educational landscape is marked by progress and persistent challenges. The educational system has undergone many changes, from a rigid structure to an outcomes-based approach. The recent adoption of the 1+6+6 structure shows promise for a more successful curriculum. Still, challenges in teacher training remain, which may impact the outcome of this new curriculum.

Low literacy rates and high dropout rates continue to hinder progress. Initiatives like Flexible Open Distance Education (FODE) have shown potential in addressing dropout rates, but more needs to be done to ensure every child has an opportunity to learn.

The shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in remote areas, presents a significant obstacle because quality education can only happen with quality teachers. Efforts to attract teachers to these regions have been somewhat effective but not wholly successful.

Financial barriers, health issues, and insufficient access to healthcare have added to the challenge. Addressing these challenges is crucial for ensuring a healthier and more successful learning environment for children.

Papua New Guinea has made significant progress in providing accessible and quality education. Although there is still a long road ahead, the nation can create s brighter future for its children by putting in the effort and working with various organisations.

Sources

Papua New Guinea, Education and Literacy. UNESCO. Retrieved from: https://uis.unesco.org/en/country/pg.
Musoke, F. Taking WASH to hard-to-reach schools in Papua New Guinea (2023) UNICEF. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/png/stories/taking-wash-hard-reach-schools-papua-new-guinea.
Papua New Guinea; Education, UNICEF. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/png/what-we-do/education.
Sanitation in PNG: Estimating impacts and investments required to meet targets (2022) UNICEF. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/png/media/2886/file/Sanitation in PNG.pdf.
Kara, A. Challenges of rural schools highlighted (2017) LOOP. Retrieved from:https://www.looppng.com/png-news/challenges-rural-schools-highlighted-67895.
Transforming education through FODE (2023) LOOP. Retrieved from: https://www.looppng.com/png-news/transforming-education-through-fode-121794.
Papua New Guinea: Educational System – overview, Education State University. Retrieved from: https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1166/Papua-New-Guinea-EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.html.
Devette-Chee, K. Illiteracy: A growing concern in Papua New Guinea (2021) The National Research Institute. Retrieved from: https://pngnri.org/images/Publications/Spotlight_Vol_14_Issue_7.pdf.
Goro, J. Is Papua New Guinea ready to implement the new 1+6+6 basic education system? (2021) The National Research Institute. Retrieved from: https://pngnri.org/index.php/news-events/research-corner/226-is-papua-new-guinea-ready-to-implement-the-new-1-6-6-basic-education-system.
Children in Papua New Guinea; a fair chance for every child, UNICEF. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/png/children-papua-new-guinea.
Papua New Guinea; Health and Human wellbeing (2013) World Vision. Retrieved from: https://www.worldvision.com.au/docs/default-source/school-resources/global-education-png-nutrition.pdf?sfvrsn=2089ee3c_2.
Papua New Guinea tackling the maternal health crisis (2011) The New Humanitarian. Retrieved from: https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/report/94352/papua-new-guinea-tackling-maternal-health-crisis.
Teacher shortage in PNG hurting rural students (2016) Radio New Zealand. Retrieved from: https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/302786/teacher-shortage-in-png-hurting-rural-students.
Devette-Chee, K. The challenges teachers in Papua New Guinea continue to face (2022) The National Research Institute. Retrieved from: https://pngnri.org/images/Publications/Spotlight_Vol_15_Issue_1.pdf.

access to education Educational Challenges health care Low literacy rates Papua New Guinea poverty

Education challenges in Guatemala

Written by Chiara Tomatis

Guatemala is a lower-middle-income country, representing the largest economy in Central America and accounting for 25% of the GDP of the Central American Common Market (CACM). Moreover, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its June 2019 report, confirmed that the country’s geographic and demographic characteristics allow it to have great potential for economic development. Another important factor, is that Guatemala is the most densely populated country in Central America, with a population of around 17 million^[1], characterized by extreme youthfulness: one-third are under 15 years old, just under two-thirds are between 15 and 65 years old, and only 5.6% are over 65 years old^[2]. Education in Guatemala has become increasingly accessible; however, low levels of literacy, educational attainment and retention remain as fundamental problems. Furthermore, there is a great disparity between rural and urban areas, men and women, and between indigenous and landina populations the biggest ethnic group. Some of the educational challenges that Guatemala is facing are limited access to education, poor quality of education, language barriers, poverty, gender inequality and violence.

Children in their classroom in El Renacimiento school, in Villa Nueva, Guatemala. Photo by Maria Fleischmann / World Bank on Flickr.

Limited access to education

A significant percentage of the Guatemalan population lives in rural areas, where access to education is limited due to inadequate infrastructure, teacher shortages and high costs. The population density in rural areas is motivated by the importance of the agricultural sector in the country, a characteristic of which is dual production. For example, the presence of large and efficient farms that produce bananas, oil palm, sugar along with other products for export, and small producers focused on the cultivation of basic cereals. This characterizes Guatemala as the Central American country with the largest number of subsistence farmers, about one million^[3], leading to approximately 49% of the Guatemalan population living in rural areas. Some of them facing with the challenge of lacking basic resources, such as textbooks and teaching materials.

Language barriers

Guatemala is a multicultural land with a diverse population that includes many ethnic groups and has experienced an exponential increase in its inhabitants. Multiculturalism is a further prerequisite for the demographic conformation of the country. The Guatemalan population is diverse and includes 23 different ethnic groups, each of which has a distinct language and culture. The largest ethnic group is the Ladino group, which is formed by 56% of the population. They are generally non-indigenous Guatemalans, mestizos, and westernized Amerindians with western culture. About 42% of the inhabitants, 6.5 million people, belong to the numerous Maya people (among the most important are the Itzá, K’iche, Poqomchí, Q’anjob’al and Q’eqchi’)^[4]. Moreover, it is steadily decreasing due to the so-called “Ladinisation” process, which refers to the phenomenon whereby Western culture is adopted by members of indigenous societies, who cease to identify themselves culturally as “indigenous”.

Tz’utuhil Maya class at a school in Panabaj, Guatemala. Photo by Erik Törner on Flickr.

However, disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous populations in terms of employment, income, health services and education remain. In Guatemala, racism and discrimination persist against these inhabitants who, although an integral part of the country’s society and economy, have no representation at the political level. In addition, many of these indigenous communities speak Mayan languages, which are not widely spoken outside these communities. This language barrier can make it difficult for children to learn in school, especially if they are taught in Spanish, the country’s official language. This discrimination also affects poverty levels in the country which impact 75% of indigenous people and 36% of non-indigenous people^[5].

Poverty

Poverty is a significant obstacle to education in Guatemala, which as it turns out afflicts indigenous peoples the most, accentuating inequality. With 59% of the Guatemalan population living in poverty, mainly affecting rural areas where the most indigenous populations are located.

One indicator of current inequality is the GINI indicator, which in 2014 recorded a GINI coefficient of 48.3, the sixth highest in Latin America^[6].

Families living in poverty often cannot afford to send their children to school or must rely on their children working to help support the family. Furthermore, although the economy is growing, the number of people living in poverty is increasing and social and economic inequalities are growing^[7].

Gender inequality

Today, nationally, 81.5% of the population is literate, through it is possible to highlight a clear gender inequality. Although 51.5% of citizens are women and 48.5% are men, literacy is 78% and 85% respectively, both figures decrease in rural areas^[8]. There may be many reasons for this, with cultural background and beliefs playing a primary role.

Violence and insecurity

The country is severely affected by the inequalities, violence and corruption that have historically affected the country. This directly and significantly impacts the education system; the high levels of violence have led to several critical issues that make it difficult for children and young people to access education and receive a quality education. The main critical issues are the vulnerability of young citizens to violence, a shortage of qualified educators/teachers who have decided to migrate or work in areas with less crime, and the negative impact this has had on the physical infrastructure of schools, leading to a lack of adequate spaces. This situation leads to an increased general sense of insecurity and instability that affects the social and economic development of the country.

Despite today’s critical issues, the Guatemalan administration has improved school coverage in recent decades. Since the peace accords of 1996, all administrations have supported the expansion of primary schooling and since 2006 the net enrollment rate at this level has averaged 95 per cent. Guatemala came close to achieving universal coverage in 2009 when the net enrolment rate at the primary level was 99%^[9]. Since that year, however, Guatemala has suffered a slight setback (Figure 1). The reasons for this decrease require a deeper analysis of factors such as migration, climate change, the impact of social programs and demographic elements^[10].

Nevertheless, overall, significant progress has been made in the expansion of educational provision, and the increase in net primary school enrollment is almost double the increase in population at the beginning of the 21st century^[11].

In order to counter the limited access to education in rural areas, the low quality of education, the gender gap and racism present in this sector, the Guatemalan government can take several measures. Firstly, an increase in funding could be requested, the government could allocate more resources to increase quality, increasing the presence of facilities in rural areas and ensuring more resources for students and teachers. Building facilities in rural areas would improve access to education for all its citizens, limiting the inequality between Landini and indigenous people.

However, this effort in this area should be complemented by major efforts to address poverty, gender inequality and violence. Addressing these issues is therefore crucial to improving the overall education system and creating a brighter future for the country’s children and youth. This effort will be necessary and will need the full cooperation of the government, civil society, and international partners.

References:

Guerra Morales N.M., Rivas A.L., (Septiembre 2019). XII Censo Nacional de Población y VII de Vivienda – Principales resultados censo 2018, Insituto Nacional de Estadística Guatemala.

INE Guatemala, (2016).“República de Guatemala: Encuesta Nacional de “Condiciones de Vida 2014. Tomo I”. Instituto Nacional de Estadística, República de Guatemala.

Mamo D., Berger D.N., Bulanin N., Alix L.G., Jensen W.M., (April 2022). The Indigenous World 2022, International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), 36th Edition.

Minority Rights Group International(MRG), (January 2018). World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. Guatemala and Maya.

Spross de Riviera V., and Abascal M., Guatemala: El efecto de las políticas públicas docentes, Inter-American Dialogue/CIEN, 2015).

United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), (2021). The Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas.

UNESCO-OREALC, Balance de los 20 años del Proyecto Principal de Educación en América Latina y el Caribe, Santiago de Chile, UNESCO, 2001.

World Bank, (2019). Guatemala Overview 2019.

^[1] INE Guatemala, (2016).“República de Guatemala: Encuesta Nacional de “Condiciones de Vida 2014. Tomo I”. Instituto Nacional de Estadística, República de Guatemala

^[2] Guerra Morales N.M., Rivas A.L., (septiembre 2019). XII Censo Nacional de Población y VII de Vivienda – Principales resultados censo 2018, Insituto Nacional de Estadística Guatemala, pp. 9-13

^[3] United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), (2021). The Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas, pp. 20-30.

^[4] Minority Rights Group International (MRG), (January 2018). World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. Guatemala and Maya.

^[5] Mamo D., Berger D.N., Bulanin N., Alix L.G., Jensen W.M., (April 2022). The Indigenous World 2022, International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), 36th Edition, pp. 402-411.

^[6] World Bank, (2019). Guatemala Overview 2019.

^[7] World Bank, (2019). Guatemala Overview 2019.

^[8] Guerra Morales N.M., Rivas A.L., (septiembre 2019). XII Censo Nacional de Población y VII de Vivienda – Principales resultados censo 2018, Insituto Nacional de Estadística Guatemala, pp. 13.

^[9] Spross de Riviera V., and Abascal M., Guatemala: El efecto de las políticas públicas docentes, Inter-American Dialogue/CIEN, 2015).

^[10] Spross de Riviera V., and Abascal M., Guatemala: El efecto de las políticas públicas docentes, Inter-American Dialogue/CIEN, 2015).

^[11] UNESCO-OREALC, Balance de los 20 años del Proyecto Principal de Educación en América Latina y el Caribe, Santiago de Chile, UNESCO, 2001.

access to education by Chiara Tomatis Educational Challenges Guatemala Indigenous language barriers multicultural poverty

Educational Challenges in the Republic of Haiti

Written by Alexandra Drugescu-Radulescu

The situation in Haiti conveys the systematic and deep-rooted relationship between colonialism and the development of a state. Haiti is considered the poorest state in the western hemisphere, a fact which has a tremendous impact on access to education. The lack of economic development can be traced back to Haiti’s colonial times. The former French Colony liberated itself from its empire in 1791, being the first state to achieve independence from a modern colonial power. Regardless, the Republic of Haiti was forced after achieving its independence to pay the French state for war compensation, leading to a national debt that was finally paid in 1947^[1]. Given the newly established state’s focus on paying its former colonizer, power imbalances remained alive, leading to an inability to further itself economically. Neocolonial patterns are still prevalent in today’s Haitian society, particularly relevant being the educational system created based on the French model.

Haiti’s history of slavery and revolution can explain the lacking mechanisms in the educational system. An outstanding number of the population lives below the poverty line (60%),^[2] leading to the inability of a plethora of families to support their child’s education. Furthermore, the Haitian state lacks the necessary financial means to create appropriate educational infrastructure, such as employing staff and building institutions. The absence of resources led to mass privatization of the educational sector, with 85% of schools being private^[3], funded by public figures, NGOs, and various corporations. Privatization further hinders access to education, given that most families cannot afford tuition fees. In the following article, I will further expand on the challenges children face in the Republic of Haiti, trying to unravel the main causes of said issues.

According to the Haitian Constitution, education is free and mandatory. The educational system is divided into the following stages^[4]:

Primary (6-12 year-olds)
Lower Secondary (12-15 year-olds)
Secondary (15-18 year-olds)

Poverty

Haitian children. Photo by Alex Proimos.

8 August 2012, 01:26; Source Flickr; Author Alex Proimos from Sydney, Australia

The dire economic situation in Haiti leads to two main issues: the government does not have enough funding to invest in infrastructure, and a majority of families cannot afford to keep their children in school, especially given that most educational institutions operate in the private sphere.

According to UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell’s declaration last month, half of Haiti’s population needs humanitarian assistance, including three million children^[5]. Such assistance is needed in order to decrease the rate of food insecurity in the country, as well as to protect vulnerable categories, including children, in areas controlled by armed groups^[6]. Almost a quarter of Haitian children suffer from malnourishment^[7], a factor that strongly influences their ability to grow harmoniously and finish their education. Catherine Russell states that the present situation of Haiti represents a mix of political turmoil, effects of natural disasters, and various health care crises, including the most recent cholera outbreak^[8]. Due to the ongoing food insecurity in the country, education remains low on the priorities list, with families doing their best to help their youngsters to survive.

The lack of educational facilities represents another repercussion of the dire economic situation in Haiti. Haiti ranks 177th out of 186 in the world for government spending on education^[9], and at the moment, it does not have a plan for increasing the budget for education. The issue further increased by various natural disasters, such as the 2010 earthquake, that destroyed the infrastructure of a significant number of schools in the past.

Privatization of education and enrollment rates

Students from “République du Chili”, a school in Haiti. Photo by One Laptop per Child.

Education in Haiti is primarily private, with only 15% of schools being state-funded^[10].

This comes as a surprise, given that the right to free education has been inscribed ever since the first Haitian constitution. Regardless of how small they are, the enrolment fees represent an impediment for many families trying to provide their children with the necessary education. On average, each family pays around 130 USD^[11] per year to keep a single child in school, a sum that can represent a financial burden given that Haiti’s gross national income per capita was 1610 USD in 2022^[12]. The average fertility rate is almost three children per woman^[13], a fact that further hinders the capacity of parents to pay enrolment fees to private institutions. Furthermore, the education system relies on donations from various agencies, some of the most relevant being the World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, and the Caribbean Development Bank.

The Haitian government implemented a system of wavering tuition fees for students living in poverty, with funds being given to schools through state subsidies. Unfortunately, despite high hopes of reaching all children in public schools and around 70% of children in private institutions, the program stopped financing 1st and 2nd graders in 2015.^[14]

Unfortunately, attendance rates are relatively low, especially after primary school, a phenomenon that could result from tuition fees. According to UNESCO, the primary school attendance rate is 86%, decreasing significantly to 28% for lower secondary schools and 21% for upper secondary schools^[15]. Even more concerning is that the rate of compilation of primary school is only 54%^[16]. The above data result in a dangerously low literacy rate, with only 60.7% of the population being able to read and write.^[17] This decreases people’s ability to get employed and escape an ongoing cycle of poverty.

Therefore, access to education is constrained by the financial means of the families of the province. This is an actual impediment to ensuring that every child has the right to free education, a fact proven by the low completion rates in all stages of schooling. This is unfortunate, given that education represents one of the only ways the government can increase citizens’ living standards by ensuring that every child has an increased chance of escaping a vicious cycle of poverty caused by hundreds of years of colonial and neo-colonial ties and practices.

Impact of Natural Disasters (e.g. 2010 Earthquake)

A poor neighbourhood shows the damage after an earthquake measuring 7 plus on the Richter scale rocked Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on 2010. Photo by UN Photo/Logan Abassi United Nations Development Programme

Haiti is geographically located in an area prone to hydro-meteorological and geophysical hazards, which can have a catastrophic impact on infrastructure of all kinds. This is particularly dangerous given the lack of state funds to potentially repair the damage provoked by natural disasters.

The state of schools became even more precarious once a massive earthquake in 2010 took place, with 82% of schools, public and private, in the affected regions being damaged or destroyed^[18]. To put things into perspective, the event was considered at the time the most significant national disaster registered in the Western Hemisphere^[19], its repercussions are being felt to this day. Haiti received a significant amount of international assistance, with the international community donating almost 10 billion US $ for rebuilding^[20], along with a massive influx of NGOs involved in various domains, from education to fair governance.

A similar scenario occurred in August of 2021, when a magnitude of 7.2 earthquake affected roughly 340,000 and destroyed or damaged 1250 schools, according to UNICEF data.^[21] What is even more worrisome is that six months after the catastrophe, 4 out of 5 damaged schools were not rebuilt^[22]. This led to two scenarios: either children were forced to study in spaces that endangered their health and physical well-being, in buildings not entirely safe for use, or they had to put their studies on hold until the rebuilding of their educational institution. Regardless of the scenario, children were discouraged from continuing their studies, even more so than by the ever-present tuition fees.

As presented above, the educational system is lacking in many areas, leading to a dangerous situation for the development of many children in the Caribbean state. The reality of Haiti is a complex one; the colonial past of the country still has a significant impact on the level of development of the country. There is no fixed solution for today’s issues in Haitian society, but acknowledging the influence of colonialism represents a first step towards creating a more targeted action plan for Haiti. As presented above, the educational system is lacking in many areas, leading to a dangerous situation for the development of many children in the Caribbean state.

References

10 Years of School Reconstruction in Haiti: What Did We Achieve? (2022, January 20). Enfoque Educación. https://blogs.iadb.org/educacion/en/aid/
caldesign. (2015). Facts About Haiti – Schools for Haiti. Schools for Haiti. https://schoolsforhaiti.com/facts-about-haiti/
countrymeters.info. (2019). Live Haiti population (2019) — Countrymeters. Countrymeters.info. https://countrymeters.info/en/Haiti
Dropping out of school: An unwelcomed trend in Haiti. (2020, October 26). IIEP-UNESCO. https://www.iiep.unesco.org/en/dropping-out-school-unwelcomed-trend-haiti-13528
Haiti (HTI) – Demographics, Health & Infant Mortality. (n.d.). UNICEF DATA. Retrieved July 24, 2023, from https://data.unicef.org/country/hti/#education
Haiti – fertility rate 2019. (n.d.). Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/576437/fertility-rate-in-haiti/
Haiti | FINANCING FOR EQUITY | Education Profiles. (n.d.). Education-Profiles.org. Retrieved July 24, 2023, from https://education-profiles.org/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/haiti/~financing-for-equity
Haiti Education System. (n.d.). www.scholaro.com. https://www.scholaro.com/db/countries/Haiti/Education-System
Haiti: Six months after the earthquake, more than 4 out of 5 schools destroyed or damaged are yet to be rebuilt. (2022, February 14). www.unicef.org. https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/haiti-six-months-after-earthquake-more-4-out-5-schools-destroyed-or-damaged-are-yet
Humanitarian Action for Children Haiti TO BE REACHED 2.7 million people 7. (2019). https://www.unicef.org/media/132191/file/2023-HAC-Haiti.pdf
Kwok, T. C. (2016, March 11). Continued Challenges in Rebuilding Haiti. E-International Relations. http://www.e-ir.info/2016/03/11/continued-challenges-in-rebuilding-haiti/
National income per capita Haiti 2019. (n.d.). Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1070168/gross-national-income-per-capita-haiti/
Rosalsky, G. (2021, October 5). “The Greatest Heist In History”: How Haiti Was Forced To Pay Reparations For Freedom. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2021/10/05/1042518732/-the-greatest-heist-in-history-how-haiti-was-forced-to-pay-reparations-for-freed
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell’s remarks at the ECOSOC Special Session on Haiti – “Saving Lives: Addressing the urgent food security needs of Haiti.” (n.d.). Www.unicef.org. Retrieved July 24, 2023, from https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-executive-director-catherine-russells-remarks-ecosoc-special-session-haiti

^[1] https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2021/10/05/1042518732/-the-greatest-heist-in-history-how-haiti-was-forced-to-pay-reparations-for-freed

^[2] https://www.unicef.org/media/132191/file/2023-HAC-Haiti.pdf

^[3] https://www.iiep.unesco.org/en/dropping-out-school-unwelcomed-trend-haiti-13528

^[4] https://www.scholaro.com/db/countries/Haiti/Education-system

^[5] https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-executive-director-catherine-russells-remarks-ecosoc-special-session-haiti

^[6] https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-executive-director-catherine-russells-remarks-ecosoc-special-session-haiti

^[7] https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-executive-director-catherine-russells-remarks-ecosoc-special-session-haiti

^[8] https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-executive-director-catherine-russells-remarks-ecosoc-special-session-haiti

^[9] https://schoolsforhaiti.com/facts-about-haiti/

^[10] https://www.iiep.unesco.org/en/dropping-out-school-unwelcomed-trend-haiti-13528

^[11] https://education-profiles.org/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/haiti/~financing-for-equity

^[12] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1070168/gross-national-income-per-capita-haiti/

^[13] https://www.statista.com/statistics/576437/fertility-rate-in-haiti/

^[14] https://education-profiles.org/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/haiti/~financing-for-equity

^[15] https://data.unicef.org/country/hti/#education

^[16] https://data.unicef.org/country/hti/#education

^[17] https://countrymeters.info/en/Haiti

^[18] https://blogs.iadb.org/educacion/en/aid/

^[19] http://www.e-ir.info/2016/03/11/continued-challenges-in-rebuilding-haiti/

^[20] http://www.e-ir.info/2016/03/11/continued-challenges-in-rebuilding-haiti/

^[21] https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/haiti-six-months-after-earthquake-more-4-out-5-schools-destroyed-or-damaged-are-yet

^[22] https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/haiti-six-months-after-earthquake-more-4-out-5-schools-destroyed-or-damaged-are-yet

earthquake Educational Challenges enrollment Haiti natural disasters poverty privatization

Educational Challenges in the Philippines

Written by Niyang Bai

The Philippines, a developing country in Southeast Asia with a population of over 100 million people, has a long history of colonization, with Spain being the first colonial power to arrive in the country in 1521. The Spanish colonial period lasted for over 300 years, during which the country’s education system was heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. The Spanish government established schools that primarily catered to the Spanish elite, and education was mainly focused on religious instruction.

After the Spanish-American War in 1898, the Philippines was ceded to the United States. The American colonial period brought significant changes to the country’s education system, with the government introducing a public school system that aimed to provide education to all Filipinos. The American government established public schools that followed an English-language curriculum, which aimed to prepare Filipinos for the workforce and eventually lead to their assimilation into American society.

The Philippine education system underwent further changes after the country gained independence in 1946. The government implemented reforms that aimed to make education accessible to all Filipinos, regardless of their socioeconomic status. The 1987 Philippine Constitution states that “the State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.”

Despite efforts to make education a key priority in the country since independence in 1946, the Philippine education system continues to face significant challenges that prevent many Filipinos from accessing education.

Ongoing class of Teacher Mercedita Guese at Lawang Bato Elementary School with her students using notebooks provided by the city government and worktexts developed by Department of Education, local school board and Synergeia Foundation. Photo by Congwingatchalian

Poverty

Poverty has long been a pervasive and intractable challenge in the Philippines, and education remains one of the most critical casualties of this social malady. The Philippine Statistics Authority has reported that approximately 16.7 million Filipinos live below the poverty line, with many of them struggling to make ends meet on a daily basis. Consequently, education becomes an unaffordable luxury for many families, especially those living in the most impoverished communities. The inability to send their children to school forces them to work instead, perpetuating the cycle of poverty for generations.

In recent years, the Philippine government has launched several initiatives aimed at addressing the problem of poverty and its impact on education. One such program is the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), which provides cash transfers to poor families to help them meet their basic needs, including education expenses such as school supplies, uniforms, and transportation costs. The program has been successful in increasing school enrollment and reducing dropout rates in poor communities across the country.

The 4Ps program has been the subject of much research, and several studies have shown its effectiveness in improving access to education for impoverished families. For instance, a study by Montilla et.al. (2019) found that the program had a positive impact on school participation, with a significant increase in the number of children enrolled in school. The study also noted that the program had helped to reduce dropout rates, particularly among girls.

Another study by Howlett et.al. (2018) looked at the impact of the 4Ps program on the education outcomes of children living in poor communities. The study found that the program had a positive effect on both school enrollment and attendance, with children from beneficiary households having higher rates of school attendance than their counterparts from non-beneficiary households. The study also showed that the program had a significant impact on children’s nutritional status, as it helped families to afford healthier food options.

Despite the success of the 4Ps program, however, some experts argue that cash transfers alone are not enough to address the root causes of poverty. They emphasize the need for more comprehensive poverty reduction strategies, such as creating more job opportunities and improving social services. According to a study by Ibon Foundation (2019), poverty reduction in the Philippines requires a multi-dimensional approach that includes investment in education, healthcare, and social services, as well as policies that support job creation and income growth.

One example of a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy is the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), which is implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The SLP aims to provide sustainable livelihood opportunities to poor households, enabling them to increase their income and improve their standard of living. The program offers various forms of assistance, including skills training, micro-enterprise development, and access to credit facilities.

A study by the International Labor Organization (ILO) (2018) found that the SLP had a positive impact on poverty reduction and employment creation in the Philippines. The study noted that the program had helped to increase household income, improve food security, and reduce the incidence of child labor in beneficiary households. The study also highlighted the importance of partnership between the government and the private sector in creating sustainable livelihood opportunities.

Combined with the above, it is easy to see that poverty remains a major obstacle to education in the Philippines, with millions of families struggling to afford basic necessities, let alone the cost of education. While cash transfer programs such as the 4Ps have proven effective in increasing school enrollment and reducing dropout rates, they are not enough to address the root causes of poverty. To achieve sustainable poverty reduction, a more comprehensive approach is needed, which includes strategies to create more job opportunities, improve social services, and support education and skills development. By addressing poverty in a multi-dimensional manner, the country can ensure that all its citizens have equal an equal right to education.

Ongoing armed conflicts

The ongoing armed conflict in some parts of the Philippines has created many challenges in the education sector. In particular, the situation has greatly impacted the lives of many children, making it difficult for them to continue their studies. With schools being forced to close and students being displaced, the government has recognized the need for alternative education systems that can provide access to education to those who have been affected by the conflict.

One of the measures implemented by the government to address this issue is the Alternative Learning System (ALS). The ALS is a non-formal education system designed to provide basic education and skills training to out-of-school youth and adults who have not completed their primary or secondary education. The program is designed to reach marginalized communities, including those affected by armed conflict, who may not have access to traditional formal education.

The ALS program has been successful in providing educational opportunities to those who have been affected by the armed conflict. For example, in 2021, the ALS program reached over 900,000 learners, providing them with access to basic education and skills training. Furthermore, the program has also been successful in improving the literacy rate in the Philippines, particularly in areas affected by the conflict.

One of the reasons why the ALS program has been successful is that it has been able to adapt to the unique challenges faced by learners in conflict-affected areas. For example, the program has developed modules that are designed to be delivered in a modular format, making it easier for learners to access education even if they have to relocate due to conflict.

In addition to the ALS program, there are also other initiatives that have been implemented to address the education challenges faced by those affected by the armed conflict in the Philippines. For example, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has implemented a program that aims to improve access to quality education for children affected by the conflict. This program includes initiatives such as providing temporary learning spaces, training teachers, and providing learning materials to students.

The UNICEF program has been successful in improving access to education for children affected by the conflict. For example, in 2021, the program provided temporary learning spaces to over 18,000 learners, enabling them to continue their studies despite the conflict.

Moreover, international organizations such as the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and the World Bank have also recognized the importance of education in conflict-affected areas. These organizations have provided funding for education programs in the Philippines, enabling the government to improve access to education and skills training for those affected by the conflict.

For instance, the GPE provided a grant of $20.9 million to the Philippines in 2019 to support the implementation of its education sector plan. The grant aims to improve access to quality education for all, including those affected by the conflict.

Additionally, the World Bank has also provided funding to support the education sector in the Philippines. In 2020, the World Bank approved a $300 million loan to support the government’s efforts to improve the quality of education and increase access to education for all, including those affected by the conflict.

In conclusion, the armed conflict in some parts of the Philippines has greatly impacted the education sector, making it challenging for children to continue their studies. The government has implemented the Alternative Learning System, which provides non-formal education to out-of-school youth, including those affected by armed conflict. The ALS program aims to provide marginalized communities with access to education and skills training, helping them to rebuild their lives and communities. Additionally, international organizations such as UNICEF, GPE, and the World Bank have also recognized the importance of education in conflict-affected areas and have provided funding to support education programs in the Philippines. These initiatives are critical in providing educational opportunities to those affected by the conflict, enabling them to rebuild their lives and communities.

Children in school uniforms attend a class. Photo by Ron Lach.

Lack of resources and infrastructure

Another important issue facing the education system in the Philippines is the lack of resources and infrastructure in many schools, especially in rural areas. This challenge is widespread and affects a significant number of schools in the country.

According to a report by the Department of Education, around 5,000 schools in the Philippines have no access to electricity, while 10,000 have no access to potable water. This lack of basic amenities puts students and teachers at a significant disadvantage, affecting the quality of education they receive. In addition, many schools lack adequate classrooms, textbooks, and teaching materials, making it challenging for students to learn effectively. This challenge is not only limited to rural areas but is also present in urban areas.

The lack of resources and infrastructure in schools affects the quality of education that students receive. Without proper facilities, students may not be able to attend classes regularly, or they may be distracted by external factors, making it difficult for them to concentrate on their studies. The lack of textbooks and teaching materials also hinders the learning process, as students may not have access to the necessary information to understand the concepts taught in class.

To address this issue, the Philippine government has invested in infrastructure projects to improve schools’ facilities. For example, the government has constructed classrooms, provided electricity, and installed water systems in schools that lacked these amenities. In addition, the Department of Education has implemented the K-12 program, which aims to provide students with a quality education that is globally competitive. The program includes initiatives such as the provision of free textbooks, school facilities, and teacher training.

In recent years, the government has also implemented several programs aimed at improving access to education in remote areas. The above-mentioned Alternative Learning System (ALS), aiming to provide basic literacy and numeracy skills, as well as functional and life skills to its learners, for example, provides non-formal education to out-of-school youths and adults who cannot attend formal schooling. This program is vital in ensuring that every Filipino has access to basic education.

However, despite these efforts, some experts argue that the government’s efforts are insufficient to address the scale of the problem. They highlight the need for greater investment in education, particularly in rural areas, to ensure that every child has access to quality education. According to a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), there is a strong correlation between education and poverty reduction. The study found that increasing access to education can lead to better employment opportunities and higher income levels, ultimately leading to poverty reduction.

Moreover, the lack of resources and infrastructure in schools is not only limited to the Philippines but is also a common problem in other developing countries. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 30 million children of primary school age are not in school, and many of those in school face similar challenges to those faced by students in the Philippines. These challenges include lack of access to basic amenities such as electricity, water, and adequate classrooms.

To conclude, the lack of resources and infrastructure in schools is a significant challenge facing education in the Philippines, particularly in rural areas. While the government has implemented several initiatives to address this issue, there is still a need for greater investment in education to ensure that every child has access to quality education. Providing access to education is vital in ensuring that every Filipino has the opportunity to reach their full potential and contribute to the development of the country.

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly brought numerous challenges to the education system of the Philippines, affecting not only students but also teachers, parents, and educational institutions. In March 2020, the Philippine government ordered the closure of schools to curb the spread of the virus. As a result, millions of students had to shift to online or distance learning, which was a struggle for those without access to technology or reliable internet connection.

One of the major issues that the pandemic has exposed is the digital divide. The digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to digital technologies and those who do not. In the context of education, the digital divide means that students who lack access to technology and the internet are at a disadvantage compared to those who have them. According to a survey conducted by the Department of Education in July 2020, only 64% of the students who responded had access to a smartphone, while 55% had access to a laptop or desktop computer. This means that a significant portion of the student population is left out of the digital learning experience.

To address the digital divide and the challenges posed by the pandemic, the Department of Education has implemented various distance learning programs. One of these is DepEd TV, a program that provides televised lessons to students in grades 1 to 10. DepEd TV was launched in October 2020 and is aired on free-to-air television channels. The program aims to provide alternative modes of learning for students who do not have access to the internet or digital devices. The lessons cover various subjects, such as English, Math, Science, and Filipino.

Another program that the Department of Education has implemented is DepEd Commons, an online platform that provides free access to digital resources for teachers and students. The platform contains thousands of learning materials, such as lesson plans, videos, and quizzes. Teachers can use the platform to create their own digital lessons, while students can access the materials to supplement their learning. DepEd Commons was launched in 2019 but gained more significance during the pandemic when traditional classroom teaching became challenging.

Apart from these initiatives, the government has also partnered with telecommunication companies to provide free internet access to public school teachers and students. In May 2020, the Department of Education signed a memorandum of agreement with Globe Telecom and Smart Communications to provide free internet access to public school teachers and students until the end of the year. The initiative aimed to ensure that teachers and students have access to online resources and can participate in online classes.

While these initiatives are commendable, some experts argue that the government’s response to the pandemic has been inadequate, particularly in addressing the needs of marginalized communities. According to a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, only 14% of students in the poorest households have access to a computer or tablet, while 16% have access to the internet. The study also found that only 27% of students in rural areas have access to the internet, compared to 47% in urban areas. This shows that students from marginalized communities are at a greater disadvantage when it comes to online learning.

To address this issue, experts suggest that the government should provide laptops and tablets to students who lack access to technology. The Department of Education has recognized this need and has launched a laptop and tablet program for public school teachers and non-teaching personnel. Under the program, the government will provide laptops and tablets to eligible teachers and non-teaching personnel to support their work in distance learning. However, some argue that the program should be expanded to include students who lack access to technology.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the digital divide in the Philippine education system, with many students lacking access to technology and the internet. The government has implemented various initiatives, such as DepEd TV and DepEd Commons, but experts suggest that more needs to be done, particularly for marginalized communities. Providing laptops and tablets to students without access to technology is a crucial step towards creating a more equitable and inclusive learning environment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the challenges facing the education sector in the Philippines are complex and multifaceted, ranging from poverty to armed conflict, lack of resources and infrastructure, and the digital divide. Addressing these challenges will require a comprehensive and multi-dimensional approach, including strategies to create more job opportunities, improve social services, and support education and skills development, as well as providing alternative learning opportunities in conflict-affected areas and investing in education infrastructure. Bridging the digital divide is also essential, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. By ensuring that all Filipinos have equal access to education, the country can unlock the full potential of its people and contribute to sustainable development. The government, supported by international organizations and the private sector, must continue to prioritize education and invest in its future.

References

Montilla, M. M., Delavin, E. A., Villanueva, R. M., & Turco, R. A. (2015). Pantawid pamilyang Pilipino program (4Ps): Assistance to pupil’s education. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Arts, and Sciences, 2 (3), 1-5.

Howlett, M., Ramesh, M., & Saguin, K. (2018). Diffusion of CCTs from Latin America to Asia: the Philippine 4Ps case. Revista de Administração Pública, 52, 264-284.

Diokno, M. S. I. (2021). Learning in a Time of Pandemic. COVID-19: EveryWoman’s Feminist Response and Recovery Plan, 67.

Bayod, R., & Bayod, C. (2020). Laying the groundworks for education of children in the new normal: The case of DepEd Southern Mindanao. Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics, 30(8), 443-449.

Toquero, C. M. (2020). Challenges and opportunities for higher education amid the COVID-19 pandemic: The Philippine context. Pedagogical Research, 5(4).

Orleans, A. V. (2007). The condition of secondary school physics education in the Philippines: Recent developments and remaining challenges for substantive improvements. The Australian educational researcher, 34(1), 33-54.

Barrot, J. S., Llenares, I. I., & Del Rosario, L. S. (2021). Students’ online learning challenges during the pandemic and how they cope with them: The case of the Philippines. Education and information technologies, 26(6), 7321-7338.

armed conflict Covid-19 Educational Challenges infraestructure Philippines poverty reforms resources

Education Challenges in Malaysia: Low Quality of Education in a Rising Economy

Written by Müge Çınar

The Country Profile

Malaysia, which gained independence in 1957 from British rule, has successfully transitioned its economy from an agriculture-based economy to robust manufacturing and service sectors. This economic diversification pushed the country to become a leading exporter of electrical appliance parts and components (World Bank, 2022).

During the last two decades, this culturally diverse country has become an upper-middle-income country. The growth in poverty reduction has been made, with income poverty falling from 50 percent in the 1970s to 0.4 percent in 2016 (UNICEF, 2022). Since 2010, it has grown at a 5.4 percent annual rate, and it is predicted to move from an upper middle-income economy to a high-income economy by 2024 (World Bank, 2022).

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge negative impact on Malaysia, mostly on vulnerable households. Following the revision of the official poverty line in July 2020, 5.6% of Malaysian households now live in absolute poverty (UNICEF, 2022). The pandemic caused issues that directly affected adolescents, children, and women in many ways.

Group of school children. Photo by Kamusal Alan.

Education System in Malaysia

According to the national education system, six-year education is required to start after children reach the age of six. Public schools offer 11 years of free primary and secondary education. Early childhood education (ECE) is not mandatory in Malaysia; however, preschool is accessible to children aged 4 and up. According to the Ministry of Education’s 2017 Annual Report, national preschool enrollment for children aged 4 and up was 84.3 percent (Ministry of Education of Malaysia, 2018).

Enrollment in primary and secondary education in Malaysia is generally high, with enrollment increasing at every grade level since 2013. Secondary enrollment is lower than primary enrollment, and enrollment decreases by 10 percent between the lower and upper secondary levels. A variety of governmental, private, international, and religious institutions provide higher education (Ministry of Education of Malaysia, 2018).

The Education 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 allocates at least 4 percent of GDP and 15 percent of national expenditure on public services to education (UNESCO, 2022). Government education spending accounted for 4.77 percent of GDP and 21 percent of total government spending in 2017. According to recent data, Malaysia has been reducing its education expenditure from 2011 by 5.8 percent to 2020 by 3.9 percent (World Bank Data, 2023). This is the highest of any ASEAN country. Education spending is also the Malaysian government’s largest single expenditure.

Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013–2025 outlines five aims that motivate Malaysia’s educational system: access, quality, fairness, unity, and efficiency. To realize the objective of Education for All, full access to education and the closing of achievement disparities for equity must be met. The Ministry is committed to increasing primary school enrollment and decreasing dropout rates in distant areas (Abu Bakar, 2022).

To achieve these two educational goals of “access” and “equity”, the government has provided additional support and programs over the years, including a financial assistance program, a program for Special Education Needs, and a special program for the Orang Asli communities. The Ministry of Education (MOE) has also incorporated ICT in the classroom to improve teaching and learning. Despite government improvements, many challenges impede the success of Malaysian education.

Main Problems in Education in Malaysia

Quality of Education

Education quality is a huge concern, with almost 60 percent of 15-year-old Malaysian students failing to meet minimum competence standards (Anderson & Barrett, 2020). Although improvements have been made during the last few years, Malaysian students are still under performing compared to international averages.

In the most recent PISA testing (2018), 54 percent of Malaysian students achieved minimum proficiency in reading, 59 percent in math, and 63 percent in science, compared to the OECD average of 77 percent (reading), 76 percent (math), and 78 percent (science) (OECD, 2019). This shows that the high amount of government spending on education may not be allocated to factors that have the biggest impact on learning outcomes.

Poor teacher quality is another barrier to quality and learning outcomes: 93 percent of those applying for a Bachelor of Education and 70 percent of those offered a place in the program did not have the necessary qualifications, and only 3 percent of offers were made to applicants considered high performers (UNICEF Malaysia, 2019). And also, a lack of autonomy in schools is a challenge. Researchers found that rigidity in curriculum and delivery hampered quality learning, and the high degree of centralization in the education system was also found to have hampered the efficient production and distribution of education services (Anderson & Barrett, 2020).

As mentioned before, the government’s spending on education is very high compared to the region. However, the amount of money granted to each school is determined by the number of students enrolled in the current school year, not by the school’s needs or the socioeconomic status of the students (Abu Bakar, 2022). This causes schools with fewer students in rural areas to get less financial support. Therefore, the discrimination against rural areas students are made to reach resources to get a better education.

Compared to students in larger cities, most parents in rural areas have lower incomes. They are unable to give their children the facilities and resources they require for academic success. The gap in quality education is realized between urban and rural areas of the country. As a result, the students’ achievements in urban areas are higher. This issue creates a gap in establishing educational equity between urban and rural schools.

Another weak point that divides rural and urban education quality is the lack of internet connectivity to support e-learning. Inadequate connectivity and device limits have been identified as significant problems in adopting teaching and learning in rural areas.

The most criticized issue when it comes to the quality of education in the country is the syllabus. It is discussed among educators that the learning syllabus for primary and secondary schools is too high-level and illogical for students. The high number of students per classroom, the number of subjects, and heavy school bags are threats to the health of the children. Heavy subjects in the study plan create a burden rather than joy for learning students and drop their success rates (The Malaysian Reserve, 2022).

Young woman graduating. Photo by PickPik.

Access to Education and Gender Gap

Most children get 11 years of education in Malaysia; however, there is an important number of out-of-school children. Secondary school students are at more risk of dropping out than younger children in primary school. According to the Ministry of Education, the following factors contribute to children dropping out: lack of parental participation; poverty; low motivation; and low academic proficiency (Ministry of Education of Malaysia, 2018).

The most vulnerable ones to access education are children with disabilities and refugee children. 1 in 3 disabled children is out of school. Children with special education needs (SEN) are defined as children with visual, hearing, speech, and physical disabilities, learning disabilities, or any combination of disabilities and difficulties under the Education (Special Education) Regulations 2013, which apply to government and government-aided schools (Yan-Li & Sofian, 2018). Notably, children with mental health or behavioral difficulties do not appear to be included in this classification.

Lack of access to education and dropout differ by gender at every level of education. The gender gap is even more prominent in secondary school, where 7.5 percent of male students are at risk of dropping out compared to 3.7 percent of female students (Rosati, 2022). Male students are under pressure to drop out, likely for different reasons. Poor upper-secondary school-aged boys are sometimes pressured to drop out and enter the labor force to support their family’s finances.

The gross enrollment rate at secondary school was 88.4 percent for girls and 84.1 percent for boys in 2017. The participation in higher education of boys is also lower than that of girls. The enrollment of females and males in tertiary education was 45.5 percent and 38.7 percent, respectively (Anderson & Barrett, 2020). When females enter the labor force, any advantage they have regarding school access and learning results is lost.

In the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Malaysian girls scored higher in math than boys by seven score points, which is a higher difference than the OECD average. Among the high-scored students, two in five boys reported expecting to be an engineer or a science professional, while one in seven girls reported expecting the same career (OECD, 2019). It is realized that even though girls are good at math and science in the national exams, gender roles and social norms make girls fall behind when it comes to choosing a profession.

Despite the government’s focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, female students do not choose these subjects during university. Gender streaming in university education has been linked to teaching and learning materials used in secondary schools that do not empower girls to study male topics. The social norms tend to overrepresent females as teachers or maids regarding careers (Asadullah, 2020).

Child marriage is another obstacle for women to continue their education. While a person is recognized as a child until the age of 18 according to universal treaties, marriage at the age of 16 to 18 is legal with a license in Malaysia. In this case, girls will most likely drop out of school. The Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development (MWFCD) has developed a National Strategy and Action Plan to End Child Marriage in 2019, although state-level opposition to a complete prohibition persists. Although Malaysia has implemented several measures to assist comprehensive sex education (CSE), their impact has been restricted by insufficient teacher training and the few hours dedicated to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) within the school curriculum (UNICEF, 2019).

Disadvantages of Refugee Children

Refugee children are denied access to the formal education system; therefore, they access education via an informal parallel system of community-based learning centers. The main reason behind this is that all refugees are considered illegal in the country. The lack of legal work for refugees in the country prevents refugee families from earning sufficient income to provide for their children’s basic needs. Moreover, poverty and desperation lead families to allow their children to go out and earn income. Most of the refugee children are forced to beg on the streets (UNHCR, 2022). If there had been a chance for refugees to work legally and support their families adequately, refugee children would have attended school.

According to the data given by UNCR; 44 percent of the refugee children aged 6 to 13 years enrolled in primary school, while this rate dropped drastically in secondary school to 16 percent. Of the 23,823 children that are of school-going age, only 30 percent are enrolled in community learning centers. Preprimary school attendance at the age of 3 to 5 is also only 14 percent. Learning centers are limited and not easily reachable by refugee children. In West Malaysia, there are only 133 learning centers for refugees (UNHCR, 2023).

The learning centers are mostly supported by UNCHR and non-governmental organizations. A most important contribution to non-formal education is made by Sekolah Komuniti Rohingya (SKR) and the United Arakan Institute Malaysia (UAIM) (Palik, 2020). These two community-based organizations are playing an important role for refugee children. Despite all these efforts, non-formal education is not valid for joining the labor force.

Malaysia is an important transit country for refugees. There are nearly 178,990 refugees and asylum seekers registered with UNCHR. 154,080 of them are from Myanmar, including 101,010 Rohingya. This shows the ethnic diversity of refugees coming from Myanmar to Malaysia. Rohingya refugees have been seeking to arrive in the country since the late 1990s. Unfortunately, there are neither refugee camps nor legal recognition of refugee status in Malaysia. Also, a total of 46,000 children refugees under the age of 18 have limited protection (Palik, 2020).

Birthright citizenship is also not provided, which makes refugee children more vulnerable to having a formal education and joining the workforce in their adult lives. Even if getting a formal education is impossible, Rohingya refugees tend to send their female children to non-formal education centers due to their cultural and religious beliefs. Most parents would rather expect girls to accomplish housework at home than attend mixed education with boys.

Myanmar is forcing people to flee, and people in danger are seeking safety in other countries. Malaysia’s deportation of Myanmar asylum-seekers continues, and the remaining refugees still need status to access basic human services. The principle of non-refoulment is very important in international law and is binding on all states.

At the same time, Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. Therefore, the country does not have a legal or administrative framework for managing refugees and has not set any mechanisms to protect and recognize asylum seekers and refugees in its territory.

Group of SMKBBA students and principal En Abdul Gaffar with Malaysian First Astronaut Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and Kapten Dr Faiz Khaleed. Photo by Wilson Liew.

Covid-19 Challenge

Due to the pandemic, education was disrupted, and the schools suffered from ongoing closings and reopenings. According to a UNICEF/UNFPA study of low-income urban families, 21% of children did not engage in any online learning during the Movement Control Period, while up to 45% failed to learn effectively due to limited access to electronic devices (UNICEF, 2020). Migrant children and children with disabilities were even less likely to have engaged in effective remote learning, and that put a significant risk of school dropouts and rising educational disparities among different groups.

Conclusion

Although Malaysia is a country with a growing economy, there are many aspects of the education sector that need improvement. The main problem in education in the country is that refugee children do not have the right to get a formal education. Without getting a formal education, refugee youngsters do not have a chance to enter the workforce. Also, the quality of education in the country has to be improved. The teacher has to be encouraged to get a higher and better education to be a better educator. The budget must be reallocated to eliminate the gap between urban and rural areas for equal education rights to be achieved. Despite the incentives made by the government in science, girls should be encouraged to enroll in engineering and science programs at university, since girls are better at math on exams. Social norms that put girls behind should be revised to build gender equality and a more qualified workforce for the future. Gender equality for boys is also assured by the government through the new campaigns. In this way, the school dropout rate for boys may be eliminated and girls’ success can be put forward. The growing economy of Malaysia mostly depends on its better-educated students entering the workforce.

References

Abu Bakar, A. Y. (2022). The Equal And Equitable Provision Of Primary School Education In Malaysia: Issues And Challenges. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 6(7), 2476-2485. https://journalppw.com/index.php/jpsp/article/view/11800/7639

Anderson, K., & Barrett, J. (2020, October 8). Situation Analysis of Adolescents in Malaysia. UNICEF. Retrieved July 1, 2023, from https://www.unicef.org/malaysia/media/1521/file/Situation%20Analysis%20of%20Adolescents%20in%20Malaysia.pdf

Asadullah, M. N. (2020, January). The Changing Status of Women in Malaysian Society.

The Malaysian Reserve. (2022, October 31). The education system needs urgent policy reform. Retrieved July 1, 2023, from https://themalaysianreserve.com/2022/10/31/education-system-needs-urgent-policy-reform/

Ministry of Education of Malaysia. (2018). 2017 Annual Report: Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025. https://www.padu.edu.my/annual_report/2017/

OECD. (2019, December 3). Results from PISA 2018: Malaysia (2019). Retrieved July 1, 2023, from https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/PISA2018_CN_MYS.pdf

Palik, J. (2020). Education for Rohingya Refugee Children in Malaysia – Peace Research Institute Oslo. PRIO Policy Brief. https://www.prio.org/publications/12325

Rosati, F. C. (2022). Can cash transfers reduce child labour? ZA World of Labor.

UNESCO. (2022). Education financing in Asia-Pacific. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000383745

UNHCR. (2022, January 7). UNHCR responds to child begging cases allegedly involving refugee children. UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/my/news/unhcr-responds-child-begging-cases-allegedly-involving-refugee-children

UNHCR. (2023). Education in Malaysia. UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/my/education-malaysia

UNICEF. (2019). Country Office Annual Report 2019 Malaysia. UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/media/90286/file/Malaysia-2019-COAR.pdf

UNICEF. (2020). Country Office Annual Report 2020: Malaysia.

UNICEF. (2022, December 1). Institutionalizing Social And Behavioural Change In Malaysia. Retrieved July 1, 2023, from https://www.unicef.org/malaysia/reports/institutionalizing-social-and-behavioural-change-malaysia

UNICEF Malaysia. (2019, September). U-Report Poll on “‘Views of Youth For A Better Malaysia”.

World Bank. (2022, 11 29). Overview: The World Bank in Malaysia. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malaysia/overview#1

World Bank Data. (2023). Government expenditure on education, total (% of GDP) – Malaysia-Data. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS?locations=MY

Yan-Li, S., & Sofian, S. (2018). A Preliminary Study on Leading Special Education in National Schools in Malaysia: Special Education Integrated Programme (SEI P). In The 5th National and 3rd International Conference on Education (NICE), 154-161.

(Country Office Annual Report 2022 Malaysia – 2700, 2023)

Closing gender gap Covid-19 Educational Challenges Malaysia poverty Quality of Education

Educational Challenges in Sierra Leone

Written by Luna A. Duran van Tijn

Introduction

Over the last few decades, Sierra Leone has faced numerous setbacks. Between 1991 and 2002, Sierra Leone was witness to the devastating Sierra Leone Civil War (Ozisik 2015). 1,270 elementary schools were destroyed and 67% of all school-age students were forced out of school in 2001 as a result (ibid). A decade later, in 2012, Ebola struck Sierra Leone, leading to the closure of schools for at least nine months (Son, 2016). The nation has now stabilized and is trying to realize its potential (O’Neill 2014: 44). However, around 70% of people in Sierra Leone continue to live in poverty. This has led many children to work rather than attend school (ibid). In this context, it does not help that there are supply and space shortages, high student-to-teacher ratios and the lack of qualification and training of teachers. Additionally, an educational environment that disproportionately affects girls due to young pregnancies, child marriage, gender-based violence and cultural biases respectively. This, among other confounding factors, has laid a foundation for serious setbacks in the Sierra Leonean educational system, such as low enrollment rates, poor educational standards, and a gendered education gap. These factors are explored in this article.

School in Sierra Leone. Photo by Rokaso.

Setting the scene

The educational system in Sierra Leone has three basic levels: primary, junior secondary and senior secondary (Ozisik 2015). Primary school consists of six years, until the age of twelve, which are free for all. Between the ages of twelve and fifteen students enroll in junior secondary schools (ibid). After that, for children aged between fifteen and eighteen, students enroll in senior secondary schools (ibid). At this level, students choose whether they wish to continue their academic education by proceeding to university or focusing on vocational training instead (ibid). Regarding the first, there are two options available to students in Sierra Leone who want to pursue higher education: Njala University and the University of Sierra Leone (ibid). For vocational education programmes, agriculture is the primary subject of study, followed by skills in mechanics, carpentry, and bricklaying (ibid).

Challenges and their causes

Low attendance rates

First, only about 6% of children attended pre-primary school in 2011, meaning very few children got the foundations for learning and education (O’Neill 2014: 48-50). The primary school enrollment rate is high for males, around 100%, although much lower for females, around 70% (ibid). However, the completion rate for primary school is only about 71% for females and 76% for males (ibid). After primary school enrollment the numbers decrease drastically. Secondary school enrollment is about one-third of that of primary school enrollment (ibid). Even worse, tertiary school enrollment is just a few per cent, with the highest percentage of enrollment being 3% for men and 1% for women (ibid). This incredibly low rate of young people continuing their education demonstrates that education in Sierra Leone is neither a top priority nor an objective that most people value (ibid). This data is from 2001, following the Civil War (ibid).

In Sierra Leone, many children drop out or do not attend school for several reasons. Although many factors influence the low enrollment and high dropout rates in Sierra Leone, such as “living situations (presence of parents), location, gender, religion, cost, teen pregnancy, and early marriage” the article “The Out-of-school Children of Sierra Leone” by UNICEF (2008) argues that the main reason for children not being in school is poverty (Coinco 2008: 4). Due to the pervasive poverty, 87% of Sierra Leonean children decide to work instead of attend school, stating that they would “rather work and get paid than sit in school and be hungry” (ibid). In many cases, children are forced to work rather than attend school (O’Neill 2014: 50). For many families, children are seen as another source of income and are forced into manual labour at a young age (ibid). In line with this, many kids cannot attend school because their families simply cannot afford it (idem: 50-51). Despite the government taking steps to decrease or eliminate costs connected with attending school, many schools still require payment for services (ibid). In fact, 37% of the families who pay for their kids’ education say they struggle to do so (ibid). These two factors demonstrate that many children’s inability to attend school is mostly a result of poverty.

Low-quality education

A “Report on Basic Education in Sierra Leone”, prepared by The Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) (2006), found several factors that threaten the quality of education in Sierra Leone (O’Neill 2014: 45-46). These include supply and space shortages, high teacher-pupil ratios and the lack of qualification and training of teachers (ibid).

The past educational system in Sierra Leone was not prepared for the rapid increase in enrollment of children that would occur after the end of the Civil War (idem: 51). Although this increase was a positive development, it also resulted in supply and space shortages that made class sizes too large and simultaneously created higher pupil to teacher ratios (ibid). Due to the shortage in supplies, it is not uncommon for multiple students to share a single book for instance (Ozisik 2015). Moreover, higher student-to-teacher ratio results in less individualized learning time with the teacher (O’Neill 2014: 52). Spending time with the teacher in-person can frequently be a crucial component of understanding and learning (ibid). Without as much one-on-one time, a student can fall behind or feel lost, which would make it more difficult for them to learn fundamental skills (ibid). Additionally, larger classrooms make it more difficult for the teacher to educate, especially if the students are all at various levels of understanding (ibid).

A high student-to-teacher ratio is made even worse when taken into consideration with the reality that many teachers lack the necessary training (ibid). Since there are so few qualified teachers available, many school systems are forced to hire unqualified instructors (ibid). In fact, more than 40% of primary school teachers are untrained (Ozisik 2015). Untrained teachers might not be delivering the right lessons, they might not know how to manage huge classes of kids, and they might not know how to adapt their teaching methods to fit diverse learning types (O’Neill 2014: 52). There is also a good likelihood that Sierra Leonean native teachers did not finish primary school or go on to intermediate or university education (ibid).

It is simple to understand why Sierra Leonean children decide to take different pathways than that of education when there are so many things working against them, from a lack of resources to the large student-to-teacher ratio and their presumable inexperience (ibid). These kids and their families must put enormous work into keeping children in school for so little in return (ibid).

Children learn and play at the UNICEF-Supported Child Friendly Space at Sierra Leone’s National Stadium. Photo by UNICEF Sierra Leone.

Gendered education gap

The educational environment that disproportionately affects girls is a prevalent and particularly relevant issue that continues to affect education in Sierra Leone. Despite improvements in their access to education, a lack of class completion, high dropout rates, and continually low secondary enrollment persist for girls. The cycle of gender inequity is fueled by young pregnancies, child marriage, gender-based violence and cultural biases.

Sierra Leone is responsible for one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the world, a phenomenon that is largely responsible for the high incidence of female dropouts (Ozisik 2015). In fact, the country’s education ministry has decidedly prohibited pregnant girls from attending school, under claims that they would be unable to perform well in class (Son 2016). The ministry argued that exposing pregnant girls to classmates would humiliate them and encourage others to become pregnant (ibid).

In Sierra Leone, girls frequently are married as young as age 11, and more than 60% of females nationwide are married before the age of 18 (Ozisik 2015). Early marriage makes it even more difficult for these females to pursue education and independence (ibid).

Furthermore, there is a strong gender disparity brought about by a strong bias that prioritizes male education and subverses that of girls (ibid). The reality is that girls in Sierra Leone are frequently instructed to stay home and take care of household chores while their brothers go to school (ibid). The general challenges articulated so far, namely supply and space shortages, high pupil-to-teacher ratios and the lack of qualification of teachers, have already made it challenging enough for all children to enroll in school (ibid). In an environment that has a dominant preference for boys’ education, the education of girls is made virtually impossible (ibid).

Conclusion

Overall, low enrollment rates, poor educational standards and a gendered education gap remain challenges for children trying to pursue quality education in Sierra Leone. These factors are compounded by problems ranging from poverty, to supply and space shortages, high student-to-teacher ratios and the lack of qualification and training of teachers, as well as young pregnancies, child marriage, gender-based violence and cultural biases.

Reference list

Ozisik, S. (2015). “Education in Sierra Leone”, The Borgen Project, https://borgenproject.org/education-sierra-leone/. Consulted on May 24th, 2023.

Son, P. (2016). “Education in Sierra Leone: Gender Inequality After Ebola”, The Borgen Project, https://borgenproject.org/education-in-sierra-leone-2/#:~:text=According%20to%20Business%20Insider%2C%20only,in%20Sierra%20Leone%27s%20education%20system. Consulted on May 24th, 2023.

O’Neill, R. (2014). Perpetuating a Vicious Cycle: The Causes and Effects of Poorly Educated Children in Sierra Leone. Global Majority E-Journal, 5(1): 44-56.

Coinco, E., Khatete, D. and Obdura, A. (2008). “The Out-of-school Children of Sierra Leone”, UNICEF, http://www.globalpartnership.org/media/library/Final_Out_of_School_Study_Sierra_Leo ne_012009.pdf. Consulted on May 24th, 2023.

UNICEF Sierra Leone (2022). “Education”, www.unicef.org/sierraleone/education. Consulted on May 24th, 2023.

access to education Educational Challenges gender disparity Girls Education poverty Sierra Leone

Challenges facing education system in Uganda

Writen by Ruth Lakica

Introduction

Education is a fundamental rights for all humans around the globe. Regardless of one’s economic or social status, every human being should be entitled to Education. Despite the fact that this might seem obvious, it is not the reality for many Ugandans. Nevertheless, the government has and is still making significant efforts to cub illiteracy. For instance, the government split the education system into pre-primary, primary, secondary and post secondary or tertiary education.

Uganda has made progress in implementing universal primary education, yet many students do not achieve minimum levels of literacy and numeracy. Low learning levels contribute to low completion rates and many students fail to transition between grades and dropout rates are high.

Alice Namweru, age 32, is a teacher trainee at Miyana Primary School & Early Childhood Development Center. Photo by: GPE/Livia Barton

Conflicts and insecurity

Nearly 40 pupils have been killed at a school in western Uganda by rebels linked to the Islamic State group (IS).

Five militants attacked the Lhubiriha secondary school in Mpondwe. Uganda’s information minister said 37 students were confirmed to have been killed, but did not give their ages. Twenty of them were attacked with machetes and 17 of them burned to death, Chris Baryomunsi told the BBC.

The Ugandan army said the rebels had also killed a school guard and three members of the local community.

Survivors said the rebels threw a bomb into the dormitory after the machete attack. It is not clear if this resulted in a fire in the building which was reported earlier.

Six students were also abducted to carry food that the rebels stole from the school’s stores, he added. The militants then returned across the border into the DR Congo.

Lack of enough teachers

The lack of teachers is yet another huge obstacle to education in the rural areas of Uganda. Actually, in rural areas, it can be extremely difficult to attract great teachers, and hiring, in general, most teachers prefers to teach in urban areas. The reason is, rural life is not suitable for everyone. Many services such as healthcare, banks and proper housing can be harder to obtain as well.

Destin at Kyanja high school Mpigi teaching climate education. Photo by: Atwijukirenaomi

Household poverty

Access to and completion of schooling is inequitable, with girls and children from the poorest families at highest risk of school dropout: According to UNICEF in 2020,the secondary level enrollment of the richest 20 per cent of the population (43.1 per cent) is five times that of the poorest 20 per cent (8.2 per cent). In geographical terms, the highest Secondary Net Enrollment is seen in Kampala (52 per cent) and lowest in Acholi (7 per cent). Costs associated with education account for 6 out of 10 people leaving school among the people from the poor household.

Among children that do attend school in Uganda, the absence of qualified teachers, textbooks, and low-quality school environment all adversely affect learning outcomes: most students in fifth grade in rural areas in Uganda are not able to master basic mathematics and reading skills.

Physical distance to learning centers

Physical distance is another huge problem children attaining education in mainly rural areas have go through. Schools are located kilometers away from their home stay where kids have to move for long hours to get to their school. Some fail to go to school because it’s far while others tend to drop out.

Impact of Covid-19

The school closures and the loss of household income, particularly in rural areas, restricted access to education for school-aged children. Many students abandoned school permanently due to their parent’s loss of income. young people needed to find ways to generate an income while schools were closed. This posed different challenges depending on gender or location.

Girls did not reintegrate back into schools, and were exposed to early marriage and pregnancies. Teenage pregnancy and early marriages Ahead of the 2020 Day of the African Child, Save the Children had a discussion with selected children on how COVID-19 was affecting them. This story from Wakiso District sums it up. “A girl in primary five in a neighboring school was impregnated by a man working in a stone quarry. When schools closed, her mother sent her to sell. Many of these girls may never go back to school, because of the economic impact of COVID-19 on their families. In such instances, more girls than boys are likely to be affected as impoverished families usually prioritize educating the boys. The girls are expected to be married off.

Water, sanitation and hygiene

Water and sanitation are essential for life and health, but they are also essential for dignity, empowerment and prosperity. Water and sanitation are human rights, fundamental to every child and adult. But in Uganda, poor sanitation and hygiene, as well as unequal access to safe drinking water, make thousands of children very sick and at risk of death.

Early childhood diarrhoea is not only deadly; it also contributes to Uganda’s high levels of stunting, which in turn affects children’s cognitive development and performance at school. In school, lack of proper sanitation facilities also leads to high absenteeism and dropouts, especially for girls. According to UNICEF “Diarrhoea alone, one of three major childhood killers in Uganda, kills 33 children every day”. In most cases, children get the disease by drinking unsafe water or coming into contact with contaminated hands and most schools in Uganda especially in rural areas does not provide clean water for their students.

A primary classroom in Kampala. Uganda. Photo by: Arne Hoel / World Bank

Teenage pregnancy and child marriages

Child marriage, teenage pregnancy, abuse at schools and school fees keep many teens, especially girls, out of secondary schools. pregnancy accounts for 8 per cent of girls who left school. Similar challenges remain in the quality of education: only about 50 per cent of the children in Primary 3 were proficient in literacy and numeracy in a 2018 survey conducted by the Government.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Uganda’s government, therefore, has a responsibility of extending better social services in rural areas such as roads, schools, hospitals to facilitate development in those areas and hence improve people’s standards of living as well as education for the poor kids.

As government seeks to alleviate the effects of lockdown brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasis should be placed on ensuring that systems that are supposed to protect girls and women from GBV are not compromised. If this is not done quickly, the country will have to deal with a number of psychosocial problems brought about by the lockdown. Clean water must be readily available for people to improve their hygiene habits, as must soap. And girls must have privacy and dignity when using sanitation facilities.

References

Patience A in Kampala & James G in London. (2023, June 17). Uganda school Attack. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65937484

UNICEF. (2020). Education. UNICEF uganda. https://www.unicef.org/uganda/what-we-do/education

Tuyambe. (2022, September 28). Education challenges faced by Uganda children in rural are as. https://www.tuyambe.org/education-challenges-faced-by-ugandan-children-in-rural-areas

The Conversation. (2022, February 15). Uganda closed schools for two years – the impact is deep and uneven. https://theconversation.com/uganda-closed-schools-for-two-years-the-impact-is-deep-and-uneven-176726

Finance.go.ug. (2020, July). COVID-19 and Girl Child Education in Uganda. What are the Emerging Issues?. https://www.finance.go.ug/sites/default/files/Publications/BMAU%20Briefing%20Paper%2013-20-COVID-19%20and%20Girl%20Child%20Education%20in%20Uganda.%20What%20are%20the%20Emerging%20Issues.pdf

UNICEF. (2022). Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). UNICEF. Uganda. https://www.unicef.org/uganda/what-we-do/wash

Child marriages conflict Covid-19 Educational Challenges Lack of teachers poverty Sanitation Teenage pregnancy Uganda

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