Provision of Free Basic Education in Poor Countries - Term Paper Example

Provision of Free Universal Basic Education in Poor Countries Introduction Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ Article 26 refers to education as the right of every individual. Education is not just a fundamental human right, but it also enables people to live better lives by equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge. Realizing this, in March 1990, several United Nations agencies, NGOs, civil society groups, and donors pledged to provide Education for All (EFA) in the “World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien, Thailand” (EFA Goal 2, 2013). While there is no doubt in the nobility of this and other measures like this, such resolutions certainly come with some costs. This paper discusses the arguments in support of and also against the provision of free universal basic education in poor countries. Arguments For Free Universal Basic Education in Poor Countries Case study of Ghana Providing free universal basic education serves the underprivileged population in the poor countries and is a means of eradicating school drop-outs and child labor. Free universal basic education brings the poor children at par with the rich children and allows them to compete with them professionally regardless of financial status of their families (Yung, 2008). A range of supply and demand factors have an impact on children’s access to schooling in Ghana. The interlocking factors operate in context-specific ways so as to ensure distinctiveness for each access situation. Generally, access to schooling is limited for the children in the rural north compared to those in urban south; girls in the rural and northern areas have limited access to schooling compared to the girls in the urban or southern regions. Poverty is a major reason why girls opt out of schools. Child labor is another factor for children to drop out of schools. The school-going age population in Ghana is divided between the majority that attends free public schools with minimal school levies and the minority of children who do not need subsidized education because their parents are well-off (Akyeampong et al., 2007). Social returns to the basic education investment propose that the access problem should not just be construed as a choice to be made by the parents. Non-state basic education providers have a major role to play in increasing the access of the underserved population to schooling. Certain NGO providers can adapt their programs to address the marginalized groups’ needs in a better way than the state can. Non-state providers can expand access to schooling for all children by working within a common national strategic framework. This can be achieved by clear stipulations of policy on public and non-state providers’ partnership over the basic education. Ghanaian education policy needs to deal with this adequately particularly in the basic and secondary education. Case Study of African Countries Several African countries provide evidence for the role of education in eradicating poverty. Poverty in Ethiopia has been reduced almost by half ever since 1995, but 31 per cent Ethiopians are still living in poverty (World Bank, 2013). Poverty in Ethiopia can be further reduced by raising the level of education especially in the rural areas. This can be stated on the basis of a fact that from 1994 to 2009, rural households in which the head of the household completed education till primary reduced their likelihood of being chronically poor by 16 per cent (Dercon et al., 2012). Evidence for the indirect relationship between poverty and levels of education is also provided by Uganda where the likelihood of poor households to sustain poverty over a period of seven years reduced by 16 per cent for each year the head of the household was in the secondary school and the probability of remaining poor over a seven-year period further dropped by 5 per cent for each year spent by the spouse in a primary school (Lawson et al., 2006). Considering the persistence of poverty in the poor countries, it is imperative that the policy-makers believe in the role of providing the citizens with access to basic education free of cost in reducing poverty. Arguments Against Free Universal Basic Education in Poor Countries Case Study of Kenya Adult literacy rate in Kenya has significantly improved as a result of implementation of free basic education. However, the government did not introduce any counter measures at the time of abolishing the school fees. Accordingly, the schools had no clue as to how the lost revenue would be replaced. Therefore, school management committees decided to use ‘building levy’ as a means of raising school revenue, directing it as a way of building new facilities. The building levy eventually became higher compared to the school fees people were charged before the decree. This served as a disincentive for the parents to keep their children in schools any more. An estimated one to two million children dropped out of schools after the decree (Sifuna, n.d.). The high drop-out rates happened not just as a result of the high building levies, but also because people were dissatisfied with the quality of education schools were providing following the government intervention. High enrolments following the intervention overcrowded the classes leading to a shortage of resources and teachers. To address the growing need, more and more unqualified teachers were included in the workforce. By 1975, there were 40000 unqualified teachers in Kenya out of 90000 teachers in total (Sifuna, n.d.). Miscellaneous challenges The biggest challenge in the way of provision of free universal basic education is the inability of the governments of the poor countries to allocate sufficient funds. Nigeria and other poor countries experienced the same challenge; between 1999 and 2009, Nigeria spent more than 1.13 trillion just on the education sector (Folorunsho, 2009). Governments of poor countries cannot spend large amounts of budget on education. Besides, the phenomena of corruption are also playing their role in failing the resolution of free universal basic education. Lack of proper planning by the governments is another challenge facing the successful implementation of the scheme of free universal basic education. Many poor countries’ population data is inadequate because of which, the governments are not able to provide sufficient textbooks, audio and visual material, and other facilities for successfully implementing the free education scheme (Tsafe, 2013). Other challenges faced in eliminating the user fees include the issue of sustainability, disparities in gender gap, and equity gap between the urban and rural areas (Kattan, 2006). Conclusion This paper examined the arguments in favor of and against free universal basic education for all children in the poor countries. A lot is being done globally to extend basic education as a fundamental right to all children free of cost. Free universal basic education serves to reduce school drop-outs and child labor in the poor countries. Society in general needs to share the burden which can be achieved by shifting the brunt of the responsibility from the national to district, and the community level. Both state and non-state providers mutually share the responsibility of ensuring access to high-quality basic education for all children. Raising levels of education helps eradicate poverty; Ethiopia and Uganda among other African countries provide evidence for this. Despite the well-documented evidence of the achieved benefits of free universal basic education, multifarious problems have bedeviled the interventions’ implementation in a number of countries. Free universal basic education comes as a cost to the schools as well as the organizations responsible for providing the schools with the resources, teachers, and equipment required to address the needs of the growing population of students. Consequently, the quality of education is compromised. The cost of free universal basic education has gone beyond the budget allocation for current education. References: Akyeampong, K et al 2007, Access to basic education in Ghana: the evidence and the issues, Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity. Dercon, S, Hoddinott, J, and Woldehanna, T 2012, Growth and Chronic Poverty: Evidence from Rural Communities in Ethiopia, Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 238-53. EFA Goal 2 2013, Asia-Pacific: End of Decade Notes on Education for All, UNESCO and UNICEF. Folorunso, O 2009, Ten years of Democracy: Nigeria’s Education still Wobblinh Nigeria Compass Lagos, Nigeria [Online] Available at http:www.ubeoline.org.ng [accessed: 19 March 2009]. Kattan, RB 2006, Implementation of Free Basic Education Policy, The World Bank, [Online] Available at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/EDWP_User_Fees.pdf [accessed: 5 November 2014]. Lawson, D, McKay, A, and Okidi, J 2006, Poverty persistence and transitions in Uganda: a combined qualitative and quantitative analysis, The Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 42, No. 7, pp. 1225-51. Sifuna, DN n.d., The illusion of universal free primary education in Kenya, [Online] Available at http://africa.peacelink.org/wajibu/articles/art_6901.html [accessed: 5 November 2014]. Tsafe, AK 2013, A critical analysis of universal basic education on its implementation so far, Scientific Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1-12. World Bank 2013, Global Monitoring Report: Rural-Urban Dynamics and the Millennium Development Goals, Washington, DC, World Bank. Yung, B 2008, Hong Kongs Housing Policy: A Case Study in Social Justice, Hong Kong University Press. Read More