Educational Issues in the Global South - Essay Example

EDUCATIONAL ISSUES IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH By: + Many players in the education arena have claimed for a long that empowering girls could only be made possible through education. A myriad of challenges by these girls mostly in the global south are evident, and claims are made often that many would greatly benefit if education were given pre-eminence. Worth noting is that girls from the mentioned areas face an endless list of tribulations some of which solution could be found, if they were more empowered. This paper will seek to summarise these claims concerning education as an imperative to empowering girls from impoverished girls. Further, this paper, using the African and Latin ethnography will seek to investigate if these claims take into account the challenges faced by girls in their lives. Firstly, there are claims that by taking girls to school it helps in ensuring equality in other areas as well besides in education system. For instance, it was found that the gap between girls and boys, not in school in India has reduced significantly. In 1991, 38% of girls and 25% of the boys in India were not in school despite having attained the school-going age. However, vigorous efforts to empower the girl child saw a decrease of the girls who were not in school; by 2005, the figures stood at 24% and 22% for girls and boys respectively (Winthrop 2014). In light of this, it has been correctly claimed that equality would be made easier if the number of girls going to school was equal to the boys. Additionally, girls have been portrayed by the proponents of the claims as individuals with higher learning prowess than boys. Winthrop (2014) found out that many times girls tend to outpace boy in terms of academic performance mainly in higher education levels. Interestingly, 75% of the grade repeaters are mostly boys meaning that only about 25% are girls. In secondary schools, girls are better performers than boys are, thus, the need to ensure their education is given paramount attention. It further claimed that educating girls from impoverished backgrounds would be pivotal in stopping early marriages. Normally, the Sub-Sahara Africa, Asia and Latin America lead in this issue with Winthrop (2014)reporting that some girls from these regions are married even before attaining the age of 18. Sadly, this is not just a girls’ predicament, but boys’ too with many failing to advance to secondary schools due to these cultural and financial-related issues. In order to resolve some of the challenges, it is recommended that the content of education concerning gender equality be made clear. That is to say, the schools’ approach towards gender equality is imperative in helping the girl-child. In addition to helping realization of gender equality, education could be instrumental in alleviating poverty in many affected parts. In Malawi, education is being used as a means of ensuring poverty reduction in a country where rural areas are prevalent with poverty. Durston and Nashire (2001) noted that 66% of the households living on the southern side were abjectly poor. Even though there are other parts in the urban areas that are poor, the rural areas were more affected than the urban. In a bid to ensure this is changed, the Malawian government views education as a solution to this menace. One of the arguments is that people who poor but educated could quickly adopt new technologies that may open an endless list of opportunities. Consequently, this would ensure a productive society meaning poverty would be eradicated if education would be taken seriously. Again, there is popular arguments that by educating girls, the mortality and fertility rates are taking a dip, and this would positively affect the society. It was reported that mothers engaged in education had significant lower levels of fertility and a 9% decrease in mortality rate (Durston and Nashire 2001). Continued engagement in education lowered the fertility rate meaning the likelihood of mothers bearing more children would be reduced. In short, the proponents of education as a way to empower girls from poor backgrounds feel that it would have enormous benefits to the society as well. This is because the girls dropping earlier would be too engaged in other activities likely to create income opportunities. In the end, it would see fewer children born, but more opportunities for creating wealth. Girls seem to be interested in education, but various obstacles stand in the way, which required addressing. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of girls entering schools is large but when it comes to finishing, the boys take a slight lead (Winthrop 2014). Some of the hurdles witnessed by girls in their quest for education include unfriendly cultural practices. For instance, in some part of Sub-Sahara, girls tend to get married right after the completion of primary school. It becomes a major block to girl ambitions but the local people sadly embrace it. Other factors may include poor economic status of the parents who, despite willingness to educate a child, may not afford it. It, therefore, means that the girl-child’s education ought to be improved, and the factors affecting it dealt with decisively. If the coordination between various governments and donor were improved, the same would be said of the education system in the countries requiring the aid. In order for donors to be actively involved in funding basic education, various factors, mainly from the needy country, have to be considered. For instance, partner demand, structure, evidence and advocacy, partner absorptive capacity to name but a few (Steer and Boudienville 2010). Sadly, many countries fail to exhibit any of these thus causing the donors to lack a direct interest. In essence, if the respective governments took time to improve the structures of funding and lead in advocating education for all, it would be better for the girls and boys alike. Improving human resource is equivalent to guaranteeing development that will eventually lead to growth of any region. The World Bank realized that three areas are vital in the growth of any region including nutrition, health and education. In the Sub-Saharan Africa, many people have quite poor for a long time but the situation has since improved significantly. Unlike in the past, the World Bank has embraced the three as ‘catalysts of development’ (Browne and Barret 1991). In addition, it has come to the realization that the other two developments will not be any effective if education empowerment is not given priority. Consequently, empowering humans through education will greatly influence the other aspects of life positively. All other areas of life could be easily changed if relevant stakeholders focused more on education. It was reported that many women in the Sub-Sahara Africa have three main concerns, which included cultural pressures to bear more children, poor health and lack of employment. Surprisingly, all these were intertwined with poor education backgrounds with pressure being evident in the unemployed mothers. Nutrition-related cases were evident too but could easily be solved if the mothers were more educated as they entailed education-related areas (Winthrop 2014). With many people involved in employment, it would be very helpful because mothers’ fertility rate would be reduced meaning more children would not be born. Basu (2002) found out that education would lead to lower fertility because it opens opportunities. That is to say, young women would be actively in other ventures likely to keep them busy. In return, this would have an effect on the number of children born, better economic status and an improved society. Therefore, education is indeed an imperative not only in gender equality but also in many other societal problems. Many of the challenges faced by the society mainly in the global south have to do with little or lack education. By investing in education, it becomes a bit easier to overcome these issues but this can only happen if education is seen as a necessity. Education ought to be available to all children as a human right as it already is in the world. Whereas the World Bank does not view education as a right for every human, the international community has worked closely to ensure it viewed as such. As a result, every person that has attained the school-going age is expected to be enrolled in one. Unfortunately, in some schools, charges are levied against some of the parents who can hardly afford. Tomasevski (2005) noted that charging fees in some primary school has seen some parents fail to afford the much-needed necessity for their children who often lead to dropping out of school. This issue causes the proponents of this education as a solution to many other problems to decry the lack of understanding and cooperation from other sectors. For instance, whenever the World Bank fails to recognize it as right, it means funding may not be offered speedily. On the other hand, the various governments’ tendency to charge fees in a bid to control debt complicates the matter. There is a larger number of girls not in school than is often projected by the statistics mainly from the affected countries. Judging from the data released by UNESCO, it almost appears as if almost all girls in the Latin America go to school. For instance, in ten countries in the region, nine out of those had the same number of girls enrolling and finished the fourth grade. However, much is not stated of the boys and girls not in school, a number that is quite significant contradicting the often-released data by the countries (Stromquist 2001). Sadly, in these countries, girls are normally enrolled in large numbers but there exist two problems: girls enrol at these schools a little older than boys enrol and then leave earlier. It was reported that the reason for this pattern is poverty. Many have to grapple with the pressure of seeking opportunities for making money that normally force them out of school. Even though goals had been set to ensure that primary school pupils remained there by year 2000, it was reported that this was not possible. This was as a result of insurmountable poverty and other myriad challenges that bedevilled the school-going girls’ lives. The schools in the rural areas seem to suffer most in many parts of the world as evidenced by statistics in Peru. Apparently, 90% of the rural schools in this country had single rooms meaning the congestion was inevitable. Moreover, 37% out of these relied on one teacher thus suggesting a surge in primary dropouts. Due to a small number of pupils attending schools coupled with a shortage of teachers, it makes funding planning even more complex (Stromquist 2001). In the urban areas, the situation is not any better; parents have to queue for long in a bid to ensure their children are enrolled before the allowed number is met. Besides the lack of cooperation from some governments and retrogressive cultural practices, the education system in these developing countries is made complex by poor facilities. As mentioned above, the classrooms are shabby; shortage of teachers is rampant and now poor amenities for the students. Take, for instance, the situation in many parts of Peru and Brazil where Stromquist (2001) reported that water, sanitation and electricity were not available. Essentially, this situation is capable of pushing the students even further from schools. Therefore, inasmuch as sending the girls to school is important, it is imperative to ensure the amenities are available. Poorly trained, ill-equipped and inexperienced teachers just make the situation more volatile, and this explains why a large number of dropouts in the global south. Many teachers, especially in the rural areas are not well equipped to handle multi-grade students, and lack the much-needed experience to handle these students. Additionally, the environment seems pretty harsh to a majority of them, and many leave these areas only after teaching for two years (Stromquist 2001). As stated elsewhere, the reason for many students to drop out of these schools is due to high levels of poverty, which normally push many into looking for wages. Assessment Having summarised the issues fronted by the proponents of education as the vital means of alleviating poverty, this section will focus on analysing if they really consider challenges faced by these girls. Throughout this paper, poverty has been mentioned as a major deterrent to realization of education most girls. Evidently, it pushes them into engaging or being subjected to pernicious practices, which do nothing to improve their lives. In fact, early marriages become the norm for most of these girls and what follows is high fertility rate. It has been clearly presented that both the Sub-Saharan and Latin Americans girls are forced to marry upon dropping out of school (Winthrop 2014). Concerning whether the claims take proper account to the challenges experienced by the girls, the proponents precisely do. From the materials provided in this research, it is clear the proponents clearly consider the problems the girls undergo. Even though an outsider may not clearly understand the situation, it is factual that the proponents’ suggestion is vital in overcoming poverty. Despite the problems faced by these girls, education is the only remedy, and thus has to be emphasized by all parties- the supposed outsiders included. This is because the problems being felt by the majority of girls in these regions could be traced back to poor education by their parents. In essence, this cycle requires a decisive action by all concerned parties including, but not limited to, the humanitarian organizations. Many girls stay away from school either because of lack of fees or due to early marriages whose root could be traced back to the issue of poverty. Even though the society does not help by encouraging cultural practices like early marriage, it almost seems inevitable when these girls are brought up in these hostile conditions. In the research materials used in this paper, the authors have specifically cited this as one of the major obstacles to the realization of international community’s goal of free education for all. Therefore, whereas the proponents may not have had an in-depth experience felt by these girls, it is clear that the situation is pretty bad. In addition, the correlation between the Latin America and Sub-Sahara population reveal that the proponents have done a credible research. For instance, the Sub-Saharan region is known to be one of the poorest in the world (Winthrop 2014). A deeper research reveals that it also has some of the most worrying statistics in matters education meaning the proponents’ claims are factual. Similarly, the Latin America has been exposed as an area where urgent measures are needed. As said earlier, Peru and other countries have some of the poorest learning facilities, which, shockingly, lack even some basic amenities like sanitation. To sum it up, poverty reduction may not necessarily be eradicated solely by way of ensuring education. Nonetheless, it will have a massive role to play as has clearly been proved in this paper. One of the reasons poverty escalates is when a society’s productivity is lacking; to have a productive society skills and opportunities are needed. Sadly, educated individuals can only create many of the opportunities. Again, fertility rate is rampant where there is low engagement of individuals. Essentially, by educating girls, the society is not only overcoming illiteracy but also all other related vices. Bibliography Basu, A. (2002) ‘Why does Education Lead to Lower Fertility? A Critical Review of Some of the Possibilities’ World Development 30(10): 1779–1790 Browne, A. and Barrett, H. (1991) ‘Female Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: the key to development?’ Comparative Education 27(3): 275-285 Durston, S. and Nashire, N. (2001) ‘Rethinking Poverty and Education: An attempt by an education programme in Malawi to have an impact on poverty’ Compare 31(1):75 – 91. Steer, L. and Baudienville, G. (2010) ‘What drives donor financing of basic education?’ ODI Project Briefing no.39 Stromquist. N. (2001) ‘What Poverty Does to Girls Education: the intersection ofclass, gender and policy in Latin America’ Compare 31(1): 39-56 Tomasevski, K. 2005 ‘Not Education for All, Only for Those Who Can Pay’ www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/lgd/2005_1/tomasevski Winthrop, R. & McGivney, E. (2014) Raising the Global Ambition for Girls’ Education Washington D.C.: The Brookings Institution http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Papers/2014/12/ Read More