Introduction:
“One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” – Malala Yousafzai
Why is it important?
Poverty and illiteracy
Of the 781 million adults over the age of 15 estimated to be illiterate, 496 million were women, the World's Women 2015 report found. Women made up more than half this statistic in all regions of the world. This is a side effect of the deprivation of education, and an urgent problem, since
this contributes to the loss of job opportunities in the market place, and without a job people must rely on unemployment and social welfare to survive. These people can’t reinforce these crucial writing and reading skills in their children, so a cycle of illiteracy begins, affecting generations to come. Aside from this, illiteracy can also lead to a life of crime. 50% of prisoners in the UK are functionally illiterate. This means half of the 85,000 people currently incarcerated have a reading age of 11 or lower– with 20% falling well short of that mark. Can we really continue to let citizens like this suffer the silence of neglect?
Another worldwide issue that stems out from illiteracy is poverty, the qualifications needed for a job are rising, and without the teaching needed, these people aren’t able to obtain work or a stable source of income. So nearly 50% of the world's population, more than three billion people, live on less than $2.50 a day. 1.3 billion of these people live in extreme poverty- less than $1.25 a day. Overall, one billion children worldwide are living in poverty. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. This is a side effect of the deprivation of education, and an urgent problem.
Parental poverty prevents children from learning, since they may be forced to work in labour intense jobs in LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Countries). This creates a barrier made by price, and discourages parents worldwide from sending their child to school.
Children deserve an education:
Today, education remains impossible to reach for millions of children around the world. More than 72 million children of primary education age aren’t in school and illiterate adults, as previously mentioned, do not have the vital awareness necessary to improve both of their living conditions.
In developing and developed countries children do not have access to basic education because of further inequalities that originate in factors such as sex, health and cultural identity (ethnic origin, language, religion) which can get discriminated against. These children find themselves on the margins of the educational system and do not benefit from the learning that is crucial to their intellectual and social development, leaving them excluded from society and under qualified for any responsibilities.
Girls aren’t able to get an education:
Currently, it is girls who have the least access to education. They make up more than 54% of the non-schooled population in the world. This issue occurs most frequently in the middle east, such as the Arab States, in central Asia and in Southern and Western Asia and is principally explained by the unfair cultural and traditional advantageous treatment given to males. Girls are told to work in the family home, deprived of a future, whereas boys are entitled to receive an education and a chance to thrive.
In the south of the Sahara in Africa, over 12 million girls are at the risk of never receiving an education, due to discrimination. similarly in Yemen, it is over 80% of girls who will never have the opportunity to go to school. Subsequently more alarming, certain countries such as Afghanistan or Somalia make absolutely no effort to reduce the large gap between girls and boys in regards to education. Although many developing countries may are starting to dramatically reduce the sizeable inequality between girls and boys in education, copious amounts of effort and change are still needed in order to achieve universally fair primary education for girls.
Reasons it’s a problem:
Malaria:
Other parasitic illnesses are uncommon among kids in the United States, yet are spread widely and are accountable for causing a noteworthy amount of trouble among children in developing countries. The most significant of these is malaria. Children in malaria-endemic countries are at a high danger of the terrible impacts of a malaria infection. Most of the world's malaria deaths are in African children under 5 years old.
Children in the rest of the world are also at a high risk for malaria disease when flying out to a malaria-endemic country. children should be certain to take antimalarial drugs before, amid, and after the trip, utilise repellant, rest under a bed net that has been treated with insecticides or in a room with air conditioning, and wear protective attire.
Malaria can cause horrific disability, and prevent children from growing, developing and learning in schools, therefore hindering their education.
Location and shortage:
In less economically developed countries, there are fewer schools, making certain children have to travel further to get to school. This can take may hours, and the long trip may often be unsafe and difficult to scale every day. this can discourage children from attending school and learning. There isn’t a form of public transport or
Aside from this, there also tends to be a shortage in electricity and clean, running water in schools and classrooms. Diseases related to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene are a huge burden in developing countries. It is estimated that 88% of diarrhoeal disease is caused by unsafe water supply, and inadequate sanitation and hygiene.
Schools, particularly those in rural areas, often completely lack drinking-water and sanitation and hand washing facilities; alternatively, where such facilities do exist they are often inadequate in both quality and quantity. Schools with poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions, and intense levels of contact between people, are environments with a high possibility of infection for children and staff, and debase children’s particular immunity to environmental health hazards.
Children’s ability to learn may be affected by insufficient water, sanitation and hygiene conditions in several ways. These include helminth infections, long-term exposure to chemical contaminants in water, diarrhoeal diseases, all of which force many schoolchildren to be absent from school, stopping them from fulfilling their educational potential. Poor environmental conditions in the classroom can also make both teaching and learning very difficult.
In Nigeria, 65% of women and girls can’t afford disposable sanitary pads which means that they must use a cloth that needs to be hand washed and dried. If cloth is not available, women might resort to bark and dirt. Girls choose not to go to school because of period cramps and fear of their blood being visible. Often, after continually missing one week out of every month of school, the girls affected fall behind, and subsequently, drop out. It is disheartening that a girl is forced to forfeit her education simply due to a lack of sanitary supplies. How would you feel if you had to disregard education just for basic hygiene?
War and refugees:
More than 3.5 million refugee children did not have the chance to attend school in the last academic year, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, says. Globally, 91% of children attend primary school, however, for refugees that figure is just 61%, and in low-income countries less than 50%. Many young children are without the vital education they need. There are 6.4 million refugees of school age, between five and 17, among the 17.2 million refugees. The education of these young people is crucial to the peaceful and sustainable development of the countries that have welcomed them, and to their homes when they are able to return. As refugee children get older, the obstacles increase: only 23% of adolescent refugees are enrolled in secondary school, compared with 84% globally. In low-income countries, just 9% of refugees are able to attend secondary school. Due to the lack of education, there is a “missing generation”, and they end up illiterate, causing the same set of problems I previously discussed.
How to resolve:
There are a number of effective strategies to reduce the problems and issues with the global educational system, such as investing money into sanitary and resource checks for schools, preventing the malnutrition and neglect of these children, allowing them to study and learn freely.
In a similar fashion, the development and implementation of national policies, guidelines for safe practices, training and promotion of effective messages in a context of healthy schools will decrease the toll taken by inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene, since the awareness will rise by a considerable amount.
Giving parents money to help cover some living expenses, so they can allow their child to attend school lessons, instead of working for the family’s income.