I will never forget his name.
Omar. He was about my age, walking around the street and asking for directions. He stopped me but I didn’t know the place, so I suggested trying it on Google Maps to see if he can find it. Omar looked at me, embarrassed, and told be he couldn’t do that. Why? Not because he didn’t have a phone, he did. Not because it didn’t have power, or connection, it did. But because he didn’t know how to read and write. I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones.
I grew up in a world where education is a given, not a luxury, where graduating is a rite of passage not a privilege, where going to university is the norm, not the exception. I am one of the lucky ones because I never had to question all of this as a child. I never had to think about my life as being anything else than going to school. People like you and me, we forget that some people don’t know how to read, some barely know how to count, some stopped going to school at 12 years old. We take it all for granted. But when reality hits you like that, everything shatters. Today, I remind you of them, of the Omars of the world. We need to act now, today.
In Lebanon, where you live still decides what education you get…
But how can all of this be explained? What influences such disparity? What are the factors at play? These questions needed to be answered to find out the next course of action. The common denominator? The gap between the private and the public sector. It’s where inequality starts brewing.
In the districts where the share of public schools is higher, the percentage of residents with at least a high school degree suffer and both drop-out rates and illiteracy rates grow. As such, the higher the percentage of private schools in the district you live in, the more likely you’ll make it to university. But, private education is expensive and not accessible to everyone, and getting public schools to catch up to the level of private ones takes a lot of time and requires a very big investment. In the meantime, thousands of students are abandoning their studies… We need to bridge the gap, and fast.
Educating about Education in the public sector.
The first step is awareness. We need to educate public students on the importance of continuing their education. If they don’t know why they should go on with their studies, then anything else we try, will fail. Through my NGO, I developed a program that we would like to test-run.
Our program is three-fold:
Highlights the importance of continuing an education and the long term benefits it provides.
Addresses the reasons why public school students typically abandon their studies, suggests solutions and frames education within those issues.
The program will be repeated and updated as students get from elementary to intermediate to secondary to assess new concerns tied to the evolving context in Lebanon, age-related concerns.
To do that, we need the ministry of education’s approval to begin activation within public schools. Ideally, we would like to start with Hermel, which is the biggest problem area, as it is the worst across in all 3 key measures. This ensures at the same time, that we maximize the number of students we’ll be able to help.
Equal access to education should not a child’s naive idea of reality, it should be the norm. I ask you to say yes, not for me, but for all for all the kids out there who won’t get a proper education because they were born in the wrong place. For those who have enormous potential, but will never get to reach it. For those who should have gone on to do great things. For Omar. For all the kids who were born a few kilometers inland.
Unveiling Exam Success: Insights into Student Performance
Education shapes futures, but what factors play the most significant role in student success? This project explores student performance through data from a Kaggle dataset and a survey conducted among students from AUB and other universities. The goal is to uncover patterns and factors that influence academic achievement to inform educational strategies and mental health support.
The analysis highlights the prevalent academic and emotional challenges faced by students, such as high stress, poor mental well-being, inconsistent study habits, and inadequate resources. These factors collectively contribute to low academic performance and emotional instability. Using data-driven insights, the evidence demonstrates that high stress negatively impacts GPA, as shown in stress and exam score correlations. Furthermore, inconsistent study habits, particularly studying for 1-2 hours daily, lead to heightened variability in mental well-being, reflecting emotional instability. Parental influence also emerges as a critical factor, with students from higher-educated families performing better academically. These findings underline the need to address interconnected academic, psychological, and environmental barriers to improve student outcomes comprehensively.
Fatou is a 27-year-old housewife. At 15 years old, she decided to quit her education to get married to the love of her life, a man 8 years older than her, who had promised her a wealthy life in which she wouldn’t worry about a thing.
A few years into her marriage, her husband wasn’t doing well financially, and she found herself financially abused by him. All the promises went into vain and she was there begging for a penny to get the most basic goods she needed. Looking at herself, she found herself with no knowledge or skills to help her stand on her feet. With no education to support her, she felt like all the doors were shut, and her only salvation was her husband, who in turn belittled her for always being dependent on him, noting that it had been himself who stopped her from being an achiever.
This is not only the story of Fatou, but also that of millions of women living in disparity because they couldn’t be self-sufficient and independent. This story is yet another example of what the SDGs tackle, like Reduced Inequalities, among others as Quality Education and Gender Equality.
The contribution of women in the society decreases early marriage, and early marriage is linked to low education.
The graph shows the countries with the highest number of women who were first married by age of 15.
The top 3 countries with the highest number of women who were early married are Niger with 37.37% , Bangladesh with 32% and Chad with 29.25%.
Moreover, 76% of girls in Niger are married before their 18th birthday and 28% are married before the age of 15. Niger has the highest prevalence of child marriage in the world and the 13th highest absolute number of women married or in a union before the age of 18 globally – 745,000.
As a result, Awareness campaigns must be done to limit early marriage, and impose laws on marriage before 18.
In the time it has taken to read this article 39 girls under the age of 18 have been married
Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18
Team: Ibrahim Al Jaifi, Zahraa Jassar, Rami Haidar, Ali Hachem, Rim Zeaiter, Fatima Ayoub
“ We don’t go to school; we work in the daytime to support our families and spend the rest of our day playing in the streets.”
Said Omar and Yazan, two inspiring kids in Burj Al Barajneh, a refugee camp in the suburbs of Beirut. Under 10 years old, both already carrying the responsibility of working to provide for their families instead of being enrolled in education.
According to ILO, it is estimated that 160million children are involved in child labor, 79 million of which are in Hazardous Work that is likely to harm children’s health, safety or morals. All these children, including young Omar and Yazan, are at an age when they are supposed to be provided for, educated and protected. Having to spend most of their time working in jobs that are unsafe and exhausting, their chances of leading healthy and thriving lives diminish with each dollar they earn.
Child Labor in Lebanon
The emergence of the Lebanese economic crisis in 2019 brought with it an increase in percentage of families with children engaged in child labor from 29% to 38% between 2019 and 2021 according to IRC.
GDP, as an indicator of the economic performance of a country, noticed a 65% decrease from $52B to $18B during the period of 2019 to 2021. With this drastic drop in GDP, the unemployment rate rose from 11% to 15% while the CPI more than doubled, leaving thousands of families under the poverty line with no sources of income.
With these dramatic and sudden changes in the economic situation, 3 out of 5 children in Lebanon dropped-out of school and most of the rest switched to public education. Education has become less of a priority for both the government and families.
From a social perspective, 44% of parents who have taken part in a study by the World Vision Organization believed that involving their children in paid labor enhances their life skills and assures a source of income for their households. Meanwhile, the responsible government agencies have no clear and applicable laws in place to prohibit children’s exploitation or ensure they are enrolled in education.
Implications:
Child labor has destructive impacts on the health of the child, exposing millions of children to physical, mental and emotional abuse. As a result, their mental and intellectual development face significant disruptions. Considering the increasing crime rates in the country and the exposure of children to illegal work activities, the forecasted 30% increase in crime rate in 2025 would involve criminal acts by juveniles.
Proposed Solution
Mr. Aws Al Kadasi, senior research analyst at Merci Corps, commented on the topic during an interview for this project:
“According to the UNICEF, one in 5 children in the least developed countries are engaged in child labor. A problem that was aggravated by COVID-19 and global economic decline that it takes a walk in Beirut to believe these numbers. Children require different systems of protection that starts with parents and extends to every office, business, institution, organization and agency, local and international, governmental or otherwise. Everyone, who is not a child, is responsible”
Both 8 and 16 Sustainable Development Goals highlights the need for international efforts to tackle the issue of child labor:
Target 8.7: Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labor in all its forms.
Target 16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.
Inspired by these goals as well as social responsibility towards the community, our project team designed an initiative to capitalize on the work of international aid organizations and local organizations and projects working to fight child labor and illiteracy.
Future4Kids (F4K) initiative aims to establish a cooperative relationship between NGOs that provides cash assistance to families and campaigns against child labor. F4K initiative will work on partnering with cash aid organizations and NGOs working in child education. Receiving cash assistance would be conditionally linked to the enrollment of beneficiaries’ children in education with families being required to show evidence of child enrollment in education periodically.
The initiative platform will allow these two parties to join efforts to encourage families to enroll their children in education. F4K platform will also allow for receiving public donations for child education campaigns carried out by our partners.
Did you know?
Even though the average percentage of Children out of school is declining over the years, studies showed that almost 20% of children in low-income countries and 10% in lower middle-income countries are still out of primary school in 2021.
What are these children doing?
The highest % of children in employment is found in the low-income countries, followed by the lower middle-income countries where the highest % of children out of school coexists.
This shows that these countries cannot afford the education of their children and thus shift them to work instead in order to support their families’ living expenses.
Who should we blame?
While these countries have the lowest income, they score the highest birth rates compared to other countries as shown below.
The low-income countries have a 44% birth rate reflected by their ignorance on the importance of birth control and contraceptive prevalence with only 23%.
Is 23% enough? No.
Children have the right to be educated, and a big responsibility falls on the parents who give birth to children and force them to work, knowing that they cannot afford their education.
The access to electricity and internet usage across the years has been increasing in all the countries including the low-income ones.
However, it is important to highlight that with all this increase, only 40% of the population in low-income countries have access to electricity and only 21% of them use the internet in 2020.
This evolution has pushed the adult literacy rate across the years to increase.
The more the adults have literacy and can surf through internet facilities, the more they understand the importance of children education and therefore decreasing the % of children out of school.
The main reason behind the decrease in % of children out of school through years is the increase in education expenditures in primary public institutions, along with the increase in access to electricity and internet usage which facilitates the education feasibility for the children and the adults literacy in these countries.
Knowing that the low-income countries cannot afford the education of their children, while their birth rate is increasing, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs in the United Nations should ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all #SDG4 #SDG4.1 by supporting these countries through funding the tuition fees of their children along with educating the parents on the importance of contraceptive prevalence and maybe set regulations in collaboration with the governments to limit the birth rate allowed in the low income countries.
