by sir03 | Nov 19, 2023 | Uncategorized
Reducing child labor via quality education
Child labor has persistently posed a global challenge, acting as a barrier to children’s education and jeopardizing their future. According to figures from the World Bank, the number of working children significantly decreases as the rate of educational attainment increases. This observation spans the period between 1977 and 2017, revealing a potential inverse correlation between child labor and education attainment.
Situation in Lebanon
World Bank figures indicate a significant decrease in the rate of children in the labor market between 2000 and 2020; however, there was a slight increase in 2021. The issue is intricately complicated, with various factors severely affecting public school education. Firstly, the number of students enrolling in public schools from refugee camps has notably increased since 2011. Locally, the severe financial crisis has deeply impacted the Ministry of Education’s budget since 2019, compounded by other factors such as the devaluation of the Lira, the Beirut Port explosion, and COVID-19 lockdowns.
Statistics reveal that child labor is more prevalent among male children in Lebanon. However, relying solely on these figures is insufficient, given the existence of different forms of informal labor not addressed by the World Bank and the International Labor Organization.
In the absence of updates from international institutions or local government agencies, I turned to various surveys conducted by local stakeholders and international NGOs. These surveys shed light on the deteriorating quality of education, particularly in public schools and, to a lesser extent, within private schools.
Roadmap towards a solution
Various stakeholders, including the Lebanese government and international institutions, should collaborate to initiate a comprehensive multi-stakeholder plan aimed at reversing the deteriorating quality in the public school system. In addition to financial support, this plan should address critical factors such as the number of schools, the availability of qualified teachers, and curriculum improvements.
On the government front, it is imperative to establish coordination among three key ministries: Education, Labor, and Social Affairs. This collaborative effort will create a legal framework addressing child labor issues, implementing a high-quality educational curriculum, and promoting awareness within the most affected segments of society.
by ami31 | May 9, 2021 | Dashboard, Visualization
Childbirth is considered to be a landmark and joyous moment in any woman’s life. And although health experts say that no two childbirth experiences are the same, it is quite astounding that this can, in many cases, reach the extreme of death. According to statistics released by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Division, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank Group, around 2.8 million pregnant women and newborns die every year of preventable causes [1]. This turns childbirth into an event to be feared as it poses a significant threat to the lives of many women across the globe. According to the United Nations’ , quality education is defined as one the of the seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs), so how can education help mitigate childbirth mortality?
“Pregnancy is not a disease. It should not lead to deaths. Every maternal death should be regarded as an abnormality.” – Vivianne Ihekweazu, Director of the Nigerian Health Watch [2]
How are Childbirth Deaths Related to Education?
The World Development Indicators data from the World Bank [3] allows us to look into the impact of education on childbirth by exploring the percentage of births that are handle by skilled health staff. In the figure below, we plot the average life expectancy at birth in years with respect to the average percentage of births attended by skilled staff for each country. There is a clear positive correlation between the two variables. We therefore conclude that children who are delivered by skilled health workers during labor are more likely to have a higher life expectancy.
However, the impact of having educated people overseeing child delivery does not stop here. Unfortunately, carrying out child delivery without proper understanding of the necessary health procedures has more alarming implications. In the dashboard below, we notice a sharp decrease in both maternal mortality (women dying during labor) and neonatal mortality (newborns dying at birth) in countries where more childbirths are handled by skilled health workers. This implies that many of the childbirth related deaths can be attributed to the lack of necessary health skills.
Where are these Childbirth Deaths Mostly Occurring?
Below we find the places that suffer the most from this by selecting the countries that have a below average percentage of births attended by skilled staff.
By looking at the geographical distribution of these countries we unsurprisingly find that the majority is located in Africa. Furthermore, we notice that the educational attainment in these countries is significantly lower than countries that have more professionally handled childbirths. This is an expected causality since to have more skilled people perform childbirth procedures we need more educated people.
So the Solution Is, Educate More People!
“The benefits of education permeate all walks of life right from the moment of birth.” – Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO [4]
In light of the above, we clearly need to have more educated people that are able to professionally handle childbirth procedures. This is especially needed in developing countries where childbirth mortality is more pronounced. A key approach strategy here is to educate the local birth attendants and community midwives that are already active in these communities. These local and community health workers are already more connected to the women and families in their towns making their newly found skills more accessible and allowing them to spread health awareness to pregnant women in their communities [5]. Finally some communities in rural Africa are located in remote locations faraway from any medical supply and service centers. Therefore, setting up portable medical outposts near these towns would greatly enhance the quality of services provided by birth attendants.
References
[2] E. Onyeji, “Despite having highest maternal mortality in Africa, Nigeria’s situation still underreported – Report,”
Premium Times Nigeria, 03-Dec-2020. [Online]. Available:
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/429266-despite-having-highest-maternal-mortality-in-africa-nigerias-situation-still-underreported-report.html.
[3] https://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-development-indicators/
[4] “Education can save lives, help reach sustainable development goals – UN agency,”
UN News, 18-Sep-2014. [Online]. Available:
https://news.un.org/en/story/2014/09/477702-education-can-save-lives-help-reach-sustainable-development-goals-un-agency.
[5] D. Shikuku and C. Ameh, “Investing in midwifery training and education for improved maternal and newborn outcomes,”
On Medicine, 19-Mar-2021. [Online]. Available:
https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-medicine/2021/03/19/midwifery-training-education-maternal-newborn-outcomes-isrctn/.
by Patricia Tawk | May 13, 2020 | Dashboard, Visualization
According to UNESCO, about 258 million children and youth are out of school for the school year ending in 2018. The total includes 59 million children of primary school age, 62 million of lower secondary school age and 138 million of upper secondary age. This is a major humanitarian challenge that all countries have united to address by anchoring it within SDG number 4: Quality Education.
Every Child deserves the opportunity to learn. In this Dashboard, we tried to show visualizations that highlight the reality behind Children Out Of School.
Poverty is a barrier that keeps children out of schools.
The gap between males and females attending schools was equal to 14% in 1970 and decreased to reach 2% in 2018. For girls in some part of this world, education chances are still restricted.
Data Source: World Bank Data
by Samar Eid | May 6, 2020 | Dashboard, Visualization
“When you carry a life and it’s there, and then gone, a part of your soul dies. Forever”. Casey Wiegano
Yes, I’m a mom, and just thinking about it for a fraction of a second breaks my heart! Unfortunately, Sub-Saharan countries along with some South Asian countries which are highlighted with darker blue in the map whiteness the highest infant mortality rates. In Sub-Saharan countries ,on average, 68 infants die in every 1000 births and this rate is the second highest among the classified regions (second graph)
From the bottom graphs, we can see that there is a high correlation between the average adolescents fertility rates and the female adolescents who are out of school. On the other hand, a correlation exists between the adolescents fertility rate and the mortality rate of infants.The highest rates are also observed in Sub-Saharan countries (darker blue).
Putting these observations into one sentence, we can infer that the more adolescent females that are out of school the more likely they are to give birth to infants that have higher chances of dying.
As such, female students in Sub-Saharan countries should be empowered. They should be encouraged to continue their education aiming to lower their fertility rates and indirectly lower infants mortality rates. With no doubt, many other factors should be considered such as improving healthcare systems for both, moms and children.
