Life is beautiful for Ethan, the eight years’ old child living in the Netherlands with caring parents, he is enrolled in primary in one of the most prestigious schools of the country; but unfortunately, things are not the same for Alexander, who is living in Rwanda. He was supposed to be attending school like all children of his age, but due to his parents’ bad living conditions and poverty, he was forced to drop out of school and work hard to provide food for his family. This is the hard truth that many children around the world are facing. Children should be treated equally no matter how hard their living conditions are. Thus, extreme measures should be taken to provide inclusive and equitable quality education for all.
Let’s investigate some insights related to the Sustainable Development Goal 4 Quality Education, which aims to: ENSURE INCLUSIVE AND EQUITABLE QUALITY EDUCATION AND PROMOTE LIFELONG LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL. All visualizations were created using the World Development Index Dataset.
If we take a look at primary and lower secondary completion rates since 1990, we notice that a worldwide improvement has been made in the rates of students attending schools; but unfortunately the Sub-Saharan Africa is still behind, despite a slight increase in the attendance rates since 1990.
A closer look at the number of out of school children around the world between 1990 and 2019 shows that despite the decrease in numbers, over half of the total number of out of school children reside in the Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Let’s investigate deeper the enrolment opportunities in preprimary and tertiary between low income, lower middle income, upper middle income and high income countries. We notice that although enrolment has increased within each category, children don’t have equal enrolment opportunities. Low income countries still have enrolment rates that are extremely lower than lower middle, upper middle and high come countries.
Teacher proficiency is the most important indicator to assess student learning, and unfortunately the % of trained teachers has decreased since 2000 and is still far behind in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Poverty is one of the main reasons why children are obliged to leave school to work and provide for their families. We notice that the average poverty headcount ratio at $1.90 a day is the higher in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and East Asia & Pacific where the highest numbers of deprived children from accessing education are reported.
Lack of financial resources in developing countries is definitely one of the main reasons why many children are not accessing their right to study, many countries like those in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are not able to provide the appropriate funds per student in order to ensure access to education.
Parents definitely have a huge impact on the well-being and success of their children, if parents are not educated, they will not be able to improve their own lives and the lives of their children. Parents’ illiteracy and unemployment would definitely increase the risk of having children dropping out of schools at a very young age in order to work and provide support to their families.
Ultimately, Improving education and quality education is a must, especially in developing countries. Children should learn and they should learn sufficiently. The main goal is not only limited to increasing the number of children attending schools but it goes further to assure that the whole educational system is improved to provide quality education to students.
Many children in the Middle East and North Africa are deprived of education. Throughout the years, almost 18 % of adolescents and children were out of school on average in the region, which is the highest across East Asia, Europe, and Latin America. This is especially true for females who recorded higher average of dropout rates than males by 2.2% in the region over the years. The increase in dropout rates is due to several reasons and poverty plays a major role in increasing the rates of children out of school. It is evident that rates of people who make $1.90 per day has been increasing since 2013 in the Middle East, making it hard for parents to afford education expenditures for their children such as tuition fees and school supplies. This leads families to pull their children out of school in order to work and help the family during financial hardship. As there is a positive linear relationship between children who are out of primary school and children employment, when the average rate of children out of school increases, the rate of children’s employment increases.
Furthermore, the norm that females are not supposed to work is enhancing the idea that females do not need to learn as they will not be able to participate in employment. This is encouraged by the average ratio of female to male participation in the labor force which is 33.09 below the average rate across all indicated regions. Therefore, it is important to bridge the gap of poverty to ensure that people can have sufficient funds to be able to send their children to school. This can be done by providing financial aid dedicated to school fees and supplies. That is because lower poverty rates indicate lower dropout rates among children since there is a positive relationship between the two.
Moreover, it is important to raise awareness of the effects of dropping out of school on the future of children. Because the higher the average of adolescents out of school the more likely they will be considered as vulnerable employees in the future, which in turn lead them to be used and manipulated by employers.
Additionally, the higher the average rate of people completing at least a Bachelor degree, the higher the rate of salaries and wages. This means that if children where to stay in schools, they will be able to get higher salaries, which will provide them with a more stable future.
All the above factors are important in guaranteeing a better future for children. However, it is recommended that they be accompanied by the right laws that prevent child employment and provide equal opportunities for females to participate in the workplace.
What does life look like for a child in the 21st Century?
For someone like you and I, life is pretty normal, we have friends and family, we go to school, we’re healthy. But for someone like Czano, life is very different. At just 7 years old, he does not go to school. Instead, he works at a balloon factory in Bangladesh in order to provide for his family.
This is the sad reality of millions of children around the world who are forced to work in order to help their families due to severe poverty.
Not only are government at fault, but also businesses who employ these young children and even people like you and me who purchase products that were produced by children.
Take a look at these insights below in order to learn more about child labor and together, we can raise awareness about this issue and hopefully make a change.
Don’t forget to always educate yourself about where your products are coming from and purchase ethically!
Girls’ education is proving to be a significant element in improving the quality of life in developed countries. Educational equity not only benefits a country’s economy, but it also helps to minimize infant hunger and the pay disparity that exists between men and women in many developed nations.
Our world society is made wealthier by providing women with the opportunity to further their education.
Gender inequality has been an ongoing issue eversince the first record of history. Today, with rising empowerment and the right protesting, the value of women in the perception of global societies has risen significantly. However, there is still an issue of giving women a secondary rank in terms of societal values. Women, being married young, beginning to work before they become adolescents, and living in countries below the poverty line, tend to validate being beated by their husbands for burning the food, an issue that can arise from juggling so many responsibilities around and forgetting the stove on for as little as 1 minute extra. Although it seems that the poverty line in these women’s countries would lead women to be subject to such values, the key would lie in a more concrete matter, which is education. Education is key to empowerment, to discovering one’s boundaries, and to be able to develop a skill set to be more productive, more efficient, and have more impact. This has proven successful in countries in Northern Africa and the Middle East, and would be ideal if it were to be applied in Africa. In conclusion, investing in the education system must be the primary focus of a nation willing to end its gender gap.
