Most of the students who were born in the advanced nations go to school and study as usual. However, not only do children but many adults in poor countries still face a lot of difficulties in their lives, and education is one of the most important problems. The people who were born into a low income family have had a hard time to obtain an education in school which the people in the advanced nation have taken as a matter of course. Many problems of the educational system exist in some African countries from long time ago because of the historical and political reasons. It is very important to understand that many children are not able to go to school and they need help.
It is obvious that the quality of the education system between poor African countries and advanced nations is not equal. Therefore, all children in poor countries should be entitled to a quality free education. According to the United Nations, about forty six million African children, almost half of the school age population, have never studied in a classroom (Kennedy). The biggest reason that makes children take a distance from school is excessive poverty. In fact, since democracy became a dominant political concept in many African countries, a lot of teachers, pupils, and governments struggled to iron out the inequalities in education (Pearce). In the article, “SA’s poor education struggle,” one teacher is asked what the greatest challenge teachers’ face, she replied that it is poverty and students come with no food so we have to share our lunch with them (Pearce). Even the children enrolled in school tend not to complete the programs for graduating. According to the research of International Monetary Fund, fifty percent of the students in sub-Saharan Africa drop out of school before graduating whereas twenty seven percent in developing countries and nineteen percent in East Asia (Jenkner). These educational problems are on the supply side; the government’s inability and lack of will to provide financed schooling (Jenkner). However, countries such as Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Ghana have abolished tuition fees to keep children in school (Kennedy). In Uganda, a limited program that offered free junior high school started in 2007 (Kennedy). The children were required to pass an exam produced by the government to qualify and about 234.000 children have been accepted (Kennedy). Since it is possible for government to establish this kind of educational system, the parents in low-income countries might be encouraged to send their children to school if the governments became willing to take responsibilities for educating children in the publicly financed, free and good quality school (Jenkner). However, the governments might need more support from advanced nations to maintain this system.
The reason why the governments should found a free school is that some parents want children to work to earn money for their families. This is known as human trafficking and it prevents children not to go to school. In January 2008, 105 children were found in a truck by the Nigerian police (Poverty). The children, from the age of four to eighteen, were allowed to leave the house and sent by their parents and promised that they would be studying and be fed by strangers (Poverty). This experience is both physically and mentally painful for the children. In fact, as a result of being packed like sardines in the truck, they were starving, had swollen legs and were traumatized (Poverty). Since the vast majority of the population is in extreme poor in Nigeria, human trafficking such as domestic and forced labor, pornography and prostitution is anticipated to be widespread (Poverty). According to the UN children’s fund, child trafficking is one of the rapidest growing criminal issues with estimated numbers of 1.2 million victims every year, of whom 32 percents are African (Poverty). The parents do not realize that they are doing something bad and decide to send their children away to enable their children to work to feed themselves and after that, they go to school which never happens (Poverty). According to the spokesperson for the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons, it is true that the children sent away from their communities, will be easily abused (Poverty). The most effective way to regulate its trafficking is to create a new law by the government. In 2003, to fight human trafficking, Nigerian government agency implemented a new law to prohibit human trafficking (Poverty). If the government began to work very hard to prohibit the human trafficking, more children would attend school.
It is very important to know that obtaining knowledge from education is one of the ways to be free from poverty. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) education is the most powerful and useful way to authorize the rural poor to get out of poverty (Antonios). Many believe that African countries have a potential to develop the global community by strengthening the educational system. In fact, the UN agency emphasizes the vital role of agriculture and brings out the important contribution of education for sustainable development (Antonios). The biggest problem in education is that they cannot write and read. According to Lavinia Gasperini, FAO education expert, illiteracy associates with poverty and is a rural phenomenon that disturbs the development of rural areas’s food, and security. It endangers their productivity, health and also limits chances to promote their livelihoods (Antonios). Ms. Gasperini also said that since most of the people in sub-Saharan Africa are rural, and agriculture plays a very important role for rural development and economic growth, more efforts are required in educating the poor people in rural areas to help them in adapting improved technologies to make small-size farming gainful and viable (Antonios). Moreover, the supporters for this plan are very solid. This project is expected in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, and organized by a lot of international institutions such as FAO, UNESCO's International Institute for Education Planning, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, Ethiopia's Ministry of Education with the support of the Italian Development Cooperation and the Norwegian Trust Fund for Education in Africa (Antonios). The people in rural areas need to realize that they are able to be free from poverty by acquiring education, and once they start obtain the knowledge needed from the education; the community will develop very well.
In many poor countries, countless children are not able to go to school. Especially in many African countries, political and historical reasons prevent them from obtaining an education, and human trafficking is one of the examples. The children born into a low-income family should have right to study at a public financed, good quality and free schools. Not only children but also adults in rural areas need to be aware of the effectiveness of education. Also, strengthening the educational system in poor countries leads to a well developed global community. It is clear that the poor educational system still exists so raising the public awareness might be the one step to make their lives better.
Source: http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2005/107444/index.html
: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/issues/issues33/index.htm
: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-07-21-africaschild_N.htm
: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3605275.stm
: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=76411
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