79/KE212/064
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Lack of Equitable Access to Quality Education
Executive Summary
One of the eight issues outlines in the 2001 Millennium Development Goals was the issue pan achieving universal primary education to all children. Knowledge is usually outlined by an innumerable development economist as it plays a significant role in making high economic growth and freedom. However, up to two billion children in the world are inadequately educated while some have no access to education at all. One of three children does not get to the fifth grade. They are forced to drop out about various issues. Education is an essential aspect of reducing global poverty. Therefore, the lack of equitable access in the world becomes a very pressing issue that needs to be addressed. With education, there would be more employment opportunities, improvement in the health and financial sectors in the world among many others. According to statistics, countries that have sustainable access to equitable education in the world experience lower rates of crime cases, improved social services, and enormous economic growth. In such areas, there has also been a decrease in the rate of spread of HIV/AIDS. It is essential to ensure that all children in the world have the privilege of equitable access to education all over the globe for them to be able to develop socially and intellectually. Many developing countries around the world suffer from a lack of infrastructure and telecommunication facilities, high cost of education, unavailability of electricity and classrooms which hinder them from having access to equitable education like other countries in the world. in this research paper, an effort towards analyzing the nature of the issue on lack of access o equal education in the world has been made. Also, the roles that different stakeholders play on the issue. The paper looked at various models and rated them based on their Replicability sustainability and accessibility. Also, the paper will analyze various firms that follow CSR strategies in dealing with the issue. Companies like Microsoft and IBM will be analyzed as they have taken up an active role in analyzing the lack of equitable education in the world.
Introduction.
Education is considered to be the driving force towards sustainable development of the world today. Apart from proving skills like technical expertise, education also offers justification, motivation and social reform in the pursuit and utilizing them. A significant part of the Global community is convinced that through education one should be able to stimulate the values, way of living and behaviors which are ne4cessarry for sustainability. The route to knowing how to make choices which concern the long term future of the economy, equity to all societies and ecology is more often considered as education for sustainable development. Being able to construct the ability related to such a long-term philosophy is the primary mission towards education. Education International(EI) views education to be a fundamental human right and the public good. The organizations have endorsed a rights-based approach towards education. Therefore, equitable participation in quality education needs to be the center Agenda in the Global sustainable development agenda. Equal participation in quality education remains an unfinished agenda. The figures associated with National enrolment have masked the differences between regions and groups, while the ones who stay excluded are disproportionally female, poor, ethnically/socially/linguistically marginalized disabled adults or children and immigrants who live in fragile states or rural areas. A commitment towards equity will require designed measures in ensuring that the most marginalized people have access to the same quality education as the ones who are not from marginalized communities. For this to be possible, it has to be reflected in the targets and indicators of a new framework.
Lack of Equitable Access to Quality Education
Quality education provides people with knowledge and skills, attitudes and the needed creativity to solve problems both locally and globally. Relatively it significantly contributes to sustainable democratic developments of different societies. Therefore, the aspirations of quality education need to be beyond narrow learning outcomes. Even though numeracy and literacy are part of the broader context that is considered necessary in the world today, they are somehow far from sufficiency. They limit the outcomes of education to two easily measured indicators. Tuition fees and the present indirect costs associated with education are among one of the most significant barriers to equitable access to quality education. This can only be solved by introducing a renewed commitment to free education. Being a fundamental human right, education needs to be financed publically with the aims of providing sustainable education financing sourced both secondary and primary. Availability of equitable quality education may lead to sustainable development, social justice as well as peace. The challenge is, however, to aim for more measurable short term outcomes and not long-term. This serves as an opportunity towards putting in place a workable framework in sustainable development which is caregious and aspirational. EI, for instance, advocates for a broader notion of quality education which covers the significant elements that are associated with the process of education. EI advocates for, equipped learning materials for everyone, adequate teaching for all students globally and reasonable class sizes. Every student in the world stands the right to quality education and the rights to be taught by a professional teacher, learn in schools that are safe with adequate resources and facilities.
Lack of Education and its Link to other Issues
Lack of equitable access to education is majorly experienced in developing countries as compared to countries that are already developed. The issue of lack of access to equitable quality education in these countries is related to various issues either directly or indirectly. For instance, the issue may be related to sues that are under growth regime responsibilities or primary interface. The figure below demonstrates some of the issues that contribute to the lack of equitable access to quality education in the world today.
Among the represented issues in the diagram, one of the most vital issues that greatly contribute to the lack of equitable access to quality education in the world is associated with poverty. The United Nations Millennium project has been trying to recognize solutions that may help eradicate the high rate of poverty in the world today through delivering education. The provision of basic education to the poor supports a society in which power and growth are equally shared thus leading to a reduction in poverty. Health and disease serve as another barrier towards access to quality equitable education today. Currently, females have been regarded as the main victims of HIV/AIDS especially in developing nations. Through being, educated women stand an opportunity of learning more about the disease and finding ways to take care of themselves. The issue of hunger is another barrier to accessing education. A significant number of studies in the world have demonstrated that hunger issues have negative impacts on education globally. According to research sources, hunger influences cognitive skills thus limiting a child’s capacity to learn. The International Food Research Institute stated that hunger is, in fact, one of the significant barriers to learning.
In contrast, education affects hunger positively as demonstrated by Shown and Herz and Sperling (2003). The researchers pointed out that through educating females in different societies on farming techniques, it will contribute to more productive farming thus eradicating poverty in a scale of about 40%. Gender inequality is another issue often linked to a lack of quality education in the world. Eliminating the existing discrimination against the females in taking part in schooling is believed to be an important tool in empowering half the planets population.
Difference Between Developing Countries and Developed Countries.
About 1.1 billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. The socio-economic multitudes of the sub-Saharan in Africa, Latin America, and West Asia residents are among the populations that live on less than a dollar every day. This economic state of these communities has deprived over 90 million students have been deprived of accessing quality education. Relatively, guaranteeing that all the children stand an nm opportunity in obtaining quality education will contribute to aiding the defeating inequality globally. Relatively, in the early years of the twenty-first century, almost one billion individuals were not able to read or sign out their names. Moreover, more research sources have discovered that development in education is stagnated through the phase of Globalization from 1980 to 2000. In Western Europe, about 35-50% of the total population recorded an enrollment to higher institutions of learning. On the other side, Northern Africa and Arabic countries recorded about 15-35 % of students who proceeded to higher learning institutions. In South Asia, the figures were found to be even lower in a range of 5% to 15%. (Pakistan and Afghanistan). The southern sub-Saharan part in Africa was about 5%. A more significant part of Eastern Europe was at par with the Arab countries. Developed countries enjoy good infrastructure, good libraries, enough computers and sufficient books in the library. If lack of access to quality education in the developing countries continues to grow, then the gap between the rich and poor will be even bigger than it has been in the past. This will also lead to a rise in worldwide inequality thus creating more conflict and global despair.
Education a Public Good or Private Good
The main problem is the lack of access to equitable education in the world. Various Nations experience good quality education while others are limited from accessing education at all. This has created a gap between the rich and the poor in society. Before addressing the issue that is at hand. It is also important to look into the nature of the problem. This is where the question of whether access to education is a private or public good comes in. And, in what context can a person access education for it to be considered as any of the above product. According to the Oxford University Press, when something is public, it means that it is freely available either from the state or naturally. However, the challenge comes in the sense where public goods are supplied by private organizations. This aspect is usually regarded as pure public goods and impure public goods. The former is used to refer to products that are provided for everyone like National defense. On the other side, the latter is used to apply to goods that are provided in particular like National libraries. When judging if education can be considered as a private or public good is contentious in different parts of the world. This is mainly because different nations use a different private-public mix of education. According to research sources, it has been noted that there is a higher percentage of private enrollments in developing countries as compared to developed countries concerning secondary schooling. It has been discovered that low public spending contributes to excessive demand which is the main determinant of the high levels of private enrollment in developing countries. High education can, however, be regarded as a public good as it generates useful knowledge to the state. For these reasons, many public institutions finance higher education institutions whether they are private or public. Also, in other developed nations like Sweden, education is usually provided by the government and made available to every child who is willing to attend school. In this context, education can be considered to be a public good. However, in some nations, education is not locally available; people have to pay for it. And as most of them cannot afford to fund the training, they end up staying home instead. In this context, education is denied as an excellent private considering it is only limited to a group of students who can afford to pay for the tuition fee. Education is also regarded to be of private good when the particular type of education being offered is targeted to a certain group of learners. Research sources have farther stated that education that is used as a private good with positive externalities, thanks to technology and the financial support from different governments as now education is a non-pure public good in various nations.
Barriers to equitable Access of Quality Education.
A significant question which requires to be addressed adequately to create more access to equitable education in the world today is the elements that will enable access to equitable education worldwide. Coming up with universal access to quality education is instead a challenging objective that requires time and sufficient resources. Some factors first need to be addressed which include good infrastructure. Facilities like the internet, electricity, good classrooms and access to computers are some of the important elements that have to be provided for the goal to be attained. Other important factors which are significant in creating ways to enhance education is the national legal systems and creating public awareness on the importance of education. Listed below are some of the specific barriers that hinder access to equitable education in the world today; at the same time, they may serve elements that enable access to education.
Education System
There exist many barriers that hinder the provision of equitable access to quality education in the world today. This factors may stem from economic, cultural, social and political areas. One of the barriers being the system of education itself. Learning institutions in the world need to be able to offer safe and comfortable environments to stimulate the learning experiences of the students. For instance, the availability of learning materials, basic utilities like electricity and sanitary facilities. Also, proper training to the teachers and staff is necessary.
Poverty
Poverty is one of the major barriers that is faced by developing countries. The reasons most children in these countries are out of school is because of the lack of enough money to fund their education. Children in these countries are usually left with no choice but to choose either to attend school or get jobs and provide for their families. Another major issue that is caused by poverty is poor nutrition which causes illness thus obstructing educational capabilities. According to a report from the UNESCO, poverty is the main reason as to why children in developing countries are not attending school.
Furthermore, it has been indicated that the percentages of regional non-enrolment percentages mainly vary in child labor cases. Africa is the lead of such cases with 41% followed by Asia which has 21% and lastly Latin America with 17% ratings. In Africa, which is the leading in poverty and child labor cases, p [population growth, famine, and the weak economy have contributed to high rates of child labor and low school attendance rate.
Social and Cultural Barriers
In some countries, the culture of the community is the reason as to why children are not going to school. There is inequality in education which makes some families chose which gender their children have to attend school and which has to stay at home. In such cases, they exist a gap in gender equality as more boys attend school while girls are made to stay at home helping with house chores as they await marriage. In some cases, the girls are even forced to drop out of school due to pregnancy and early marriages. According to UNICEF, at least 9 million girls are not attending school every year. This is mainly because of the social beliefs and cultural practices of such communities. The cultures in these countries set girls to marry at the tender age of 14 years. By the time the girls get married they are forced to drop out of school. According to research sources, in the year 1996 38% of girls in India between the age of 15-19 were forced to cut out of school and get married. Another factor that contributes to the lack of equitable access to education today is the fact that school is not safe in some countries. There are countries that experience intolerance, violence, and discrimination. For example, girls are usually the objects of sexual harassment for the staff members and teachers in the school. Therefore, for their safety, these girls instead prefer to stay at home as it is safer compared to school where they are objectified.
Crisis and Emergency
Considering some countries still deal with crisis and emergencies, access to proper education becomes dysfunctional. Such states are the ones that deal with external or internal warfare and political conflicts. Anytime conflict is experience, the teachers and students have to stop learning and instead seek refuge in camps.
Lack of Equitable Education. Causes and Consequences
Causes
Access to quality education is a crucial matter in every country. Lack of access to equitable education is the basic foundation for a broader range of other issues like a high rate of unemployment which leads to an increase in poverty in the world. However not every Nation can easily access quality education, especially in the developing nations. There are various causes which are the main cause of the problem; this includes the insufficiency in the number of professional teachers distributed in the world. Also the existence of little or no classrooms in a significant part of the world. It is also noted that the quality of training is not substantial. This is all major problems which greatly contribute to the lack of equitable access to quality education.
consequences
Achieving quality universal primary education is among one of the United Nations main goals on development. However, worldwide situations paint a rather depressing picture of the availability of education for the Developing Nations. In current times about 90 million children have been deprived of their rights to education globally. Also, in the begging of the 21st century, UNICEF released a report stating that over 1 billion people in the world are not well capable of writing their names.
Furthermore, a recent study discovered that there had been a significant stagnation in development throughout the face of globalization from the early years of the eighties to 2001. According to the World Bank, there has been substantial improvement through 1994 and 2004. The average primary level of completion has increased by 12%. However, Continents like Africa and Asia have not managed to attain the goal of putting more children to school. Within 2001 and 2002, it has been found that about 100 million children in the world were deprived rights to go to school. 45% of these children are from Asia and Africa. Limited access to good quality education in these nations holds a host of another challenge, social, political and economic. The path towards economic growth and prosperity in these nations has stagnated over the years. This situation will continue to enhance if quality education is not extended to these areas as soon as required. Furthermore, this state will deprive many developing nations in the world from being part of significant positions in the international trade arena and also disallow them towards contributing something significant to the economy of the world.
Stakeholders and Existing Solutions
Based on the issue of lack of equitable access to education in the world, the problem seems to affect most people in developing nations. Provided that the developing world needs quality and accessible systems of education. However, given the different concepts that are present, it is somewhat unfair to give responsibility into one specific sphere. Therefore, the issue of education should be in the hands of all communities in the world. This being inclusive of the developed countries. The issue of lack of access to equitable education that is experienced in the world today involves governments, politicians, political bodies, citizens, children, parents and political leadership among many others. However, in identifying the possible solutions towards the issue, it is essential to identify the key stakeholders in the issue.
Primary Stakeholders
Apart from the immediate stakeholders who are the children in need of equitable education, an equally central role is taken by the National Educational Institutions. This includes all the schools that provide education in developing countries. As learning institutions are responsible for providing education to individuals, they can also provide more sustainable education in different forms like distance learning. One of the main innovative tools for sustainable education is the provision of distance learning. Distance learning can be used to reduce the existing lack of access to education as it facilitates learning excitingly. However, implementation of distance learning comes with some disadvantages especially to teachers who are being replaced by machines. ANOTHER STAKEHOLDER IN EDUCATION IS THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR FINANCIAL AND physical means that promote the delivery of good equitable education in the respective regions. Inadequacy in government spending in the education field is primarily responsible for the lack of adequacy in the education sector, thus hampering national development. Therefore, local governments have continued to face increased pressure in outside organizations towards tackling the issue. If the accessibility of equitable education is to be improved, both the nations and the local government will reap the economic, social and political developments that come with it.
Secondary stakeholders
Secondary stakeholders in this issue include Trade Unions which defend and respect the rights of teachers, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions(ICFTU) which is a key player in matters concerning education. The ICFTU has established almost two hundred organizations in one hundred and fifty countries on all the five continents. Even though it is a confederation of national trade, it has managed to connect the unions of these countries. It has also contributed to innovations in the education system. The range of opportunities created by the Organisation has supported educational activities which have helped in the eradication of child labor in various regions in the World. Also, there different NGO’s which are actively involved in delivering equitable education to the developing nations. UNESCO, on the other hand, has devoted itself towards improving education through advice, projects, networking, and capacity building. Another Key Stakeholder is the United Nations Children Fund(UNICEF) which has managed to focus on the most disadvantaged children through programs and initiatives. The organization’s primary goal is to contribute to the realization of the 2nd-millennium development goal by 2015.Another significant secondary stakeholder is the Amnesty International(AI). AI has brought together significant NGOs and teachers Unions in over one hundred and twenty countries to work towards the vision of enhancing equitable primary education to the children that are disadvantaged. AI ‘s fundamental goal is to have a world that all people benefit from the fundamental right of education. The World Bank is an essential foundation of technical, financial and advisory support to different developing countries around the globe. World Bank targets the eradication of poverty and improves the living standards of people. Poverty is one of the major setbacks towards accessing equitable education; therefore if poverty is eradicated, then most children will be able to access good quality education. Furthermore, the Organisation has been mentioned to be the world biggest funder of educational projects. They have transferred approximately US$36.5 billion to credits and loans for education ever since 1963. This is proof that the World Bank is an indispensable element in the global aim of universal, equitable education. Non-Governmental Organisations like Prathama and Agastya in India have also begun projects like Mobile Labs to reach out to children in rural areas who lack such facilities. Also, the International Labour Organisation(ILO) has set out a project of providing jobs for people in both developed and developing countries. ILO is the only tripartite multilateral organizations worldwide. even though this organization does not have any direct link to education, it can be regarded as an economic development that creates more financial resources to invest in education. Relatively, with an adjustment in the education systems, more doors in terms of career opportunities will be opened. Companies like IBM and Microsoft can also be grouped under this category as they have taken up initiatives like distance learning to increase access to equitable education in the World. Universities based on richer nations have ensured the use of technological innovations criteria’s like MIT which has opened online courses for people who are far to have an opportunity of widening their knowledge. The issue of lack of access to equitable education in the world has acted as a major business opportunity for these institutions as they are constantly trying to come up with innovative ways of approaching the problem. Other important stakeholders are the International governments. Normally, governments in rich countries have power and legitimacy in establishing necessary and solid relations with the governments of emerging nations to enhance their educational systems. A strong relationship between this government can be regarded as a gateway towards enabling access to good education
Recommendations
Education is a fundamental right, and therefore every child in the world deserves to be given an opportunity to explore this right. A framework should be established so that the descriptions made towards eradicating this issue will not be interfered with and they will be long-term descriptions. The process of description making should, however, involve the participation of different stakeholders like the civil society for the description to be understood by the end users. Coming up with a workable framework will make it easier to delegate responsibilities to the governments tan the communities as well. Education should be seen as the answer to eradicating poverty and another issue in developing countries. As the high rate of poverty experienced in the world continues to prevent adults and children from accessing education, the focus should be attending to the learning needs of these population. This includes infrastructure, good and safe learning environments. Also finding assistance from direct programs is essential in controlling human and financial resources to the access of education considering National NGOs and International NGOs will have their focus in funding activities like infrastructure. One of the main reason as to why distance learning was introduced was to improve the quality of education that is being offered in some parts of the world. therefore, upgrading the skills of the teachers in these areas is essential.
Conclusion
Access to Equitable education is a primary need for everyone in the world. It is a tool fair eradicating poverty, unemployment as well as contribute to the development of Nations and the World’s economy. In this time and age, there are numerous innovations that emerge now and then on how to secure better living standards. Education is one of the subjects, is continuously being enhanced to implement quality teaching. However, not every person has been able to enjoy the benefits of the latest upgrades. For some struggling nations, access to quality education is difficult. Looking at the various stakeholders who are constantly trying to solve the problem, it is clear that the firms that have managed to go beyond CSR strategies are IT firms like Microsoft and IBM. The IT firms are the ones facing challenges such as shortage of talent but are still seen to strive harder. This is the reason why most of their programs like distance learning are mainly focused on technology and target a small population instead of reaching out to all uneducated children in the world. These farms need to understand the benefits that come with access to education like eradicating poverty. This benefit has significant consequences in increasing consumer and purchasing power. Reaching out to educated consumers is also easier than uneducated consumers. Ensuring that every person access the rights to education is a complex task. National and international NGOs and also governments must work in solidarity in transforming their plants by contributing human and financial resources towards solving the problem. As the critical stakeholders, they should aim towards eradicating the lack of access to equitable education in the world today. This can be made necessary through active stakeholder involvement and proper communication.