The weak education system in the country

The weak education system in the country

Education is the key to success. Therefore, with a proper and high-quality education, it is believed that the nation will be prosperous. In line with the inquiry by the government of Western Australia concerning the school completion or attendance in the country, it is evidenced that the state is much concerned with the education system of its people that is the youths who are believed to be the future leaders of the country. The rate of school completion or attendance has been an issue of concern to the government of Western Australia, thus following factors like drug abuse and immorality among the youth members of the country, which might contribute to the high number of school dropouts.

The weak education system in the country will cost the entire government its resources and the lives of its people as in the near future, and the state will lack more educated and literate members due to the negligence in the education system. The parliamentary inquiry into the school attendance and completion is evidenced that the government is much concerned with the education of the citizens. By inquiring about the achievement and the school attendance rate in the country, it will enable the government to identify and make some changes to the education system of the country in order to improve the system and also to motivate most of the students to regularly attend their classes and completes their studies.

The research team is therefore sent to the field to research the school attendance and completion among the students in the country in order to come up with a report concerning the school attendance in most of the public and private schools for the parliamentary discussion. The story was conducted with the aim to give the exact figures and data concerning the school dropout and attendance rate.

The study analyzed the relationship between academic, social life, and health status. This will enable the government through the parliamentary discussion to determine the exact cause of school dropout in the country through the analyzed factors. In most cases, school attendance has been impacted by the health status of the students due to the inherited complications from their parents, like obesity and high blood pressure. Social factors like age, gender, and many other factors will also impact the attendance and school completion among the students based in Western Australia.

Following the study conducted, the key findings that relate to the school attendance and completion based on the attendance register provided by the school administration were as follows.

1. a) From the attendance register provided by the school administrators, it was evidenced that the attendance in primary schools was higher than the presence in secondary schools. This implies that the attendance gap widens as we move further to the secondary level up to the tertiary level, where the difference is much more extensive due to the dropout cases from the students.

• The academic performance of the students, thus based on the socioeconomic status, indicated that less fortunate or disadvantaged students perform shoddy in-class work as compared to the advantaged students whose performance was recommendable based on their academic level. The poor students recorded poor academic achievements due to irregular school attendance rate as opposed to the best performers from the fortunate families. This implies that the advantaged students had all the necessary resources and support needed for their academic work.
• Disparities in the attendance rates became highly evident from year 1 and subsequently became wider in secondary school. On average, students with a lower socioeconomic index (SEI), students with parents possessing lower educational qualifications, Aboriginal students, and highly mobile students depicted poor attendance records. The following figure exhibits an overview of this pattern and also represents that the attendance gap is constant throughout the primary years and widens as the child enters secondary school. This is evidenced in the graph one below.

Figure 1: average attendance rate, by year of school

Therefore, in order to improve the academic performance and the health outcome of the students, the government has the responsibility to apply various approaches in ensuring that the health standards of the students are catered for to realize hundred percent attendance in most of the public and private schools since health has been considered as one of the factors for the school attendances and completion in the country.

Social determinants of health

The social determinant of health includes factors like socioeconomic status or education or any factor which might impact the healthy being of an individual while carrying out their dilly duties. These are factors or conditions in which people are born, grew in, or are exposed to and have got an impact on their health status. Socially, the healthy being of an individual can be determined by various factors like genetics, behavior, environmental and physical influences, and medical care and other social factors. The mentioned factors are believed to be interconnected based on their impacts on an individual’s health. To summarize thus based on the research concerning the social determinants of health in Australia, the determinant has been categorized into mental health or well being, freedom from violence and discrimination, and economic participation, thus income security.

Other determinants of health include education, Gender, Disability, Housing, Early life/Early Childhood Development, Income and income distribution, Race, Employment and Working Conditions, Social Exclusion, Food Insecurity, Social Safety Net, Health Services, Unemployment and Job security, Aboriginal status. Therefore, Parliamentary submission regarding the inquiry into school attendance and completion by the Western Australian State Government depicts a robust link between the following social determinants of health and the Issue under concern.

Education

Globally, it is believed that with better education or academic qualifications, one will be able to secure a better job in the job market, thus following employers’ tastes and preferences on the requirements of their employees. This sentiment implies that better education will earn one better job; hence will be able to cater to their medical cost by purchasing various medical covers, which is opposite in the scenario of poor educational background. Well educated members of society will tend to make a rational decision concerning their health. Therefore, their health status will be much better-catered and planned for than the less educated members of society.

In relation to the school attendance and completion study, students with health problems are fond of absenteeism in their schools since, in most cases, they are forced to seek medical assistance from hospitals, which results in absenteeism. For instance, those with chronic conditions do not regularly attend schools due to their health conditions. The idea of education as social health determinant applies in this scenario in that highly educated parents will be able to plan the treatment program for the kids effectively; hence they hardly miss out on schools. The case is opposite to the less educated parents, and their kids are ever out of school due to poor health planning since they are forced to seek medication only when they are sick hence contribute to the high percentage of absenteeism in schools.

Education determines both health status and school attendance and completion. This implies that formal education will enlighten members of the society and students on some of the healthy practices which will not predispose them to health complications. For instance, the case of obesity and pressure can be limited or reduced through consistent formal education as they have resulted from our activities of living like eating and drinking habit. With adequate formal education on activities of living, the households will be sensitized on the healthy activities of life and how they can handle such cases when they arise.

In line with the school completion, many obese students have been reported to have not completed their studies due to their health status; therefore, with enough formal education, such students will be sensitized on how to manage their obese condition to enable complete their studies. Thus from the above-discussed scenarios, learning should be considered as one of the critical determinants of social health within the country and also factors for the attendances and completion school by the government of Western Australia.

Recommendation based on education as a social health determinant

The following are my suggestions to the government of Western Australia concerning school attendance and completion in the country for parliamentary review.

• Provision of medical insurance cover to students. Based on the research study conducted on the school attendance and completion in the country, one of the policies which could help reduce the number of school dropout and absentees in schools is to provide medical insurance cover to the students. Provision of the medical insurance cover to the students will help to reduce the rate of school dropouts and absenteeism, which has been marked as a significant challenge to the education system in the country as it will ensure better health of the students despite their socioeconomic backgrounds. The policy will keep the less fortunate or the needy students at school who may drop out of school due to the health conditions like the obese students.
• Drug and substance abuse sensitization. It is necessary for the government through parliamentary sittings to consider this particular policy. Based on the study conducted on the topic subject, drugs and substance abuse have been taking over the society and robbing them of the morals and ethical standards through increased drug abuse by the young members of the community who are still in various learning institutions. Therefore, I call upon the government of Western Australia to consider adopting the policy of drug education in order to create awareness to the public on the effects of drugs. By viewing this particular health policy, students who might have the intention or being lured by the drug peddlers will be saved from abusing such substances. They will, therefore, concentrate on their academic work, thus reducing the absentee cases nd school dropout cases in the country. The policy will also help to limit drug business in the country and trafficking since, through such exposure, students might be attempted to try out busing such drugs.
• The government should consider partnering schools and the health care providers within the country. Through the partnership of the two institutions, students who might need medical attention will be attended to in time at school without being sent home. The act of sending students back for treatment has increased the cases of absenteeism in schools; therefore, through partnership, students will be attended to freely without being sent home; therefore, maintains school attendance. The policy of enhancing the compatibility between the out of home care providers, schools, and health care facilities is suitable for both privileged students and the poor ones in terms of the family background.
• The respective education department should conduct regular evaluations of student attendance strategies and must report to the management committee. They should provide adequate training to school administration on the follow-up procedures for the management of unauthorized absences. The state authorities must review absence codes and give guidance to schools on how to use them appropriately. Through such efforts, the number of school absenteeism will be limited.

Health services

Health services are one of the critical determinants of an individual’s health. Health services can be summarized as medical care or health care activities within the community, which is aimed at ensuring healthy people. Health services play an essential role in both academic and social relations since it aids in keeping or reducing the infections within the society by providing the safety living standards of people. To the education system, the absence of health services within the community or learning institutions do affect the activities of learning negatively in terms of the students’ attendance and concentration as a sick person cannot concentrate for long enough compared to the healthy colleague. Health services are always considered as one of the vital services the government must provide to its citizens in ensuring better health of its people. The government can provide health services through building hospitals, provision of drugs, and training of medical staff for the betterment of health status and to help prevent infections among the citizens.

In relation to school attendance and completion, health services play an essential role in ensuring more significant number of attendance and school completion. This is evidenced in a scenario where the sickening students may decide to quit or drop out of school due to their poor health status caused by a lack of health services. Better and updated health services within the country will promote learning in most of the learning institutions as students will be of better health; therefore, it entirely concentrates on their academic work. When health services within the country are not made available to the less fortunate members of the society, the learning process, that is, school attendance will be compromised as many students with various health complications will be traveling to other countries in search of better health services depending on their health conditions.

School completion will be compromised, too, as students will not find enough time to concentrate on their school work as they are moving from state to state while seeking medical care. The less fortunate in the education system, too, will be affected following the fact that they cannot afford the cost of medical care from other countries. Therefore, they will choose to remain t home due to their health conditions.

Recommendations based on health services as a social health determinant

The following are my suggestions to the government of Western Australia concerning the school attendance and completion in the country for parliamentary review to make the policy healthier.

• Upgrading local health facilities. With respect to the school attendance and completion, upgrading local health centers will contribute to high attendance and school completion due to the readily available health services. With consideration of the policy, students who are sick will be able to access medical services from local health centers rather than traveling to the city for medical checkups. This will minimize the absenteeism cases in schools as the services are at their disposal.
• Training more medical staff. The policy of training more medical staff will serve best in the interest of the government in ensuring students’ attendance and completion of schools since with increased medical personnel, emergency cases like accidents at schools will be responded to easily unlike cases where one has to be taken to more important medical centers.