Blog Post #7 Africa falls behind in Education

While the United States and other countries are developing ways to better their education systems, there are still some countries that lag behind in major numbers. Over the years, Africa has still not been able to teach basic reading, writing and arithmetic to its children. With only about half of Africa’s children enrolled in primary school, illiteracy is at an all time high within the country; women making up 50% of this statistic. With Africa not being able to educate the children of their country, they are nowhere near able to compete with the rest of the world in today’s society. The causes of this problem are due to the enormous lack of resources and the social problems taking place within Africa.

Due to the lack of funds given by governmental aid there are poor textbooks and limited teachers; and the ones available aren’t qualified to teach. According to the article, Math Teachers can’t do Pupils Test” by Michelle Jones, a study was done within the South African schools, and it was discovered that just 30 percent of 5th grade teachers were able to answer a simple addition question. Therefore, if the children were in place to learn, they wouldn’t receive the best education possible because it isn’t available. Aside from a lack of resources, there are also social issues plaguing Africa that are causing the dropout rates to increase. Things such as famine, epidemics, violent conflicts, and natural disasters all have an effect on enrolling rates. While there are some programs set forth to help with this pressing issue it seems like it is never enough.

I found these articles to be very interesting. After reading Chapter 4, in our textbook, I was able to see how they relate. In the reading it discussed how developing countries focus more on educating males than they do females. Parents feel that the male child will be able to contribute more to the families’ well being once he is done with school. One thing that I saw a lot that correlated with the reading was the fact that education around the world is unequal by gender. In the article the statistics prove that males are experience to education way more than females. And it was made clear how early marriages and pregnancy has contributed to the gender disparity. The fact that Africa is effected as a whole due to lack of education shows that this is a social problem. Not only is there gender disparity but there is also the need for money that causes families to take their children out of school. This article shows truth to the statement that there is always someone worst off than you. Although the United States is experiencing problems within education, it is nothing compared to what Africa is going through. And with the economy steadily going downhill, I feel that it will only get worse.



http://www.dailypioneer.com/pioneer-news/oped/13113-from-darkness-unto-light.html

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/maths-teachers-can-t-do-pupil-test-1.1155660