Blog 13: South Africa: Short-Changing the Youth - the Collapse of an Education System?

Blog 13: South Africa: Short-Changing the Youth - the Collapse of an Education System?

This article was more of an analysis of the current state of education in South Africa. It begins with the statement of how literacy improvement is good for the economy. An expert on education also states that 17.2% of the economic growth rate in Africa is due to improvements in education. The belief is that it will take more than just extra funding for education to continue to improve. The enrollment numbers are high but the problem lies in students staying in school. One of the probable causes of this problem is that the present education system keeps the poor and the privileged in their respective statuses instead of raising the poor out of poverty. Another problem is teacher absenteeism.  There are more difficulties facing South African students such as not enough classrooms and libraries available. There are even some schools without water. To add to these issues, there is a lack of qualified teachers and principals. One proposed solution being discussed is to add more textbooks and other learning materials.

The current educational problems facing South Africa continue to be in the news. The reports of higher enrollment in primary schools are certainly positive and give promise for the future of their education and economy. It appears that the real problem that needs to be addressed is the high school dropout rate of 45%. Somehow, I don’t think that adding more textbooks will touch this problem.  It must become an imperative to give more attention to the poorer schools. They could start with adding qualified teachers and investing more in providing each student with the proper learning tools. Perhaps money is not the answer to everything, but in this case the 20% of the South African annual budget money going to education is obviously just not enough. The leaders should be able to see that the improvements so far in literacy and in turn the economy, is proof positive that more investment, including funding, in the schools will pay off for everyone.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201204181041.html                   Deborah Faircloth

Blog 12: Nigeria: 2012 Education Budget and its Implications

Blog 12: Nigeria: 2012 Education Budget and its Implications

This article dated April 12, 2012 reveals the major problem of the education system in Nigeria. It not only has been a huge issue in the past but it is getting worse. Nigeria only allowed 8.43 percent of the budget to education. UNESCO which is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization has recommended that 26 percent of the yearly budget be spent on education. The majority of other African countries are using these guidelines for their education systems. Due to the lack of proper funding for education in Nigeria their problems include quality staff shortages, inadequate classrooms, shortage of books, corruption, and low staff-student ratios. There are some primary schools where students sit on the bare floor. Most of the secondary schools do not have classrooms at all. The ACN, Action Congress of Nigeria, has asked for immediate action to increase education allotments because they believe that education is the “key to the development of any society”.

The recurring theme of lack of support and funding for education in Africa and many other parts of the world is apparent in this article. With a measly 8.43 percent of Nigeria’s yearly budget, how are teachers to be paid and where are the books going to come from? Although it is true that Nigeria has a myriad of problems that they are facing, it would be one of the greatest investments made in order to improve conditions.  Presently, Nigeria is allocating 82 percent of the budget towards recurrent expenditure. Education for all children should be on the top of the list of recurrent expenditures. Mr. Wale Samuel, a policy advisor for the Nigerian Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All, speaks of this by saying that education is a fundamental right which needs to guaranteed and accessible by way of the budget. He urges the government to meet the 26 percent allotment to make this happen. With people like Mr. Samuel, perhaps Nigeria has a chance to meet their educational needs.

                                                                   Deborah Faircloth

Blog 11: Few pupils can read properly

Blog 11: Few pupils can read properly

At a teachers’ conference in Durban, South Africa, a local professor spoke about basic education and improving literacy rates. This is in direct response to the alarming results revealing that between 60% and 70% of students are not reading at proper levels. Professor Fleisch believes that the problem stems from what happens or doesn’t happen in the classroom. His theory is that the problems begin early and have a hugely negative impact in high school and beyond. In addition to the classroom, Professor Fleisch spoke of the problems many children have at home, which include illness and parents’ inability to help with homework. He urged the audience to make it a top priority and make the necessary changes right away. Two suggestions that he had that could be utilized now were to have the students do more written work and provide more usage of phonetics. Another speaker on the subject suggested that South Africa start at an earlier age to teach reading and writing skills. Dr. O’Carroll added that studies have shown that children with professional parents will have heard four times more words as more disadvantaged children when they enter school. She spoke of how South African students in grade 0 (ages 4 to 5 years) were typically 2 years behind expectations.

This report adds fuel to the issue of lack of education at early ages. It has been shown that children with a strong reading background when they enter school have an advantage and are more successful at all stages of schooling. It is too simplistic just to say ‘parents should read to their children’ when not only in South Africa, but globally there are parents who struggle to provide just the basic needs for their children. I wonder how many of us could manage to read a book to our child if we didn’t know where the next meal is coming from. Children and families in poverty could greatly benefit from a program that begins much earlier than it does currently. A program that provides meals and opportunities for reading and writing with a caring adult would be a good place to start. South Africa has come a long way in the past 2 decades and like the rest of world, focusing on the early education of children will show the benefits tenfold.

http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=79032

                                                                                    Deborah Faircloth

Blog 10: South Africa: Dlamini rallies community support for ECD

Blog 10: South Africa: Dlamini rallies community support for ECD

The South African Social Development Minister is trying to rally support from communities to push for rights of all children to accessible quality early education. Bathabile Dlamini spoke at the Early Childhood Development conference and urged the country to make early education a top priority in a timely manner. She added that other social issues such as unemployment were given more importance and that education was toward the bottom of the list. She suggested that perhaps the best way to bring education to the forefront was to ‘piggy-back’ on pre-existing programs that seek to improve rural and urban conditions. The South African Basic Education Deputy Minister mentioned the fact that the EDC centers are receiving better access to materials including 54 million new workbooks. Also, the government has 20,000 newly trained ECD instructors. The South African Correctional Services Minister added to the support of the ECD program when he spoke of how early education gives children the right tools to become better socialized and lower the large amounts of juvenile delinquents. Ms. Mapisa-Nakula suggested that training the ECD instructors and at-risk parents to incorporate nurturing and discipline into their teaching would show important improvements in the communities. And finally, an ECD teacher from Port Elizabeth added that as bad as things looked right now, she felt there was promise for the future and that children were the reason for it.

This article was an example of a global social problem on the road to recovery. South Africa has only had its independence since 1994 and with all of its continuing problems it appears that some people there have the right idea. To put early education at the top of a countries priorities is a hugely important step which takes much insight. It is ironic to me that such a new nation can realize the importance of early education when North Carolina and much of the United States have been extremely slow in recognizing this. Studies have shown that when children have an early start to their education, the long term positive results are undeniable. I have very high hopes that North Carolina will agree with Governor Purdue and vote to add funds to the early education program. I do believe that children everywhere are our future and to ignore that would only hurt us all.

http://7thspace.com/headlines/409146/south_africa_dlamini_rallies_community_support_for_ecd.htm

Blog 9: UK Education Standards Office Threatens Top Schools’ Status

This article addresses the social problem in education of should the better schools assist the failing schools. In the United Kingdom, the new head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, is considering forcing the schools with the best performance rate to be socially responsible and help out the nearby lower performing schools. A brief description of Ofsted follows: “Our specialist inspectors are experts in the type of service they inspect. When they carry out an inspection, be it of a children’s home, a nursery, a school, a college, or a local authority, they focus on the quality of the service for individual children, young people or older learners. During an inspection, inspectors collect first-hand evidence based on the practice they observe and what they learn from the people using the service. They use this evidence and other information available to make their professional judgements which we publish in inspection reports.” Sir Michael is threatening sanctions on the top rated schools if they do not comply with the new requirements. If a school with outstanding performance ratings does not give aid in the form of sharing resources and consulting, then that school will have its rating taken away. This concern arose from the poor testing results from over 2,000 schools in the U.K. Sir Michael is trying to appeal to the better schools’ sense of morality to encourage them to help others in need. One of the problems with this is that he is expecting teachers of these better schools to help without any compensation.

Once again, the responsibility for fixing problems in the education system falls to the underpaid, overworked teachers. It is certainly true that this is part of their job, but if an administration does not advocate for their teachers, then the teachers can only do so much. Maybe an answer is to do away with paying the high salaries of these administrative finger-pointers, and actually give more power and salaries for the ones that do: the teachers themselves. The teachers are there in the trenches and know exactly what the problems are and probably have a good idea about how to solve them. I disagree with paying someone to sit in his tower and pass down judgments based on testing scores. But that seems to be the way it is and it doesn’t appear that we will see a change in the right direction. The best teachers have a strong sense of morality already, so for Sir Michael to force them to do what he feels is best is an affront. Where is the encouragement and the support for the teachers of this world? I, for one, am in their corner.