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Calpakis 1

Isabella Calpakis
Instructor: Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
6 November 2013

Education for African Children in Need

Thirteen-year-old Pascal Mwanchoka and his ten-year-old brother scour the
streets of Nairobi for scrap metal. If none is found, then they sleep hungry. The mother
is an alcoholic, and they are living alone on the streets. Education is not their priority
when starvation is their death threat, but what if an education could turn their lives
around?
According to dosomething.org, the African continent has areas with less than 50
percent literacy rates among children ages 18 and under. The chance of these children
learning how to read and write decreases as they become older and take on the
responsibility of supporting a family. Education should be a right, not a privilege, but it
is realistically the other way around. The barriers between first world and third world
countries are more complex than simple laws; Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa states
that of all the worlds regions, Africas economies rank last in wealth as well as in rate
of growth (xxi).
As for the history behind the issue, much structure of the educational system
within the continent is a stripped-down version of what it once was. Before European
intervention, various ethnic groups educated children based on traditional norms and
User 11/25/13 8:34 PM
Deleted: must go to
User 11/25/13 8:34 PM
Deleted: boys
User 11/25/13 8:35 PM
Comment [1]: uoou to enu on a question
User 11/25/13 8:36 PM
Comment [2]: Sounus woiuy. Coulu say
"unfoitunately, this is not ieality."
User 11/25/13 8:36 PM
Comment [3]: "Afiican economies" to
sounu smoothei
User 11/25/13 8:36 PM
Comment [4]: is theie a bettei woiu.
Sounus ouu.
User 11/25/13 8:37 PM
Comment [5]: uives statement, answeis
the "how." uoou!
Calpakis 2
values. According to African Higher Education Policy: A Survey of Sub-Saharan Africa,
education centered on training and discipline resembled modern schooling (26).
However, slave trades and political conflict forced a new educational system. It is a
shame that such a system could not sustain through societal issues and warfare; education
should have been kept a priority over other changes. Growing interest in Western
education put Africa in the dust, a continent left behind in the midst of conflict. This
neglect has carried forward into modern-day society.
If primary education were to be offered in regions of Africa such as Congo and
Tanzania, a growing concern that would need attention is population growth and control
over the years. Schooling for all children would be ideal, but would that be realistic? The
dilemma is that no child should be left behind. A familys monetary status should not be
a determinant of whether or not a child can receive an education.
Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa states that there is more than one obstacle to
mass education. Issues include access to reading materials, most jobs do not require
literacy, and schooling of such low quality that those who pass through years of
schooling are barely literate (xix). It is a shame to think that years of schooling are not
nearly as beneficial as they should be. Questions are asked of whether or not the end
results are worth the expense, since the quality is so low.
According to USA Today, governments in Africa declare that education is free,
but there are of course hindering factors. Public secondary schools this year failed to
report that there would still be charges for transportation, field trips, teacher conferences
and building swimming pools for schools. There is a small chance that this was human
error; perhaps the failure to report is derived from government corruption, and the
User 11/25/13 8:38 PM
Comment [6]: Euucation still seems to be
a piioiity, it just seems to be "a new
euucational system" accoiuing to you. What
aie the uiffeiences between the two.
User 11/25/13 8:39 PM
Comment [7]: Coulu this evei be paiu foi
by the goveinment. 0i will the stuuents'
paients always have to pay.
Calpakis S
attempt to deceive the public eye. Increasing population growth will not make it easier to
support education that must constantly be expanded to provide for all. Because each
nation has a limited amount of available funds; a balance must be achieved between the
quantity and quality of education (Sunal xxi).
There is only so much that outside relief efforts can help; rather, change must start
from within, and then spread. In Wine to Water, Doc Hendley attempts to bring clean
water to the regions of Darfur, but some of his efforts prove futile when politics become
involved. Encounters with the Janjaweed throughout his journey thwart his labor. His
work becomes demolished, making it only a temporary fix. Developing countries need to
break the glass ceiling of poverty themselves in order for their living conditions to match
those of citizens in developed countries.
Over the years, the cost of providing education in Africa has risen. Teachers
salaries have been raised, and the issue is that these salaries are usually paid for by the
government. However, according to USA Today, it would be next to impossible to have
Africa fund their own teachers, when their GDP is around 3.3 percent. U.S. partners and
Kenyan community leaders have met to attempt to decide on a development strategy for
the entire community. In these discussions, Cynthia Sunal, editor of Undertaking
Challenges in the 21
st
Century, mentions that factors such as lack of access to water and
poverty were prominent. Grassroots empowerment initiatives were found to be more
effective than a top-down approach. The African communities must make a united
decision to attempt to teach their children. It must be recognized that education can do
more than stimulate the mind; it can help teach self-reliance. It is next to impossible to
deliver primary education to growing populations across sub-Saharan Africa. According
User 11/25/13 8:39 PM
Deleted: either
User 11/25/13 8:39 PM
Deleted: E
User 11/25/13 8:39 PM
Comment [8]: Sounus ouu, "political
motives inteifeie."
User 11/25/13 8:40 PM
Comment [9]: Who is this. "}anjaweeu,
the militaiy gioup siueu with the
goveinment."
User 11/25/13 8:41 PM
Comment [10]: Coulu you have talkeu
about how Boc taught them how to make
theii own watei filteispumps. Is this a
foim of euucation.
User 11/25/13 8:41 PM
Comment [11]: But uoesn't change have
to come fiom "within" anu not fiom us
helping.
User 11/25/13 8:42 PM
Comment [12]: This is wheie you coulu
talk about Boc "teaching" them to get watei.
Calpakis 4
to Schooling in sub-Saharan Africa, valid purposes must be made clear in order for the
effort and expense of providing education (6). Education can help citizens become
literate and numerate, and it can also provide a base for education to be furthered later on.
When a person is given knowledge, that knowledge can never be taken away.
Children are the future of their own countries, and they will directly affect a countrys
progress. Education is easier and more efficient to provide now compared to previous
generations through the greater availability of technology. Technology can serve as an
outlet for these children and they can begin to understand the issues surrounding them.
Society is currently dominated by technology; extreme development would not be
possible otherwise. According to African Higher Education Policy: A Survey of Sub-
Saharan Africa, African universities do not only lack staff, but facilities as well (76).
Training staff would be required for efficiency. However, staff would not reach their
potential without proper facilities. Funding should be re-directed to improve facilities in
the areas of A, B, C, etc.
Education is one of the most powerful weapons to place in the hands of a child;
with it, he can change the world, and help those around him. Rather than AK-47 machine
guns, young boys in war-torn areas should only be carrying with them the information
that will assist and guide them in further helping the world around them.
In addition to a classroom setting, these children need to learn in a hands-on
environment. They need to understand the diseases plaguing those around them, as well
as the causes, and learn what it is like to work medical miracles on patients in a hospital.
They need to understand diplomacy, and learn why countries, governments, or tribes are
at odds with one another. They need to be in the field to understand how they can make a
User 11/25/13 8:43 PM
Comment [13]: 0i goals.
User 11/25/13 8:43 PM
Comment [14]: But appaiently still
expensive.
User 11/25/13 8:44 PM
Comment [15]: Will this make them lazy
like Ameiicans who live anu bieathe off of
technology.
User 11/25/13 8:44 PM
Comment [16]: Tiue.
User 11/25/13 8:45 PM
Comment [17]: Basically, how shoulu
they be impioveu. Bettei lunches. Aii
conuitioning. Swimming pools.
User 11/25/13 8:44 PM
Deleted: enhance the quality of efficiency of
staff.
User 11/25/13 8:45 PM
Comment [18]: But in this wai-toin aiea,
how will they uefenu themselves with a
book. Boes the wai neeu to stop befoie
piogiess is maue.
User 11/25/13 8:46 PM
Comment [19]: Aka hygiene
Calpakis S
difference with this information. They will have the most powerful voice in the future if
they can start to comprehend how inequities can be solved or helped.
God helps those who help themselves; if children in need of education start to
help themselves, and their families and communities rise from poverty, then they will be
helped and begin to see actions fall into place.
Some 46 million African children nearly half the school-age population
have never set foot in a classroom, stated by the United Nations in USA Today.
However, it is not too late. With the right access to resources initiated by the more
fortunate, students can begin to learn the empowering feeling of learning something new.














User 11/25/13 8:46 PM
Comment [20]: So what uo we uo. Senu
them to Ameiica to see these "meuical
miiacles." 0i keep them in Aiica. Answei
the "how" heie.
User 11/25/13 8:47 PM
Comment [21]: Aie you saying they
aien't tiying now.
User 11/25/13 8:47 PM
Deleted: ,
User 11/25/13 8:47 PM
Deleted: ,
User 11/25/13 8:47 PM
Deleted: their
User 11/25/13 8:47 PM
Deleted: they will
User 11/25/13 8:48 PM
Comment [22]: Is this the 0S. 0i iich
people in Afiica. It shoulu be homegiown,
iight.
User 11/25/13 8:49 PM
Comment [23]: That coulu just veiy well
save theii lives.
Calpakis 6




Works Cited
Domatob, Jerry K. African Higher Education Policy A Survey of Sub-Saharan Africa.
San Francisco: International Scholars Publications, 1998. Print.
Hendley, Doc. Wine to Water: How One Man Saved Himself While Trying to save the
World. New York: Avery, 2012. Print.
Kennedy, Elizabeth A. Africa's Children Struggle for Education - USATODAY.com. N.p.,
21 July 2007. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.
Sunal, Cynthia S., ed. Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa: Contemporary Issues and
Future Concerns. New York & London: Garland, 1998. Print.
"11 Facts About Education Around the World." Do Something. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct.
2013.

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