“Children in West and Central Africa”
For this week assignment I chose
to explore the Children in West and Central Africa. I chose this area because I
have done some research on this area in an earlier class, and I was very shock
at some of the things, but not all of the things the children of West and
Central Africa have to do to go to school.
One of the challenges these
children are face with is poverty. The region is hard hit by poverty which
gives them limited access to enough schools, teachers, and appropriate learning
materials. Children cannot go to school and learn when they are hungry or have
nothing to wear. Another
challenge the website states, is
“the
lack of a good school infrastructure and unequal distribution of schools that can
also contribute to long distances between the homes of children and their
school”. Parents do not want to take the risk of sending younger children and
girls to school if they have to walk long distances. Sometimes they have to
walk at least 40 miles to get to school. The war and other conflicts
have led to the deaths of teachers and pupils and the physical destruction of
schools, communities and communication links has made many education systems
dysfunctional for long periods of times. I know that if children misses many
days of class, it will be hard for them catch up with their peers.
I think that the damage done to the
education systems by war will have a profound effect on children emotional
well-being as well as their development. The psycho-social traumas children and
the population at a large have experienced have unknown, lasting effects on the
learning and development process, a fact that has to be taken into account in
the reconstruction process (UNICEF). Even where physical destruction is not an
issue, political instability has jeopardized national education systems and the
opportunities for children to benefit from quality education (UNICEF).
Especially the situation with the girls in the region should also be noted. For
girls of the West and Central regions to realizing the manifold benefits of
education are far less than the girls of any other region in the world. UNICEF
says that only 1 girl out of 2 goes to school.
I
have learned through research that the region also faces a poor quality
of education due to a shortage of teachers, low teacher salaries and limited
training and development opportunities for teachers, as do some of the area
here in the United States. After reading some of essays the children have
written, and reading through the material on the web site it’s really amazing.
To see how they want to learn, and some of them don’t have the chance to. I
wish that all school aged child (for those who does not want to go to school)
could read, see, and understand the circumstances these children in West and
Central Africa has to go through to even try to get some education.
Hi Gloria,
ReplyDeleteIt was great to read your post to learn something about Africa, as I basically have no idea of the reality there. I watched the news and documentary about that continent, but I should say there is more than I expected to be done in that region. Poverty seems to be the root of the problems there too. However, I wish all the governments and authorities can realize that only if they provide the opportunities to children to be educated, and then they will change the situation of the country. Thank you for sharing.
Xiyue
Hi Gloria, I shared your post with my husband who was stationed in Africa during his service. He said that things were bad many years ago, but they only continue to decline, at least in some regions. I agree that children need to have food and a good night's sleep in order to succeed in school. It's almost impossible to comprehend that an entire school could collapse due to its structure. I can almost understand that a parent would have some uncertainties in sending a child to school in these conditions, but obviously, it extends deeper than this. In our research for a previous class, I learned that poverty exists all through the world. It was somewhat unbelieveable to realize that it exists right in my area of Florida, although certainly not to the extent that you discussed. Poverty has to be a horrible feeling, and yet, many children experience it everyday. Children need to be nourished and the ability to enter school in order to work together to improve conditions whithin their area; if not, the cycle will continue. Thank you for sharing a perspective on Africa; I learned a lot.
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