At the turn of the century, representatives from 189 countries joined together and forged an agreement to eliminate extreme poverty once and for all. The United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was seen as the international community’s chance to facilitate economic and social growth in the world’s least developed countries, and saw hundreds of billions of dollars invested into development initiatives. The second goal called on governments to provide every boy and girl around the world access to a full primary education by 2015. This essay uses the context of Rwanda to explore why education is a vital indicator of development, how successful the education targets have been, and what challenges and opportunities remain as
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The greatest challenges include implementing a national standard for the quality of primary education, encouraging parents to send their children to school consistently and at the right age, and making schools accessible to children with disabilities. Factors like poverty, gender and location can all still greatly affect the quality of education a child may receive in Rwanda. Children living in rural areas are 50% less likely to commence school at the correct time compared with those from urban communities (Abbott, et. al 2015). The quality of the education also varies widely based on location. Schools in urban areas typically have more teachers, and additional funding from more affluent parents to supplement materials and resources for the school. In addition, children dropping out of school before completing their primary education is a serious concern. Currently one in every nine Rwandan children drop out of school before completing the primary level (Ibid). This can be attributed to many factors such as lack of interest and relevancy leading to disengagement with the curriculum, insufficient household finances to support the ‘additional’ costs associated with schooling, or repeated failure of a grade …show more content…
While girls do still face difficulties in getting an education, with barriers such as expectations of domestic work or a lack of female sanitation facilities at the school, in Rwanda it is actually boys who have a higher chance of leaving primary school early, with about a 20% higher probability of dropping out than girls (Ibid). There is also evidence which indicates that the quick expansion of the primary education system in Rwanda has put pressure on already overstretched government resources, and while many children are attending school, the quality of their education is poor. As outlined by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact: “There has … been a lack of attention to learning outcomes and to the trade-off between increasing access and ensuring quality. As a result, the quality of education being provided to most children is so low that a large majority is failing to achieve basic literacy and numeracy” (ICAI 2012, pp. 1). It is not uncommon for a teacher with minimal competence or training to be placed in charge of a classroom with over 40 students with little to no basic facilities such as books and desks. So although widespread enrolment of primary school children in Rwanda in accordance with the MDGs, the focus must now be shifted from simply accessing education to accessing quality
The greatest challenges include implementing a national standard for the quality of primary education, encouraging parents to send their children to school consistently and at the right age, and making schools accessible to children with disabilities. Factors like poverty, gender and location can all still greatly affect the quality of education a child may receive in Rwanda. Children living in rural areas are 50% less likely to commence school at the correct time compared with those from urban communities (Abbott, et. al 2015). The quality of the education also varies widely based on location. Schools in urban areas typically have more teachers, and additional funding from more affluent parents to supplement materials and resources for the school. In addition, children dropping out of school before completing their primary education is a serious concern. Currently one in every nine Rwandan children drop out of school before completing the primary level (Ibid). This can be attributed to many factors such as lack of interest and relevancy leading to disengagement with the curriculum, insufficient household finances to support the ‘additional’ costs associated with schooling, or repeated failure of a grade …show more content…
While girls do still face difficulties in getting an education, with barriers such as expectations of domestic work or a lack of female sanitation facilities at the school, in Rwanda it is actually boys who have a higher chance of leaving primary school early, with about a 20% higher probability of dropping out than girls (Ibid). There is also evidence which indicates that the quick expansion of the primary education system in Rwanda has put pressure on already overstretched government resources, and while many children are attending school, the quality of their education is poor. As outlined by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact: “There has … been a lack of attention to learning outcomes and to the trade-off between increasing access and ensuring quality. As a result, the quality of education being provided to most children is so low that a large majority is failing to achieve basic literacy and numeracy” (ICAI 2012, pp. 1). It is not uncommon for a teacher with minimal competence or training to be placed in charge of a classroom with over 40 students with little to no basic facilities such as books and desks. So although widespread enrolment of primary school children in Rwanda in accordance with the MDGs, the focus must now be shifted from simply accessing education to accessing quality