Adult literacy rates in Nepal have increased and continue to increase, though similar countries have seen stagnation. The UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report highlights under Sustainable Development Goal 4.6.2 that Nepal’s has seen growth in the adult literacy rate of women aged 20-34. UNESCO’s Education Progress Tool assesses this positive outcome as a result of literate young girls becoming adults. This blog will include other possible factors for Nepal’s efforts and successes to meet the literacy needs of its citizens. 

UNESCO indicates that Nepal is the only country analyzed that has held sustained improvement over time. UNESCO attributes the success of Nepal to the simple explanation that young women, who have previously benefitted from increases in primary education access and promotion rates, are now growing up and positively effecting Nepal’s adult female literacy rates. I contend that if this argument were a full explanation, it would be seen in other countries as well who have had similar timelines of educational progress. Instead, I argue the figures provided are an indication of Nepal’s success in targeting women’s need for literacy by appealing to the social and emotional needs of their female population. Additionally, Nepal’s sustained literacy success is a reflection of the economic growth in the capital, Kathmandu and may be an indication that the rural populations continued educational struggles are not being addressed.

In Nepal, there has been an effort to increase integrated literacy programs where literacy is taught in several different contexts and so it can be accessed at different stages in one’s everyday routine. There are literacy education programs being provided to adult women by religious institutions, aid organizations and public institutions. These programs take a holistic approach to education by taking into account a woman’s education while also assessing the other areas of their lives such as health, children, income etc. In Nepal, a research group called The Goals and Purposes of the Girls’ and Women’s Education Initiative and the Girls’ and Women’s Education policy Research Activity (GWE-PRA) followed two of these groups, Basic Primary Education Project (BPEP) and the Health Education and Adult Literacy (HEAL) Program. The analysis found that woman who participated in these programs gained 13 percentage points over women who did not participate in the index of women’s social and economic development. (Burchfield et. al., 2002) By taking the woman’s full scope of life into consideration, literacy is able to be framed as a solution for the women participating in these programs. The success of these programs is attributed to their ability to meet a broad scope of needs for the female participants that went beyond their literacy studies. Nepal’s efforts to tackle the entire problem, instead of simply one part of the whole, had shown to be an indicator of why they have been able to sustain their growing literacy rates. 

The data point provided by UNESCO’s Education Progress Tool does not show the full picture of the continued effort to achieve high literacy rates in Nepal. The country still suffers from drastic economic inequalities between rural and urban populations that are shown in the education-based data as well. Nepal’s rural populations makes up 80 per cent of the total population and yet there are reports that students are not able to find or access education past the primary level in the poorest areas of the country. (Khatimada, 2015) The picture of Nepal’s female literacy rate process shows sustained success over time. These figures are slow to change over time and require continued work. If Nepal is able to continue working towards meeting the education as well as the social and emotional needs of its female population, it will continue to see sustained growth in its female literacy rates.  

References

Acharya, S., Yoshino, E., Jimba, M., & Wakai, S. (2005). Empowering rural women through a 

community development approach in Nepal. Community Development Journal, 42(1), 34–46. doi: 10.1093/cdj/bsi064

Burchfield, S., Hua, H., Baral, D., & Rocha, V. (2002, November 30). A Longitudinal Study of 

the Effect of Integrated Literacy and Basic Education Programs on Women’s Participation in Social and Economic Development in Nepal. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED475610

Comings, J. P., Shrestha, C. K., & Smith, C. undefined. (1991, November 30). A Secondary 

Analysis of a Nepalese National Literacy Program. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ446350

GEM Report Education Progress. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://www.education-progress.org/en/articles/learning/

Khatiwada, B. (2015, December 20). Children in Chitwan deprived of education past primary level. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from 

Manandhar, U., & Leslie, K. (1994). Empowering Women and Families Through Literacy in Nepal. Toronto, 27(2).

Nepal. (2017, April 12). Retrieved from http://uis.unesco.org/en/country/np

Robinson-Pant, A. (2000). Women and literacy: a Nepal perspective. International Journal of   Educational Development, 20(4), 349–364. doi: 10.1016/s0738-0593(99)00080-2

Photo Credit: Nathalie Lahire/ World Bank

Background

Over the last four decades, Afghanistan has suffered from continuous wars that have devastated the lives of many civilians. During the 1980s, over a million Afghans lost their lives, and forced millions more to flee to neighboring countries and seek refuge. When Soviet forces withdrew their troops in 1989, conflict ensued with civil strife between the Taliban, an Islamic political and military movement, and the government. Much of the fighting was exacerbated by ethnic conflict which left many Afghans internally displaced, resulting in loss of education and employment (Independent High Commission on Education for Afghanistan, 2003, p. 29). Moreover, when the Taliban toppled the government in 1996, girls and women were denied access to healthcare, employment and education (UNICEF, 2003, p. 6). Following the fall of the Taliban five years later, much of Afghanistan’s infrastructure had been destroyed. In response, the government decided to rebuild the country’s education system from the ground up.

According to a 2003 report, much of the government’s approach during the twentieth century was conventional in the sense that only a limited portion of government actors were involved in policy making. Furthermore, segments of society were not always represented when it came to decision making (Independent High Commission on Education for Afghanistan, 2003, p. 30). However, at the turn of the century, Afghanistan had shifted from a traditional hierarchical power structure to become more inclusive.

Implications

Today, despite the catastrophic circumstances and reoccurring violence, Afghan society recognize the value in education as a “bridge that transforms an emergency situation into one of hope and promise” (UNICEF, 2003, p. 2). Education has unified the country, with the government of Afghanistan utilizing quality education as the foundation for poverty reduction and economic growth (Independent High Commission on Education for Afghanistan, 2003, p. 1). The idea of a good quality education includes “cultural diversity, multilingualism in education, peace and non-violence, health education and sustainable development (Independent High Commission on Education for Afghanistan, 2003, p. 108).”

There has been a vast improvement in Afghanistan’s educational system over the years. One example is the Strengthening Education in Afghanistan (SEA) program, a USAID initiative, which provided teacher training to over 4,500 teachers in 2018 (Fippin, 2019). However, many citizens are still not receiving a quality education, and only half of the population between the ages of 15 and 24 are literate (Fippin, 2019). Furthermore, in addition to lacking quality resources, teachers and trainers are not well-equipped to handle the large class sizes endemic to Afghan classrooms.

Another issue that affects students seeking a quality education is the disproportionate ratio between teachers and students. As depicted in the graph to the left, in 2018 the average ratio was 44 students to one teacher (“GEM Report Education Progress,” 2020). The spike in the graph, where the student-teacher ratio was nearly 60:1 reflects the attitude towards education during the Taliban’s five-year rule. Frequently, teachers were threatened or attacked and schools were bombed, treating these institutions as military targets rather than a place of learning (Barr, 2017). To this day, Afghanistan still suffers from a deficit of teachers, presenting immense challenges to delivering quality education.

Afghan children still face an abundance of barriers in accessing decent education in both urban and rural areas. Safety hazards which stem from poor infrastructure is a major concern that can inhibit student learning (GEM Report Education Progress, 2020). According to the World Bank, “around 70% of public schools lack clean drinking water and working electricity” (Molina et al. 2018, 7). Additionally, there is a lack of available sanitation for students to use. UNESCO observes that only 31% of primary schools have access to single-sex bathrooms.

Reach and Impact

It’s not all grim though. While the disruption of war has impacted millions of young Afghans, a collaborative approach has been put forth to increase access to education. Since 2002, the Ministry of Education has taken initiative and embarked on a national ‘Back to School’ campaign. With the help of international donors, they launched a campaign which opened up its doors to get more than 3 million children—1/3 of them girls—enrolled in school again.

As of April 2017, a Ministry of Education official told Human Rights Watch that there are 9.3 million children in school, 39 percent of whom are girls. However, it is important to note that claims from the Afghan government regarding the number of students who have received an education post-2001 invasion is frequently disputed (Barr, 2017). The reasons for doubt are fair —the Afghan government is described as having “centralized, though typically weak, state control and often low-capacity, locally governed institutions” (Molina, Trako, Hosseini Matin, Masood, & Viollaz, 2018, p. 9). There seems to be a disconnect between student learning objectives, and which offer the opportunity for teachers to advance in their career despite lacking certain qualifications and seniority. Though there has been significant progress over the past 16 years, more attention needs to be centered towards the performance and quality to maximize potential student learning outcomes.

References

Barr, H. (2017). “I won’t be a doctor, and one day you’ll be sick”: Girls’ access to education in Afghanistan. New York, N.Y.: Human Rights Watch.

Fippin, E. (2019, July 20). Top 10 Facts About Education in Afghanistan. Retrieved from The Borgen Project website: https://borgenproject.org/top-10-facts-about-education-in-afghanistan/

GEM Report Education Progress. (2020). Retrieved from GEM Report Education Progress website: https://www.education-progress.org/en/articles/quality/

Independent High Commission on Education for Afghanistan (Ed.). (2003). The Revival and development of education in Afghanistan: Policy, objectives and strategies. Kabul: Independent High Commission on Education for Afghanistan.

Molina, E., Trako, I., Hosseini Matin, A., Masood, E., & Viollaz, M. (2018). The learning crisis in Afghanistan. Policy Paper. World Bank, Washington, DC.

UNICEF (Ed.). (2003). Rebuilding hope in Afghanistan. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/publications/index_15520.html

World Bank. (2018). Afghanistan: Promoting Education During Times of Increased Fragility. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/afghanistan/publication/afghanistan-promoting-education-during-times-of-increased-fragility

What we’re talking about:

How teachers contribute to the quality of education in Peru. According to UNESCO’s latest data set in the Global Education and Monitoring Report, 94.7% of all teachers in Peru have received official training in education. This data point arguably reflects the quality of education provided to the students.  

How do they measure this?

The training of teachers looks vastly different across the globe; therefore, UNESCO’s definition of “trained” ranges from a full degree in education to a certificate in pedagogical, professional, and content knowledge. The wide variety of certificates and degrees makes teacher training the least comparable indicator in the SDG 4 monitoring framework.

Let’s put this in context of Peru.

In 2007, the Peruvian government required teachers to take a competency exam with the expectation that the scores would prove the need for teacher training. The test scores were later published in the newspapers and the National Teachers Union had reason to believe that the scores would be leveraged to fire instructors. The tension between the two parties have remained and prevented the government from spearheading any educational research.

Furthermore, in 2009, Peruvian students took the PISA and collectively ranked at the bottom out of 65 other countries. In another round of testing in mathematics and reading comprehension, only 30.9% of students reached the expected level in reading and 12.8% in math. These scores in conjunction with the outside push for universal free primary education put pressure on the Peruvian schools and government which they were not prepared to meet.

Some educational policies were passed that followed a structure focusing heavily on inputs. In 2010 one initiative spent $225 million to provide 860,000 laptops to schools across the country. Other initiatives provided textbooks, technology and other materials to students for little or no cost; however, none of these proved to have a substantial impact on student learning. The 2012 Law of Teacher Career form was also enacted and established eight levels of salaries for teachers but had little to offer to support teachers or strengthen the infrastructure of the education system. The policy also failed to provide incentive for teachers to instruct in rural classrooms, further marginalizing the schools that needed the most support.

Are there other solutions?

They trained the teachers! Initially, a variety of barriers made accessing university difficult for aspiring instructors. Cue Peru’s substantial economic growth. The country’s GDP grew each year between 2001-2011 allowing the government to invest more into public education and meet the increasing demand for access to classrooms. The Peruvian Ministry of Education created Pedagogical Institutes that were aimed at training teachers, increasing public respect for the occupation, and incentivizing more professionals to teach in rural areas. These institutions incorporated newer teaching styles. Universities also started to offer certificate programs for students who couldn’t access a full degree.

Several initiatives also were started to support teachers, especially those in rural areas. The Quality of Rural Education Improvement project targeted rural schools by bolstering support and offering extra services to teachers. Countries outside of Latin America jumped in as well. The Canadian International Development Agency funded the Teacher education project which also trained teachers. Finally, a Strategic Learning Achievement Program was also established in order to monitor and evaluate these reforms that were implanted in the educational system.

So teachers are trained and quality is high. Problem solved?

The 94.7% doesn’t tell the whole story. UNESCO reported the following limitations in a report from 2014.

1. Teachers aren’t being trained in the mother tongues of indigenous students which has been problematic for students in rural areas.

2. Outside funders and organizations who create and provide trainings are doing so in English.

3. The training statistics do not reflect teacher attendance. The teacher absence rate was 21% and only 59% of class time was actually used by the teachers. Attendance of teachers is also particularly poor in rural areas where teachers travel to larger cities to get errands done.

4. Teachers are still poorly paid and not supported in the classroom.

5. Principals and teachers in State-run schools are not allowed to make decisions such as what textbooks to use or what teachers to hire or let go.

6. Gender-sensitive teaching is not commonly included in the curriculums for teacher training.

7. Rural areas still struggle to draw in teachers leaving the students behind in education.

8. Not at trained teachers can find a job depending on where they live.

9. Sometimes teachers are hired last minute and do not have time to prepare for the semester properly.

What does 94.7% mean for education quality in Peru?

Peru’s education system has greatly benefited from their growing economy. Public investment resulted in more services and resources for both students and teachers. Teachers are learning how to engage their students and create meaningful lessons. According to the Borgen Project, in 2014, the literacy rate was 90% and the attendance rates of students was continuing to improve. The numbers show progress. However, the 94.7% doesn’t tell the whole story. UNESCO reported that there were still notable margins in learning between girls and boys, students of various socioeconomic classes, and urban and rural schools. Some of these margins have grown despite the increase in teacher trainings. The limitations mentioned above demonstrate the need for further support in how to reach all students. Peru has taken great strides to support teachers but there’s more work to be done.