Toni Larson
GWS
4/15/2012
Education in Africa
Education can have many effects
on women. It can determine your job prospects, your wages, and the overall well-being of your family. More and more women are either going back to school
or continuing their education and joining the work force. In many parts of the
world, boy and girl primary school enrollments are almost equal. The advance in
girls’ education is the result of intensive international and national efforts
to remove restrictive legislation and to enforce equality. The education in
Africa is no different but varies depending on region. In South Africa for
example, the government prides themselves them on their detail oriented and
rigorous education program. In other regions like Sub-Sahara or Egypt, the
educational system is based on either rituals or tradition. Africa as a whole
however, seems to be making strides in providing the poorest or richest kids in
the region the right to education.
In the early days, before the European colonialism, the majority
of Africa’s education consisted of adults teaching their children rituals,
ceremonies, games, and festivals. Almost every member of the community had a
hand in contributing to the educational upbringing of a child. Between the 1880
and 1900 Africa went through a period of colonization by the Europeans and this
led to the change in the indigenous education system. The Europeans imperialist
push into Africa was motivated by three main factors; economic, political, and
social. The social side of the European colonialism is what had the biggest
effect on children’s education. Schooling was no longer just about rituals and
rites of passages but would now mean earning an education that would allow the
continent of Africa to compete with countries such as the United States and
those in Europe. This was the turning point in Africa when its citizens went
from rituals and tradition to formal in class education (Iweribor, 2011).
Since the European colonization, Africa has not had a steady
economic climate to continue improving the education system. Unemployment is a
major crisis in all regions of Africa.
At an 8.2% unemployment rate this is one of the major reasons education
in Africa cannot seem to take flight (Ngozo, 2010). It is because of the
unemployment rate parents cannot afford to send their children to school. Today, some 46 million African children have
never set foot in a classroom (Ngozo,2010). In central Africa, regions like Chad, Angola,
and Kenya, child labor is at a 49% for girls (Seager 82). It seems to be the
trend that countries in more central Africa (like the ones mentioned above) are
forgoing the European schooling system and opting for their individual
traditions and rituals to educate their children. This however, is leading girls
under the age of 14 to start their work experiences at a much earlier age than
an African girl going to school.
On the other hand, South Africa is a completely different story.
This region of Africa has adopted and continued the European way of education.”
According to the Bill of Rights of the country’s Constitution, the state has an
obligation, through reasonable measures, to progressively make education
available and accessible.” South Africa’s education is very detailed and
extensive. The country has a “National Qualifications Framework” that
recognizes three broad bands of education; General Education and Training,
Further Education and Training, Higher Education and Training. School life
spans 13 years or grades, from grade 0 through grades 12. General Education and
Training runs from grade 0 to 9. Further Education and Training ranges from
grades 10 to 12, and also includes career-oriented education and training
offered in Further Education and Training institutions. To compare the
education system to the United States, General Education and Training would be
our preschool – 12th grade. Then typically, after graduation high
school students have the option to go to college or in South Africa’s case,
Further Education and Training at a university type institution. Once South
African students attend and graduate Higher Education and Training is usually
when they receive Doctors or Masters Degrees. South Africa’s General Education
and Training pass rate was considered low in 1990’s at 40%. Since then this
rate has had a significant jump up to roughly 60% (SAinfo reporter, 2012).
Furthering this more, as an example of how South Africa’s
education system is expanding, especially focusing in on young girl’s
education. One woman who has been especially generous and deserves recognition
is Oprah Winfrey. In December 2000 Oprah
Winfrey pledged to build a world class school for girls in South Africa. Two
years later on December 6th 2002, Nelson Mandela, the then Minister
of Education, and Winfrey joined together to break ground on the site where the
academy would be located, just outside of Johannesburg. Through personal
donations by Winfrey, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation
contributed more than 40 million towards the academy’s creation. The academy for girls “strives to provide a
nurturing educational environment for academically gifted girls who come from
disadvantaged backgrounds.” The campus of the academy sits on 52 acres and has
28 buildings including; dormitories, dining hall, libraries, 2 theaters, and a
wellness center. When the doors first opened in 2007 Winfrey selected 152 girls
out of 3,000 applicants, ages 11 and 12 to attend 7th and 8th
grade classes. Eventually, in 2011, the academy expanded and offers classes for
7th – 12th grade and holds more than 450 students (Fry,
2010).
Furthermore, on the completely opposite side of Africa there is
Egypt. Egypt has been seen by many as a country of inequality between men and
women. Women are kept out of the job market, are not represented by the
government, and have trouble getting their cases heard in court. Women in Egypt
are forced to dress in a conservative way and their behavior inside and outside
of the home are restrictive. So there is
no surprise that women’s education in Egypt suffers as well. The rate of illiteracy among women living in
Egypt is 50 percent, rising to 67 percent in rural areas (Oxfam, 2011). This
illiteracy rate is mainly due to the old tradition of favoring boys over girls.
Boys take precedence over girls in all aspects of life including education. Poverty
is a huge problem causing the lack of attention in women’s education in Egypt.
Egyptians living in slum conditions earn a daily income of $2 which forces the
need for girls to start working at an earlier age to help support their
families. Another issue of women’s education is the fact that women are
generally not allowed to participate in government elections (El-Rashidi,2012).
This causes the lockout of women’s opinions in their children’s education and
leaving a completely bias man’s opinion. However, this last week (March 29th,
2012) marked a huge stride in women’s education in Egypt. Egyptian women
celebrated their “Let Us Learn” campaign which highlighted the winning of nine
seats in the parliamentary elections. Many women in Egypt believe that the key
to combating gender discrimination is education. So the more women they can get
in to parliamentary positions the better chance young women have in furthering
their education in the future. The “Let Us Learn” campaign is focused on the
fact that two million women in Egypt have never attended school, the number of
girls outside of the educational system is doubled that of boys. Women are
focused on changing the tradition in Egypt, not their religion as many men are
seeing the campaign as. “Let Us Learn” campaign wants to help families send
their girls to school for free, or at a reduced cost. The financial hurdle of
sending children to school is often why not all children in a family can go to
school. If families can only send one child, that child is often a boy based on
the tradition that they should have preference over girls. Even though the
winning of the nine seats is a huge stride women still have a long way to go in
Egypt to change the outlook men have on women. During the “Let Us Learn”
campaign one man was stated saying: “what is the point in educating women,
after all they will end up married” (El-Rashidi, 2012). Women apart of the
campaign are focused on ignoring such ignorance and determined that the key to
women’s development and equality is education.
Finally, there are a lot of organizations around the world that
are helping women in Africa achieve education. One organization worth
mentioning is Camfed. Camfed (The Campaign for Female Education) was founded in
1993 by Ann Cotton, who began by raising money at her kitchen table to send 32
girls from poor families in Zimbabwe to school. Today, Camfed works with 3,667
schools in rural parts of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana, and Malawi, and
provided support for more than half a million children to attend school. I
believe that it is worth mentioning not only for the great efforts it takes in
providing girls with education but for extending past that. For example, In
Africa it is common for girls to be pressured by teachers into having sex. If a
girl refuses she would face punishment. Other hardships for girls in school
include; corporal punishment, orphans facing bereavement, students getting
sick, families facing economic crises, and other forces which force children to
drop out. Every Camfed partner school has at least one female teacher mentor
who is responsible for attending to these concerns. These Camfed mentors are
able to report any abuse to the committee’s or Camfed’s national office. This
type of program is important because once we get our girls into school; we also
need to protect them and encourage them to want to stay and continue on to higher
education.
According to David Bornstein, author of Africa’s Girl Power, “leaders in the field of international
development have come to agree that the most powerful way to bring lasting
social benefits to a country is to expand educational and economic
opportunities for girls”. Bornstein believes this is important because many
young girls can fall into what he calls the “Girl Effect”. This can be
described as “a girl who doesn’t attend school or marries young is at far
greater risk of dying in childbirth, contracting HIV, being beaten by her
husband, bearing more children than she would like, and live in poverty. By
contrast, an educated girl is more likely to earn higher wages, delay
childbirth, and have fewer children who are themselves likely to attend school
and continue the cycle.” So as you can see, girls who have an education can
have an effect in bettering the economy (Bornstein, 2012).
So as you can see, there is significant research on the effects of
having an education can do for women. Higher wages and job opportunities are
available along with well-being of surrounding communities. Educating our young
girls can significantly increase their quality of life. As stated above, many
regions of Africa suffer from inequality and lack of education. On the other
hand, great strides are being taken such as; many African countries are
eliminating a public school tuition fee which is helping lower the costs for
families to send their children to school. Also, many of the barriers in Africa
are being overcome by women themselves without the help of the government or
men in power. Women are learning that education should not be restricted by
age, gender, social or economic status. Education has no boundaries.
Bibliography:
Africa Cradle of
Humanity
<http://www.africaforever.org/colonialism.aspx>
Azim, Sayyid. Africa’s Children Struggle for Education (2007)
Bornstein,
David. Africa’s Girl Power (2011)
<http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/africas-girl-power/>
Educate Girls –
Change the World
El-Rashidi,
Sarah. “Let Us Learn”: The Cry of
Egyptian Women (2012)
Fry,
Elizebeth. This History of the Oprah
Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls – South Africa
Iweriebor, Ehiedu. The
Colonization of Africa (2011)
<http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-colonization-of-africa.html#intro>
Ngozo, Claire. Growth Down; Unemployment Up (2010)
Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls
Oxfam
International. Education in Egypt: Out of
the Darkness
Seager, Joni.
The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World (2009)
South Africa Info.
Education in South Africa (2012)
Toni-
ReplyDeleteEgypt seems very old school and seems to be causing many young women to be controlled. I can’t believe that in some areas 50% of women are illiterate and in rural areas 67%. Without being able to read leaves you very minimum options for job opportunities. The comment that a campaign man made that stated “what is the point in educating women, after all they will end up married,” is terrible. I can’t believe there are people still out there with such ignorant kind of views. I sincerely hope that the women’s “Let Us Learn,” campaigns takes off to make men and women more equal.