Childhoods- Towards education that is all inclusive

 

Childhoods-How do we achieve equality in Education?

Education is an important aspect of Childhood.  When Aires Phillipe wrote about the absence of childhood in the 17^th century, a lot of reforms were made to create a better environment for a child.  Before then, education was available to well-to-do children and they were educated at home.  The rest of the children from poor families were left in the streets to play as their parents went to work in very difficult environments in those days.  Eventually, children from poor families were taken to schools and due to the attention given to children in those institutions from all professions like social workers, and doctors,  among others, life kept becoming better and better for the children. The process of enacting laws to protect the child was begun and today this forms part of the agenda in every government.  A lot of milestones have been achieved in the care and protection of the child.  Today we have the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children adopted by nations all over the world.  The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) has been adopted by African countries and within every nation there are laws protecting the child. 

ACRWC article 11 section 3 in relation to our education system in Kenya:

            States Parties to the present Charter shall take all appropriate

measures with a view to achieving the full realization of this right

and shall in particular:

(a) provide free and compulsory basic education:

(b) encourage the development of secondary education in its

different forms and to progressively make it free and accessible

to all;

(c) make the higher education accessible to all on the basis of

capacity and ability by every appropriate means;

(d) take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and

the reduction of drop-out rate;

(e) take special measures in respect of female, gifted and

disadvantaged children, to ensure equal access to education for

all sections of the community.

Though this applies to every child there are gaps when it comes to implementation.  I have worked with children from low-income households and the majority of them are not getting this benefit.  The education system treats all children equally while on the ground this is not the case.  Children come from different backgrounds and some are so disadvantaged that opportunities in education that would have helped them break the poverty circle are not within their reach. The education system is so competitive at the moment that performers get the best schools and often get all the help they want.  Only a few from low-income families get this opportunity.

Low-income parents and caregivers spend most of their time looking for work on a daily basis which is at times very demanding and low paying.  They often don’t have regular sources of income and their participation in school programs is also very irregular.  Though the term free education is used, it’s actually a partnership where the government plays a part and the parent has a part to play. 

Sometimes the school demands are too high for parents to afford at once.  Without extra support, the majority of children miss out on quality education.  They are forced to transit to the locally available school where their parents are comfortable paying piecemeal with a struggle.  These schools are often overpopulated with high levels of indiscipline cases which eventually affect a performing child who has to study there.  Where the parents struggle and take their child to a school that will ensure good performance, this child will often be sent home from time to time missing many lessons and eventually dropping out to join the local school or dropping out of school completely. Whether they come from low-come families, whether they attend a school that has all facilities, or one that is struggling to survive with minimal resources eventually all these children will sit for the same national examination.

The government has time to do an audit of the abilities of caregivers.  It has the mechanisms to know the parents who can support their children without external support, those who need partial support, and those whose children will miss out on education if no support.  If the government is proactive, the assessment should begin as soon as the children join a school and continue to the time of transition.  The government should be able to transit the children depending on the abilities of caregivers to support their children so that no child is left out because of the inability of their parents to afford whatever the school requires.  Part (b) of that article has not worked in some areas where we have a number of primary schools supported by one high school that is within the parents’ means and because the requirement is a hundred percent transition, the schools are overpopulated, a population that does not match the number of staff.

The needs of children are many and we cannot ignore the fact that some children are more vulnerable than others and the government needs to step in to protect them.  A lot needs to be done on preventive measures rather than reactions to what has already happened.  Universal education should be just that so that each child is given an equal opportunity to be competitive in the job market or create a career for themselves.  The conversations about the improvement and betterment of childhoods should continue and be a regular responsibility to all of us so that children from poor families can break the poverty circle.  The millennium goals will not be achieved if we are not looking at the needs of tomorrow’s leaders now.  The future should be looked at from the point of who and where they are now which will determine what they will be then.