by Ashmi Chatterjee and Zelene Lam
Discussions in SOCHUM today revolved around the topic of educational reformation, especially in LEDCs. There were many topics brought up regarding the financial and social problems associated with this reform and many solutions as well.
Factors hindering educational reform
Gender Inequality
The delegate of France raised a point that even if girls are allowed to attend school, they may be highly discouraged from “going into higher education”. This could be due to traditional mindsets prevalent in parents and in many developing countries where women are expected to clean and be homemakers while men get jobs and earn money for the family. The global safety of women has been greatly compromised by the uprise of assault and rape. Female students are at a higher risk of encountering danger while commuting to school and may be forced to stop going to school due to these hazards.
As a result, governments should push for graver consequences for sex offences and increase protection for minors in schools such that people will fear the outcomes of their actions and the safety of women will increase.
Unrest and Instability
It was suggested that building physical schools as this would supposedly be able to provide more teacher-student interaction and also produce long-lasting change. However, for countries who are engaged in war, building permanent infrastructure exposes children to life-threatening situations. When people are found to be concentrated in a school building, more lives will be lost should enemies bomb the place. Should children survive, they will not be able to continue their education since there would be a lack of resources, which was discussed during the debate on LEDCs.
Attitude towards Education
The delegate of Japan spoke up about how the “study culture and attitudes of people towards education” could play a huge role in the effectiveness of education.
Japan is living proof of such influence. Despite spending “only 4% of GDP on education, its education has a reputation for being world-class”. The Japanese largely believe that education is very important and thus, their schools are run in an orderly manner. When students are motivated to learn, they have a more productive learning experience and values cultivated into them from young cause the Japanese society to be a systematic one.
This is also the case for China’s society as Chinese students are humble and hardworking. They respect their elders and value their education, seeing it as a means to provide themselves with more career options. Therefore, through their efforts, information is retained quickly and the learning process is more efficient.
Financial Barriers
In developing countries, children often do not have the luxury of attending school due to poor financial backgrounds and the fixated beliefs of parents. As the delegate of the USA claims, “Poor families see education as something expensive”. For example, in South Africa, households have to prioritise earning income through child labour over children’s educational opportunities. Therefore, students may drop out of school midway through their education.
In spite of this fact, the delegate of China raised an important viewpoint that “Financial barriers exist because money is not spent well”. Indeed, the quality of education can be linked back to the decision-making process: resources may not be targeted sufficiently at education.
China’s measures to reform education
In recent years, much effort has been put into ensuring that the education system in China is of the highest quality and produces students of the highest calibre. The number of Chinese students in degree programs overseas increased rapidly by 590% from 1998 to 2017, highlighting the academic prowess and capabilities exhibited by students in China.
This is a direct result of China’s world-class education system, which gives educational opportunities to all students regardless of social class. As part of policies to improve education in rural areas, there were special enrollment plans rolled out in 2021 to lower admission scores and provide specialised scholarships. This was done to allow students in rural areas to pursue an education and China’s efforts have obviously borne fruits, as seen from how more than 600,000 students entered university due to this programme.
Other nations can follow in China’s footsteps to move towards making education accessible to all. In accordance with this, the discussion in SOCHUM has also provided measures to solve these problems as follows:
Proposed Solutions
Economic Incentives
The delegate of Ethiopia voiced a recommendation to “provide more incentives” in developing countries in order to change the mindset of parents and motivate them to send their children to school. For instance, government officials could conduct visitations to citizens’ houses and have a discussion with them regarding the poverty cycle.
The poverty cycle traps poor families to continue being poor. Education allows children to learn basic skills needed for the workplace. When parents refuse to send children to school, children are unable to get higher-paying jobs when they grow up and will receive low income. Such incentives could help parents to develop a long-term perspective.
In addition, the topic of financial initiatives being given to low-income families was also raised. To further this and to deal with issues surrounding the cost of such an initiative, many MEDCs including Finland, China and Japan looked favourably upon providing scholarships to students from LEDCs and upon providing financial assistance to countries who needed it. It is of China’s belief that providing assistance to those who need it and allowing others to benefit and learn from China’s successful educational policies is definitely of the utmost importance.
Mobile schools Many delegates pushed for mobile schools as a measure to help reform global education systems. These mobile schools would be made up of old buses and consist of trained teachers as well as some computers for students. Conversely, the delegate of Iraq objected to this idea because of the current pandemic. Implementing mobile schools would be unsanitary and henceforth unsafe as would put children at larger risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus. Concerns were raised about the active participation of teachers as there would be “no incentive for them to do this”. Instead, Iraq said that technology could be implemented through a domestic level platform, such that students could self-learn whenever their schedule allows through online simulations, live learning, or pre-recorded videos. Yet again, delegates were engrossed with the implications of implementing technology into the learning process. It would be hard for households or governments to afford the usage of personal learning devices and unsuitable for children who are digitally illiterate. It was then proposed that developed countries could assist developing countries in such implementations and should supply manpower for the construction of “Wireless-Fidelity, mobile data and telephone communications” networks. It also suggested that a non-governmental organisation could supply the Devices Learning Programme to come into action, allowing for donations of old devices to be given to students instead in its draft resolution.
International Teaching Scholarship
In the proposed draft resolution 1.5, Australia called for developed countries to fund this scholarship. This allows aspiring teachers from developing countries to pursue a higher education and gives students the opportunity to receive better education from well-trained teachers. Scholars will have the chance to attend tertiary courses, and serve their country by remaining as a trainee teacher and fulfilling a teaching bond for 2 and 6 years respectively. During the teaching bond, scholars will “mentor local teachers” through “seminars, teaching programmes and mentorship programmes with scholars”.
All in all, this solution allows a sustainable teaching and learning cycle to be formed for the benefit of developing countries, and can be supplemented with financial assistance from MEDCs to further education and educational infrastructure in LEDCs. China hopes that nations way learn from the successful education systems present in other countries and hopes to foster better international collaboration in this aspect.
Citations
China focuses on education to combat poverty. 404. (n.d.). https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-21/China-focuses-on-education-to-combat-poverty-QDDbyBspG0/index.html.
Education in China. WENR. (2020, July 28). https://wenr.wes.org/2019/12/education-in-china-3.
邓京荆. (n.d.). China committed to helping improve education in other developing nations. Chinadaily.com.cn. http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202106/08/WS60beb3a6a31024ad0bac42ef.html.