Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to creating sustainable development. In addition to improving quality of life, access to inclusive education can help equip locals with the tools required to develop innovative solutions to the world’s greatest problems.
Over 265 million children are currently out of school and 22% of them are of primary school age. Additionally, even the children who are attending schools are lacking basic skills in reading and math. In the past decade, major progress has been made towards increasing access to education at all levels and increasing enrollment rates in schools particularly for women and girls. Basic literacy skills have improved tremendously, yet bolder efforts are needed to make even greater strides for achieving universal education goals. For example, the world has achieved equality in primary education between girls and boys, but few countries have achieved that target at all levels of education.
The reasons for lack of quality education are due to lack of adequately trained teachers, poor conditions of schools and equity issues related to opportunities provided to rural children. For quality education to be provided to the children of impoverished families, investment is needed in educational scholarships, teacher training workshops, school building and improvement of water and electricity access to schools.
FACTS & FIGURES
- Enrolment in primary education in developing countries has reached 91 per cent but 57 million primary age children remain out of school.
- More than half of children that have not enrolled in school live in sub-Saharan Africa.
- An estimated 50 per cent of out-of-school children of primary school age live in conflict-affected areas.
- 617 million youth worldwide lack basic mathematics and literacy skills.
FLICKERS OF HOPE FOUNDATION PROJECT: OUT OF STREET, BACK TO SCHOOL
The rate of poverty and insurgency is on the rise in Nigeria, especially in the Northern states. The increasing rate of family displacement has directly affected the number of out-of-school children. This increases the vulnerability of children to child labor and abuse, and subsequently social vices including substance use and abuse, etc.
FOH plans to relieve the Bwari community of this burden by; identifying children in this category who have completed their basic school; enroll them; and sponsor them through the three years of study in Junior Secondary School, as well as provide them with empowerment programs.
This project is aimed at supporting the education of children (primary school leavers) who are unable to further their education due to either their poor family background and/or displacement due to insurgency through their Junior Secondary School years (JSS1-3). The scope of the project covers: enrolment fees; uniforms; textbooks including mathematics, English, and basic sciences; writing materials; and Junior school certificate examination fees. This is to ensure that beneficiaries are able to concentrate and perform optimally among their contemporaries in school.
The implementation of this project will increase school enrollment and improve literacy in Bwari community. This will in turn reduce child labor and abuse and other social vices. The project will also ensure holistic development of beneficiaries through the formal education they will access in their various schools as well as the leadership training and mentoring program that we will be offering to them.
Our goal is to see the beneficiaries acquire the requisite formal and informal skills to perform excellently in their chosen endeavors. This project is envisioned to be implemented in two phases: The Junior School Phase and the Senior School Phase. The Junior School Phase is expected to prepare beneficiaries for the Senior School Phase.
Part of this piece was sourced from: [https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/]
Taiwo Oyewole (Business Development and Sales Enthusiast)