Educational Reflections of a Drive Through the Rural Heartland of Mozambique...
Driving through the heart of rural Mozambique yesterday, my visage observing the realities of rural African life for the vast majority in this vast continent; rural life, a collection of 10-20 grass roofed, mud-walled huts, possibly a tiny storefront selling the basic essentials, a little soap, some salt, some sugar; and maybe, if it was one of the larger communities, a bombed-out looking concrete school building, missing doors, no windows, dusty courtyard, small clearing in the scrubby brushland. Amidst such basics of survival, in which most will live with little but subsistence in their lives (although, of course, this has little correlation to happiness, and that I am not delving into at this point), we must look at education and the resources available in a reasonable light. What are the crucial, primary essentials, the necessary elements that can be reasonably supported at this most basic of levels, far away from the country plans of the foreign donors, the air-conditioned boardrooms of the government ministers, the ubiquitous white landcruisers emblazoned the acronyms? What are the crucial elements that can be reasonably supported and nurtured at this most basic level, to at least unlock the door of advancement for those so inclined, as the fulfillment of basic human right entails? What is to be done for the masses not fortunate enough to have their own resources to contribute in the fight against educational stagnation? How can this mentality of stagnation, the simple lack of motivation to advance due to never having been exposed to advancement, to social mobility, to educational progress and one's own dreams of the future, at the very least be expressed? The will must not, can not, be imposed; but the opportunity, if so desired, for forward momentum, for a self-directed advancement in living conditions, must be nurtured, must be allowed, must be spawned and divided, if any nation wishes to truly create a mass, marked improvement in the lives of its citizens, a tide rising the levels of the boats of humanity. How can the simple will for progress even be expressed in a system with so shallow a reach, with so limited a range of options, with so tenuous a hold on the forward momentum offered by the dynamic nations of the developing world? How can one be filled with hope if there is so little actual opportunity for a common citizen to truly succeed in this global undertaking?
I suppose it must start, in these remote, rural villages, with the teachers, the only representatives of the broader society, the manifestations of the state, for better or for worse, the heralds of educational progress. If this most basic, most essential step is missing, the entire ladder simply does not exist, regardless of any other inputs. And these resources, being human in nature, despite being the most crucial, are also the most prone to failure; they are fickle by nature. It is to this level that the attention must focus.
A Tragedy of Number Manipulation
And this focus must also be used to look at the figures pumped out by the donor agencies, the World Bank, the UN, UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, and whatever other government ministry's are winning more aid dollars based on their improvements in literacy rates. When I read snapshots like the following, I am always VERY suspicious, especially after spending time interviewing teachers and educational workers in the developing world:
“While one in every two people in the developing world was poor 25 years ago, today it is one in four...illiteracy in the developing world has fallen from about 75% for the people born in the early part of the 1900's to about 12 percent among the young today.”
-Newsweek, June 18th, 2011
A Tragedy of Quality
And the following statistics, encountered in my research, also strikes me as suspect. Suspect because I know it is a “Tragedy of Quality” that is taking place in this region; a manipulation of numbers for the benefit of all parties involved EXCEPT the actual students, who are still being denied a true, actual education in many parts of the Global South; who are being educated in every metric except actual, quality engagement with a trained educational professional. Is having a statistical teacher worth this massive GDP expenditure if this teacher, and the system that they are leading edge of, is completely failing the most vulnerable piece of the educational puzzle, the students?
“On average, education accounts for 18% of all public spending in Sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 15% in other areas. The region devotes 5% of its gross domestic product to education, second after North America and Europe with 5.3%.”
-UNESCO Education Report, 2011
