Maravi

Quality education

Quality education
By Editor
Wed 30 Dec. 2009, 04:00 CAT

A society which values its future affords the highest priority to providing quality education for all its young people. And by quality education, we mean genuine education that addresses the whole person – creative, critical, intellectual, moral, physical and spiritual dimensions.

Quality education is therefore a right that must not be denied to our young people or we throw away their lives.

In our country, too many of our youth don’t have the chance for a good education and this is a great injustice. We need education that challenges our young people to act in the name of justice, peace and the integrity of creation.

True education has to draw out the potential good in each child, to shift from error to truth, from ignorance to knowledge. It must guide children towards the foundation of humanity.

And authentic education of our children should be based on the conviction that there is more to truth than mere facts. It articulates and facilitates growth in the appreciation of truth, beauty and justice.

In this light, the observations made by Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu on Monday that our country has not done well in the provision of quality education because politicians do not want to be checked by enlightened citizens should worry every citizen of goodwill. We say this because there is no future development without educated citizens.

And for this reason, Archbishop Mpundu is right in saying that “any leadership should be judged by the quality of education they provide to the citizens”. And truly, “until we realise that, we shall never grow out of poverty”.

And the problem here is not only lack of financial resources but also lack of political will on the part of our leaders to meet the educational needs of our children.

Our children are entitled to a free, quality basic education. And it is as a result of this recognition that our government committed itself to the achievement of universal primary education by the year 2015 as part of the Millennium Development Goals. As we enter 2010, this goal appears to be out of reach for our country. School attendance is still far from being universal.

And many of our children who do attend school receive an inadequate education because of poorly trained, underpaid teachers, overcrowded classrooms, and a lack of basic teaching tools such as textbooks, blackboards and pens and paper.

In an ideal situation, primary education would be universal and publicly financed, and all our children would be able to attend school regardless of their parents’ ability or willingness to pay.

The reason is simple: when any child fails to acquire the basic skills needed to function as a productive, responsible member of society, society as a whole – not to mention the individual child – loses. The cost of educating children is far outweighed by the cost of not educating them. Adults who lack basic skills have greater difficulty finding well-paying jobs and escaping poverty.

And education for girls has particularly striking social benefits: incomes are higher, and maternal and infant mortality rates are lower for educated women, who also have more personal freedom in making choices. And because basic education is a recognised entitlement and society benefits when children are educated, the state should bear the cost, especially for poor children.

Yes, it is true that our government does not have adequate financial resources to provide a free education for all. But more can be done with the limited resources that we have if properly managed.

The truth is that the government is doing a poor job with the resources it has. Funds are badly managed, and inefficiency and outright corruption is preventing resources from reaching schools. The political will to provide quality universal education is also absent and where it is present, it is not in sufficient quantity.

And Archbishop Mpundu has got a point when he says that our politicians don’t want to be checked by an enlightened citizenry because an educated citizenry will refuse to be manipulated by unscrupulous politicians, but hold to account their representatives because they are informed.

Truly, “an educated nation will not tolerate corrupt and selfish leaders; they will chuck them out; they will not be manipulated into voting for someone who they don’t want to vote for”. An educated population will be better equipped to challenge the decisions and actions of their politicians and other leaders.

We also have to bear in mind that completion of primary school is no guarantee that children have acquired basic academic skills. We have many adults in this country who have received some schooling but are functionally illiterate and innumerate. And this is the point Archbishop Mpundu is making about quality education. This point shouldn’t be lost; it should be borne in mind at all times.

The most important capital is human capital. But we are paying more attention to other things, to other forms of capital and we are subordinating human capital to all these others. This won’t take us very far.

Quality education is not a mystery. It is something that we can achieve with effort and political will. And we don’t need to wait until 2015 to achieve it because it is something we can achieve now.

Moreover, the commitment to quality education stems from an overall commitment to human development, and a conviction that investments made to this purpose are highly rewarding. The goal of providing quality education to all our children is a feasible one despite the challenges.

And we shouldn’t only concentrate on increasing access to education because access without quality is tantamount to no access at all. There is little point in going to school if it does not equip one with learning skills and skills for life. The investment in education therefore goes to waste.

Quality in education should be non-negotiable for all stakeholders, including the government, parents, teachers and indeed all our co-operating partners in the education sector. We should also pay a lot of attention to the quantity and quality of teachers because teachers are pivotal to achievement in the classroom.

Clearly, the road from poverty is paved by quality universal education and we have no sensible alternative to investing in this as a matter of priority. And it is clear that increasing student attendance are only the first step.

Attending school and learning are not one and the same thing, and massive growth in attendance can create its own problems – shortages of teachers and facilities can be acute. And this can result in too few of our young people mastering the basic skills necessary for them to begin lifting themselves out of poverty.

Labels: EDUCATION, TELESPHORE MPUNDU

posted by MrK @ 8:24 AM