Summer Economics/ CS 2006

Realistically, it would be impossible to create a universal primary education program for the world because we all speak different languages, have different customs, and some people are not as well off as others. For example, children in tribal units in Africa will not be able to have the same education as children who go to school in America; it is just not possible. The only way would be to send highly qualified teachers over or to immigrate the African children to America.
Another issue we have with global education is the amount of teachers available. According to the Global Campaign for Education, we need an extra 15 million teachers at the minimum, to provide universal free public education around the world. Another statistic provided by the Global Campaign for Education states that there are 100 million children out there who do not go to school at all. Realistically, there is a possibility of achieving this goal. [1]
If the government stressed the importance of primary education by going out into the global community and giving these statistics, surely there would be a surge of people wanting to teach these children. If people knew that between the ages of 0-5 is the most important time for a child’s education growth, college students and future teachers would be flocking to get their teaching degree. However, the government needs to make this one of their top priorities. The government wonders why children aren’t receiving the education they deserve; they should be putting the guilt on themselves because they don’t stress half of the importance of primary education to a child.
It is shown that children who attend some form of elementary school generally do better after high school and have a higher percentage rate of going to college, than do children who don’t attend primary school. Many children who don’t attend primary school become high school dropouts and some even end up in jail. If the government paid more attention to the importance, we could possibly reduce poverty and people who depend on welfare because these educated students were able to receive higher paying jobs. [2]
UNICEF has a goal that by 2015, every child will have some sort of primary education background. [3] This sounds like an ambitious goal, which may not be accomplished; however, what we can to do help this cause is build facilities in low-income areas around the world that will hopefully generate more interest in primary education. We can help areas such as Africa, with adequate water supplies and buildings to hold classes.
Finally, although many areas don’t have electricity and are in low-income situations, technology companies could start to donate or even sell computers for low prices to low-income areas in the world. Through the ICT Trust Fund, which is through a partnership “between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT)”, many countries are receiving computers for the very first time. Many companies such as Microsoft, Dell, IBM, etc, have signed up to participate in this. With this technology, students are able to use these computers simultaneously, and are affordable for low-income areas as well. [4]
The impact I could have to change this situation may be small, but if many people joined in to take these small steps, the impact could be phenomenal. We as fellow citizens could learn how to become primary educators and implement these ideas in low-incomes areas in the world. Or, if you didn’t want to take that route, you could simply donate money to the cause. That money could help to provide buildings, technology, supplies, etc, for these underprivileged children in 3rd world countries.
If these example solutions are not implemented, more people will end up on the streets due to inadequate education or just because the education was not available to them. In areas such as the Middle East, it is almost impossible for girls to receive a fair education because of their gender inequality. However, if these cultural customs were to be changed and girl’s education was accepted, we could have future women presidents, or future women company presidents.
If these solutions are not taken into account, many children will not receive the education they all deserve. A lot of these children are probably smart individuals, but no one has given them the time of day to prove it. We could have geniuses living on the streets because they couldn’t afford education or hadn’t had access to the free public education. We need to have some sort of public education accessible to everyone in the world; every child deserves the right to a fair education.

[1] http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2006/07/08/2003317857
[2] http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Sep/14/ln/ln14a.html
[3] http://www.unicef.org/mdg/education.html
[4] http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6825