The Titanic Struggle for Universal Primary Education.

The Titanic Struggle for Universal Primary Education

Primary education is the first real exposure a child has to becoming literate. It lays the foundation upon which a child’s intellectual, social and professional future is built. Primary education is the means through which basic competency in numeracy and literacy is ingrained into a child in preparation for further exposure to more advanced knowledge at the secondary and tertiary level of education.

Parents, government and stakeholders provide primary education to children in all nations of the world. In most nations, children aged three to eleven get primarily educated in a well-structured school environment where teachers are employed to teach the children. In countries where it is permissible, parents can provide primary education to their children at home.

One of the goals of education is to provide primary education to all children regardless of race or 

gender. Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia alone has between them millions of school-age children that are out of school. This number is gradually decreasing. Several organisations have tried to bridge the gap in primary education between developed and developing nations but the statistics is not encouraging. The number of school-age children that do not go to school is very alarming despite serious efforts geared at giving school-age children primary education regardless of race and gender.

The dearth of qualified teachers, especially in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa is one of the reasons why the goal of universal primary education has not been achieved. It has been estimated that a teaching force equal to what is currently available is needed to make any serious headway in achieving universal primary education in sub-Saharan Africa.

School buildings, books and educational facilities are not yet in adequate supply. To cater for the educational needs of universal primary education, more cooperation among stakeholders and governments is needed in terms of funding and adequate distribution of facilities

Poverty and ignorance are also great stumbling blocks to achieving universal primary education and until these are addressed, improvement would remain very scanty.

The struggle for gender parity is still very far from being achieved. This is a very big obstacle to achieving the goal of universal primary education. The gap between boys and girls that go to school is narrowing but for any meaningful achievement to be recorded in the struggle for universal primary education, gender parity has to be realized. The point in favour of gender parity in education is its “multiplier effect”. It has the potency to stall the number of out-of-school children by empowering the girl-child with the needed life skills that would make them get jobs, earn more, marry later and have fewer children. This would improve the probability that children born to these girls would be better nourished and educated.

Corporal punishment, which is the inflicting of pain not designed to cause injury is very common in venues of primary education although it has been outlawed in the west. The legal right of educators to administer corporal punishments in primary schools is a very serious area of contention in many parts of the world. The abuse of corporal punishment in primary schools and the fact that it aim to inflict pain on the child has made many to speak against its use in primary education. It remains to be seen what the outcome of this struggle would lead to in terms of the policies adopted by various governments concerning the use of corporal punishment in primary schools.

The subjects taught at primary level are also an area of great contention. Many parents and stakeholders differ on the right combination of subjects that children should be taught at school. This contention is hottest in nations where it is not legal for parents to educate their children at home. Till date, consensus on this very important aspect of primary education is very elusive.

The titanic struggle is still raging and the goal of universal primary education though not yet achieved, would not be dropped because a world where poverty, hunger , disease and suffering is minimal can be achieved only by education.