Poverty and Education Essay

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Introduction to Poverty’s Impact on Education

Poverty seems to be one of the issues that hinders learners to complete or further their studies. On the other hand, some are motivated by it to work hard and better their lives. Poverty has more negative effects on the education of learners apart from. It is one of the issues that the government still fails to tackle fairly. By fairly I mean without excluding those who are in rural areas. Even though the department of education claim to be finding strategies in helping learners in rural areas, it is never enough because of their living circumstances.

This important in such a way that it will show us how much of a work we still have to do in our country. It also motivates me as a teacher to be a caring person who would understand and be able to work with people from different backgrounds. It also includes reasons why people are no longer able to live together (what replaced humanity). This topic does not only affect education’s side only it covers issues that influences crime, with poverty being one of them. The truth is getting educated is very difficult when you come from a disadvantaged background.

The Vicious Cycle: Poverty Affecting Learners and Their Families

Poverty affects education in different ways. It affects learners and their parents, the department of education, the society and the world as a whole. “Poverty is clearly a risk factor for children’s poor development and limited educational outcomes, and it may be that risk in the early years will continue to have an effect even if the family moves out of poverty later in the child’s life. Finding ways of reducing poverty is essential for children’s healthy development” (Engle & Black, 2008). Children who are from poor families find it hard to develop and try new things even when they are granted an opportunity to do because they usually lack self- esteem. This is because in most cases, they are usually mocked by other learners. Sometimes you would even find out that the society is also making fun of poor families. This is heart breaking because children do not choose where they want to be born.

Global Perspectives: Poverty in Developing vs. Developed Countries

Developing countries are the ones that are usually affected by poverty in education system as many people are unemployed due to being unqualified for specific jobs. “Both absolute and relative poverty are relevant for education. Lack of financial resources may limit school attendance among the absolutely poor in developing countries. The relatively poor in developed countries, however, often feel excluded from the school community, or the whole school community itself may feel excluded from the wider society. Such exclusion affects their ability to gain the full benefits from education or to translate the benefits of education into remunerative employment. This also has a potential impact on motivation to participate or to do well in education. Thus both absolute and relative poverty impact on education, as will be discussed in following sections of this booklet. Where absolute poverty is considered, the focus will be on developing (poor) countries. In contrast, where relative poverty is considered, the focus will usually be on developed (rich) countries (even though relative poverty is also widely present in poor countries)” (Van der Berg, 2008: 2). Lack of financial resources in the poor schools disable learners to get enough education and be exposed to technology. This is because schools cannot afford some materials and therefore learners lack study material, and at some point have to ask their parents to buy them (of which some cannot).“Minority students are disproportionately poor and hence are more likely to be exposed to a variety of socio-demographic stressors associated with poverty” (Skiba,Poloni-Staudinger, Simmons, Renae Feggins-Azziz & Chung, 2005:131).

Gender Inequality: A Closer Look at Rural Areas

“Gender Inequality in education has significant impact on rural poverty. Female-male enrolment ratio, female male literacy ratio, female-male ratio of total years of schooling of population, education of household head, female-male ratio of earners, age of household head, asset holding and land holding are significant variable having negative impact on the probability of being rural poor”(Chaudhry & Rahman,2009:186). Most females in rural areas are expected to take care of children or get married at a very young age and therefore end up uneducated. This leads to having many children without any income which can later on affect their education. It can affect their education in a way that they might not be able to study further due to financial problems, which will make it difficult for their parents to lend a hand because they are uneducated and unemployed or earn less salary. On the other hand, males also find it difficult to further their studies as some quit school and go job hunting due to their family issues. In most cases you will find out that the male child has to play a father figure at a very young age and go job hunting. The issue of young males and females who have to take care of their families in other for them to survive affects their education negatively and leads to more struggle in families as well as to an increase in the number of uneducated youth in the country, which might later on affect the economy.

“One of the main issues in rural development debates is how to tackle rural poverty. More than 70 percent of the world’s poor are to be found in rural areas where hunger, literacy and low school achievement are common” (Aref, 2011:498). The cause of poor literacy is derived from parents. You would find out that most parents in rural areas are not educated and therefore cannot help their children with studies. This somehow affects children because nobody can help them at home, they only study at school, unlike in urban areas where parents help their children with their schoolwork. At times you will find out that the school government fails to provide enough food for learners at school and this is likely to cause problems because some do not have food at home. This state affects learners’ education.

Psychological Factors and Socioeconomic Challenges

“Research on psychological factors can help illuminate one set of processes through which economic disadvantage leads to academic underachievement and reveal ways to more effectively support students who face additional challenges because of their socioeconomic circumstances”( Claro, Paunesku & Dweck,2016:8667). Failure to help student further their studies leads to more poverty and affects the economy of the country. You will find out that most dropouts end up having many kids and being dependant on grant. This means that the government has to provide more.

Orphaned girls find it difficult to continue with their studies. “As Bronfenbrenner observed, the processes by which poverty affects the girl child’s psychosocial development are multiple and complex. Given the complexities and multiple paths by which poverty can affect the academic performance of the child, an ecological systems model provides an appropriate framework to guide research and the selection of appropriate interventions for poor families and for children experiencing psychosocial problems. Understanding the interactions of these systems is the key to understanding how a child develops and what factors lead to his or her failure. The ecological model incorporates all areas of influence on the development of the child to assess the causes and also the solutions to some of the increasing behavioural, academic and emotional problems seen today”(Chinyoka, 2013:32).

The Role of Community and Society in Educational Attainment

“Some families and communities, particularly in poverty stricken areas, do not value or understand formal education. This leads to students who are unprepared for the school environment” (Lacour & Tissington, 2011:526). Parents who grew up without seeing any importance of their education hardly pays attention to their children’s education. You’d find out that these kinds of parents give their children work to do at home instead of their schoolwork. This generally takes place in society as well. In communities that are ruled by kings, children starts labour work at an early age and lose interest in education hence it is said that “poverty is something that is inherent in society as long as money is involved, but the people living in poverty should have better opportunities to exit. The way people living in poverty are viewed affects how they are able to live. Due to the increasing wealth gap, more students are born into poverty than ever before. Without the proper structures in place and the proper mentality of the general public and elected officials, inequality will persist. This can be avoided if the proper measures are taken now and we start investing in our future with our time, resources, and understanding” (Buck & Deutsch, 2014:1147). Also, the effects of poverty on education “bear upon the effects of family breakup, a correlate of poverty, on deviant activities during adolescence. (Pagani, Boulerice, Vitaro & Tremblay,1999:1217).

Observation methodology is a qualitative study method where investigator detect contributors’ continuous action in a natural situation. The importance of this type of investigation is to gather more dependable vision. In other words, researchers can record data on what members do as opposed to what they say they do. With this investigation, you can comprehend how people naturally associate with products and people and the problems they face. It can provide inspiration and ideas for opportunities for development and revolution. Observation as a data collection method can be organised or unorganised. In planned or systematic observation, data collection is managed using exact variables and according to a pre-defined agenda. Unorganised observation, on the other hand, is conducted in an open and free routine in a sense that there would be no pre-determined variables or aims.

Advantages of observation data collection method include straightforward entrance to investigation phenomena, high levels of flexibility in terms of usage and generating a permanent record of phenomena to be referred to later. At the same time, observation method is disadvantaged with longer time requirements, high levels of observer bias, and impact of observer on primary data, in a way that presence of observer may influence the behaviour of sample group elements. It is important to note that observation data collection method may be associated with certain ethical issues. Fully informed consent of research participant(s) is one of the basic ethical considerations to be adhered to by researchers. At the same time, the behaviour of sample group members may change with negative implications on the level of research validity if they are notified about the presence of the observer.

Research is also one of the methodologies that I used. It helped me in analysing what other countries are going through about the issue of how poverty affects education. In my research, I included factors that leads to poverty and how they affect education. Those factors are unemployment, being orphan, female dropouts, drug users and male dropouts.

Poverty has negative effects which eventually force children to go and work for their families to have something to eat. Others end up failing at school, because they cannot cope with the pressure and responsibility they have. Most homes are child headed at home; the more children drop out off school the poverty increases which is a cycle that never ends. As seen in the graph above, primary phase children are the ones affected more, hence they are too young for the pressure they in.

Children who are from poor families find it hard to develop and try new things even when they are granted an opportunity to do because they usually lack self- esteem. This is because in most cases, they are usually mocked by other learners. Sometimes you would even find out that the society is also making fun of poor families. This is heart breaking because children do not choose where they want to be born. You would find out that most parents in rural areas are not educated and therefore cannot help their children with studies. This somehow affects children because nobody can help them at home, they only study at school, unlike in urban areas where parents help their children with their schoolwork.

Conclusion: Overcoming Poverty’s Obstacles in Education

Projecting this issue was not easy especially having to move from one area to another and doing interviews. Some people got offended that I am asking them about their living circumstances. I have realised that many people who are struggling are afraid to raise their voices because they are somehow judged and mistreated by those who are around them. Some are not confident enough because they don’t look like others. I think it’s about time those who are poor are taken care. I mean children cannot suffer because of the decisions that were taken by their parents or because of the situation that their parents found themselves in. The government must be able to find strategies that can help poor learners survive and better their lives since the ones that they’re currently using don’t seem to be making much of a difference. As much as one cannot choose how to be born they can choose how to develop their lives. Poverty shouldn’t hinder anyone from achieving their dreams and reaching their goals.

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