Category: Child Poverty

Growing up in poverty is something that no man or woman should have to deal with, but a child growing up in poverty is much worse. Having this stress put on the child can cause severe consequences on their health, mind, and personality. In order to decrease the amounts of childhood poverty in the world, countries need to invest more in social programs, increase educational opportunities to young children, and equalise income segregation.

Social programs are most important to society because they allow citizens to exercise their basic rights and give access to fundamental needs such as food, shelter, and healthcare. Most countries are striking these necessary amenities when they are very much needed. Countries who invest more in social welfare programs annually have been seen to have less child poverty gracing their streets. In 2014, Denmark, who invested 20.9% share of GDP on such programs, had a 16.9% lower child poverty rate than Italy, who invested 12.6% share of GDP. People should stop treating programs that help citizens live a full life as a luxury and more as a necessity.

Education, or lack thereof, is a big cause of child poverty. Education at an early age, as well as through teenage years, helps a person with comprehending who he or she is. It helps people make opinions and shape their point of view towards different encounters in life. Education also leads to bigger opportunities and positive movement in both social and economic levels once adulthood is reached. Childhood poverty also can mess with brain growth, making it harder, but not impossible, to get along successfully later in life. Some children are unable to attend school because of personal issues or simply because they cannot afford it, and governments need to compensate for that. Without a good education, it makes it harder for a child to grow socially and economically, perhaps leading to more poverty.

It’s a fact that children from low-income families are at higher risk of poverty than their peers from high-income families. Children from low-income families are more than likely to attend schools that are not as prestigious as those that children from high-income families go to. Meaning that teachers may not be the best, the curriculum might not be as polished, and the food is out of the question. If only all schools were treated equally (given the same amount of money to invest in extracurricular activities and teach curriculum that is on, and hire staff that are, at the same level) despite their demographics, poverty could be reduced significantly.

Childhood poverty is one of the major problems facing the world today. Investing some more money on programs that give excess food to the poor, or setting up a homeschooling service so that children at home can learn just as well while still helping their families, or giving schools more money to spend on areas that are needed like science or sports, can go a long way in lessening poverty. Childhood is a time to explore oneself and take risks, not a time to worry about where to sleep tomorrow or when the next meal is.

Childhood poverty is an unfortunate pandemic that is difficult to get a handle on. Impoverished communities are evident in every city or town, even the seemingly wealthy ones. While poverty certainly takes a toll on adults, it can hit children harder as they are more vulnerable. Childhood poverty is an unfortunate pandemic that is difficult to get a handle on. Poverty affects children’s physical health, mental health, and keeps them trapped in a cycle that leads into adulthood.

Before assessing what happens to children in poverty, the types of poverty must first be assessed. First, there is situational poverty, which is lack of resources due to a life-altering event, such as the death or disease of a family member. Secondly, there is generational poverty, which is from at least two generations (Payne 61). Generational poverty has its own culture, belief systems, and hidden rules (Payne 61). Generational poverty is typically the case when it comes to the poverty cycle.

At first glance and examination, it can be said that an individual’s physical health is heavily affected by poverty. According to the University of California San Francisco, “poor neighborhoods are more likely to have higher crime rates, lower performing schools, and little access to healthy foods” (Conway). Nutrition is the first piece to this puzzle. Children in poverty often lack the nutrition they need. This is due to healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, being more expensive than foods that are high in sodium, preservatives, and fats, like Ramen Noodles, chips, and sodas (Conway). Sometimes, households lack enough food altogether. When children do not have enough food, this can affect their growth and hinder their ability to learn in school.

Exercise is the second piece to the physical health puzzle. Since poor neighborhoods often have high crime rates, parents do not want their children going outside. This means the kids are not getting the exercise they need. This combined with poor nutrition makes for a dangerous combination. When your diet is mainly high fat, high cholesterol, and high sugar foods, and you don’t get the exercise you need, obesity becomes common, along with pre-diabetes, and risk of heart disease.

The third piece to the physical health puzzle is chronic disease, which accounts for 70 percent of U.S. deaths, and is linked to poverty (Conway). Chronic health conditions are striking communities earlier and more often (Conway). For example, CVP researchers found that ten years ago, 1 in 11 kids had pre-diabetes; now, 1 in 4 kids has it (Conway). According to Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, these are diseases that typically happen with older age, but now they are starting to become more common in teenagers and those in their twenties (Conway). Though they are not the ones at fault, if these problems are not stopped at the roots, these kids are going to face severe ramifications as adults.

While physical health is certainly swayed by a person’s socioeconomic status, mental health correlates with that as well. Psychological issues are predominant in impoverished children. Those at risk would include children of single-parent families, children of teen mothers, children of social assistance, and children with disabilities (Boyle and Lipman). As stated by Dr. Boyle and Dr. Lipman in their research, “socio-economic disadvantage, measured by low social class based on parental occupation measured at ages seven, 11 and 16 years, was associated with self-rated ill health, malaise (indicative of low mood), psychological morbidity, and short stature assessed at age 23 in men and women” (Boyle and Lipman). This evidence shows the correlation between physical and mental health, and how you cannot have one stay healthy without the other.

Familial characteristics can sway how mental health impacts a poor family’s situation. Among children in low-income households from a study done in 1983, there was at least one psychiatric disorder present (Boyle and Lipman). In a separate study using the same data, it was predicted that academic and psychiatric difficulties would ensue for children aged eight to eleven years (Boyle and Lipman). Lipman and Boyle concluded from this study that “as the length of time that families live in poverty increases, the mental health disadvantages of children increase” (Boyle and Lipman). The timing of exposure is important as well. Negative effects of low income are more severe when children are young as opposed to teenage years or early adulthood (Boyle and Lipman).

The area where a child grows up has a tremendous impact on mental health, too. Neighborhood characteristics have been found to be highly associated with mental health problems in youth (Boyle and Lipman). Neighborhood influences can impact educational achievement, as seen in a study done by Professor Michael Boyle. The study was done in 2001 and uses the same numbers from the 1983 study in which the children studied were four to sixteen. The “children” are now between the ages of 22 and 34. Boyle says the “results of this study demonstrated a significant effect of neighborhood on outcome, with neighborhood affluence [education, jobs, etc.] significantly associated with outcome even after controlling for other child and family characteristics” (Boyle and Lipman). Neighborhood disadvantage was not connected with the development (Boyle and Lipman).

Something as simple as being born into an impoverished family can influence a child at birth. This would be brain development. A study done by Dr. Tom Boyce, chief of UCSF’s Department of Pediatrics, found that kids from poor families tend to have lower IQs, along with less executive functioning in the prefrontal part of the brain. This controls cognitive flexibility, working memory, and semantic fluency (Conway). Boyce says, “the further you go up the scale in parental education, the more folding – or cortical surface area – is evident in a child’s brain” (Conway). The brain folds inward to allow more surface area into the skull. This brain folding is what sets apart humans from other species, as we literally have more brain space (Conway). How much this has to do with a child’s ability to learn is uncertain, as it has been proven that a low IQ score does not predestine people to failure. This includes several famous presidents, such as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan.

Education could be the driving force to lifting people out of poverty, but that field does not come without its share of struggles either. The poor, whether unemployed or socially isolated, do not often have the finances necessary for supplies their kids will need for school (Cizon). Children in poverty come to school less prepared than other children, for example without necessary notebooks, or other supplies due to poverty, causing them to fall behind each year. They have limited and slow learning process due to limited vocabulary, pride, and motivation (Cizon). When kids fall behind in school, it is difficult to close the gap. These kids are now more susceptible to violent behaviors, failing classes, or even dropping out of high school altogether (Black and Engle). Children in developing countries are at great risk of never attending school compared to children from wealthier families. The differences are vast. For example, according to a study done by Patrice Engle and Maureen Black, “in a sample of 80 countries, 12% of children in the top quintile of households never attended school, whereas 38% of children in the poorest quintile never attended school” (Black and Engle). With a chunk of the poor never attending school in developing countries, this leads to a portion of them not finding good enough jobs for their family, so they will not have enough money to send their future children to school.

This leads into perhaps the greatest barrier of all for the poor: the poverty cycle. There certainly seems to be a catch 22 when it comes to escaping poverty. After all, if it was so simple to get out, no one would be in that position. While an impoverished person may want to make their situation better, they usually cannot afford the resources to do so. The poverty cycle is an unfortunate pattern, and keeps entire families entangled for months, years, or even generations until they manage to break free. “The poverty cycle implies poverty that generates poverty”, says Francis A. Cizon, Director of Social Work Research at Loyola University. As mentioned previously, when parents cannot provide for their children, they tend to fall behind in school. When those kids fail in school, they are offered less job opportunities, and their kids will not have the supplies or resources to go to school, and the cycle continues.

Those in poverty have less choices as opposed to the middle and upper classes. They are required to live in specific areas of a city, with limited options for jobs and careers, and limited marriage partners (Cizon). Cizon explains that “life [for the impoverished] is not a series of alternatives but a sequence of either this or nothing, a sequence of preselected conditions upon which life depends for survival” (Cizon). Most in poverty often find they can survive best in groups.

When groups develop due to poverty, they adopt what is known as learned helplessness. The poor become unheard and without power and life becomes unpredictable, a place where they have no control (Cizon). They are unable to make their dreams a reality, generation after generation. Their voices are unheard, so they go unheeded. In order to break this cycle, those who want to help must have a willingness to extend themselves and deploy existing resources (Cizon).

Poverty is a horrible situation to be in, especially for children. It has tremendous effects on their physical and psychological well being. If they are unlucky and do not find a way to pull themselves from the muck of deprivation, they will face it for the rest of their lives, along with their children and their grandchildren.

The world’s economic turbulences have vastly affected the lives of many people, perhaps to the tune of billions. Across generations, education has always been a priority due to its eventual benefits in life. In today’s world, described by the global competitive nature for survival, especially in the job market, education comes in handy in determining a person’s skillset and the prosperity of their future. Nevertheless, some children from the said poor families have been able to fight their way out of poverty and succeed in not only education, but also life in general. In the book “The Other Wes Moore” by Wes Moore talks about how two young boys struggle with poverty but at the end each boy results in a different outcome due to their decisions of facing the issue. Financial discrepancies in a child education consists of starting their education behind other children, low parenting skills, and not attending a good school.

Poverty not only affects a person’s livelihood, but also their prospective future achievements. In education for instance, children from poverty-stricken families have been greatly disadvantaged as compared to those from affluent families. The impact of poverty stretches from psychological resources, which affects a child’s education. While education is assumed to be a veritable human right, it remains to be elusive to many a people form poor backgrounds. Therefore, it is safe to say that, poverty affects a child’s chances to a good education.

Children from poverty-stricken families, often, start their education behind those from economically able families (Connell 124). In the United States for instance, inequality, between the rich and the poor, becomes apparent at 3 years of age. While most kids from the rich families are dropped off by nannies at some expensive preschools, their peers from poor families are not even in school yet. In most cases, the children from poor backgrounds, if lucky enough, get to attend preschool at the age of 5 years. For children who hail from poor families, in most cases, they are either orphaned or live with a single parent. These parents, research shows that, besides living in poverty, they are poorly educated and demonstrate low parenting skills. Most of their time, is usually spend at work, and thus, they have less time for their children. The main cause of delayed start is poverty, with the poor parents unable to afford school fees for the preparatory schools. In the reading “The Other Wes Moore” talks about how the other Wes Moore’s mother, Mary, attended Johns Hopkins University but had to drop out due to financial problems and return to work full-time as a medical assistant. This caused the other Wes Moore to not have a mother that doesn’t see their children as a priority which causes the child to grow up and face their life by themselves. The other Wes Moore grew up to have children at an early age, but he was facing this obstacle while being in poverty. This issue caused him to do bad choices to help support his family which was becoming a drug dealer. In cases where the parents have attained low education levels, education for the children is not a priority. They are more focused in surviving, by getting food and a roof on their head, which, compared to their financial ability, is overwhelming. Starting early in education does matter, with children who start preschool earlier, achieving higher in education, not only as children but also as adults.

In every nation, there are always different social class stratifications, with different amenities set aside by mere convention, for specific social classes, case in point, schools for the rich and those for the poor. In most cases, there are community schools for the poor as well as expensive schools for the rich. Depending on the school the children attend, it can highly determine their academic proficiency. The differences, in terms of resources, academic standards, set the pupils in the poor schools at a disadvantage, as compared to their peers in the good schools” (Haberman 85). The schools are marred with many problems, which present obstacles in the student’s learning process. In the book “The Other Wes Moore” shows how Wes Moore attends Johns Hopkins University with the help of his family that contributed with money to send him to military school and start his education there. The other Wes Moore did not attend a higher education due to his financial problems and involvement with drugs. He must support his family and had no time to attend school.

For the poor schools, the student to teacher ratio is quite high, which does not allow enough time for the students to interact with the teachers. The high student numbers make the classrooms crowded and the students must compete for the relatively less resources such as books, library spaces and even sitting places in the classrooms. The teachers also, are in most cases not qualified, which presents the students with otherwise inferior information and knowledge source. The high student numbers, present constrains to the available social amenities, which makes the students’ lives uncomfortable. In addition, the schools, in most cases are in unsafe neighborhoods, an environment that is not conducive for optimal learning.

Poverty affects a child’s mental health, which greatly the child’s education, not only their ability to attend school but also their performance in school (Tilak 204). In poor families, the parents have little time for their children. Child neglect exposes the said children to otherwise undesirable lifestyles, which ultimately influences their education progress. Poverty has been for a long time been such an uncomfortable word and situation. Chronic stress is harmful to any person. The hard situations through which the poor families go through, generally take a toll on the student’s well-being. The stress transfers from the parents to the children.

In cases where the children do not have regular meals and they cannot afford the basic of social needs, they are then stressed to the core, which affects their life in entirety. Stress affects a child’s concentration ability, brain development and memory, which impairs the child’s academic reception and success, their social life, their self-esteem and eventually, affects their behaviors. These students, if no intervention from other people is offered to them, they end up turning into drugs for solace and crime as their source of livelihood. While the children from poor backgrounds go through all these transformational processes, their peers from the rich families can comfortably attain their academic goals, which offers a promise for a better future.

Growing up in chaotic families and neighbors can greatly influence a person’s growth (Moore 4). In cases where a child’s early life experiences are considerably chaotic, the child can grow into a mentally messed person, insecure and unsure of what they expect to achieve in life. In such chaotic families, the language used, as well as the admonishing, this negatively influences their personality by filling them with a lot of negative energy in everything. For such students, their relationship with others is quite impaired. They do not know how to hold a simple civil conversation with anyone else. The children also end up dropping out of school, and engaging in menial jobs, to try to supplement their parent’s income.

The children from poor families rarely receive healthy meals as well as medical attention. This leads to health complications, which can prove quite uncomfortable for the children. According to research, intelligence is somehow linked to health, which would then mean, poor health translates to a challenged intelligence quotient (Gray and Thompson, 471). This not only affects their mental health, but also their concentration due to physical distress.

On the contrary, poverty has been viewed as a motivating factor to many, with many successful people, showing how they overcame poverty to attain immense success and wealth. It has been for a long time argued that, poverty motivates children to work harder and live better lives in future, after all, necessity is the mother of invention. A plethora of success stories, the from rags to riches type have been told over the decades, to motivate the less advantaged into working hard for a better future. This however, does not dispel the fact that, children from lesser-privileged families are disadvantaged, considering the fact they must fight harder than their peers from rich families to get to their level.

Overall, poverty is a great impediment to a child’s education, and thus, rules and regulations should be put in place to provide them with an easier way. People should keep in mind that children are the future of this world. We should help all children receive an education that does not limit them to a certain knowledge due to their income.

Works Cited

1. Connell, Raewyn. ‘Poverty and education.’ Harvard Educational Review 64.2 (1994): 125-150. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.64.2.m14947g30k1x5781
2. Gray, Jeremy R., and Paul M. Thompson. ‘Neurobiology of intelligence: science and ethics.’
3. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 5.6 (2004): 471. https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn1405#article-info
4. Haberman, Martin. ‘The pedagogy of poverty versus good teaching.’ Phi Delta Kappa 92.2 (2010): 81-87. https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn1405#article-info
5. Moore, Wes. The other Wes Moore: One name, two fates. Random House Digital, Inc., 2011.
6. Tilak, Jandhyala BG. ‘Education and poverty.’ Journal of Human Development 3.2 (2002): 191-207. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14649880220147301

Child poverty is a threat to families, the economy and the entire community as a whole- unfortunately it is present in every ward of Toronto.. Families are greatly impacted due to child poverty. As a developing child, children require certain necessities to grow as a part of society. A developing child needs to be nurtured and cared for- poverty affects a child’s mental health and physical health.

Mental health

According to recent statistics, 48% of children who come from families with income below $30 000 are not given the opportunity to join in extra-curricular activities- such as: sports, clubs and arts. Amongst families with incomes of $100 000 or higher, only 7% of children do not participate in these activities. This is due to the lack of finance in the family and lack of transportation as parents are often busy with 2 or even 3 low-paying jobs. As a result, children are left neglected without the chance to develop their own hobbies and interests. Furthermore, children lacking access to these programs have disadvantages in a school environment- children in poverty have a high possibility of falling behind in school, as low as in kindergarten level. These children are also at a higher risk to acquire mental health and emotional challenges throughout their lifetime- such as depression and anxiety.

Physical well-being

Child poverty is a known culprit in housing and food insecurity. As of Aug 2019, the average rent for a one bedroom apartment in toronto is a whopping $2300. Children in low-income families are often forced to get a part-time job at a young age to help pay for their living costs. Statistics show that more than a third of families in Toronto with children nearing the age of 17 pay more than 30% of their own income to their housing rent. Following, a quarter of families with children as young as 12 and under, live under an unhealthy housing environment- with inadequate and over-crowded living space, which is often shared with siblings. Lack of access to nutritious foods threatens child development and contributes to child hunger- most children in low-income families rely on city food banks to receive basic meals. The most common reasons for insufficient access to food are low income rates, boost in food costs and unemployment. Lack of adequate housing and access to food poses a great threat to the overall well being of a developing child.

Discrimination

The city of Toronto is a face of diversity as different ethnic communities and groups greatly make up the city’s population- but unfortunately, child poverty present in the city of Toronto is highly linked to discrimination and systematic inequality. Ridings in Toronto with high rates of child poverty have a higher population of minority and Indigenous groups. Statistically, 1 in 5 children are living in poverty- especially those of Indigenous and First Nations heritage or descent. These same ridings are also plagued with high unemployment rates, along with considerably low labour force participation rates.

The relationship between poverty and education is widely acknowledged to be bidirectional. Poor individuals frequently lack access to adequate education, and those who do not have access to adequate education are often forced to live in poverty. However, before discussing the interconnections between poverty and education, it is necessary to define poverty. Poverty has numerous characteristics and is not solely defined by income or expenditure levels. Amartya Sen’s (1999, 2001) work has widened our understanding of poverty by characterizing it as a state characterized by a lack of freedom of choice resulting from a lack of what he refers to as ‘societal competence ‘ This multifaceted view goes much beyond the traditional definition of poverty as a lack of financial resources, (Amartya, Sen 1999). Poverty limits kids and provides them with an unfair advantage. This essay will be based on the impact of poverty on education and how it affects education for people from informal settlements. From the challenges they face to the opportunities, they have as learners from poor homes. I will be using different articles to support my arguments and broaden my understanding of the impact of poverty on education.

Situational (transient) poverty and generational (absolute or chronic) poverty, according to sociologists, are the two categories of poverty. Situational poverty happens when a family’s financial situation changes due to an illness, job loss, or other unforeseen occurrence. Although situational poverty is distressing, it usually has only short-term consequences. However, this does not imply that families should be left to deal with situational poverty. If not addressed,  it could lead to generational poverty. Generational poverty is defined by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre as ‘absolute poverty that is experienced for an extended period of time’ (CPRC, 2005). In some circumstances, the child’s entire life is at stake. It goes on to say that a person living in absolute poverty is unable to meet his or her fundamental needs for food, clothes and shelter.

In the ongoing war against poverty in South Africa, children aged 17 and under, those from rural areas, and those with little or no education have been identified as the main sufferers. Poverty is a significant hazard to a healthy childhood. Approximately 63 percent of children in South Africa are currently poor. This has an impact on their physical, mental and emotional development, among other things (Pretorius, 2016). This is particularly evident in youngsters from less developed areas. According to Pretorius (2016), children who grow up in poverty are affected later in life due to a lack of access to essential services.  Education is a means for reducing poverty and empowering individuals, however, South Africa’s public education system is now perpetuating rather than breaking the poverty cycle.(Anon, 2014).

Poverty has long been recognized as having a negative impact on schooling. Thirty years of serious social science have produced overwhelming evidence that socio-economic position, is the best single predictor of how much schooling pupils will receive, how well they will do in their studies, and what their life chances are beyond school.  Poverty has a deleterious impact on student conduct, achievement and schooling retention (See Levin, 1994b). According to a large body of research. None of this evidence suggests that poverty is a barrier to academic success. Despite adversity, some children succeed. It would be a huge error to assume that growing in poverty is an irreversible setback for one’s future because that would mean abandoning efforts to help impoverished families and their children. Nonetheless there is no denying that poverty places children at a significant disadvantage.

People live in relatively small shacks, with the majority of them living in one room shacks with their entire family (Msindo, et al, 2013). Most families are burdened by the history of colonialism and apartheid, which has resulted in a continuous cycle of unemployment, poor housing,  overpopulation, and insufficient community services (De la Rey, et al, 1997). The child’s growth is heavily influenced by the nature and quality of the environment in which he or she grows. The house, as a setting, plays an important part in socializing children for adulthood, and it is the child’s first and most basic educator (Bashman, 2008). Learning can be harmed or facilitated by one’s upbringing and community values  (Bengu, 2009).

The socio-economic standing of parents is determined by family income, parental occupation, and community social status. Low SES is thought to have a negative impact on academic achievement because it restricts access to essential resources, (Hartas, 2011). Children are born into their parent’s social class, which gives them a social identity.  It is believed that children from informal settlements confront several barriers and challenges as a result of their birth socio-economic class, which is at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

In terms of their contribution to their children’s educational attainment, parents socio-economic backgrounds have been stated to have intellectual credibility, (Gary, et al, 2000). Various characteristics of a child’s socio-economic background are thought to be critical to their intellectual development. Educators are concerned about the extent to which students from low socio-economic background appear to be disadvantaged or worse than their peers from higher socio-economic background in terms of academic performance,  educational attainment,  and the acquisition of a post-secondary school certificate.  When there is a link between educational attainment and socio-economic status, students who appear to come from a low socio-economic background face a variety of challenges in school and later in adulthood, which has been linked to issues of human resource waste,  inefficiency of required occupational capabilities, and as a result of economic inefficiencies.

People who live in informal settlements are often scientifically excluded from opportunities quality jobs, ability and empowerment that would allow them to take better, control over their health and lives, (Garau & Sclar, 2004). The majority of people living in informal settlement are street vendors, indicating a lack of meaning jobs, (Roever, 2016). The difference is that they make less money to support themselves and live a normal life, (Endjala & Botes, 2020). Security guards, domestic workers, and cleaners are among the jobs available to those who find themselves unemployed, (Ndumba, 2014). Climbing out of poverty is very impossible for many here since they lack alternative sources of income and the education required to obtain stable well-paying employment as a result,  their way of life is passed down through generations.

The purpose of this essay was to demonstrate how poverty affects education. According to the research,  there is a clear correlation between a country’s poverty levels and its educational standard.  It was also discovered that many children had restricted access to school die to a variety of circumstances including poverty,  bad infrastructure and a scarcity of resources.  The government may alleviate this burden by assisting schools in obtaining the resources they need to deliver high-quality education to students and by identifying strategies to eradicate poverty so that education is not harmed.

Background

According to UNESCO, it is valued that 1.3 billion individuals live on less than US$ 1.25 per day. This number is upward progressively as civil wars, loss of employment, and improvement of societies are establishing newly poor groups (UNESCO, 2013).

Regarding human rights, conference fundamental human needs, and further equitable delivery of wealth are more important for the alleviation of poverty. The United Nations Decade for Poverty Eradication (1997-2006) was a universal endeavor to confront the issue of human degradation caused by abject poverty. In its situation, formal education plays a significant role in the method of poverty alleviation, however, the question arises: ‘What can/does education do?’. In today’s economy, graduating from high school college-ready and obtaining a postsecondary degree or credential can mean the difference between a lifetime of poverty and a secure economic future. (UNESCO, 2013).

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted in 2000, are the world’s quantitative targets for addressing extreme human deprivation in its many dimensions which should be accomplished by 2015. Education is part of this MDG framework as goal number two. There are therefore clear linkages between education and poverty reduction. Education can contribute to sustainable management to improve livelihoods, increase economic security and create income opportunities for the poor. Education that is relevant and purposeful has the power to transform people’s lives.

Education for sustainable development has the potential to equip people with skills needed to improve their livelihoods and by building a skilled workforce, education can promote a country from one economic bracket to the next. If all students in low-income countries left school with basic reading skills, we could eradicate 12% of world poverty (UNESCO 2013) and as such, it is an essential investment.

Skills are the key way in which education reduces poverty. Education makes it more likely for men and women not just to be employed, but to hold jobs that are more secure and provide good working conditions and decent pay. In so doing, education can not only help lift households out of poverty but also guard them against falling back into poverty. And, just as education plays its role in helping alleviate poverty, progress in fighting poverty is inextricably linked with progress in achieving education for all. The direct costs of sending children to school, as well as the indirect costs of losing a source of labor, can be formidable for poor parents, and as a consequence, not only are poor children less likely to enroll in primary school, but those who do so are more likely to drop out. This disadvantage results in children from poor households being over three times more likely to be out of school than children from rich households. Low-quality education reinforces this problem, as parents are less willing to bear those costs if they cannot see the benefits of education and there is no better moment to realize education’s role in helping households escape poverty than today (UNESCO 2013).

This paper seeks to find out the relationship between education and poverty alleviation with a specific focus on Kenya as a case study using acknowledged literature and experiences from the Kenyan education institutions/scene as narrated by the authors. The authors wish to bring out the fact that there is a link between education and poverty alleviation. Education has been confirmed to work in many situations and there is empirical evidence in the literature on the same, but in Kenya, this link seems to be missing. This relationship in some instances does not seem to bear the required fruits and sometimes its outcomes have been blurred. For example, in Kenya poverty levels remain high. From the HDR report of 2013, Kenya is ranked at 145 which was the same as the rank of 2012, with an HDI of 0.519 which has been rated as low human development (UNDP, 2013).

This is a clear indication that despite the efforts that have been put in place to increase the rate of access to education and with over ten years of free primary school education (FPE), this is not translating to poverty reduction measures as would be expected and millions continue to suffer and live below the poverty line. We will be seeking to answer the question; what is the missing link and why? Why isn’t this high rate of school enrolment especially from FPE not translating to economic growth and empowerment or poverty reduction? What went wrong, where and why?

According to Somalia More than 1 in 3 people in rural Somalia and more than 1 in 4 people in urban Somalia are living in poverty. The amount of money required for a household to meet its basic needs is estimated at 207,300 Shillings per adult per month in urban Somalia and 180,900 Shillings per adult per month in rural Somalia. Households living on less than this are counted as poor, which results in a poverty headcount of 37.0% in rural Somalia and 29.7% in urban Somalia.

Statement of the problem

Low Levels of educational enrolment, particularly for primary education, are very low—the lowest in the region and one of the lowest in the world—suggesting that unless action is taken otherwise the literacy rate in Somalia will continue to be very low. Only one in two primary school-aged children is enrolled in primary school, While the secondary school enrollment in urban areas fares on par with the regional average, rural areas have 12 percentage points lower attendance compared to urban Somalia.

Weiss, & Miller, 2001). Education may directly influence rural agricultural productivity via one or more of the routes described above (Weir, 1999). Education may increase the probability of success in each of these endeavors and, in so doing, diversify household income sources to reduce risk and improve economic security. Since farming is the primary activity in rural Iran, this paper will focus on the part played by education in poverty reduction (Aref, 2011). World Bank studies also demonstrate education raises the production of farmers (Hegtvedt-Willson, 1984).

A rural community cannot foster development without educated people. Businesses, large or small, are unlikely to choose to invest in rural areas if skilled or trainable human resources are unavailable. Similarly, a community cannot retain educated people without an attractive economic environment (Atchoarena & Gasperini, 2003). Education in rural development can support and uphold local culture, tradition, knowledge, and skill, and create pride in community heritage (Lacy, Battig, Moore, & Noakes, 2002).

The paper stresses that education in rural areas in Hargeisa is the foundation for poverty reduction. Although education has economic and non-economic benefits to educated individuals and society as a whole, this study intended to focus on the aspect of the economic benefit of education to rural areas for poverty reduction. It reviews some critical issues that are related to education in the context of poverty reduction in Hargeisa. The main purpose of the study was to investigate the perceived contributions of formal education to poverty reduction.

Purpose of the study

Following are the specific objectives of this study

1. To identify the role of formal education in poverty alleviation.
2. To identify if formal education is a viable way of eradicating poverty

Research question

The following were the research questions that guided the study

1. What is the role of formal education in poverty alleviation?
2. Is formal education a viable way of poverty alleviation?

Significance of the study

This current study will help the government in order to recognize the importance of education and above all to solve the problems related to education, the study also will help NGOs who are deeply interested in these issues, this present study also will help every international and intergovernmental organization including United Nations who have different plans in order to tackle every challenge related on education, particularly formal education, finally, the study will help other researchers who want to do another study that concern on this issues.

Scope of the Research

This study has both geographical and time scope which will be:

Geographical scope

The geographical scope of this study is Hargeisa, Somalia.

Time scope

The time scope of this study is September 2019 to December 2019.

Operational Definition

Although words may take different meanings, the definitions given below are proposed to be understood as the purpose of this study.

Formal: is something standard and it’s opposite informal.

Education is the system or the way to teach or learn knowledge.

Poverty: is the state that a person can’t afford basic needs.

Alleviation: is the process of eradicating the problem that exists.

Overview of methodology

The study used the mixed-method approach to generate more complete data and provide a better understanding of the research problem. It was conducted at Daffodil International University. To determine the role of formal education in poverty alleviation a survey was conducted via email and interview in the survey a questionnaire was used to collect data from the students. In the questionnaire, closed-ended questions were asked from the target population.

Organization of the Thesis

The study contains five chapters. Chapter one presents the introduction and background of the study, statement of the problem, research objectives, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research questions, Significance of the study, scope of the study, definition of key terms, conceptual framework, and organization of the study. Chapter two presents a literature review that consists of the introduction of the chapter, the concept role of formal education and its impacts on poverty reduction theories related to the study, the conceptual framework, and a summary of the study. Chapter three provides the research design and methods. Chapter Four provides data presentation, analysis, and discussion. Chapter Five discusses the summary, conclusion, and recommendations of the study. The last part of the document provides a list of references.

For this thesis paper, I have dedicated my mother Xawa Abdi Maxamud for her love and sisters for the reward and reputation who helped me with everlasting support morally and materially from the beginning to the end of our research. similarly dedicated to the implementation of this thesis worked with me.  

Education being a basic right to many children in Kenya, it has been faced with quite a number of challenges. Since independence, there have been many reforms in the education sector to improve the quality of education. Despite the initiatives, the cost of education in Kenya has restricted both the state supply and local access to education, where both limited government capacity for delivery and local poverty has resulted in failure to sustain universal access to primary education (Umami and Omwami,2009, p.251). The indirect effect of education on poverty is Important with respect to human poverty because as education improves income, the fulfillment of basic necessities becomes easier and raises the living standards which surely means the fall of human poverty (Awan, et al,2011). Kenya is a third-world country, high poverty rates have greatly impacted its education systems, its quality, physical infrastructure, low household incomes, and unskilled personnel recent times, the Ministry of Education has been making great strides in improving the quality, access, and relevance of education through better management of service delivery to all learners(Ck Nzuki,2018). Despite the challenges facing the education sector, the knowledge and skills acquired at all levels have played a key role on individual development and the nation as a whole.

The quality of education has been compromised due to high poverty rates in most parts of the country. Most recently, free primary education was introduced in 2003, which resulted in the enrollment of an additional 1.2 million pupils (Bolete al,2010, p.293-294). These growths resulted in a rise in the pupil-teacher ratio which has made it difficult to deliver quality services to learners. One of the identified problems with these programs is their focus on quantity at the expense of quality, and in some cases, converting the problem from a lack of supply to a lack of quality ( Chimombo, 2005,p.170). According to Chimomba,2005, he realized that in the schools he visited in Malawi, the minimum material conditions for meaningful teaching and learning to take place were simply not fulfilled, arguing that the challenge of universal primary education is not just to enroll children in school, but to ensure a certain quality standard. Therefore, for quality education to be attained, certain measures must be put in place. In Kenya, concerning free primary education, there have been different views given out about it. Ng’ware, et al,2009 pg591, find out that, contrary to the expectations, free primary education at least in the short-run, has been a pro-poor policy in that better-off households are more represented in the free primary education program. Similarly, Lucas et al 2012 pg226 found out that free primary education at least in the short-run has been a welfare enhancement because it promoted access without reducing test scores of those who would have been enrolled anyway, thereby enhancing quantity at the expense of quality.

The proximity of learning institutions and infrastructures is greatly Impacted by poverty levels in some areas. Well-established physical structures play a key role in the provision of education compared to poorly-structured infrastructures. According to Colclough,2000 pg21), an inadequate supply of schools is still a major problem in many countries including Guinea and Ethiopia where the distribution of primary schools is still very irregular. In Kenya especially in marginalized areas, the availability of physical infrastructure has proven to be a major challenge. Due to the high poverty index in the regions, research has shown that school distribution in those areas has been a great challenge, especially for girls. Learners walk for a long distance in search of schools thus exposing them to great danger. A distance between school and home increases the likelihood a child will attend decreases (Colclough al, 2000, Pg21).

Unqualified teachers and institution heads. For better and quality output, there’s a need for quality input. Qualified personnel greatly influence the outcome of learners. Research has shown that, in marginalized parts of Kenya like the Northern parts, due to the rise in insecurity, the Teachers Service Commission withdrew teachers working in those areas. The locals have been seen taking up the task of teaching the pupils. Most of these locals are not professionally trained to educate learners. therefore, it’s a clear indication that the high poverty index in the areas has contributed to under-developed making it impossible to have experienced and trained personnel.

Low income in most families is making it difficult for them to afford basic needs. The Kenyan government came up with free primary education and later secondary, but still learners are incurring extra costs for these basic rights (education). The cost is an important deterrent to primary school enrollment ( Mwabu, et al,2007 pg586). According to Colclough et al 2000, find out that in most surveys carried out in Guinea and Ethiopia, the inability to meet the direct cost of schooling was one of the most frequently cited reasons for non-attendance, dropping out as well as those who never enrolled in school. The availability of resources plays a key role in the provision of education thus acting as a major factor to be considered by parents for enrollment of learners. (Mukudi,2004), argues that, before free primary education in Kenya, user fees limited access and contributed to attrition and absenteeism. The context of poverty and low income can create a situation of a conflict of capabilities, where there is a choice to be made between the capability to be fed and housed and the capability to the educated (Githitho-Muriithi2009,pg4621). Therefore, there’s a need for the Kenyan government to ensure it takes up all costs incurred in education as it will relieve parents and guardians with low income.

High rise in absenteeism and dropout cases. There has been an increase in school dropouts reported in areas with high poverty index. Lloyd et al 2000 observed that higher school fees increased the likelihood of girls dropping out of school. Shahidul and Karim 2015, argued that the main reason for school dropouts is irregular attendance in schools. Commonly in our rural societies, girls take up a large percentage of house chores compared to boys, and girls in urban areas Ersado, 2005. Research has been showing that the increase in school dropouts and absenteeism is child labor and house chores. Learners from poor backgrounds are forced to work in order to sustain their lives. Girls being most vulnerable, they have been more exposed to sexual harassment. Such immoral behaviors have exposed them to early pregnancy forcing them to drop out of school.

Poverty has greatly impacted the education sector in different aspects. If Poverty eradication measures will be put in place, then they would greatly facilitate the smooth running of schools by a high percentage. Such measures include; equal distribution of resources in different parts of the country, coming up with programs to equip community members with necessary skills for sustaining themselves, different institutions paying back to the community by supporting learners from less fortunate homes, and reducing the cost of basic learning materials.

Imagine that you are a new teacher. This has always been a dream of yours and finally you have reached it. You have spent years in college getting the degree you need in order to be someone who helps shape the young minds of the future. You received all the certificates you needed, and spent countless hours putting together the perfect curriculum. This was the job you were meant to do. What if all the schooling, all the degrees and all the time you spent putting in to making the perfect curriculum wasn’t enough? The Civic report states that current Federal data shows the number of homeless students in kindergarten through 12th grade has grown by 70% within the last decade (Camera, 2019. p.1). Poverty is one of many different factors that can contribute to homelessness. These students you set out to teach and help mold actually need more than what you were ever taught about and prepared for. So how do we help students from backgrounds of poverty? We have to first help our teachers understand these backgrounds and prepare them for the environment.

What It’s Like for Students from Poverty

For students from a background of poverty, education seems like something they can’t do. One more thing to think about that seems probably unattainable. Most often these students have an overwhelming feeling of “We don’t belong here. People like us do not get educated” and a feeling of being powerless in their lives (Beegle, 2012, p.4). Mainly they just feel alienated from society because of their socioeconomic backgrounds. On top of all of these feelings, they often have the physical barriers that contribute to making education an overwhelming task. In the article, “Washington State works to meet the needs of its homeless students”, Casey Leins (2018) interviewed superintendent Chris Reykdal who stated “If you don’t have a stable place to live, and you don’t have secure food, the learning is so minor in their priority array”. The article ‘Homeless students’ by Author Marcia Clemmitt gives examples of what some of these students go through. The first student was eleven year-old Rumi who stated “I struggled in school because of having to sleep in different places, and not being able to rest”. His mother considered going back to his father despite the domestic abuse just so Rumi could have a stable place to live. The next student was twelve year-old Brooklyn Pastor who stated that instead of focusing on school work she often had to look after her two year-old brother. The third student Army Pvt. Brittany Koon lost her access to permanent shelter when she was too old for the foster care system. She stated “When you are sitting in class you are worried about where you are going to go after, where you are going to eat, and how you are going to get your homework done”. This is a weight that most students from poverty have to carry daily.

Teacher’s Impact on Students

When it comes to the role of a teacher, they have the ability to have some of the greatest influence on a child. They have the ability to impact their lives in more than just an educational aspect. Rita Pierson has been a teacher for the past 40 years and in her Ted Talk ‘Every kid needs a champion’, she talks about a time when she had one particular class of students who were so low in not only their self esteem, but also in their academic performance, that she realized she needed to help change both circumstances. One way in which she did this was to give them a saying “I am somebody. I was somebody when I came. I’ll be a better somebody when I leave. I am powerful, and I am strong. I deserve the education that I get here. I have things to do, people to impress, and places to go”. Pierson explains that if you get to know your students and their backgrounds you will come to find out that students who usually don’t learn is because of poverty, low attendance, and negative influences around them. Sadly this causes them to ultimately end up dropping out. The influence a teacher has can ultimately give a student a sense of power they didn’t know they had. It is a relationship that is often not valued as much as it should be. These are role models that can have a huge positive effect on not only academics, but how a student from a background of poverty can thrive.

Teacher Preparation

When becoming a teacher, there are certification programs put in place called “teacher preparation programs”. Although these programs might differ slightly from state to state, the idea behind them is usually the same. The article ‘Teacher preparation program overview’ breaks down what these programs primarily include. To assist teachers the program runs through specialized course work, student assessments, and early childhood development among other things. Although these are all helpful tools for teaching methods, none of these acknowledge the issue of different socioeconomic backgrounds and the effect it has on education and a student as a whole person. Carolyn Nelson explains in the article ‘Education: Reclaiming teacher preparation for success in high-needs schools’, that although teachers can be highly qualified in an academic aspect this usually doesn’t help them. The teacher preparation programs don’t prepare them for environments like students struggling from poverty; therefore, teachers often find themselves unsuccessful. This has the harsh effect of students falling through the cracks of the educational system.

No Child Left Behind Act

In January of 2002, ‘The No Child left Behind Act’ was signed into law. Although good intentions were in mind, there have been many issues found. The idea behind this act was that all children no matter their race, and socioeconomic background would have an equal opportunity for education. The Federal Law requires that established learning standards are in place of what these students should know and should be capable of doing in academic subjects. The law requires a set level at which students are considered proficient and assessments to measure their progress of reaching this standard (National Center for fair and open testing, 2008, p.2). Although this law did have the benefit of more inclusion for all students, and it did set the bar that all students no matter their background should be learning as well as and as much as their peers, it did not look further than that (Lee, 2014 p.4/5). The Law was more focused on holding schools accountable for test scores than focusing on the students as a whole person. Ultimately, this requirement put more pressure on the teachers to teach kids for scores instead of their well being and what would have actually benefited them.

Possible Solution: Teach the Teachers and Provide Support

Teachers should be provided and required to take courses to help them better understand and assist students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. These changes should be made starting with teachers working with students as young as preschool or kindergarten. In the article ‘Educating students who live in poverty’ Donna Beegle states that, “The more assets a student has, both internal and external, the more likely they will succeed”. Beegle explains that we must attempt to find out the why in order to understand the behavior and therefore know how to better assist. In order to do this, we must help our teachers first. One example of a successful transformation is in Walla Walla, Washington. The documentary ‘Paper Tigers’ follows Lincoln Alternative High School as they adjust their teaching methods to help students through Stressful events. They formed the concept Trauma Informed practices (Beyond Paper Tigers, 2020, p.1). When the documentary first started, most of these students had nothing to believe in. They came from all different backgrounds and believed there was no point in trying. Lincoln High didn’t focus on increasing test scores or pleasing a federal law. Instead they changed how they interacted with these students, they got to know each student and their hardship. They helped them build resilience (Mongeau, 2016. p.6). When Lincoln High decided to take on the task of changing their teaching methods and understanding these students as a whole they had a 90% decrease in suspension rate, 75% decrease in fights and a 5 fold increase in graduation. If we implemented these methods into teaching courses to begin with, and started them at a younger age there may be a significant difference in students from backgrounds of poverty succeeding.

Conclusion

There is no denying that poverty is a huge crisis we face today. There are many physical barriers that contribute to why students suffer academically when they come from a background of poverty. However, if we have the ability to change these circumstances, shouldn’t we? A teacher may not be able to change some of the physical barriers of poverty for students, but they have more power to help students from poverty thrive than they are given the tools to do so. If given the tools and the support, Teachers would have the ability to focus on these students as a whole. They would not see them through the small lense of a challenge that will never be overcome. Teachers represent a positive role model that can show students more than just academics but teach them how to be resilient. In ‘Educating Students who live in Poverty’. Beegle stated it best when she said “Mentoring is the single most important action educators can take”. For this alone, we should help teach our teachers how to mentor, how to support and how to assist students of poverty. Not all students’ stories are the same, but teaching methods of support and understanding should be.

References

1. Beegle, D. M. (2012). Educating students who live in poverty. Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/programs/slcp/2012thematicmtg/studentpovty.pdf
2. Camera, L. (2019, February). Number of homeless Students Soars. U.S News – The Civic Report. Retrieved from EBSCOhost,search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=134900637&si te=pov-live.
3. Clemmitt, M. (2013, April 5). Homeless Students. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2013040500
4. Lee, A. M. I. (2019, October 18). No Child Left Behind (NCLB): What You Need to Know. Retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/Your-childs-rights/basics-about-childs-rights/no-child-left-behind-nclb-what-you-need-to-know
5. Leins, C. (2018, November 2). How Washington State is helping Homeless Students Graduate. Retrieved from www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2018-11-02/washington-state-works-to-meet-homeless-students-needs.
6. Mah, T. (2018, April 19). Beyond Paper Tigers: Trauma Informed Strategies. Retrieved from https://www.acesconnection.com/blog/beyond-paper-tigers-presenter-showcase-lincoln-high-school-s-trauma-informed-strategies-jim-sporleder-reflects-on-lessons-learned
7. Nelson, C. (2004, March 22). Reclaiming Teacher Preparation for Success in High-Needs Schools. Retrieved from https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-117036577/Reclaiming-teacher-preparation-for-success-in-high-needs
8. Paper Tigers. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdDr_nZOIXc
9. Pierson, R. (n.d.)TedTalk: Every kid needs a Champion. Retrieved March 8, 2020, from https://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion/details?language=en
10. Teacher Preparation Programs overview. (2019, January 2). Retrieved from https://study.com/teacher_preparation_programs.html
11. What is the ‘No Child Left Behind’ Law? (2008, January 4). Retrieved from https://www.fairtest.org/what-no-child-left-behind-law

One of the issues debated on about human development is the nature versus nurture debate. Nature is when our behaviors are determined by our inherited genetic material structure while Nurture is when our behavior is determined by our surroundings, our life experiences, our upbringings, and other environmental factors. The environment of each individual plays a very impactful role in their physical, cognitive, and emotional development. Poverty is the deprivation of common necessities of life thus people in this kind of environment will be affected physically, cognitively, and emotionally during the individual’s development.

Poverty deprives children in many ways. According to annualreviews.org, poverty has been shown to negatively influence child health and development, to which I agree to because poverty means that the parents cannot afford the proper resources to raise the child. The necessities, such as food, milk, diapers, clothing, shelter and etc. to raise the child and for the child to survive healthily is difficult for the parents to provide. Personally, being from a third world country, I have seen families in poverty living under bridges, next to lakes and next to the highway, and walking around begging for food while carrying their baby or babies on their back. Families in poverty always need to beg for some food in order to survive and feed their babies. Even if they feed the child with a piece of something, that does not mean they have gotten the nutrients they need. Additionally, our bodies are mostly made up of water therefore it is important that we drink tons of water. Unfortunately, just like how it is with finding food, it’s also tough to look for drinking water that has not been contaminated or that is clean enough to drink. The child is not eating enough and its health is at risk. Lack of food and milk means lack of vitamins vital for the baby’s physical growth and strength. Poverty also affects a child’s cognitive development. According to psychologicalscience.org, “People who deal with stressors such as low family income, discrimination, limited access to health care, exposure to crime, and other conditions of low SES are highly susceptible to physical and mental disorders, low educational attainment, and low IQ scores”, to which I totally agree with because being in a low to no income family means no programs that can help the child with developing cognitive skills. Also, growing up with such situations make the child feel inferior, they will most likely have low self-esteem compared to other kids. They are also more exposed to crimes and I believe this will cause them to think violently especially because all they know is about surviving so they will most likely use violence in order to survive. However, even though poverty affects physical and cognitive developments negatively, it’s a different story for the child’s emotional development. I believe that poverty’s hardships bring the child close to the parents – it makes both parents focus on child. Everything they do and they decide to do is for the child. The child and its health are always their number one priority, everything else comes after the child. I say this because I have always noticed that rich parents tend to focus with their jobs to make more money and leaves their children to their nanny. Unlike rich families, families living in poverty are much closer to the child emotionally.

Even though indirectly, poverty still affects the individual during conception through the mother. During pregnancy, it is best if the mother stays healthy by eating healthy, by being stress free, by staying somewhat physically active. However, for people in poverty, those are extremely hard to achieve due to all the stress and worries they have caused by their unfortunate situation. The mother and the family usually have to go through a lot of walking, trying to beg people for some money or for their leftovers so they could feed the baby inside the mother. They are usually homeless or live somewhere that does not really provide them the protection or shelter they need. These set of circumstances lead to a lot of stress. They are constantly worrying about survival and for providing. An individual in such situation lives a difficult life thus an individual in conception is affected by poverty.

Living in poverty means that you do not have all the necessities you need as a child and you do not have access to all the resources to learn. Poverty is correlated to malnutrition because as a child living in poverty, it is challenging to be able to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner or even just a meal. It takes a lot of their time and effort just to have someone else’s leftover or to be able to find food that are still edible. They have to beg around for very little to no food and food is not always guaranteed. There will be days in which they have food for all three meals, there will be days in which they barely have food for all of them in the family, and days in which they have nothing at all – it’s tough. In addition to that, even with the little food they got, they are never fulfilled with the nutrients they need specifically the child’s needs especially at this stage, they need much more nutrients to be able to develop. A child’s development is very similar to a flower blooming. Just like how a flower needs to be watered and some sunlight, a child needs food and water to develop healthily. Similarly, it is also difficult to obtain some kind of education level. Some has little to no access to an education program and some don’t have the time as they have to focus on their survival. When I was still in the Philippines, I attended a private Catholic school and it cost my parents tons of money but I’ve seen public schools that the government puts money into. The tuition fees and books would be free but unlike how it is in the United States and maybe other countries, public schools in the Philippines still require students to follow their rules with uniforms thus even if it is free to get in the school, some people living in poverty would choose not to as they cannot afford such uniforms when they are already stressing with feeding their children. Furthermore, even with attending a public school, they still are more likely to do poorly in school because schools as such often lack resources and are not academically challenging.

Living in poverty means being extremely poor and lacking all resources an individual may need in life. Living in such an environment will affect a child’s development physically, cognitively and emotionally. A child needs nutrient-dense food, vitamins, as well as water to physically develop strongly and healthily. Cognitively, a child will be learning differently compared to children in prosperous families. A child in poverty might catch on to being violent as they grow exposed to crimes and discrimination while a child in a rich family will be in kid programs that will teach them learning skills such as attention, memory, and thinking. Physically and cognitively, poverty affects a child’s development negatively however, emotionally, poverty affects children positively, especially in relations with family relatives because all their sufferings bring them together unlike rich parents who live their children to their nannies all the time to work and bring money. Poverty affects an individual’s development both negatively and positively but there is no doubt that an individual’s environment growing up is a big factor if not the main, for an individual’s behavior.

References

1. Aber, J. Lawrence. ‘The Effects of Poverty on Child Health and Development’. Annual Reviews, May 1997, https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.18.1.463
2. Sleek, Scott. ‘How Poverty Affects the Brain and Behavior’. Association For Psychological Science, 31 August 2015, https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/how-poverty-affects-the-brain-and-behavior

Our country is in dire need of a wake-up call to the sheer number of children falling victim to poverty and how their futures are consequently affected by this epidemic. 9 out of 10 members of the National Education Union believe that poverty and low income are having disastrous results on children’s learning. In our country, over 4 million children continue to live their lives in poverty and this undoubtingly gives all these children an unfair disadvantage from others through no fault of their own. So how as a nation can we continue to ignore that these children are struggling to thrive in education due to poverty?

Unfortunately, nowadays many children go to school feeling hungry and tired as their parents simply cannot provide for them. According to a study by the NEU, made up of 8,600 school leaders, 78% of staff saw children suffering from fatigue and 57% of pupils have experienced hunger as a direct result of poverty. As shown in these statistics, we can see that low-income families are unable to afford enough food with the right nutrition for their children. If children are not eating properly this can cause a reduction in the brain’s capacity which will in turn result in pupils having further difficulty in class. Also, studies show that a lack of sleep will have an effect on children’s concentration levels in the class.

Furthermore, children from low-income households are more likely to be exposed to drug use or domestic abuse. An article by Community Care found that parental capacity can be affected by substance misuse and can also harm children’s development. This evidence obviously shows us that children affected by these factors are again put at a disadvantage by children from higher social classes than them as they are least likely to face these problems. It is also proven that children exposed to these conditions struggle pay attention or process emotions as they have to worry about their home situation.

In addition, children living in poverty tend to have less verbal and reasoning skills than those of their peers as their parents have less time to interact with them. As stated in a report by the Brooking Institution, under half of the poor children start school with early math and reading skills required in order to be prepared for learning. This highlights that children in low-income families are not getting the same start to their education which can affect them as they grow up and leave school. The same report also shows that more well-off parents spend just under half an hour more engaged with their children per day than that low-income parents. Yet again we can see how this makes a detrimental effect on the education of these children as they fall behind their classmates in these areas.

Likewise, children are set back in class again because poverty at home can trigger conditions that are less than desirable for children to concentrate. It is found that their brains develop better in low-stress environments which low-income households clearly don’t provide. According to the NEU, many children have nowhere to complete homework and insufficient sleep patterns due to overcrowding at home which will result in a lack of concentration and incomplete work. Also, the stress faced at home can cause children to have trouble coping with the problems they come across in school.

Another problem low-income children face is learned helplessness. This is a term used to describe when a person experiences a situation continuously so they believe that they can do nothing to change the outcome. In research by a former school teacher, Dr. Ruby Payne, she states that many poor children are unable to see a future that does not include poverty so therefore they do not possess the motivation to try to escape it. This evidently shows that children from low-income backgrounds are less likely to try to achieve a bright future where they can escape the poverty cycle. They begin to believe that they will not be able to break away from the poverty that their parents found themselves in. Even though it was not the child’s actions that put them in this position they lack the drive to get something better as poverty is all they have known.

However, many argue that a child from a low-income household can still thrive in life as shown through many rags-to-riches stories of famous celebrities. For example, famous country singer, Shania Twain, was brought up in an impoverished household with domestic abuse, and she often went hungry from lack of food. She then had to raise her younger siblings after her mother and stepfather suffered a fatal car crash. However, she was able to catch the attention of record labels and now has a net worth of roughly $350 million. This can be argued that despite her life in poverty as a child she was still able to achieve her goals and escape from poverty.

Sadly, the majority of the children living in low-income households will not be as fortunate as Twain as they are unaware of the possibilities for their future. Simply, children from poorer backgrounds are not taught effectively about the opportunities to improve their futures. As they have grown up in poverty they strive to earn more money instead of focusing on doing a job that they enjoy. It is false to say that some of these children lack the motivation to succeed as some unfortunately are not provided with the right information from the school. According to The Guardian cuts to schools have made staff redundant, class sizes have increased and teaching hours have been cut. How can we expect these same schools to provide the correct information to these vulnerable children in order for them to escape poverty?

The straightforward answer is no. We as a nation cannot continue to ignore the undeniable difficulties children face in education due to poverty. It is so clear that poverty affects children from such a young age that problems will continue to arise into adulthood until they follow the vicious poverty cycle that they have unfortunately watched their own parents face. We as a nation have to realize that the government is simply not doing enough to help those most vulnerable in low-income households as they are not giving them the ideal environment to succeed that other child their age has. We need to work as a country to help combat this issue before these children lose all hope of escaping from their parent’s fate.