From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

FROM POVERTY TO POWERplayed a pivotal role in making free primary education a centralelection issue, ensuring it was introduced in 2002; the result was that1.2 million children went to school for the first time. 37Quality is also crucial. Class size, the quality and availability oftextbooks, curriculum content, and teacher motivation all determinewhether and what a child learns in school. There is a world of differencebetween a dispiriting ‘chalk and talk’ session with an underpaid,demotivated, and poorly trained teacher in an overcrowded classroomand an exciting, empowering class geared to the culture, experiences,and interests of the children involved. A quality education is a transformativeprocess that respects children’s rights, encourages activecitizenship, and contributes to building a just and democratic society.Studies show that employing and training more teachers is the criticalissue in delivering quality education. Smaller class sizes and the qualityand morale of the teacher are critical elements in improving educationaloutcomes.A classroom without a teacher is useless, but a teacher withouta classroom can start to educate children. Uganda’s near-doubling of netenrolments,from 54 per cent to over 90 per cent by 2000,was preceded byan increase in teachers’ salaries from $8 to $72 per month from 1997.Governments also ensured that rural facilities were well staffed, often byrequiring publicly trained workers to work in rural areas.In Sri Lanka, all teachers are expected to work for three to fouryears in ‘difficult schools’. In the Gambia the government is buildingnew housing in remote areas and establishing a ‘teacher housing loanscheme’ to help female teachers with the costs of decent accommodation.In Nicaragua, thousands of volunteers helped in a hugelysuccessful national literacy campaign. 38WATER AND SANITATIONOf course I wish I was in school. I want to learn to read and write…But how can I? My mother needs me to get water.YENI BAZAN, AGE 10, EL ALTO, BOLIVIA‘By means of water’, says the Koran, ‘we give life to everything.’ Accessto clean water and sanitation is a basic right, and is essential in allowingpeople to live decent, dignified lives. The proportion of people usingdrinking water from improved sources has risen in the developing44