lack of education social issues essay

This is why many young people have no access to proper education

COVID-19 has meant millions of children are out of education. Image:  REUTERS/James Akena

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Stay up to date:, education, gender and work.

• Hundreds of millions of children, adolescents and young people have no access to learning and COVID-19 has exacerbated the problem.
• A UNESCO report shows poverty is the main barrier, ahead of other factors like background, identity and ability.
• There have been some positive steps towards greater inclusion, but more work needs to be done.

More than a quarter of a billion children and young people have been “left behind” and are totally excluded from education systems around the world, and the pandemic has made the problem worse, UNESCO’s 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report shows. While most young people in developed countries treat going to school as a given, many of the world’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged face significant obstacles that prevent them from accessing education. The report looks at rates of participation in education in more than 200 countries. The report highlights deep disparities in access, with poverty identified as the main barrier, ahead of other factors including background, identity and ability. Of the countries analysed, fewer than 10% had legislation in place to ensure children and young people were fully included in the education system.

Hundreds of millions not learning Excluding high-income countries in Europe and North America, just 18% of the world’s poorest youth complete secondary school, the report finds. For poor rural young women in at least 20 – mostly sub-Saharan African – countries, few if any complete secondary school.

As the chart shows, 17% (258 million) of the world’s children, adolescents and youth are not in school. In sub-Saharan Africa, it’s 31% of young people. A vast gap in school attendance rates exists both between wealthy and poorer regions, and between richer and poorer households within individual countries. In low- and middle-income countries, children from the wealthiest 20% of households were three times more likely to complete lower secondary school than those from the poorest neighbourhoods, the report says.

Existing inequalities have been heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic

The report estimates that 40% of low- and lower-middle-income countries did not support disadvantaged learners during school shutdowns. “To rise to the challenges of our time, a move towards more inclusive education is imperative,” says Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO . “Rethinking the future of education is all the more important following the COVID-19 pandemic, which further widened and put a spotlight on inequalities. Failure to act will hinder the progress of societies.”

Education reset? Aside from poverty, factors including gender, location, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and displacement status can play a role in dictating which children have access to schooling and which do not. Left-behind children may live in communities where the need for equality isn’t recognized, or may be denied access to education through prejudices towards certain groups of people, such as migrants, those with disabilities or people with special needs. However, the report has found signs of progress towards inclusion , with some places setting up resource centres for schools, and countries including Malawi, Cuba and Ukraine, thereby helping mainstream schools to accommodate children with special needs.

Efforts are also being made to meet the needs of different learner groups: the Indian state of Odisha has adopted tribal languages in class while Kenya has adapted school curriculums to the nomadic calendar.

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent social and political unrest have created a profound sense of urgency for companies to actively work to tackle inequity.

The Forum's work on Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Social Justice is driven by the New Economy and Society Platform, which is focused on building prosperous, inclusive and just economies and societies. In addition to its work on economic growth, revival and transformation, work, wages and job creation, and education, skills and learning, the Platform takes an integrated and holistic approach to diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice, and aims to tackle exclusion, bias and discrimination related to race, gender, ability, sexual orientation and all other forms of human diversity.

The Platform produces data, standards and insights, such as the Global Gender Gap Report and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 4.0 Toolkit , and drives or supports action initiatives, such as Partnering for Racial Justice in Business , The Valuable 500 – Closing the Disability Inclusion Gap , Hardwiring Gender Parity in the Future of Work , Closing the Gender Gap Country Accelerators , the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality , the Community of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers and the Global Future Council on Equity and Social Justice .

Despite these encouraging signs, the barriers to an inclusive education remain high for many of the world’s young people. While lockdown closures have exacerbated the situation for many, the pandemic also offers a unique chance to rethink our approach to educational inclusion. “COVID-19 has given us a real opportunity to think afresh about our education systems,” says Manos Antoninis, Director of the Global Education Monitoring Report . “But moving to a world that values and welcomes diversity won’t happen overnight. There is an obvious tension between teaching all children under the same roof and creating an environment where students learn best." However, he adds, COVID-19 has showed us that there is a real chance to do things differently, if only we take it.

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Recognizing and Overcoming Inequity in Education

About the author, sylvia schmelkes.

Sylvia Schmelkes is Provost of the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.

22 January 2020 Introduction

I nequity is perhaps the most serious problem in education worldwide. It has multiple causes, and its consequences include differences in access to schooling, retention and, more importantly, learning. Globally, these differences correlate with the level of development of various countries and regions. In individual States, access to school is tied to, among other things, students' overall well-being, their social origins and cultural backgrounds, the language their families speak, whether or not they work outside of the home and, in some countries, their sex. Although the world has made progress in both absolute and relative numbers of enrolled students, the differences between the richest and the poorest, as well as those living in rural and urban areas, have not diminished. 1

These correlations do not occur naturally. They are the result of the lack of policies that consider equity in education as a principal vehicle for achieving more just societies. The pandemic has exacerbated these differences mainly due to the fact that technology, which is the means of access to distance schooling, presents one more layer of inequality, among many others.

The dimension of educational inequity

Around the world, 258 million, or 17 per cent of the world’s children, adolescents and youth, are out of school. The proportion is much larger in developing countries: 31 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa and 21 per cent in Central Asia, vs. 3 per cent in Europe and North America. 2  Learning, which is the purpose of schooling, fares even worse. For example, it would take 15-year-old Brazilian students 75 years, at their current rate of improvement, to reach wealthier countries’ average scores in math, and more than 260 years in reading. 3 Within countries, learning results, as measured through standardized tests, are almost always much lower for those living in poverty. In Mexico, for example, 80 per cent of indigenous children at the end of primary school don’t achieve basic levels in reading and math, scoring far below the average for primary school students. 4

The causes of educational inequity

There are many explanations for educational inequity. In my view, the most important ones are the following:

• Equity and equality are not the same thing. Equality means providing the same resources to everyone. Equity signifies giving more to those most in need. Countries with greater inequity in education results are also those in which governments distribute resources according to the political pressure they experience in providing education. Such pressures come from families in which the parents attended school, that reside in urban areas, belong to cultural majorities and who have a clear appreciation of the benefits of education. Much less pressure comes from rural areas and indigenous populations, or from impoverished urban areas. In these countries, fewer resources, including infrastructure, equipment, teachers, supervision and funding, are allocated to the disadvantaged, the poor and cultural minorities.
• Teachers are key agents for learning. Their training is crucial.  When insufficient priority is given to either initial or in-service teacher training, or to both, one can expect learning deficits. Teachers in poorer areas tend to have less training and to receive less in-service support.
• Most countries are very diverse. When a curriculum is overloaded and is the same for everyone, some students, generally those from rural areas, cultural minorities or living in poverty find little meaning in what is taught. When the language of instruction is different from their native tongue, students learn much less and drop out of school earlier.
• Disadvantaged students frequently encounter unfriendly or overtly offensive attitudes from both teachers and classmates. Such attitudes are derived from prejudices, stereotypes, outright racism and sexism. Students in hostile environments are affected in their disposition to learn, and many drop out early.

It doesn’t have to be like this

When left to inertial decision-making, education systems seem to be doomed to reproduce social and economic inequity. The commitment of both governments and societies to equity in education is both necessary and possible. There are several examples of more equitable educational systems in the world, and there are many subnational examples of successful policies fostering equity in education.

Why is equity in education important?

Education is a basic human right. More than that, it is an enabling right in the sense that, when respected, allows for the fulfillment of other human rights. Education has proven to affect general well-being, productivity, social capital, responsible citizenship and sustainable behaviour. Its equitable distribution allows for the creation of permeable societies and equity. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes Sustainable Development Goal 4, which aims to ensure “inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. One hundred eighty-four countries are committed to achieving this goal over the next decade. 5  The process of walking this road together has begun and requires impetus to continue, especially now that we must face the devastating consequences of a long-lasting pandemic. Further progress is crucial for humanity.

Notes  1 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization , Inclusive Education. All Means All , Global Education Monitoring Report 2020 (Paris, 2020), p.8. Available at https://en.unesco.org/gem-report/report/2020/inclusion . 2 Ibid., p. 4, 7. 3 World Bank Group, World Development Report 2018: Learning to Realize Education's Promise (Washington, DC, 2018), p. 3. Available at https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2018 .  4 Instituto Nacional para la Evaluación de la Educación, "La educación obligatoria en México", Informe 2018 (Ciudad de México, 2018), p. 72. Available online at https://www.inee.edu.mx/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/P1I243.pdf . 5 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization , “Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4” (2015), p. 23. Available at  https://iite.unesco.org/publications/education-2030-incheon-declaration-framework-action-towards-inclusive-equitable-quality-education-lifelong-learning/   The UN Chronicle  is not an official record. It is privileged to host senior United Nations officials as well as distinguished contributors from outside the United Nations system whose views are not necessarily those of the United Nations. Similarly, the boundaries and names shown, and the designations used, in maps or articles do not necessarily imply endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.   

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The costs of inequality: education’s the one key that rules them all.

When there’s inequity in learning, it’s usually baked into life, Harvard analysts say

Corydon Ireland

Harvard Correspondent

Third in a series on what Harvard scholars are doing to identify and understand inequality, in seeking solutions to one of America’s most vexing problems.

Before Deval Patrick ’78, J.D. ’82, was the popular and successful two-term governor of Massachusetts, before he was managing director of high-flying Bain Capital, and long before he was Harvard’s most recent Commencement speaker , he was a poor black schoolchild in the battered housing projects of Chicago’s South Side.

The odds of his escaping a poverty-ridden lifestyle, despite innate intelligence and drive, were long. So how did he help mold his own narrative and triumph over baked-in societal inequality ? Through education.

“Education has been the path to better opportunity for generations of American strivers, no less for me,” Patrick said in an email when asked how getting a solid education, in his case at Milton Academy and at Harvard, changed his life.

“What great teachers gave me was not just the skills to take advantage of new opportunities, but the ability to imagine what those opportunities could be. For a kid from the South Side of Chicago, that’s huge.”

If inequality starts anywhere, many scholars agree, it’s with faulty education. Conversely, a strong education can act as the bejeweled key that opens gates through every other aspect of inequality , whether political, economic , racial, judicial, gender- or health-based.

Simply put, a top-flight education usually changes lives for the better. And yet, in the world’s most prosperous major nation, it remains an elusive goal for millions of children and teenagers.

Plateau on educational gains

The revolutionary concept of free, nonsectarian public schools spread across America in the 19th century. By 1970, America had the world’s leading educational system, and until 1990 the gap between minority and white students, while clear, was narrowing.

But educational gains in this country have plateaued since then, and the gap between white and minority students has proven stubbornly difficult to close, says Ronald Ferguson, adjunct lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and faculty director of Harvard’s Achievement Gap Initiative. That gap extends along class lines as well.

“What great teachers gave me was not just the skills to take advantage of new opportunities, but the ability to imagine what those opportunities could be. For a kid from the South Side of Chicago, that’s huge.” — Deval Patrick

In recent years, scholars such as Ferguson, who is an economist, have puzzled over the ongoing achievement gap and what to do about it, even as other nations’ school systems at first matched and then surpassed their U.S. peers. Among the 34 market-based, democracy-leaning countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United States ranks around 20th annually, earning average or below-average grades in reading, science, and mathematics.

By eighth grade, Harvard economist Roland G. Fryer Jr. noted last year, only 44 percent of American students are proficient in reading and math. The proficiency of African-American students, many of them in underperforming schools, is even lower.

“The position of U.S. black students is truly alarming,” wrote Fryer, the Henry Lee Professor of Economics, who used the OECD rankings as a metaphor for minority standing educationally. “If they were to be considered a country, they would rank just below Mexico in last place.”

Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) Dean James E. Ryan, a former public interest lawyer, says geography has immense power in determining educational opportunity in America. As a scholar, he has studied how policies and the law affect learning, and how conditions are often vastly unequal.

His book “Five Miles Away, A World Apart” (2010) is a case study of the disparity of opportunity in two Richmond, Va., schools, one grimly urban and the other richly suburban. Geography, he says, mirrors achievement levels.

A ZIP code as predictor of success

“Right now, there exists an almost ironclad link between a child’s ZIP code and her chances of success,” said Ryan. “Our education system, traditionally thought of as the chief mechanism to address the opportunity gap, instead too often reflects and entrenches existing societal inequities.”

Urban schools demonstrate the problem. In New York City, for example, only 8 percent of black males graduating from high school in 2014 were prepared for college-level work, according to the CUNY Institute for Education Policy, with Latinos close behind at 11 percent. The preparedness rates for Asians and whites — 48 and 40 percent, respectively — were unimpressive too, but nonetheless were firmly on the other side of the achievement gap.

In some impoverished urban pockets, the racial gap is even larger. In Washington, D.C., 8 percent of black eighth-graders are proficient in math, while 80 percent of their white counterparts are.

Fryer said that in kindergarten black children are already 8 months behind their white peers in learning. By third grade, the gap is bigger, and by eighth grade is larger still.

According to a recent report by the Education Commission of the States, black and Hispanic students in kindergarten through 12th grade perform on a par with the white students who languish in the lowest quartile of achievement.

There was once great faith and hope in America’s school systems. The rise of quality public education a century ago “was probably the best public policy decision Americans have ever made because it simultaneously raised the whole growth rate of the country for most of the 20th century, and it leveled the playing field,” said Robert Putnam, the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at HKS, who has written several best-selling books touching on inequality, including “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of the American Community” and “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis.”

Historically, upward mobility in America was characterized by each generation becoming better educated than the previous one, said Harvard economist Lawrence Katz. But that trend, a central tenet of the nation’s success mythology, has slackened, particularly for minorities.

“Thirty years ago, the typical American had two more years of schooling than their parents. Today, we have the most educated group of Americans, but they only have about .4 more years of schooling, so that’s one part of mobility not keeping up in the way we’ve invested in education in the past,” Katz said.

As globalization has transformed and sometimes undercut the American economy, “education is not keeping up,” he said. “There’s continuing growth of demand for more abstract, higher-end skills” that schools aren’t delivering, “and then that feeds into a weakening of institutions like unions and minimum-wage protections.”

“The position of U.S. black students is truly alarming.” — Roland G. Fryer Jr.

Fryer is among a diffuse cohort of Harvard faculty and researchers using academic tools to understand the achievement gap and the many reasons behind problematic schools. His venue is the Education Innovation Laboratory , where he is faculty director.

“We use big data and causal methods,” he said of his approach to the issue.

Fryer, who is African-American, grew up poor in a segregated Florida neighborhood. He argues that outright discrimination has lost its power as a primary driver behind inequality, and uses economics as “a rational forum” for discussing social issues.

Better schools to close the gap

Fryer set out in 2004 to use an economist’s data and statistical tools to answer why black students often do poorly in school compared with whites. His years of research have convinced him that good schools would close the education gap faster and better than addressing any other social factor, including curtailing poverty and violence, and he believes that the quality of kindergarten through grade 12 matters above all.

Supporting his belief is research that says the number of schools achieving excellent student outcomes is a large enough sample to prove that much better performance is possible. Despite the poor performance by many U.S. states, some have shown that strong results are possible on a broad scale. For instance, if Massachusetts were a nation, it would rate among the best-performing countries.

At HGSE, where Ferguson is faculty co-chair as well as director of the Achievement Gap Initiative, many factors are probed. In the past 10 years, Ferguson, who is African-American, has studied every identifiable element contributing to unequal educational outcomes. But lately he is looking hardest at improving children’s earliest years, from infancy to age 3.

In addition to an organization he founded called the Tripod Project , which measures student feedback on learning, he launched the Boston Basics project in August, with support from the Black Philanthropy Fund, Boston’s mayor, and others. The first phase of the outreach campaign, a booklet, videos, and spot ads, starts with advice to parents of children age 3 or younger.

“Maximize love, manage stress” is its mantra and its foundational imperative, followed by concepts such as “talk, sing, and point.” (“Talking,” said Ferguson, “is teaching.”) In early childhood, “The difference in life experiences begins at home.”

At age 1, children score similarly

Fryer and Ferguson agree that the achievement gap starts early. At age 1, white, Asian, black, and Hispanic children score virtually the same in what Ferguson called “skill patterns” that measure cognitive ability among toddlers, including examining objects, exploring purposefully, and “expressive jabbering.” But by age 2, gaps are apparent, with black and Hispanic children scoring lower in expressive vocabulary, listening comprehension, and other indicators of acuity. That suggests educational achievement involves more than just schooling, which typically starts at age 5.

Key factors in the gap, researchers say, include poverty rates (which are three times higher for blacks than for whites), diminished teacher and school quality, unsettled neighborhoods, ineffective parenting, personal trauma, and peer group influence, which only strengthens as children grow older.

“Peer beliefs and values,” said Ferguson, get “trapped in culture” and are compounded by the outsized influence of peers and the “pluralistic ignorance” they spawn. Fryer’s research, for instance, says that the reported stigma of “acting white” among many black students is true. The better they do in school, the fewer friends they have — while for whites who are perceived as smarter, there’s an opposite social effect.

The researchers say that family upbringing matters, in all its crisscrossing influences and complexities, and that often undercuts minority children, who can come from poor or troubled homes. “Unequal outcomes,” he said, “are from, to a large degree, inequality in life experiences.”

Trauma also subverts achievement, whether through family turbulence, street violence, bullying, sexual abuse, or intermittent homelessness. Such factors can lead to behaviors in school that reflect a pervasive form of childhood post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Possible solutions to educational inequality:

• Access to early learning
• Improved K-12 schools
• More family mealtimes
• Reinforced learning at home
• Data-driven instruction
• Longer school days, years
• Respect for school rules
• Small-group tutoring
• High expectations of students
• Safer neighborhoods

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At Harvard Law School, both the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative and the Education Law Clinic marshal legal aid resources for parents and children struggling with trauma-induced school expulsions and discipline issues.

At Harvard Business School, Karim R. Lakhani, an associate professor who is a crowdfunding expert and a champion of open-source software, has studied how unequal racial and economic access to technology has worked to widen the achievement gap.

At Harvard’s Project Zero, a nonprofit called the Family Dinner Project is scraping away at the achievement gap from the ground level by pushing for families to gather around the meal table, which traditionally was a lively and comforting artifact of nuclear families, stable wages, close-knit extended families, and culturally shared values.

Lynn Barendsen, the project’s executive director, believes that shared mealtimes improve reading skills, spur better grades and larger vocabularies, and fuel complex conversations. Interactive mealtimes provide a learning experience of their own, she said, along with structure, emotional support, a sense of safety, and family bonding. Even a modest jump in shared mealtimes could boost a child’s academic performance, she said.

“We’re not saying families have to be perfect,” she said, acknowledging dinnertime impediments like full schedules, rudimentary cooking skills, the lure of technology, and the demands of single parenting. “The perfect is the enemy of the good.”

Whether poring over Fryer’s big data or Barendsen’s family dinner project, there is one commonality for Harvard researchers dealing with inequality in education: the issue’s vast complexity. The achievement gap is a creature of interlocking factors that are hard to unpack constructively.

Going wide, starting early

With help from faculty co-chair and Jesse Climenko Professor of Law Charles J. Ogletree, the Achievement Gap Initiative is analyzing the factors that make educational inequality such a complex puzzle: home and family life, school environments, teacher quality, neighborhood conditions, peer interaction, and the fate of “all those wholesome things,” said Ferguson. The latter include working hard in school, showing respect, having nice friends, and following the rules, traits that can be “elements of a 21st-century movement for equality.”

In the end, best practices to create strong schools will matter most, said Fryer.

He called high-quality education “the new civil rights battleground” in a landmark 2010 working paper for the Handbook of Labor Economics called “Racial Inequality in the 21st Century: The Declining Significance of Discrimination.”

Fryer tapped 10 large data sets on children 8 months to 17 years old. He studied charter schools, scouring for standards that worked. He champions longer school days and school years, data-driven instruction, small-group tutoring, high expectations, and a school culture that prizes human capital — all just “a few simple investments,” he wrote in the working paper. “The challenge for the future is to take these examples to scale” across the country.

How long would closing the gap take with a national commitment to do so? A best-practices experiment that Fryer conducted at low-achieving high schools in Houston closed the gap in math skills within three years, and narrowed the reading achievement gap by a third.

“You don’t need Superman for this,” he said, referring to a film about Geoffrey Canada and his Harlem Children’s Zone, just high-quality schools for everyone, to restore 19th-century educator Horace Mann’s vision of public education as society’s “balance-wheel.”

Last spring, Fryer, still only 38, won the John Bates Clark medal, the most prestigious award in economics after the Nobel Prize. He was a MacArthur Fellow in 2011, became a tenured Harvard professor in 2007, was named to the prestigious Society of Fellows at age 25. He had a classically haphazard childhood, but used school to learn, grow, and prosper. Gradually, he developed a passion for social science that could help him answer what was going wrong in black lives because of educational inequality.

With his background and talent, Fryer has a dramatically unique perspective on inequality and achievement, and he has something else: a seemingly counterintuitive sense that these conditions will improve, once bad schools learn to get better. Discussing the likelihood of closing the achievement gap if Americans have the political and organizational will to do so, Fryer said, “I see nothing but optimism.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story inaccurately portrayed details of Dr. Fryer’s background.

Illustration by Kathleen M.G. Howlett. Harvard staff writer Christina Pazzanese contributed to this report.

Next Tuesday: Inequality in health care

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Since its earliest traces, at least 5,000 years ago , formal education – meaning an education centred on literacy and numeracy – has always been highly selective. Ancient Egyptian priest schools and schools for scribes in Sumeria were only open to the children of the clergy or future monarchs.

Later on, the wealthy would use private tutors, such as the Sophists of Athens (500 - 400 BCE). Ancient Greek schools, such as Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum , were restricted to a small elite group. Formal education was reserved for male children who were wealthy, able, and privileged.

Through time, even after learning societies began to flourish, it was still an education for some and not for everybody.

In the 1800s Black people were denied access to quality education in the United States. In European colonies, education was used to strip people of their cultural heritage and relegate them to a future of menial labour.

Education has always been less accessible to women than men. Even today, over 130 million girls are still out of school. Although the difference between girls and boys is lessening, the disparity disadvantaging girls persists . From a socioeconomic perspective, in many countries, private schools continue to grow alongside compulsory state schools, offering a different style of education, sometimes at a very high price.

Today, progress to attain the dream of universal access to education is slow. UNESCO’s Education for All and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 , which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”, are still far from materialising: roughly 260 million children are still not in school . The COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation worse: remote learning is inaccessible to roughly 500 million students . Estimates are that over 200 million children will still be out of school by 2030 .

In my study “Education and Elitism” , the overarching question that runs through the book is about the future of education worldwide: What are the prospects for the future? Are we facing an even more enclaved, pauperised majority while a tiny minority become more powerful and wealthy?

Certain paths could open up. On the one hand, places in selective institutions could become even more difficult to access while private education strips ahead of national standards. On the other hand, changes might make education more inclusive: this would include scholarships, cheaper private education, more robust state systems and deep assessment reform.

Prospects for the future

Scholarship programmes: These allow the brightest and poorest access to transformative learning ecosystems . However, this contributes to a brain drain and does not develop the local educational sector , particularly in Africa.

Cheaper private education: A movement of accessible private schools is growing . This allows more children to access some of the value-added features of such systems – more curriculum flexibility, smaller class sizes, more individual student tracking. However, there are reports that this is widening social divides , as the public system isn’t improving fast enough to keep up.

More robust state systems: UNESCO estimates that it would cost a total of US$340 billion each year to achieve universal pre-primary, primary, and secondary education in low- and lower-middle-income countries by 2030. The average annual per-student spending for quality primary education in a low-income country is predicted to be US$197 in 2030. This creates an estimated annual gap of US$39 billion between 2015 and 2030. Financing this gap calls for action from private sector donors, philanthropists, and international financial institutions.

Online learning: The COVID-19 lockdown has brought inequalities to the surface. However, the rise of online learning worldwide has been phenomenal. This opens up the potential to widen access to learning socioeconomically and, if delivered by skilled facilitators, academically . There is a problem, though: online instruction lacks the emotional quantum that face-to-face learning creates. Because of this, motivation levels and persistence tend to be low in online learning environments . And importantly, in many countries, many students still don’t have access to the internet.

A way forward: reforming the system

Perhaps the most substantive movement to reduce inequalities would not be to accelerate access to a broken system but to reform the system itself .

It is time to look further than narrow academic metrics as the only way of describing young people’s competences. The whole educational system across high schools, in every country, needs to change dramatically. Assessment models should recognise and nurture more varied and multiple competences, in particular, attitudes, skills and types of knowledge beyond those concentrated in constructs that are favoured by socioeconomic background, such as literacy and numeracy .

Read more: Education needs a refocus so that all learners reach their full potential

Until universities and employers look beyond traditional metrics, it will be difficult to break a circuit that favours, for the large part, middle class, socially and ethnically privileged candidates.

To truly break away from a millennia of elitist, selective systems , the approach needs to move from pure academics to a credit system that captures many more stories of learning. This new credit system should be known as a passport, meaning students have stamped it with the various competences such as lifelong learning and self-agency that they have developed throughout their learning (in an out of school), allowing them to be recognised on numerous different fronts.

A coalition of schools from every continent is working on this project, now seeking universities to sit around the table in order to bring this work to its conclusion. This would mean co-designing an elegant, life worthy transcript to allow more access to more children based on more expansive criteria.

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The state of the global education crisis, a path to recovery.

The global disruption to education caused by the COVD-19 pandemic is without parallel and the effects on learning are severe. The crisis brought education systems across the world to a halt, with school closures affecting more than 1.6 billion learners. While nearly every country in the world offered remote learning opportunities for students, the quality and reach of such initiatives varied greatly and were at best partial substitutes for in-person learning. Now, 21 months later, schools remain closed for millions of children and youth, and millions more are at risk of never returning to education. Evidence of the detrimental impacts of school closures on children’s learning offer a harrowing reality: learning losses are substantial, with the most marginalized children and youth often disproportionately affected.

The State of the Global Education Crisis: A Path to Recovery charts a path out of the global education crisis and towards building more effective, equitable and resilient education systems.

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Socioeconomic inequalities and learning

Social and economic inequalities have important and long-lasting effects on children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development as well as on educational outcomes (Grantham-McGregor et al., 2007; Shonkoff and Garner, 2012). Multiple inequities combine, producing a negative impact on the ability of marginalized children to learn (Suárez-Orozco, Yoshikawa, and Tseng, 2015). Thus the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children widens over time (Shonkoff and Garner, 2012; Suárez-Orozc, Yoshikawa, and Tseng, 2015).

In contexts of high inequality, good quality and equitable education is key to the inclusive, peaceful, and sustained development of a society and a country. Ensuring the participation of marginalized groups and individuals in broader development processes helps reduce social inequalities. Inversely, unless attention is paid to equitable access, learning opportunities, and quality learning outcomes, education can entrench existing inequalities or create new ones.

Socioeconomic inequalities and education in the 2030 Agenda

• Leaving no one behind. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development regards equity as central to achieving sustainable development and calls for leaving no one behind. This means including all vulnerable countries and ensuring all people, regardless of their background, have the right to fulfill their potential and to lead decent, dignified, and rewarding lives in a healthy environment. Sustainable development goal (SDG) 10 is specifically dedicated to reducing inequality, with a focus that goes far beyond economic inequality: ‘By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status’ (SDG10.2) (United Nations, 2015).
• Addressing inequalities in education at the core of SDG 4. SDG 4 stresses the need to combat all forms of exclusion and inequalities relating to access to education and learning processes. This requires refocused efforts to improve learning outcomes for the full life cycle, especially for women, girls, and marginalized people in vulnerable settings. Equity is all-inclusive within SDG 4 (‘all girls and boys’, with all indicators disaggregated by sex) but is also the focus of a specific target (SDG 4.5): ‘By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations’ (United Nations, 2015).

How socioeconomic inequalities affect learning

Whereas wide disparities exist across countries, this brief focuses on socioeconomic inequalities between groups or individuals within countries. It is important to understand who is vulnerable to marginalization and exclusion and how different types of exclusion affect learning.

Exclusion is contextual and influenced by supply- and demand-side barriers that prevent children and young people from enrolling and/or succeeding at school. Exclusion can occur:

• at the individual level , based on socioeconomic status (poverty or low levels of parental education), location of residence (rural vs. urban, regional disparities), or other vulnerabilities;
• at the group level (marginalized ethnic or linguistic groups, nomadic or indigenous peoples, gender or socio-cultural and religious factors, or migration status); or
• as the result of environmental and contextual factors, such as state fragility, conflict, or natural disaster that often lead to displacement.

Factors of exclusion

• Poverty. Children from poor families are less likely to meet the basic pre-requisites for learning and are often ill-prepared to attend school. Children who live in low-resourced communities are more likely to be malnourished, to have absent parents, and to be exposed to violence and stress. Their schools may receive less funding. These factors often lead to poor outcomes (Grantham-McGregor et al., 2007; Shonkoff and Garner, 2012). School attendance may be affected by the need to work to contribute to family finances and by difficulties with paying school fees and other costs.
• Parental education and literacy. The home environment plays a critical role in children’s development and early learning (Save the Children, 2018). Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that children of parents with high socioeconomic status demonstrated higher reading literacy than children of parents with low socioeconomic status (Xin Ma, 2008). Findings from the Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE) show that students achieve higher when their parents believe they will reach higher education (UNESCO Santiago, 2015). Inequities in parents’ level of education can significantly affect children’s ability to benefit from formal schooling. Parents who have not attended school, or who are illiterate, may avoid engaging in homework activities with their children or interacting with teachers and other service providers (Eccles, 2005; Tusiime et al., 2014). They may be unable to provide access to books and other literacy materials.
• Location of residence. Most countries have regionally unequal conditions of economic development, funding, and social services, as well as significant rural-urban divides. Schools in low-resourced areas – including rural areas and informal urban settlements – often receive less funding than schools in high-resourced areas. This results in reduced access to early childhood centres, high-quality schools, and well-trained teachers. This, in turn, results in lower literacy rates, poor academic performance, and higher drop-out rates, ultimately contributing to the cycle of poverty (Hindle, 2007). According to a 2018 UNICEF report, the poorest urban children in 1 in 6 countries are less likely to complete primary school than their counterparts in rural areas (UNICEF, 2018).
• Gender. In many countries, girls have less access to schools than boys and are more likely to drop out early. Factors may include practical matters, such as distance, safety, adequate facilities, etc. as well as expectations regarding participation in household chores, child marriage practices, etc., and limited opportunities for girls’ employment after school (GEM Report, 2016; Rihani, 2006; UNESCO, 2012). In some countries boys may drop out of school or underperform because of pressures to earn money or because school is deemed irrelevant (GEM Report, 2016). In school, teaching practices or instructional materials may contain gender stereotyping (Rihani, 2006), and students may face school-related gender-based violence that severely impedes their learning.
• Sexual orientation and gender identity. Bullying, violence, and other mistreatment is often compounded for LGBTI or gender non-conforming children and young people (UNESCO Bangkok, 2015), and has a significant educational impact. They may miss classes, avoid school activities, or drop out of school altogether. International learning assessments show that bullying reduces students’ achievements in key subjects such as mathematics (UNESCO, 2017b).
• Ethnicity, religion, and culture. Children who face direct and indirect discrimination based on their ethnicity, religion, or culture may suffer from negative psychological and physical effects from an early age (Shonkoff and Garner, 2012. This may cause them to underperform or struggle to learn.
• Language. International surveys regularly show that speaking a language in the home other than the language of instruction at school amounts to a handicap (Duru-Bellat, 2004), which leads to a greater risk of grade repetition and drop out (Pinnock, 2009).
• Conflicts, crises, disasters, and displacement. The experience of conflicts, crises, and disasters can leave children physically and emotionally traumatized. Migrant and refugee or displaced children may not have the formal residence papers allowing them to attend school or may face hostility and prejudice in school. Due to damage and/or insecurity, children may not have access to school buildings, learning materials, or qualified teachers (GEM Report, 2018b; IIEP-UNESCO, 2011).

Policy and planning responses

Education policies are among the most powerful levers to reduce income disparities. ‘In countries with currently low levels of education attainment, policies that promote equal access to basic education could help reduce inequality by facilitating the accumulation of human capital, and making educational opportunities less dependent on socio-economic circumstances’ (Brueckner, Dabla-Norris and Gradstein, 2014: 19). Education policies need to be inclusive, with the principle of equity being fundamental to all education sector plans and policies (UNESCO, 2017a). In addition, targeted policies to address specific instances of exclusion should be introduced.

Pro-poor education policies

Inequities can be addressed, and learning outcomes improved, when governments ensure that the most disadvantaged children and their families have access to quality education services in the formative years (Grantham-McGregor et al., 2007; Shonkoff and Garner, 2012).

Policy-makers should provide fair funding and special assistance to the lowest-performing schools and students, and implement school-community partnerships. They should identify priority education zones to compensate for regional funding disparities, and allocate resources based on specific criteria (e.g. percentage of children of foreign origin or whose mother tongue is not the language of instruction). (Duru-Bellat, 2004).

Pro-poor education policies that promote equal access to basic education, such as cash transfers to encourage attendance or spending on public education that benefits the poor, can reduce inequality by helping build human capital and making educational opportunities less dependent on socioeconomic circumstances (WEF, 2014).

Extending access to private schools through vouchers to reduce segregation has been implemented in some countries, with mixed results.

Targeted policies to address specific dimensions of exclusion

Education planners may also ensure targeted support for population groups faced with specific types of discrimination.

• Early childhood education policies should target the most disadvantaged children before they enter school.
• Language/bilingual education policies may help improve the educational outcomes of children whose mother tongue is not the language of instruction.
• Inclusive school curricula and teaching and learning materials can help reduce discrimination (e.g. providing age-appropriate information on sexual health, including information on sexual and gender diversity, can help address bullying).
• ICT policies can provide the tools to help close the educational divide and make classrooms an inclusive place for all (UNESCO, 2011).
• Policies to combat bullying based on gender and sexual identity can help schools establish relevant mechanisms and reporting requirements, and outline sanctions for non-compliance. For example, the Philippines 2013 Anti-Bullying Act provides the framework for national awareness-raising initiatives and school policies (UNESCO Bangkok, 2018).
• Moving to later tracking can ensure that all students get a broad education. Later tracking is associated with better outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged children, who are more likely to otherwise be directed into vocational education (Blanden and McNally, 2014).
• Affirmative action policies encourage and train people from under-represented groups to help them overcome disadvantages in competing with others, particularly in higher education. The benefits are widely recognized, but each country takes a different approach (e.g. Sweden pays special attention to gender, India to caste, and Sri Lanka to the district of origin) (GEM Report, 2018a).
• Crisis-sensitive education sector plans and policies can build resilient systems, help prepare for potential disasters or conflict, and provide equitable access to schooling in crisis- and conflict-affected areas.
• Non-formal or alternative education policies may target children and young people who are outside the formal school system. Adapted curricula and methods can reconnect young people to education or provide them with the skills needed to enter the world of work: ‘Non-formal education … can play a crucial role in providing second-chance education for out-of-school children … [as long as] such educational opportunities provide a recognized pathway into the formal system’ (UIS and UNICEF, 2015: 41).

The need for holistic and cross-sectoral policies

Policy-makers and planners need to investigate other ways to mitigate the impact of inequities on learning outcomes, including health interventions, parenting and community support, and employment policies. Targeting families and communities is particularly important as educational outcomes are shaped much more by the family than by the school. Families are responsible for the initial socialization of their children and for nurturing their educational aspirations (Duru-Bellat, 2004).

Social inequities may also be addressed through wider policies to fight racism and discrimination, strategies for welcoming refugees and migrants into communities, and child-friendly spaces for children who have experienced trauma. Due to the interconnected and cumulative nature of most social inequities, working both outside and inside schools is the best way to ensure that all children meet their learning potential (Suárez-Orozco, Yoshikawa, and Tseng, 2015).

Plans and policies

• El Salvador: Política de equidad e igualdad de género  (2019)
• Malta: Trans, gender variant and intersex students in schools: policy  (2015)
• South Africa: Rural education draft policy  (2017)
• Chronic Poverty Advisory Network, 2012. ‘ Chronic Poverty and Education: A guide to what works in policy and practice’ . Education Policy Guide.
• Education for All Fast Track Initiative Secretariat, EFA-FTI; United Nations. 2010. Equity and inclusion in education: A guide to support education sector plan preparation, revision, and appraisal. Washington, D.C.: EFA-FTI Secretariat.
• UIS; FHI360; Oxford Policy Management; University of Cambridge, Research for Equitable Access and Learning Centre. 2018. Handbook on measuring equity in education . Montreal: UIS.
• UNESCO. 2017. A guide for ensuring inclusion and equity in education . Paris: UNESCO. 
• UNESCO-IBE. 2016. Training tools for curriculum development: Reaching out to all learners: A resource pack for supporting inclusive education. Paris: UNESCO.

Blanden, J.; McNally, S. 2014. Reducing inequality in education and skills: implications for economic growth . EENEE Analytical Report No. 21. European Expert Network on Economics of Education.

Brueckner, M.; Dabla-Norris, E.; Gradstein, M. 2014.  ‘ National income and its distribution ’ , IMF Working Paper WP/14/101.

Duru-Bellat, M. 2004. Social inequality at school and educational policies . Paris: UNESCO-IIEP.

Eccles, J.S. 2005. ‘Influences of parents' education on their children's educational attainments: The role of parent and child perceptions’. In: London Review of Education, 3(3) , 191-204.

GEM (Global Education Monitoring) Report. 2016. Gender review: Creating sustainable futures for all . Paris: UNESCO.

––––.  2018a. ‘Everyone benefits from diversity on campus – why the problem with affirmative action?’

––––. 2018b. Global education monitoring report, 2019: Migration, displacement, and education: building bridges, not walls . Paris: UNESCO.

Grantham-McGregor, S.; Cheung, Y.B.; Cueto, S.; Glewwe, P.; Richter, L.; Strupp, B. 2007. ‘Developmental potential in the first 5 years for children in developing countries’. In: The Lancet , 369(9555), 60–70.

Hindle, D. 2006. ‘The funding and financing of schools in South Africa’. In: Commonwealth Secretariat, Commonwealth Education Partnerships 2006/2007 (pp. 148-150). Cambridge: Nexus Strategic Partnerships.

IIEP-UNESCO. 2011. Integrating conflict and disaster risk reduction into education sector planning: guidance notes for educational planners . Paris: IIEP.

Pinnock, H. 2009. Steps towards learning: a guide to overcoming language barriers in children's education. London: Save the Children UK.

Rihani, M. 2006. Keeping the promise: five benefits of girls’ secondary education. Washington DC: Academy for Educational Development.

Save the Children. 2018. ‘ Beyond access: Exploring equity in early childhood learning and development’ .

Shonkoff, J.P.; Garner, A.S. 2012. ‘ The lifelong effects of early childhood adversity and toxic stress ’. In: Pediatrics , 129 (1).

Suárez-Orozco, C.; Yoshikawa, H.; Tseng, V. 2015. ‘Intersecting inequalities: Research to reduce inequality for immigrant-origin children and youth’ . William T. Grant Foundation Paper.

Tusiime, M.; Friedlander, E.; Malik, S. 2014. ‘Literacy Boost Rwanda. Literacy ethnography baseline report ’.

UIS (UNESCO Institute for Statistics); UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund). 2015. Fixing the broken promise of education for all: Findings from the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children. Montreal: UIS.

UNESCO. 2011. Transforming education: The power of ICT policies. Paris: UNESCO.

––––. 2012. From access to equality: Empowering girls and women through literacy and secondary education . Paris: UNESCO.

––––. 2017a. A guide for ensuring inclusion and equity in education. Paris: UNESCO.

––––. 2017b. School violence and bullying: Global status report. Paris: UNESCO.

UNESCO Bangkok. 2015. From insult to inclusion: Asia-Pacific report on school bullying, violence, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Paris: UNESCO.

––––. 2018. School-related violence and bullying on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression (SOGIE): Synthesis report on China, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok.

UNESCO Santiago. 2015. TERCE: associated factors, executive summary. Santiago de Chile: OREALC

UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund). 2018. Advantage or Paradox: The challenge for children and young people growing up urban . New York: UNICEF. Retrieved from:

United Nations. 2015. Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

WEF (World Economic Forum) 2014. ‘Why education policies matter for equality ’ .

Xin Ma. 2008. ‘ A global perspective on socioeconomic differences in learning outcomes’ . Background paper prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2009 .

Related information

• Education Equity Research Initiative
• Spatial Education Inequalities website
• Inter-Agency Group on Education Inequality Indicators (IAG-EII)
• World Inequality Database on Education

The Education Crisis: Being in School Is Not the Same as Learning

First grade students in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province are learning the alphabet through child-friendly flash cards. Their learning materials help educators teach through interactive and engaging activities and are provided free of charge through a student’s first learning backpack. © World Bank 

THE NAME OF THE DOG IS PUPPY. This seems like a simple sentence. But did you know that in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, three out of four third grade students do not understand it? The world is facing a learning crisis . Worldwide, hundreds of millions of children reach young adulthood without even the most basic skills like calculating the correct change from a transaction, reading a doctor’s instructions, or understanding a bus schedule—let alone building a fulfilling career or educating their children. Education is at the center of building human capital. The latest World Bank research shows that the productivity of 56 percent of the world’s children will be less than half of what it could be if they enjoyed complete education and full health. For individuals, education raises self-esteem and furthers opportunities for employment and earnings. And for a country, it helps strengthen institutions within societies, drives long-term economic growth, reduces poverty, and spurs innovation.

One of the most interesting, large scale educational technology efforts is being led by EkStep , a philanthropic effort in India. EkStep created an open digital infrastructure which provides access to learning opportunities for 200 million children, as well as professional development opportunities for 12 million teachers and 4.5 million school leaders. Both teachers and children are accessing content which ranges from teaching materials, explanatory videos, interactive content, stories, practice worksheets, and formative assessments. By monitoring which content is used most frequently—and most beneficially—informed decisions can be made around future content.

In the Dominican Republic, a World Bank supported pilot study shows how adaptive technologies can generate great interest among 21st century students and present a path to supporting the learning and teaching of future generations. Yudeisy, a sixth grader participating in the study, says that what she likes doing the most during the day is watching videos and tutorials on her computer and cell phone. Taking childhood curiosity as a starting point, the study aimed to channel it towards math learning in a way that interests Yudeisy and her classmates.

Yudeisy, along with her classmates in a public elementary school in Santo Domingo, is part of a four-month pilot to reinforce mathematics using software that adapts to the math level of each student. © World Bank

Adaptive technology was used to evaluate students’ initial learning level to then walk them through math exercises in a dynamic, personalized way, based on artificial intelligence and what the student is ready to learn. After three months, students with the lowest initial performance achieved substantial improvements. This shows the potential of technology to increase learning outcomes, especially among students lagging behind their peers. In a field that is developing at dizzying speeds, innovative solutions to educational challenges are springing up everywhere. Our challenge is to make technology a driver of equity and inclusion and not a source of greater inequality of opportunity. We are working with partners worldwide to support the effective and appropriate use of educational technologies to strengthen learning.

When schools and educations systems are managed well, learning happens

Successful education reforms require good policy design, strong political commitment, and effective implementation capacity . Of course, this is extremely challenging. Many countries struggle to make efficient use of resources and very often increased education spending does not translate into more learning and improved human capital. Overcoming such challenges involves working at all levels of the system.

At the central level, ministries of education need to attract the best experts to design and implement evidence-based and country-specific programs. District or regional offices need the capacity and the tools to monitor learning and support schools. At the school level, principals need to be trained and prepared to manage and lead schools, from planning the use of resources to supervising and nurturing their teachers. However difficult, change is possible. Supported by the World Bank, public schools across Punjab in Pakistan have been part of major reforms over the past few years to address these challenges. Through improved school-level accountability by monitoring and limiting teacher and student absenteeism, and the introduction of a merit-based teacher recruitment system, where only the most talented and motivated teachers were selected, they were able to increase enrollment and retention of students and significantly improve the quality of education. "The government schools have become very good now, even better than private ones," said Mr. Ahmed, a local villager.

The World Bank, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the UK’s Department for International Development, is developing the Global Education Policy Dashboard . This new initiative will provide governments with a system for monitoring how their education systems are functioning, from learning data to policy plans, so they are better able to make timely and evidence-based decisions.

Education reform: The long game is worth it

In fact, it will take a generation to realize the full benefits of high-quality teachers, the effective use of technology, improved management of education systems, and engaged and prepared learners. However, global experience shows us that countries that have rapidly accelerated development and prosperity all share the common characteristic of taking education seriously and investing appropriately. As we mark the first-ever International Day of Education on January 24, we must do all we can to equip our youth with the skills to keep learning, adapt to changing realities, and thrive in an increasingly competitive global economy and a rapidly changing world of work.

The schools of the future are being built today. These are schools where all teachers have the right competencies and motivation, where technology empowers them to deliver quality learning, and where all students learn fundamental skills, including socio-emotional, and digital skills. These schools are safe and affordable to everyone and are places where children and young people learn with joy, rigor, and purpose. Governments, teachers, parents, and the international community must do their homework to realize the promise of education for all students, in every village, in every city, and in every country. 

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Why Is Education So Important in The Quest for Equality?

Gerald Nelson | April 14, 2022 | Leave a Comment

Image: Pikist

Education is vital. We can all agree on this but where we fall out of the agreement is why exactly education is so necessary for equality. Without education, there can be no progress, no development, and no improvement. 

In today’s world, we are ever more aware of the issues surrounding sexism, racism, and inequality, allowing for a greater understanding of the importance of educating people to avoid these biases occurring in the first place.

What is Educational Equality and why is it necessary? 

Equality isn’t always so simple. Some may assume, for example, that educational equality is as simple as providing children with the same resources. In reality, however, there’s a lot more to it than this. We will check what governments are doing to achieve this goal. What actions they are taking to advance the cause of equality? Education is crucial because it’s a toolkit for success:

• With literacy and numeracy comes confidence, with which comes self-respect. And by having self-respect, you can respect others, their accomplishments, and their cultures.
• Education is the fundamental tool for achieving social, economic, and civil rights – something which all societies strive to achieve.

Educational Inequality is usually defined as the unequal distribution of educational resources among different groups in society. The situation becomes serious when it starts influencing how people live their lives. For example, children will be less likely to go to school if they are not healthy, or educated because other things are more urgent in their life.

Categorical Educational Inequality

Categorical Education Inequality is especially apparent when comparing minority/low-income schools with majority/high-income schools. Are better-off students systematically favored in getting ahead? There are three plausible conditions:

• Higher-income parents can spend more time and money on private tutoring, school trips, and home study materials to give their children better opportunities. Therefore, better-off students have an advantage due to access to better schools, computers, technology, etc. (the so-called opportunity gap).
• Low-income schools lack the resources to educate their students. Therefore their students tend to have worse educational outcomes.
• Although the public school system is a government-funded program to allow all students an equal chance at a good education, this is not the case for most schools across third world countries – see UNESCO statistics below:

How Educational Inequality is fueling global issues

Educational inequality is a major global crisis. It has played a role in economic problems, amplified the political deadlock, exacerbated the environmental predicament, and threatens to worsen the human rights crisis. If equality in education is not addressed directly, these crises will only deepen because: 

• Educational Inequality is also about  race and gender . Those who are less privileged are condemned to poverty and unemployment because of a lack of quality educational resources. 
• Without a sound education, people have  less knowledge  of the world around them or the issues facing their communities. They are less likely to vote or to pay attention to politics. This leaves them vulnerable to manipulation by those who represent narrow interests and promote fear, hatred, and violence. The result is an erosion of democratic values and an increase in authoritarianism.
• Without correction,  human rights abuses  will continue due to a lack of legal representation among those with no or low education levels.
• Poverty, unemployment, crimes, and health issues: A lack of education and skills forces children into poverty because they can’t get jobs or start a business. It also leaves them without hope and is one of the reasons for unemployment, lower life expectancy, malnutrition, a higher chance of chronic diseases, and crime rates.
• Limited opportunities: The most significant issue is that lack of education reduces the opportunities for people to have a decent life. Limited options increase the division of social classes, lower social mobility, and reduce the ability to build networks and social contacts. Students in poor countries also spend a lot of time working to support their families rather than focusing on their school work. These factors also worsen the upbringing of coming generations.
• Extremism:  Inequality can also lead to increased violence, racism, gender bias, and extremism, which causes further economic and democratic challenges.  
• Inability to survive pandemics:  Unlike developed nations after COVID, underdeveloped countries are stuck in their unstable economic cycles. Inequality causes a lack of awareness and online educational resources, lower acceptance of preventive measures, and unaffordable vaccines, for example. According to the  United Nations , “Before the coronavirus crisis, projections showed that  more than 200 million children would be out of school , and only 60 percent of young people would be completing upper secondary education in 2030”.
• Unawareness of technological advancements: The world is becoming more tech-savvy, while students in underdeveloped countries remain unaware of the latest technological achievements as well as unable to implement them. This also widens the education gap between countries.
• Gender inequality in education:  In general, developing countries compromise over funds allocation for women’s education to manage their depletion of national income. As such, they consider women less efficient and productive than men. Meanwhile, many parents do not prefer sending their daughters to school because they do not think that women can contribute equally to men in the country’s development. However, if we have to overcome this, there should be an increase in funding and scholarships for women’s education.
• Environmental crises:  People are usually less aware of the harmful emissions produced in their surroundings and are therefore less prepared to deal with increased pollution levels. This also affects climate change. The less educated the children, the more likely they are to contribute to climate change as adults. This is because education is not just about learning facts and skills but also about recognizing problems and applying knowledge in innovative ways. 
• A child who has dropped out of school will generally  contribute less to society  than a child who has completed secondary school. A child who has completed secondary school will contribute less than a child who went to university. This difference increases over time because those with higher levels of education tend to be more open-minded, flexible thinkers and are therefore better able to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Equality in education is therefore essential for addressing international issues including economic inequality, climate change, social deprivation, and access to healthcare. Many children in poor regions are deprived of education (see chart below) which is the only way out of poverty .

Proposed Solutions 

The United Nations Development Program says that access to education is a human right, and should be individually accessible and available to all by 2030. It demands:

• International collaborations to ensure that every child has the same quality education and to develop joint curricula and academic programs. The quality of teaching methodologies should not be compromised and includes providing financial assistance and tools for equal access.
• Running campaigns to discourage race, gender, and ethnicity differences, arranging more seminars to reach low-income groups, and providing adequate financial assistance, training, and part-time jobs for sole earners.  
• Modifying scholarship criteria to better support deserving students who cannot afford university due to language tests and low grades. 
• Increasing the minimum wage so that sole breadwinners can afford quality education for their children.  
• Schools should bear transportation costs and offer free grants to deserving kids from low-income families.
• Giving more attention to slum-side schools by updating and implementing new techniques and resources. 
• Allowing students to learn in their own language with no enforcement of international languages and offering part-time courses in academies and community colleges in other languages. 

Resolving educational inequality has many benefits for the wider society. Allowing children from disadvantaged backgrounds to get an education will help them find better jobs with higher salaries, improving their quality of life, and making them more productive members of society. It decreases the likelihood of conflict and increases access to health care, stable economic growth, and unlimited opportunities.

Conclusion:

It’s been said that great minds start out as small ones. To level the playing field, we need to focus on best educating our next generation of innovators and leaders, both from an individual and a societal standpoint. If we want equality to become a reality, it will be up to us to ensure that equality is at the forefront of our education system.

References:

Environmental Conscience: 42 Causes, Effects & Solutions for a Lack of Education – E&C (environmental-conscience.com)

School of Education Online Programs: What the U.S. Education System Needs to Reduce Inequality | American University

Educational Inequality: Solutions | Educational Inequality (wordpress.com)

Giving Compass: Seven Solutions for Education Inequality · Giving Compass

Science.org: Polarization under rising inequality and economic decline

Research Gate: Inequality and Economic Growth

University of Munich: pdf (uni-muenchen.de)

Research Gate: Effects-of-inequality-and-poverty-vs-teachers-and-schooling-on-Americas-youth.pdf (researchgate.net)

Borgen Magzine

United Nations: Education as the Pathway towards Gender Equality

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – Education

This article has been edited in line with our guidelines

Gerald Nelson is a freelance academic essay writer at perfectessaywriting.com who also works with several e ducational and human rights organizations. 

The MAHB Blog is a venture of the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere. Questions should be directed to [email protected]

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Home / Students / Education / Higher education / Lack of education: Causes and effects

Lack of education: Causes and effects

Few things have such a diverse and far-reaching consequence on the overall quality of a person’s life and that of a community, as lack of education. Although it is categorized as one of the fundamental human rights, education is nowadays denied to many children around the world.  According to the Borgen Project research 72 million children do not attend primary school, and a staggering number of 759 million adults are illiterate.  

The causes that prevent one from getting a quality education are just as severe as the effects that the lack of education generates. This is why societies with poor economies and insufficiently developed education systems are unable to leave the vicious circle without outside intervention or help. Simply put, building a good education system requires a strong economy, and a strong economy in turn requires quality education. Therefore, one of the most important global issues is how to provide every individual in the world with access to education. 

What causes lack of education?

Developed countries have long recognized the importance of education , therefore,  in many of these countries access to education is a given. On the other hand, for many underdeveloped countries and economically struggling parts of the world, education is a luxury that is often unaffordable to most. The reasons why many individuals around the world have been denied access to a quality education and why the knowledge they possess is not enough to successfully tackle the challenges of the 21st century can be economic, geographical, and social in nature.

• Lack of schools . School is much more than a building where teaching takes place. School also includes teachers, teaching materials, and all those other things that make an education system. However, all this requires money. The economic position of some countries is such that even with all the help they receive, they do not have enough funds to build schools to provide the necessary education to their children. 
• Not understanding the importance of education. The economic situation and a low level of education in some countries are the main reasons why children are forced to struggle for survival from an early age, leaving no time for education.
• Lack of money . Another economically-based reason is the fact that many families do not have enough money even for the basic needs, which is why children in such families have to work from an early age. According to research, about 300 million children between the ages of five and seventeen work,  so child labor is one of the major causes for lack of education.  
• Unfavorable geographical position. Some countries lack the needed infrastructure or are located in the parts of the world with severe climate which makes commuting to school significantly more difficult.
• Prejudice . Members of ethnic and other minorities, as well as children with disabilities are often the target of prejudice in some countries, which makes it more difficult for them to get an education in comparison to other groups. 
• Inadequate conditions . According to UNICEF, the lack of qualified teachers, inadequate teaching materials, and poor sanitation are some of the reasons why many children do not receive a quality education. Even when they do go to school, children in such conditions fail to acquire applicable and quality knowledge, sometimes even basic knowledge. UNICEF states that 617 million children and adolescents around the world fail to acquire even the minimum literacy and math knowledge, although two thirds of them attend school. 

It should also be noted that the lack of education does not only arise from not having access to education and non-attendance, but it is also a direct consequence of poor quality of teaching. Thus, UNICEF underlines that “Schooling does not always lead to learning. Worldwide, there are more non-learners in school than out of school”.

In other words, in addition to the general approach to education, it is also necessary to raise the quality of instruction so as to overcome the global issue that the lack of education represents. 

What are the negative effects of lack of education? 

Negative consequences of the lack of education or inadequate instruction are numerous and varied, and can impact both the life of an individual, and society as a whole. They range from health-related reasons, social, and economic reasons, each of them generating serious consequence. The longer a person or a community is cut off from education, the more severe, long-term and irreversible the effects become. 

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10 consequences of not having access to education 

1. Poor health

Some of the basic lessons we learn in primary school are related to taking care of one’s own psychophysical health. The importance of hand washing, sexual health, necessity of regular physical activity – all this knowledge is something that stays with a person all their life, and is acquired at school. 

There is a strong link between lack of education and poor health and hygiene. The Borgen Project research conducted in Uganda yielded staggering results: educated people in the country have 75% less chance to contract HIV/AIDS, while young people with good primary education have 50% less chance to contract the same virus. 

2. Shorter life expectancy

The IMS Fiscal Monitor research showed that education can even affect a person’s life expectancy. Specifically, in developed economies, the gap between men with higher education and those with secondary, or primary education ranges between four and fourteen years, and is even larger in some countries. 

3. Poverty 

Due to adverse life circumstances, many people lack the tools and means that would enable them to leave poverty behind. Education is precisely what provides a person with these tools and means, but in poor communities and countries, it either does not exist at all, or if it does, it is inadequate, and this is how people find themselves in the vicious circle of poverty from which they cannot free themselves. The fact is that the more educated a person is, the better their chances of a decent salary. 

4. Unemployment

Unemployment is tightly linked to poverty. People who lack education, or who only finished primary school often work poorly paid jobs, or struggle to find any job whatsoever. Simply put, good jobs are reserved for qualified employees, and qualifications are primarily acquired through education. 

In today’s age of all-present digitalization where knowledge quickly becomes outdated, and traditional jobs are slowly disappearing, education becomes even more important, representing the key factor that decides whether a person will be able to adapt to changes and find a suitable job, or will become unemployed. 

According to a survey conducted by OECD , 69% people with lower secondary education are employed, whereas that percentage among people with higher education is 88%. 

5. Lower salary

People who lack qualifications, even when they find a job, will always have a significantly lower salary than their more educated counterparts. Less paid and less valued jobs are reserved for unqualified workers, and often such positions are in danger of being automated, which creates additional uncertainty regarding salaries and jobs for people with a lower level of education.

6. Gender inequality

Women who receive poorer education than their male counterparts are often in an adverse position. Quality education gives women independence , higher salaries and the opportunity to express their views on various social issues. Education means independence and the ability to make informed decisions on one’s life, for both men and women.

7. Social isolation

Uneducated people struggle to fit in social situations, and often remain marginalized. The lack of resources generated by education prevents them from participating in numerous social activities in a productive and comprehensive way, in contrast to educated people who engage in the same activities without difficulty.  

8. Illegal activities 

People with lower education, the unemployed, or those who work poorly paid jobs are often forced to work hard to provide a bare existence. Hence, it is no wonder that lack of education can often lead to a life of crime, which such people often see as the shortcut or the only way out of their disadvantaged position.  

9. Poor economy

Countries with educated people have stronger, better developed, and more sustainable economies. Estimates say that this trend will continue and become even more stronger in the 21st century, when due to digitalization and the changes it brings, a countries’ ability to successfully adapt to the changed circumstances will directly depend on their educated population. 

In other words, countries with an educated population will have more productive workers, innovative scientists and will be able to come up with more creative solutions than countries with poorly developed economic and education systems. As a consequence, workers in such countries will receive higher salaries, and these countries will be more desirable places to live. 

10. Impossibility of (adequate) participation in political and social life 

Without a comprehensive education in both sciences and humanities, a person will lack the knowledge and tools that enable them to make intelligent and meaningful political decisions. Who to vote for in the elections, which initiatives to support, who and what to trust, all these are things one must decide about with care and commitment. It is education that enables open dialogue, constructive exchange of opinions, and joint search for the best solution for society as a whole. Therefore, it helps the individual not to fall prey to political marketing, but to base their decisions on their own thoughts and views.  

Education is an opportunity for all 

Open access to education is not just an individual right, but a great opportunity for society as a whole as well. The more people have access to the knowledge and skills provided by authentic education, the greater the chances of overall progress. It is, therefore, necessary to ensure access to education for everyone. In order to do that, the link between the causes of the lack of education and its negative effects must be broken. Efforts concentrated on overcoming the causes will simultaneously nullify the effects, and the solution is quality education accessible to all.  

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Affordable Early Childhood Care and Education

An overhaul is needed to make ECE affordable for families from all socio-economic, racial, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds, a transformation that will require a phased implementation, the report says. By the final phase, an estimated annual cost of at least $140 billion would be required, with the largest portion — $82 billion annually — coming from public investment.

Currently, funds are distributed to providers and families through mechanisms such as federally funded Head Start programs, public pre-kindergarten programs that are funded primarily by states or local jurisdictions, and state Child Care Assistance Programs, which tend to target resources to low-income families, as well as tax preferences that benefit middle- and upper-income families. The current lack of harmonization among these financing mechanisms leads to gaps in ECE affordability for some low-income families, economic segregation within ECE settings and classrooms, and underutilization of ECE services by middle-income families. In addition, many of these programs are under-funded and do not serve all children who are eligible to receive services.

An integrated framework of laws and policies that uses financing to bring about accessible, affordable, and high-quality early care and education needs to be implemented, the report says. The federal government, in coordination with the states, should set uniform family payment standards that increase progressively across low-, moderate-, and higher-income groups if the ECE program requires a family contribution, and increase funding levels and revise tax preferences to ensure adequate funding.

To ensure higher-education programs are of high quality and meet workforce needs, states and the federal government should provide sustained funding and grants to institutions and systems of postsecondary education to develop faculty and ECE programs and align the curricula with the science of child development.

Since the report’s publication, several states including New York and Virginia are exploring options to provide increased funding opportunities for ECE.

The Academies’ study was funded by the Alliance for Early Success, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Buffett Early Childhood Fund, Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood, Foundation for Child Development, Heising-Simons Foundation, Kresge Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, with additional support from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Presidents’ Committee Funds.

Learning Through Real-World Contexts

Science investigation and engineering design offer a promising vehicle for anchoring student learning in contexts that are meaningful to them, the report says. Interacting with real-world challenges and designing and testing solutions to address them allows instructional choices that better connect to students’ lives, experiences, and cultural backgrounds than science instruction that is focused on discrete facts organized by discipline.

Changing instructional approaches will require significant and sustained work by teachers, administrators, and policymakers, the report says. For example, school and district staff should review policies that impact the ability to offer science investigation and engineering design opportunities to all students, including particular attention to differential student outcomes, especially in areas in which inequities have been well-documented, such as gender, socio-economic status, race, and culture. In addition, states, regions, and districts should provide resources to support the implementation of investigation and engineering design-based approaches to instruction across all grades and in all schools, and should track and manage progress towards full implementation.

The Academies’ study was funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Amgen Foundation.

Teaching STEM to English Learners

English Learners in STEM Subjects: Transforming Classrooms, Schools, and Lives  calls for a shift in how STEM subjects are taught to ELs, citing that through meaningful interactions in the classroom with teachers providing support when needed, ELs can develop proficiency in STEM subjects and language simultaneously.

Language and content are learned in tandem, not separately or sequentially, the report says. Therefore, language proficiency is not a prerequisite for content instruction, but an outcome of effective content instruction. STEM subjects also provide opportunities for alternate routes to knowledge acquisition such as experimentation and demonstration of practices. ELs can actively gain language skills through STEM experiences, without resorting predominantly to their native language to access meaning.

With appropriate curricular and instructional support, ELs can participate, contribute, and succeed in STEM classrooms. Curriculum developers, educators, and researchers should work together to develop materials and resources that consider the diversity of ELs’ needs and strengthen teachers’ assessment skills to improve STEM instruction and promote ELs’ learning.

Federal agencies should evaluate methods for allocating funds for research and development that would enhance STEM teaching and learning for ELs, and increase the number of qualified teachers.

The Academies’ study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Meeting the Needs of Children With Disabilities

The life-course perspective acknowledges that early experiences impact later experiences and long-term outcomes, so it is important that near- and long-term goals are linked to the attainment of desired long-term health and functioning outcomes and that services are individualized based on an assessment of the child’s and family’s specific needs. Several other characteristics also contribute to effectiveness, such as engaging children and families in their care and helping them navigate and connect with the array of available supports, as well as conducting rigorous, systematic evaluation and continuous improvement of services.

Numerous gaps and limitations create barriers to access and variable quality of services, the report says, such as socio-demographic and socio-economic disparities, state variation in the implementation of federal programs, fragmentation of services, insufficient workforce capacity and development, lack of preparedness for transitioning to adult services and programs, and gaps in continuity of care. The report identifies several ways to enhance the provision and quality of programs and services.

The Academies’ study was funded by the U.S. Social Security Administration.

Sexual Harassment in Science, Engineering, and Medicine

The report offers a range of recommendations for steps that colleges and universities should take to prevent and respond to sexual harassment. For example, academic institutions should develop and share clear policies on sexual harassment and standards of behavior, including a range of clearly stated, escalating disciplinary consequences for perpetrators who have violated policy. Colleges and universities should make particular efforts to address the most common form of sexual harassment — gender harassment, which includes verbal and nonverbal behaviors that convey hostility, objectification, exclusion, or second-class status about members of one gender. In addition, institutions should work to create diverse, inclusive and respectful environments where these values are aligned with and integrated into structures, policies, and procedures.

Congress and state legislatures should consider a range of actions, such as better protecting sexual harassment claimants from retaliation; prohibiting confidentiality in settlement agreements; banning mandatory arbitration clauses for discrimination claims; and allowing lawsuits to be filed directly against alleged harassers, not just their institutions.

In addition, federal agencies should attend to sexual harassment with at least the same level of attention and resources devoted to research misconduct. They should require institutions to report to federal agencies when individuals on grants are found to have violated sexual harassment policies or have been put on administrative leave related to sexual harassment. And they should reward and incentivize colleges and universities for implementing policies, programs, and strategies that research shows are most likely to reduce and prevent sexual harassment.

Some academic institutions have begun examining and revising their existing policies, procedures, and strategies in light of the report’s recommendations. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, chairwoman of the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, has introduced a bill that directs research funds to specific areas recommended by the report, including understanding the causes and consequences of sexual harassment affecting individuals in the scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematics workforce, and examining policies to reduce the prevalence and negative impact of such harassment. In addition, the director of the National Institutes of Health has initiated a working group in response to the report, and the National Science Foundation has moved forward with a proposed change to their grant terms and conditions that was endorsed by the report.

The Academies’ study was funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Henry Luce Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

An Untapped Resource for the Nation’s STEM Workforce

A National Academies report says that the nation’s Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) are underutilized resources for producing talent to fulfill the needs of the nation’s current and future STEM workforce. There are approximately 700 two- and four-year MSIs, and they educate nearly 30 percent of all U.S. undergraduates. The total number of MSIs has grown significantly in the past 20 years, and as the nation’s demographics continue to change, many more enrollment-defined MSIs are expected to emerge.

Based on a review of research literature, available data, and site visits by the study committee,  Minority Serving Institutions: America’s Underutilized Resource for Strengthening the STEM Workforce  identifies promising strategies to support the long-term success of MSI students, particularly those in STEM fields. The report recommends that stakeholders — including MSI leadership, Congress, federal agencies, state leaders, business and industry, professional associations, and nongovernmental organizations — should create initiatives, policies, and practices that are tailored to meet students where they are in their college careers academically, financially, and socially, and to do so with a cultural mindfulness that supports higher levels of student success and workforce preparation in STEM fields.

The Academies’ study was funded by the ECMC Foundation, Helmsley Charitable Trust, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Wallace Foundation.

Securing U.S. Elections

Congress should appropriate funds for distribution by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission for the ongoing modernization of election systems, the report says. Congress also should provide funding for state and local governments to improve their cybersecurity capabilities on an ongoing basis.

The report warns, however, that no electronic voting systems can be made completely secure against cyberattack. To protect the integrity and security of U.S. elections, all federal, state, and local elections should employ human-readable paper ballots by the 2020 presidential election. Paper ballots form a body of evidence that is not subject to manipulation by faulty software or hardware and that can be used to audit and verify the results of an election.

Paper ballots also enable the use of risk-limiting audits, another safeguard which can verify that a reported election outcome reflects a correct tabulation of the votes cast. These audits offer a high probability that any incorrect outcome can be detected, and they do so with statistical efficiency; a risk-limiting audit performed on an election with tens of millions of ballots may require examination by hand of as little as several hundred randomly selected paper ballots. States should begin with pilot programs of risk-limiting audits and fully implement them for all federal and state election contests — and local contests where feasible — within a decade.

The report also cautions against the use of Internet voting at the present time. No ballots that have been marked by voters should be transmitted by any network connected to the Internet, because no current technology can guarantee their secrecy, security, and verifiability.

The Academies’ study was funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, with additional support from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Presidents’ Committee Funds.

Modernizing Crime Statistics

These systems are essential to understanding crime, but a stronger federal role is needed to coordinate data collection, says  Modernizing Crime Statistics: Report 2 — New Systems for Measuring Crime .  The White House Office of Management and Budget should establish a structure to manage and coordinate comprehensive crime data collection.

In 2016, the Academies’ first report on modernizing crime statistics developed a broader definition and concept of crime as “socially unacceptable behavior that causes harm or threatens harm against another,” and this final report examines methodological and implementation issues in working with the new classification of crime.

Crime statistics would be more useful if they provided more information and flexibility for detailed analysis, the report says. Police-report data collected by NIBRS and survey data from NCVS provide core crime data components, but the report suggests adding a third component that draws from administrative-type data resources and information on regulatory violations through a crime measurement clearinghouse. New and emerging types of crime to include are cybercrime, environmental crimes, and many types of fraud — offenses that have not been handled well, or at all, in the nation’s current crime statistics.

A new crime statistics system that uses multiple data collection efforts — including full participation in NIBRS and an adequately resourced NCVS — will provide a more robust understanding of the nature of crime and firmer ground for developing policies to combat crime, the report says. The new governing structure should be sure to enable long-term research and development on innovative technologies and methodology for measuring crime.

The Academies’ study was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Unequal Opportunity: Race and Education

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March 1, 1998

• 13 min read

W.E.B. DuBois was right about the problem of the 21st century. The color line divides us still. In recent years, the most visible evidence of this in the public policy arena has been the persistent attack on affirmative action in higher education and employment. From the perspective of many Americans who believe that the vestiges of discrimination have disappeared, affirmative action now provides an unfair advantage to minorities. From the perspective of others who daily experience the consequences of ongoing discrimination, affirmative action is needed to protect opportunities likely to evaporate if an affirmative obligation to act fairly does not exist. And for Americans of all backgrounds, the allocation of opportunity in a society that is becoming ever more dependent on knowledge and education is a source of great anxiety and concern.

At the center of these debates are interpretations of the gaps in educational achievement between white and non-Asian minority students as measured by standardized test scores. The presumption that guides much of the conversation is that equal opportunity now exists; therefore, continued low levels of achievement on the part of minority students must be a function of genes, culture, or a lack of effort and will (see, for example, Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray’s The Bell Curve and Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom’s America in Black and White).

The assumptions that undergird this debate miss an important reality: educational outcomes for minority children are much more a function of their unequal access to key educational resources, including skilled teachers and quality curriculum, than they are a function of race. In fact, the U.S. educational system is one of the most unequal in the industrialized world, and students routinely receive dramatically different learning opportunities based on their social status. In contrast to European and Asian nations that fund schools centrally and equally, the wealthiest 10 percent of U.S. school districts spend nearly 10 times more than the poorest 10 percent, and spending ratios of 3 to 1 are common within states. Despite stark differences in funding, teacher quality, curriculum, and class sizes, the prevailing view is that if students do not achieve, it is their own fault. If we are ever to get beyond the problem of the color line, we must confront and address these inequalities.

The Nature of Educational Inequality

Americans often forget that as late as the 1960s most African-American, Latino, and Native American students were educated in wholly segregated schools funded at rates many times lower than those serving whites and were excluded from many higher education institutions entirely. The end of legal segregation followed by efforts to equalize spending since 1970 has made a substantial difference for student achievement. On every major national test, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the gap in minority and white students’ test scores narrowed substantially between 1970 and 1990, especially for elementary school students. On the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), the scores of African-American students climbed 54 points between 1976 and 1994, while those of white students remained stable.

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Even so, educational experiences for minority students have continued to be substantially separate and unequal. Two-thirds of minority students still attend schools that are predominantly minority, most of them located in central cities and funded well below those in neighboring suburban districts. Recent analyses of data prepared for school finance cases in Alabama, New Jersey, New York, Louisiana, and Texas have found that on every tangible measure—from qualified teachers to curriculum offerings—schools serving greater numbers of students of color had significantly fewer resources than schools serving mostly white students. As William L. Taylor and Dianne Piche noted in a 1991 report to Congress: Inequitable systems of school finance inflict disproportionate harm on minority and economically disadvantaged students. On an inter-state basis, such students are concentrated in states, primarily in the South, that have the lowest capacities to finance public education. On an intra-state basis, many of the states with the widest disparities in educational expenditures are large industrial states. In these states, many minorities and economically disadvantaged students are located in property-poor urban districts which fare the worst in educational expenditures (or) in rural districts which suffer from fiscal inequity.

Jonathan Kozol s 1991 Savage Inequalities described the striking differences between public schools serving students of color in urban settings and their suburban counterparts, which typically spend twice as much per student for populations with many fewer special needs. Contrast MacKenzie High School in Detroit, where word processing courses are taught without word processors because the school cannot afford them, or East St. Louis Senior High School, whose biology lab has no laboratory tables or usable dissecting kits, with nearby suburban schools where children enjoy a computer hookup to Dow Jones to study stock transactions and science laboratories that rival those in some industries. Or contrast Paterson, New Jersey, which could not afford the qualified teachers needed to offer foreign language courses to most high school students, with Princeton, where foreign languages begin in elementary school.

Even within urban school districts, schools with high concentrations of low-income and minority students receive fewer instructional resources than others. And tracking systems exacerbate these inequalities by segregating many low-income and minority students within schools. In combination, these policies leave minority students with fewer and lower-quality books, curriculum materials, laboratories, and computers; significantly larger class sizes; less qualified and experienced teachers; and less access to high-quality curriculum. Many schools serving low-income and minority students do not even offer the math and science courses needed for college, and they provide lower-quality teaching in the classes they do offer. It all adds up.

What Difference Does it Make?

Since the 1966 Coleman report, Equality of Educational Opportunity, another debate has waged as to whether money makes a difference to educational outcomes. It is certainly possible to spend money ineffectively; however, studies that have developed more sophisticated measures of schooling show how money, properly spent, makes a difference. Over the past 30 years, a large body of research has shown that four factors consistently influence student achievement: all else equal, students perform better if they are educated in smaller schools where they are well known (300 to 500 students is optimal), have smaller class sizes (especially at the elementary level), receive a challenging curriculum, and have more highly qualified teachers.

Minority students are much less likely than white children to have any of these resources. In predominantly minority schools, which most students of color attend, schools are large (on average, more than twice as large as predominantly white schools and reaching 3,000 students or more in most cities); on average, class sizes are 15 percent larger overall (80 percent larger for non-special education classes); curriculum offerings and materials are lower in quality; and teachers are much less qualified in terms of levels of education, certification, and training in the fields they teach. And in integrated schools, as UCLA professor Jeannie Oakes described in the 1980s and Harvard professor Gary Orfield’s research has recently confirmed, most minority students are segregated in lower-track classes with larger class sizes, less qualified teachers, and lower-quality curriculum.

Research shows that teachers’ preparation makes a tremendous difference to children’s learning. In an analysis of 900 Texas school districts, Harvard economist Ronald Ferguson found that teachers’ expertise—as measured by scores on a licensing examination, master’s degrees, and experienc—was the single most important determinant of student achievement, accounting for roughly 40 percent of the measured variance in students’ reading and math achievement gains in grades 1-12. After controlling for socioeconomic status, the large disparities in achievement between black and white students were almost entirely due to differences in the qualifications of their teachers. In combination, differences in teacher expertise and class sizes accounted for as much of the measured variance in achievement as did student and family background (figure 1).

Ferguson and Duke economist Helen Ladd repeated this analysis in Alabama and again found sizable influences of teacher qualifications and smaller class sizes on achievement gains in math and reading. They found that more of the difference between the high- and low-scoring districts was explained by teacher qualifications and class sizes than by poverty, race, and parent education.

Meanwhile, a Tennessee study found that elementary school students who are assigned to ineffective teachers for three years in a row score nearly 50 percentile points lower on achievement tests than those assigned to highly effective teachers over the same period. Strikingly, minority students are about half as likely to be assigned to the most effective teachers and twice as likely to be assigned to the least effective.

Minority students are put at greatest risk by the American tradition of allowing enormous variation in the qualifications of teachers. The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future found that new teachers hired without meeting certification standards (25 percent of all new teachers) are usually assigned to teach the most disadvantaged students in low-income and high-minority schools, while the most highly educated new teachers are hired largely by wealthier schools (figure 2). Students in poor or predominantly minority schools are much less likely to have teachers who are fully qualified or hold higher-level degrees. In schools with the highest minority enrollments, for example, students have less than a 50 percent chance of getting a math or science teacher with a license and a degree in the field. In 1994, fully one-third of teachers in high-poverty schools taught without a minor in their main field and nearly 70 percent taught without a minor in their secondary teaching field.

Studies of underprepared teachers consistently find that they are less effective with students and that they have difficulty with curriculum development, classroom management, student motivation, and teaching strategies. With little knowledge about how children grow, learn, and develop, or about what to do to support their learning, these teachers are less likely to understand students’ learning styles and differences, to anticipate students’ knowledge and potential difficulties, or to plan and redirect instruction to meet students’ needs. Nor are they likely to see it as their job to do so, often blaming the students if their teaching is not successful.

Teacher expertise and curriculum quality are interrelated, because a challenging curriculum requires an expert teacher. Research has found that both students and teachers are tracked: that is, the most expert teachers teach the most demanding courses to the most advantaged students, while lower-track students assigned to less able teachers receive lower-quality teaching and less demanding material. Assignment to tracks is also related to race: even when grades and test scores are comparable, black students are more likely to be assigned to lower-track, nonacademic classes.

When Opportunity Is More Equal

What happens when students of color do get access to more equal opportunities’ Studies find that curriculum quality and teacher skill make more difference to educational outcomes than the initial test scores or racial backgrounds of students. Analyses of national data from both the High School and Beyond Surveys and the National Educational Longitudinal Surveys have demonstrated that, while there are dramatic differences among students of various racial and ethnic groups in course-taking in such areas as math, science, and foreign language, for students with similar course-taking records, achievement test score differences by race or ethnicity narrow substantially.

Robert Dreeben and colleagues at the University of Chicago conducted a long line of studies documenting both the relationship between educational opportunities and student performance and minority students’ access to those opportunities. In a comparative study of 300 Chicago first graders, for example, Dreeben found that African-American and white students who had comparable instruction achieved comparable levels of reading skill. But he also found that the quality of instruction given African-American students was, on average, much lower than that given white students, thus creating a racial gap in aggregate achievement at the end of first grade. In fact, the highest-ability group in Dreeben’s sample was in a school in a low-income African-American neighborhood. These children, though, learned less during first grade than their white counterparts because their teacher was unable to provide the challenging instruction they deserved.

When schools have radically different teaching forces, the effects can be profound. For example, when Eleanor Armour-Thomas and colleagues compared a group of exceptionally effective elementary schools with a group of low-achieving schools with similar demographic characteristics in New York City, roughly 90 percent of the variance in student reading and mathematics scores at grades 3, 6, and 8 was a function of differences in teacher qualifications. The schools with highly qualified teachers serving large numbers of minority and low-income students performed as well as much more advantaged schools.

Most studies have estimated effects statistically. However, an experiment that randomly assigned seventh grade “at-risk”students to remedial, average, and honors mathematics classes found that the at-risk students who took the honors class offering a pre-algebra curriculum ultimately outperformed all other students of similar backgrounds. Another study compared African-American high school youth randomly placed in public housing in the Chicago suburbs with city-placed peers of equivalent income and initial academic attainment and found that the suburban students, who attended largely white and better-funded schools, were substantially more likely to take challenging courses, perform well academically, graduate on time, attend college, and find good jobs.

What Can Be Done?

This state of affairs is not inevitable. Last year the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future issued a blueprint for a comprehensive set of policies to ensure a “caring, competent, and qualified teacher for every child,” as well as schools organized to support student success. Twelve states are now working directly with the commission on this agenda, and others are set to join this year. Several pending bills to overhaul the federal Higher Education Act would ensure that highly qualified teachers are recruited and prepared for students in all schools. Federal policymakers can develop incentives, as they have in medicine, to guarantee well-prepared teachers in shortage fields and high-need locations. States can equalize education spending, enforce higher teaching standards, and reduce teacher shortages, as Connecticut, Kentucky, Minnesota, and North Carolina have already done. School districts can reallocate resources from administrative superstructures and special add-on programs to support better-educated teachers who offer a challenging curriculum in smaller schools and classes, as restructured schools as far apart as New York and San Diego have done. These schools, in communities where children are normally written off to lives of poverty, welfare dependency, or incarceration, already produce much higher levels of achievement for students of color, sending more than 90 percent of their students to college. Focusing on what matters most can make a real difference in what children have the opportunity to learn. This, in turn, makes a difference in what communities can accomplish.

An Entitlement to Good Teaching

The common presumption about educational inequality—that it resides primarily in those students who come to school with inadequate capacities to benefit from what the school has to offer—continues to hold wide currency because the extent of inequality in opportunities to learn is largely unknown. We do not currently operate schools on the presumption that students might be entitled to decent teaching and schooling as a matter of course. In fact, some state and local defendants have countered school finance and desegregation cases with assertions that such remedies are not required unless it can be proven that they will produce equal outcomes. Such arguments against equalizing opportunities to learn have made good on DuBois’s prediction that the problem of the 20th century would be the problem of the color line.

But education resources do make a difference, particularly when funds are used to purchase well-qualified teachers and high-quality curriculum and to create personalized learning communities in which children are well known. In all of the current sturm und drang about affirmative action, “special treatment,” and the other high-volatility buzzwords for race and class politics in this nation, I would offer a simple starting point for the next century s efforts: no special programs, just equal educational opportunity.

Governance Studies

Vanessa Williamson

April 29, 2024

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April 26, 2024

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What Students Are Saying About How to Improve American Education

An international exam shows that American 15-year-olds are stagnant in reading and math. Teenagers told us what’s working and what’s not in the American education system.

By The Learning Network

Earlier this month, the Program for International Student Assessment announced that the performance of American teenagers in reading and math has been stagnant since 2000 . Other recent studies revealed that two-thirds of American children were not proficient readers , and that the achievement gap in reading between high and low performers is widening.

We asked students to weigh in on these findings and to tell us their suggestions for how they would improve the American education system.

Our prompt received nearly 300 comments. This was clearly a subject that many teenagers were passionate about. They offered a variety of suggestions on how they felt schools could be improved to better teach and prepare students for life after graduation.

While we usually highlight three of our most popular writing prompts in our Current Events Conversation , this week we are only rounding up comments for this one prompt so we can honor the many students who wrote in.

Please note: Student comments have been lightly edited for length, but otherwise appear as they were originally submitted.

Put less pressure on students.

One of the biggest flaws in the American education system is the amount of pressure that students have on them to do well in school, so they can get into a good college. Because students have this kind of pressure on them they purely focus on doing well rather than actually learning and taking something valuable away from what they are being taught.

— Jordan Brodsky, Danvers, MA

As a Freshman and someone who has a tough home life, I can agree that this is one of the main causes as to why I do poorly on some things in school. I have been frustrated about a lot that I am expected to learn in school because they expect us to learn so much information in such little time that we end up forgetting about half of it anyway. The expectations that I wish that my teachers and school have of me is that I am only human and that I make mistakes. Don’t make me feel even worse than I already am with telling me my low test scores and how poorly I’m doing in classes.

— Stephanie Cueva, King Of Prussia, PA

I stay up well after midnight every night working on homework because it is insanely difficult to balance school life, social life, and extracurriculars while making time for family traditions. While I don’t feel like making school easier is the one true solution to the stress students are placed under, I do feel like a transition to a year-round schedule would be a step in the right direction. That way, teachers won’t be pressured into stuffing a large amount of content into a small amount of time, and students won’t feel pressured to keep up with ungodly pacing.

— Jacob Jarrett, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

In my school, we don’t have the best things, there are holes in the walls, mice, and cockroaches everywhere. We also have a lot of stress so there is rarely time for us to study and prepare for our tests because we constantly have work to do and there isn’t time for us to relax and do the things that we enjoy. We sleep late and can’t ever focus, but yet that’s our fault and that we are doing something wrong. School has become a place where we just do work, stress, and repeat but there has been nothing changed. We can’t learn what we need to learn because we are constantly occupied with unnecessary work that just pulls us back.

— Theodore Loshi, Masterman School

As a student of an American educational center let me tell you, it is horrible. The books are out dated, the bathrooms are hideous, stress is ever prevalent, homework seems never ending, and worst of all, the seemingly impossible feat of balancing school life, social life, and family life is abominable. The only way you could fix it would be to lessen the load dumped on students and give us a break.

— Henry Alley, Hoggard High School, Wilmington NC

Use less technology in the classroom (…or more).

People my age have smaller vocabularies, and if they don’t know a word, they just quickly look it up online instead of learning and internalizing it. The same goes for facts and figures in other subjects; don’t know who someone was in history class? Just look ‘em up and read their bio. Don’t know how to balance a chemical equation? The internet knows. Can’t solve a math problem by hand? Just sneak out the phone calculator.

My largest grievance with technology and learning has more to do with the social and psychological aspects, though. We’ve decreased ability to meaningfully communicate, and we want everything — things, experiences, gratification — delivered to us at Amazon Prime speed. Interactions and experiences have become cheap and 2D because we see life through a screen.

— Grace Robertson, Hoggard High School Wilmington, NC

Kids now a days are always on technology because they are heavily dependent on it- for the purpose of entertainment and education. Instead of pondering or thinking for ourselves, our first instinct is to google and search for the answers without giving it any thought. This is a major factor in why I think American students tests scores haven’t been improving because no one wants to take time and think about questions, instead they want to find answers as fast as they can just so they can get the assignment/ project over with.

— Ema Thorakkal, Glenbard West HS IL

There needs to be a healthier balance between pen and paper work and internet work and that balance may not even be 50:50. I personally find myself growing as a student more when I am writing down my assignments and planning out my day on paper instead of relying on my phone for it. Students now are being taught from preschool about technology and that is damaging their growth and reading ability. In my opinion as well as many of my peers, a computer can never beat a book in terms of comprehension.

— Ethan, Pinkey, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

Learning needs to be more interesting. Not many people like to study from their textbooks because there’s not much to interact with. I think that instead of studying from textbooks, more interactive activities should be used instead. Videos, websites, games, whatever might interest students more. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t use textbooks, I’m just saying that we should have a combination of both textbooks and technology to make learning more interesting in order for students to learn more.

— Vivina Dong, J. R. Masterman

Prepare students for real life.

At this point, it’s not even the grades I’m worried about. It feels like once we’ve graduated high school, we’ll be sent out into the world clueless and unprepared. I know many college students who have no idea what they’re doing, as though they left home to become an adult but don’t actually know how to be one.

The most I’ve gotten out of school so far was my Civics & Economics class, which hardly even touched what I’d actually need to know for the real world. I barely understand credit and they expect me to be perfectly fine living alone a year from now. We need to learn about real life, things that can actually benefit us. An art student isn’t going to use Biology and Trigonometry in life. Exams just seem so pointless in the long run. Why do we have to dedicate our high school lives studying equations we’ll never use? Why do exams focusing on pointless topics end up determining our entire future?

— Eliana D, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

I think that the American education system can be improved my allowing students to choose the classes that they wish to take or classes that are beneficial for their future. Students aren’t really learning things that can help them in the future such as basic reading and math.

— Skye Williams, Sarasota, Florida

I am frustrated about what I’m supposed to learn in school. Most of the time, I feel like what I’m learning will not help me in life. I am also frustrated about how my teachers teach me and what they expect from me. Often, teachers will give me information and expect me to memorize it for a test without teaching me any real application.

— Bella Perrotta, Kent Roosevelt High School

We divide school time as though the class itself is the appetizer and the homework is the main course. Students get into the habit of preparing exclusively for the homework, further separating the main ideas of school from the real world. At this point, homework is given out to prepare the students for … more homework, rather than helping students apply their knowledge to the real world.

— Daniel Capobianco, Danvers High School

Eliminate standardized tests.

Standardized testing should honestly be another word for stress. I know that I stress over every standardized test I have taken and so have most of my peers. I mean they are scary, it’s like when you take these tests you bring your No. 2 pencil and an impending fail.

— Brennan Stabler, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

Personally, for me I think standardized tests have a negative impact on my education, taking test does not actually test my knowledge — instead it forces me to memorize facts that I will soon forget.

— Aleena Khan, Glenbard West HS Glen Ellyn, IL

Teachers will revolve their whole days on teaching a student how to do well on a standardized test, one that could potentially impact the final score a student receives. That is not learning. That is learning how to memorize and become a robot that regurgitates answers instead of explaining “Why?” or “How?” that answer was found. If we spent more time in school learning the answers to those types of questions, we would become a nation where students are humans instead of a number.

— Carter Osborn, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

In private school, students have smaller class sizes and more resources for field trips, computers, books, and lab equipment. They also get more “hand holding” to guarantee success, because parents who pay tuition expect results. In public school, the learning is up to you. You have to figure stuff out yourself, solve problems, and advocate for yourself. If you fail, nobody cares. It takes grit to do well. None of this is reflected in a standardized test score.

— William Hudson, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

Give teachers more money and support.

I have always been told “Don’t be a teacher, they don’t get paid hardly anything.” or “How do you expect to live off of a teachers salary, don’t go into that profession.” As a young teen I am being told these things, the future generation of potential teachers are being constantly discouraged because of the money they would be getting paid. Education in Americans problems are very complicated, and there is not one big solution that can fix all of them at once, but little by little we can create a change.

— Lilly Smiley, Hoggard High School

We cannot expect our grades to improve when we give teachers a handicap with poor wages and low supplies. It doesn’t allow teachers to unleash their full potential for educating students. Alas, our government makes teachers work with their hands tied. No wonder so many teachers are quitting their jobs for better careers. Teachers will shape the rest of their students’ lives. But as of now, they can only do the bare minimum.

— Jeffery Austin, Hoggard High School

The answer to solving the American education crisis is simple. We need to put education back in the hands of the teachers. The politicians and the government needs to step back and let the people who actually know what they are doing and have spent a lifetime doing it decide how to teach. We wouldn’t let a lawyer perform heart surgery or construction workers do our taxes, so why let the people who win popularity contests run our education systems?

— Anders Olsen, Hoggard High School, Wilmington NC

Make lessons more engaging.

I’m someone who struggles when all the teacher does is say, “Go to page X” and asks you to read it. Simply reading something isn’t as effective for me as a teacher making it interactive, maybe giving a project out or something similar. A textbook doesn’t answer all my questions, but a qualified teacher that takes their time does. When I’m challenged by something, I can always ask a good teacher and I can expect an answer that makes sense to me. But having a teacher that just brushes off questions doesn’t help me. I’ve heard of teachers where all they do is show the class movies. At first, that sounds amazing, but you don’t learn anything that can benefit you on a test.

— Michael Huang, JR Masterman

I’ve struggled in many classes, as of right now it’s government. What is making this class difficult is that my teacher doesn’t really teach us anything, all he does is shows us videos and give us papers that we have to look through a textbook to find. The problem with this is that not everyone has this sort of learning style. Then it doesn’t help that the papers we do, we never go over so we don’t even know if the answers are right.

— S Weatherford, Kent Roosevelt, OH

The classes in which I succeed in most are the ones where the teachers are very funny. I find that I struggle more in classes where the teachers are very strict. I think this is because I love laughing. Two of my favorite teachers are very lenient and willing to follow the classes train of thought.

— Jonah Smith Posner, J.R. Masterman

Create better learning environments.

Whenever they are introduced to school at a young age, they are convinced by others that school is the last place they should want to be. Making school a more welcoming place for students could better help them be attentive and also be more open minded when walking down the halls of their own school, and eventually improve their test scores as well as their attitude while at school.

— Hart P., Bryant High School

Students today feel voiceless because they are punished when they criticize the school system and this is a problem because this allows the school to block out criticism that can be positive leaving it no room to grow. I hope that in the near future students can voice their opinion and one day change the school system for the better.

— Nico Spadavecchia, Glenbard West Highschool Glen Ellyn IL

The big thing that I have struggled with is the class sizes due to overcrowding. It has made it harder to be able to get individual help and be taught so I completely understand what was going on. Especially in math it builds on itself so if you don’t understand the first thing you learn your going to be very lost down the road. I would go to my math teacher in the morning and there would be 12 other kids there.

— Skyla Madison, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

The biggest issue facing our education system is our children’s lack of motivation. People don’t want to learn. Children hate school. We despise homework. We dislike studying. One of the largest indicators of a child’s success academically is whether or not they meet a third grade reading level by the third grade, but children are never encouraged to want to learn. There are a lot of potential remedies for the education system. Paying teachers more, giving schools more funding, removing distractions from the classroom. All of those things are good, but, at the end of the day, the solution is to fundamentally change the way in which we operate.

Support students’ families.

I say one of the biggest problems is the support of families and teachers. I have heard many success stories, and a common element of this story is the unwavering support from their family, teachers, supervisors, etc. Many people need support to be pushed to their full potential, because some people do not have the will power to do it on their own. So, if students lived in an environment where education was supported and encouraged; than their children would be more interested in improving and gaining more success in school, than enacting in other time wasting hobbies that will not help their future education.

— Melanie, Danvers

De-emphasize grades.

I wish that tests were graded based on how much effort you put it and not the grade itself. This would help students with stress and anxiety about tests and it would cause students to put more effort into their work. Anxiety around school has become such a dilemma that students are taking their own life from the stress around schoolwork. You are told that if you don’t make straight A’s your life is over and you won’t have a successful future.

— Lilah Pate, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

I personally think that there are many things wrong with the American education system. Everyone is so worried about grades and test scores. People believe that those are the only thing that represents a student. If you get a bad grade on something you start believing that you’re a bad student. GPA doesn’t measure a students’ intelligence or ability to learn. At young ages students stop wanting to come to school and learn. Standardized testing starts and students start to lose their creativity.

— Andrew Gonthier, Hoggard High School in Wilmington, NC

Praise for great teachers

Currently, I’m in a math class that changed my opinion of math. Math class just used to be a “meh” for me. But now, my teacher teachers in a way that is so educational and at the same time very amusing and phenomenal. I am proud to be in such a class and with such a teacher. She has changed the way I think about math it has definitely improve my math skills. Now, whenever I have math, I am so excited to learn new things!

— Paulie Sobol, J.R Masterman

At the moment, the one class that I really feel supported in is math. My math teachers Mrs. Siu and Ms. Kamiya are very encouraging of mistakes and always are willing to help me when I am struggling. We do lots of classwork and discussions and we have access to amazing online programs and technology. My teacher uses Software called OneNote and she does all the class notes on OneNote so that we can review the class material at home. Ms. Kamiya is very patient and is great at explaining things. Because they are so accepting of mistakes and confusion it makes me feel very comfortable and I am doing very well in math.

— Jayden Vance, J.R. Masterman

One of the classes that made learning easier for me was sixth-grade math. My teacher allowed us to talk to each other while we worked on math problems. Talking to the other students in my class helped me learn a lot quicker. We also didn’t work out of a textbook. I feel like it is harder for me to understand something if I just read it out of a textbook. Seventh-grade math also makes learning a lot easier for me. Just like in sixth-grade math, we get to talk to others while solving a problem. I like that when we don’t understand a question, our teacher walks us through it and helps us solve it.

— Grace Moan, J R Masterman

My 2nd grade class made learning easy because of the way my teacher would teach us. My teacher would give us a song we had to remember to learn nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, etc. which helped me remember their definitions until I could remember it without the song. She had little key things that helped us learn math because we all wanted to be on a harder key than each other. She also sang us our spelling words, and then the selling of that word from the song would help me remember it.

— Brycinea Stratton, J.R. Masterman

Four of the biggest problems facing education—and four trends that could make a difference

Eduardo velez bustillo, harry a. patrinos.

In 2022, we published, Lessons for the education sector from the COVID-19 pandemic , which was a follow up to,  Four Education Trends that Countries Everywhere Should Know About , which summarized views of education experts around the world on how to handle the most pressing issues facing the education sector then. We focused on neuroscience, the role of the private sector, education technology, inequality, and pedagogy.

Unfortunately, we think the four biggest problems facing education today in developing countries are the same ones we have identified in the last decades .

1. The learning crisis was made worse by COVID-19 school closures

Low quality instruction is a major constraint and prior to COVID-19, the learning poverty rate in low- and middle-income countries was 57% (6 out of 10 children could not read and understand basic texts by age 10). More dramatic is the case of Sub-Saharan Africa with a rate even higher at 86%. Several analyses show that the impact of the pandemic on student learning was significant, leaving students in low- and middle-income countries way behind in mathematics, reading and other subjects.  Some argue that learning poverty may be close to 70% after the pandemic , with a substantial long-term negative effect in future earnings. This generation could lose around $21 trillion in future salaries, with the vulnerable students affected the most.

2. Countries are not paying enough attention to early childhood care and education (ECCE)

At the pre-school level about two-thirds of countries do not have a proper legal framework to provide free and compulsory pre-primary education. According to UNESCO, only a minority of countries, mostly high-income, were making timely progress towards SDG4 benchmarks on early childhood indicators prior to the onset of COVID-19. And remember that ECCE is not only preparation for primary school. It can be the foundation for emotional wellbeing and learning throughout life; one of the best investments a country can make.

3. There is an inadequate supply of high-quality teachers

Low quality teaching is a huge problem and getting worse in many low- and middle-income countries.  In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the percentage of trained teachers fell from 84% in 2000 to 69% in 2019 . In addition, in many countries teachers are formally trained and as such qualified, but do not have the minimum pedagogical training. Globally, teachers for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects are the biggest shortfalls.

4. Decision-makers are not implementing evidence-based or pro-equity policies that guarantee solid foundations

It is difficult to understand the continued focus on non-evidence-based policies when there is so much that we know now about what works. Two factors contribute to this problem. One is the short tenure that top officials have when leading education systems. Examples of countries where ministers last less than one year on average are plentiful. The second and more worrisome deals with the fact that there is little attention given to empirical evidence when designing education policies.

To help improve on these four fronts, we see four supporting trends:

1. Neuroscience should be integrated into education policies

Policies considering neuroscience can help ensure that students get proper attention early to support brain development in the first 2-3 years of life. It can also help ensure that children learn to read at the proper age so that they will be able to acquire foundational skills to learn during the primary education cycle and from there on. Inputs like micronutrients, early child stimulation for gross and fine motor skills, speech and language and playing with other children before the age of three are cost-effective ways to get proper development. Early grade reading, using the pedagogical suggestion by the Early Grade Reading Assessment model, has improved learning outcomes in many low- and middle-income countries. We now have the tools to incorporate these advances into the teaching and learning system with AI , ChatGPT , MOOCs and online tutoring.

2. Reversing learning losses at home and at school

There is a real need to address the remaining and lingering losses due to school closures because of COVID-19.  Most students living in households with incomes under the poverty line in the developing world, roughly the bottom 80% in low-income countries and the bottom 50% in middle-income countries, do not have the minimum conditions to learn at home . These students do not have access to the internet, and, often, their parents or guardians do not have the necessary schooling level or the time to help them in their learning process. Connectivity for poor households is a priority. But learning continuity also requires the presence of an adult as a facilitator—a parent, guardian, instructor, or community worker assisting the student during the learning process while schools are closed or e-learning is used.

To recover from the negative impact of the pandemic, the school system will need to develop at the student level: (i) active and reflective learning; (ii) analytical and applied skills; (iii) strong self-esteem; (iv) attitudes supportive of cooperation and solidarity; and (v) a good knowledge of the curriculum areas. At the teacher (instructor, facilitator, parent) level, the system should aim to develop a new disposition toward the role of teacher as a guide and facilitator. And finally, the system also needs to increase parental involvement in the education of their children and be active part in the solution of the children’s problems. The Escuela Nueva Learning Circles or the Pratham Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) are models that can be used.

3. Use of evidence to improve teaching and learning

We now know more about what works at scale to address the learning crisis. To help countries improve teaching and learning and make teaching an attractive profession, based on available empirical world-wide evidence , we need to improve its status, compensation policies and career progression structures; ensure pre-service education includes a strong practicum component so teachers are well equipped to transition and perform effectively in the classroom; and provide high-quality in-service professional development to ensure they keep teaching in an effective way. We also have the tools to address learning issues cost-effectively. The returns to schooling are high and increasing post-pandemic. But we also have the cost-benefit tools to make good decisions, and these suggest that structured pedagogy, teaching according to learning levels (with and without technology use) are proven effective and cost-effective .

4. The role of the private sector

When properly regulated the private sector can be an effective education provider, and it can help address the specific needs of countries. Most of the pedagogical models that have received international recognition come from the private sector. For example, the recipients of the Yidan Prize on education development are from the non-state sector experiences (Escuela Nueva, BRAC, edX, Pratham, CAMFED and New Education Initiative). In the context of the Artificial Intelligence movement, most of the tools that will revolutionize teaching and learning come from the private sector (i.e., big data, machine learning, electronic pedagogies like OER-Open Educational Resources, MOOCs, etc.). Around the world education technology start-ups are developing AI tools that may have a good potential to help improve quality of education .

After decades asking the same questions on how to improve the education systems of countries, we, finally, are finding answers that are very promising.  Governments need to be aware of this fact.

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Senior Adviser, Education

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Racial Inequality in Education

This essay about racial inequities in education highlights how systemic issues and financial disparities contribute to ongoing educational challenges. It examines how underfunding in predominantly Black and Latino schools, biased curriculums, and discriminatory disciplinary practices hinder student potential and perpetuate social injustices. The text argues for comprehensive reforms, including equitable funding, a decolonized curriculum, and restorative disciplinary measures, to bridge educational gaps and promote equality. The essay advocates for integrating racial justice into educational policies to ensure all students have equal opportunities to succeed.

How it works

In the intricate landscape of educational discourse, the persistent issue of racial inequity casts a significant shadow, illustrating the enduring challenges present within our educational systems. Despite some steps forward, the remnants of inequality persist, deeply embedded in the structure of educational institutions, exacerbating disparities and broadening the chasm between potential and achieved outcomes.

Education is often celebrated as a powerful tool for leveling societal playing fields, but it is enmeshed in a complex matrix of racial prejudice that spans from historical legacies to current battles for fairness.

The road to achieving educational equity is littered with hurdles, including systemic biases and institutional hurdles that block the road to equal access.

One of the primary pillars supporting racial inequality in education is financial disparity. Schools in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods often suffer from insufficient funding, resulting in poorer resources compared to their wealthier, predominantly white counterparts. This lack of funding leads to outdated teaching materials, poor infrastructure, and a dearth of critical educational tools, all of which limit the academic potential of students of color and perpetuate ongoing disadvantage.

Beyond financial issues, the curriculum itself can act as a medium for exclusion, often overlooking the achievements of people of color and presenting a history that aligns with a narrative of white dominance. This biased presentation deprives students of color from seeing their own histories and contributions reflected in their studies, continuing a cycle of marginalization and disenfranchisement.

Disciplinary measures in schools also disproportionately affect Black and Latino students, pushing them towards the school-to-prison pipeline. This harsh disciplinary approach not only perpetuates cycles of incarceration and economic disparity but also strips young individuals of their potential and dignity.

In the era of digital learning, the digital divide has become more pronounced, further highlighting the disparities in educational access. The shift to online education during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed significant gaps, with many students of color lacking the necessary technology and internet access to participate effectively in remote learning.

Tackling racial inequality in education requires a comprehensive strategy that considers the interconnectedness of race, socioeconomic status, and institutional power. Initiatives such as equitable funding, a decolonized curriculum, restorative approaches to discipline, and closing the digital gap are crucial for removing the barriers to a quality education.

In the quest for educational reform, the principles of racial justice must be integrated intentionally and thoughtfully into the fabric of policy and practice. It is only through unified and persistent efforts that we can untangle the deep-seated knots of inequality and create an environment where every student, regardless of their race or socioeconomic background, has the opportunity to succeed and excel.

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Lack of Education: Situation Analysis

Description of the problem, a solution of the problem, ethical consequences of the proposed solution.

The state of the educational system in the modern world is extremely contradictory. At one level, education became one of the most influential spheres in people’s lives, and the number of people who received education is much bigger than in earlier history of humanity. Scientific achievements have become the starting point for many social transformations and scientific and technological progress.

On the other level, the demand for educational services and the high prestige of education as a social institution are accompanied by an increasing number of problems. Some issues are still relevant for many countries: the elimination of illiteracy, the shortage of qualified teachers, the backwardness of educational technologies, the crisis of efficiency and productivity of the educational system. Thus, despite the record number of educated people, the problem of lack of education is more pressing than ever.

In 1869, in his outstanding essay “The New Education,” president of Harvard University Charles Eliot outlined general areas and ways for the education system development. In this essay, Eliot presented strong arguments for the constant renewal of the curriculum and teaching methodology so that learning could keep pace with the development of society. After one and a half hundred years, this approach is still relevant.

Lack of education is the inability of people to acquire specialized skills, such as cognitive skills, socialization, memorization of facts which are necessary for personal development and the development of society and the world economy. It can be manifested in inaccessibility to education for some parts of the population, for such reasons as the lack of schools, teachers, or money to pay for education. It also can be expressed as the education quality of citizens.

Often the inefficiency of the educational process organization has bad result – after several years spent in the educational institution, people cannot find a job as their knowledge and skills are not enough. Lack of education is a social problem, as education should promote humane and productive human life (Costache, 2018). In addition, well-educated people benefit society and continue its development.

Because of the technological development, jobs and competencies change faster than people can adapt. The major part of the world’s population is behind in the most important practical skills. In the nearest future, the major part of jobs will be connected with the IT-sphere. By anticipating changes of this magnitude, companies are urgently trying to find and gain the competencies needed to maintain competitiveness. Skills shortages are now one of the major threats to businesses.

This problem is of global scale and affects all areas of the economy. For example, according to Farooq et al. (2018), the successful economic development of Pakistan requires cooperation with China within the framework of China – Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). However, researchers note a lack of qualified personnel, in particular women, in such areas as higher education and logistics for sufficient fruitful cooperation. The most vulnerable area in which education shortages are unacceptable is health care. However, even this sphere suffers from the problem of unskilled personnel. Coughlin (2017), for example, notes that nurses have not been professional enough for performing their job recently. She explores the field of nursing with Down Syndrome but it can be argued that it applies to all areas of medicine.

Information on the lack of education worldwide, as well as in specific countries, is confirmed by statistics from official sources of international organizations and government think tanks. According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2018), for example, one in five children of school age do not attend educational institutions, and the total number of such children in 2016 was more than 260 million. The statistics show that the number of out-of-school children decreased by 114,5 million. Moreover, the gender gap has declined – previously the number of girls not attending school has exceeded the number of boys. It is a reliable source, as this agency has sufficient influence in the world and is entirely independent.

Through statistics, significant gaps in the existing education system can be identified. For example, there is still a serious gap between the life quality in developed and developing countries, which also affects the education level. The publications of Our World in Data, whose research power is located at Oxford University, among many infographics, have also determined literacy rates in world states (Roser & Ortiz-Ospina, 2020). The downside of the provided statistics is that researchers failed to obtain data for several countries. However, these are only a couple of countries with small populations. According to the data, 142 world states have a high level of education of 90-100%, with 8 states having a 100% rate. In just over 20 countries, the literacy rate is below 60%. They found that most African countries had a literacy rate below 30 percent.

To improve the quality and accessibility of education, the modern system must change approaches to methodology in the realities of a contemporary world in which technology rules. Thanks to computers, phones and Internet, students of any age, nationality, and wealth will be able to access world knowledge. The process starts with the introduction of tiered online training, providing flexibility and financial availability.

Innovative technologies can significantly affect the field of higher education. For example, universities can offer students a short program of specialty before he or she is fully engaged in studies. It is a way how disappointments in the chosen area can be avoided. Various tools and opportunities, for example, mobile applications, will allow studying from any place of the world (Camilleri & Camilleri, 2017). It will also favor faster and easier adaptation when students are starting studies after a long break.

Solving the lack of education problem is a common issue. Universities play a significant role in changes and possible reforms. They can organize effective collaboration, followed by the creation of a specific system within which they will share experiences, courses, and questions (Burbules, 2018). The lack of qualified teachers can also be addressed through the availability of technology. After all, within the system, educational institutions can apply to various specialists, not only to theorists but also to practitioners, for help to organize remote education with interested students.

The shortage of personnel around the world is growing, and educational institutions and employers around the world must become partners. Such partnerships between universities and employers aim to ensure that students acquire skills useful in employment. The educational institutions should develop along with labor market and employers’ demands, and the situation is such that education is of unprecedented importance.

Universities must assign qualifications appropriate to the interests of employers. Moreover, employers today are increasingly interested in skills rather than traditional degrees. Higher education institutions should make it easier for students to acquire new skills. Education should not be pumped after graduation – universities should offer students advanced training programs to continue their graduate careers. After all, today, more and more people understand that lifelong learning is the only way to develop. Moreover, technology will be a useful link in these processes.

The introduction of innovative technologies in the educational process affects not only organizational, methodological, or technological aspects but also the value sphere. In a new electronic environment, learning loses its former character. In current conditions, society is increasing demands for personal communicative and professional competences of high qualification specialists. In this case, the loss of influence of the educational institute on the formation of moral qualities of the person can have far-reaching consequences.

The positive ethical consequence that should be noted is education availability. People from different places can reach professors in England or America with one click. A few problems can be allocated from this consequence. The positive one is that in a critical situation, the educational process does not stop. A fresh and bright example is the coordinated work of schools, universities, teachers, and students in the context of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.

Another critical problem is opportunities for self-organization and self-development. New technologies actualize the development of the student’s personal qualities, such as responsibility, autonomy, commitment, initiative. However, a large percentage of those who start studying remotely do not graduate because they have little skill and motivation to learn on their own. The consumer attitude of many students to studying leads to the transfer of responsibility for the process and result of training to the teacher and university.

Experts note that only about a third of students show personal activity in the educational process, most are motivated not to teach independently, but to receive ready information through the teacher. In addition, students’ use of the Internet primarily for public communication and entertainment, rather than as a tool for acquiring knowledge, makes additional problems.

The negative consequence of the introduction the innovative technologies into the educational system is their cost. At first, a large amount of money will be needed to buy the equipment itself. After that, it is a constant expense to maintain the right work, which requires both the attention of specialists and regular expensive updates. It also gives rise to several ethical problems. First, thus education is still not available to all. For example, according to McFarland et al. (2019), not even all children in America have internet access. In addition, the data also vary according to race and metropolitan status:

In 2017, the total percentage of children without home internet was 14. At the same time, the amount of students of nonmetropolitan status is larger than the metropolitan. Data, according to race, show that the most significant percentage of children without Internet access is American Indians and Alaska residents. Further, Afro-Americans and Hispanics are the largest percentages.

While the use of new technologies, and especially the Internet, is intended to make education more accessible, this can only highlight another ethical problem – the gap between rich and poor. This gap creates conflict and crisis situations. It suggests that the struggle of the poorest and middle class for their rights, for a fairer distribution of income, in different forms, will gain strength.

Thus, the number of educated people in the world is steadily increasing, but due to the rapid pace of development of the modern world, the level of education cannot sufficiently meet the demands of society. Schools should teach to think in accordance with the principles of contemporary science and the information and technological realities of modern society. Today, the task of finding a systemic solution designed to create a long-term interaction that will ensure the satisfaction of educational needs and the constant flow of trained personnel into all spheres of industrial relations.

Burbules, N. (2018). Watch IT: The risks and promises of information technologies for education . Routledge.

Camilleri, M. A., & Camilleri, A. C. (2017). Digital learning resources and ubiquitous technologies in education. Technology, Knowledge and Learning , 22 (1), 65-82.

Costache, G. (2018). Lack of education, the main factor in committing anti-social behaviours. Journal of Law and Public Administration , 4 (7), 34-37.

Coughlin, S. (2017). Nurses lack education in caring for patients with down syndrome. The Grace Peterson Nursing Research Colloquium , 24. Web.

Farooq, S., Gul, S., & Khan, M. Z. (2018). Role of trained women workforce in China-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC): A gender gap analysis. Putaj Humanities & Social Sciences , 25 (1).

McFarland, J., Hussar, B., Zhang, J., Wang, X., Wang, K., Hein, S., Diliberti, M., Forrest Cataldi, E., Bullock Mann, F., & Barmer, A. (2019). The condition of education 2019 (NCES 2019-144). U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. Web.

Roser, M.,& Ortiz-Ospina, E. (2020). Global education . Our World in Data. Web.

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (2018). One in five children, adolescents and youth is out of school . UIS fact sheet No. 48. Web.

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