How Does Poverty Affect Education?

Poverty drastically impacts education, just as education drastically impacts poverty. People living in poverty are often limited to menial and low-paying jobs, which in turn makes education difficult to afford.

How does poverty affect education?
Here are some ways:

Education is not a top priority

For many who live in poverty, education is not a priority. The parents may not have received an education, so they place very little value on learning. They may not understand the way education can help bring their family out of poverty. They may feel that the jobs available to locals do not require an education.


There is no time for school

Parents may need their children to work or beg in order to feed everyone in the family. There simply isn’t time to do that and go to school. Other children have the task of walking long distances to gather water, leaving no time for school.


It is too expensive

Some families cannot afford school or the necessary uniforms and supplies.


Marriage can pre-empt an education

Around 12 million1 girls marry before the age of 18. In some cultures, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, marriage is more of a priority than education.


Disabilities keep kids out of school

“Of the 100 million or so children around the world with a disability, 80% of them are in developing countries. In these countries, 40% of children with disabilities don’t go to primary school and 55% are not in secondary education.”1


Gender preferences impact girls

The United Nations estimates that 130 million girls (ages 6-17) are out of school and 15 million girls of primary-school age will never enter a classroom.1 This is a major issue in sub-Saharan Africa.


Distance can be an obstacle

Children in many villages are required to walk or ride long distances to school. Those distances are detrimental to children going to school.


Click here, to read more about this article.

Click here, to read more blogs in Gospel for Asia.Org

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our Attitude Towards Suffering

Image
In 2 Timothy 2:3, the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Everyone, at some point or another, faces suffering, the soldier especially. However, it is not so much what we suffer, but how we suffer that matters. The way our heart responds to suffering is crucial, because by it we will either advance or become stagnant. To suffer like a good soldier is to willingly endure all for the sake of the call. To suffer like a bad soldier is to grumble when difficult situations and hardship arise. Instead of throwing our lives into what God has called us to, we can try to hold on to our lives, wanting to get away with as little suffering as possible, paying as little price as possible. We have forgotten that we are under the orders of our Master and that we willingly gave up our lives. Christ’s Example of Suffering Christ lived with the expectation of suffering. Throughout the Gospels, He repeatedly referred to ...
Read more

What Is the Poverty Cycle?

Image
The question, “What is the poverty cycle, or cycle of poverty?” is one that must be answered to address and end poverty across the globe. Put simply, the term refers to the trend where the vicious effects of poverty and deprivation pass from one generation to the next, with no seeming way out. [1] Someone born into poverty has fewer opportunities than their wealthier peers. They must focus on survival above all, leaving little room for anything else. One illness can wipe out a family’s savings, but the unclean water sources and lack of protection available to them invite sickness. Walking to retrieve water can be time-consuming yet must be a daily priority, and many children must work alongside their parents for the family to afford food. Thus, school is often a far-off dream. Having had few opportunities to acquire skills, the kids grow up to repeat the cycle of poverty with their own children. This story was all too familiar for Nalah. His father worked in the tea fields, trying to e...
Read more

Where Can I Learn How to Break the Cycle of Poverty?

Image
There are many methods for how to break the cycle of poverty which one can learn about. From education assistance to income-generating gifts like sewing machines or farm animals, there is hope for families who have been poor for generations. GFA World works in communities in all these ways through sponsorships and gift distributions, and one by one, we see lives changed as families escape poverty. Raina’s life had been dominated by poverty. She was part of a highly underprivileged people group that faced discrimination and deprivation from others in the region. Despite that, Raina had been able to attend school up until tenth grade, but she discontinued her education when it became too much for her parents to afford. Rather than receiving her certificates of completion, she had to join her parents in the field to earn money to put food on the table. After she married Ander, Raina continued to work in the fields to supplement his income with her own. In search of better job opportunitie...
Read more