What, me Worry?: Enriching poor through education

So, as some of you are aware I will be heading to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for a few days over spring break to attend the Education Without Borders International Student Conference. I would never have been able to do this had Fanshawe not very generously offered to pay for my flight (the conference will pay for the rest.) I am representing you, the students of Fanshawe, so I am here to ask for your input.

What is Education Without Borders? In the words of the conference organizers it is “a biennial international student conference creating networks across cultures in order to understand, and generate solutions for some of the world's greatest challenges. This is achieved by engaging the world's most innovative students and leaders of business, technology, education and the humanitarian sector in a collaborative forum that culminates with commitment to action.”

I was awarded this opportunity on the basis of a “Project Proposal” that I wrote for International Studies Division here at Fanshawe. I will try my best to summarize the key points of my paper in a nutshell so that all of you have the opportunity to offer constructive criticism and make suggestions before I leave on February 22. In some respects my proposal might be naive, and I'll be the first person to admit that, but you would be amazed at the power of the human spirit; when we get behind a cause we can change the world, despite even the best efforts of our government.

My proposal was entitled: Building Infrastructure Through Education and Technology, and was focused on the subject topic, Inequitable Access to Education and Technology in a Knowledge Economy. I truly believe that available education is the key to all of Humanity's adversities, (did any of you join in the International Day of Protest on February 7 against tuition hikes?) One effective way of doing this is to provide computers where individuals have free access to the Internet's infinite educational resources.

I believe that the poor have the ability to build on existing skills with the right opportunity. Right now in many areas of the developing world there are volunteers working tirelessly to build schools that will provide educational tools like computers, as well as teachers to African communities. I have a vision that sees taking these initiatives to the next level by organizing groups of volunteers that consist of teachers and professors from around the globe who are interested in volunteering their time and knowledge to create an online “college” that does not require fees, but works on donations and the efforts of volunteers.

Such online courses are already available, through colleges like Fanshawe, and carry the same weight as its in-class equivalent. The costs for such a program would be low, and would consist mainly of Internet site maintenance fees. The key to the importance of this theory is that although there are already volunteers teaching at schools in Africa, no one would argue that the reality is, it is very difficult to get enough teachers to move to a third world country to teach, after all they are just people like you and me. The long-term goal would be to align ourselves officially with various colleges, universities and teacher's colleges and encourage these institutional learning facilities to support and recognize the program. This initiative involves taking an official and active role. It is important to have the support of recognized academic institutions since our long-term goal would be to provide a certificate or diploma that has the credibility of a recognized educational institution like Fanshawe College.

This project is important to individuals in impoverished nations like Africa because it works alongside humanitarian aid groups to provide not only nourishment for the body, but an education as well, which makes one valuable in the global community. Projects like these that build on the necessary infrastructure as opposed to just creating a temporary “band-aid” solution facilitate the process of making the business indigenous, thereby taking the first few steps to breaking free from poverty.

Poverty is a vicious circle. In order to get out of poverty one needs money and education, and in order to get money to get an education, one needs an education, or money. There are already humanitarian groups who are providing the necessities of life (food and running water) to communities in nations in Africa. There are also groups like Build African Schools, amongst others, who are working to provide a basic education as well as access to computers for Africa's impoverished but opportunistic youth, installing electric power and providing computers and other educational equipment.

Although there are many developing countries that are in need of education, Africa's school enrollment has continued to decline since the 1980's, making it one of the worst nations for education enrolment. In many African countries only half of children are able to attend school, while adult literacy rates are below 40 per cent.

As opposed to current African schools, we would require a much smaller number of teachers for the same amount of students because one teacher can look after several computers, while teachers from around the globe can each look after one or two students thousands of miles away as well as their current classes. We have already seen with groups like Build African Schools that it is possible to get electronics giants like Mac to provide computer hardware and software to the cause. What we would need to do is align ourselves with these groups.

And maybe in the distant future we will see less western shoppers wasting their money in stores like Ten Thousand Villages and Earthwinds that supposedly import these products from “authentic” sources in Africa. What I would like to know is, who's getting rich off these products? Not the African worker I am sure. So as the Grameen Bank (among other money lenders) has proven, if we provide small loans to workers (especially women, whose opportunities are smaller) they can successfully start a small business, in this case from anywhere with access to a computer. Maybe a small eBay-like company could start selling handmade beads and such, to bigger ticket items. The customer pays for shipping and handling as it is anyway, so I say, cut out the middleman.

Anyway I'm getting ahead of myself here so I will put it in your hands; please get back to me and let me know what you think. Make some suggestions and I will try to make sure they get to the right people.

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
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