Legalize It. Mandate It. Combine It: How the Public, Private and Government Sectors Can Guarantee an Education for All
By Em
We can pass laws that Internet companies have to install technology in rural villages if they want to continue having customers in urban areas. Similar to the concept of Toms Shoes, where for every shoe sold, one pair has been donated to those in need, companies such as Spectrum or Charter Internet can install cable in one home for free upon installing it in a paying customer’s home.
Opposite to catering to individual homes to have access to virtual teaching, we can also bring teaching to public gatherings. Massachusetts Institute of Technology mentions donkey carts in Pakistan in its article “Making high-quality education accessible to all.” When I read this I immediately thought of an industry I coined called “transportation education.” (Even though the article initially focused on the science of a donkey pulling a cart.) The article mentioned bringing up this local transportation method so the professors would be “teaching STEM concepts in an engaging and locally-relevant way.” There can be a large computer monitor brought to villagers on a cart or on a van. The technology can be connected to live teachers anywhere in the world. A teacher in the United States can teach oceanography; an instructor in India can teach math; so on and so forth.
If we are referencing accessibility in terms of physical access, the choice to be educated from home has now been prevalent due to the pandemic. Students in the fall 2021 with the nation’s second largest district, Los Angeles Unified School District, are going to be provided an alternative if their families decide to have them unmasked if otherwise in person. All of the district is transitioning to in-person education; however the requirement is to continue to wear masks in-person.
Let’s go beyond the local level and into the global one, once again. Continuing the work and funding of institutions, businesses, and nonprofits that aid in global education is also a large piece of the pie to keep education accessible to all. One such organization is the Brookings Institution, which serves as a think tank, based in Washington D.C. It’s focus is in the social sciences — on economics, policy, government, foreign policy, the global economy and development.
The Brookings Institution has identified a “100-year gap” between levels of education in wealthy and developing countries — meaning that without substantial changes in current education systems, it will take 100 years for children in developing countries to reach the education levels of children in developed countries.
Whether in the private or public sector, both can work together. When political entities get involved, such as the United Nations, the push for equitable education becomes official. With the goal for access to education for all children by 2030, the UN is making headway. All children means those with “able-bodied” means and those with “able-differences”.
Nepal was a focus of a study published by a writeup from the World Bank, a global financial institution to provide loans and grants for countries of low to middle income for these countries to then pursue profit-making projects. It is said there is limited data on what children with disabilities learn. It also claims there are many misperceptions about the financials behind the education of such children. The data does suggest the returns to education for children with disability are strikingly high — 19% to 26% as estimated by a study in Nepal.
The World Bank Group has supported inclusive education for children with disabilities across Bulgaria, India, Togo, and Vietnam, amongst others. A program called Intergenerational Deaf Education Outreach in Vietnam teaches deaf children sign language. The goal is to educate at a very young age, enabling them to then be ready for formal primary school. They could replicate institutions throughout the world with enough funding, knowledge and staff.
Relating to differentiating instruction for those with varying types of abilities, as teachers who know sign language can be hired for those with hearing differences, the same goes for those with vision differences, as they can have teachers who know Braille. Documentary director Lucy Walker produced the film “Blindsight.” The story follows Tibetan blind teenagers, who climb a peak on Mt. Everest led by famed blind mountain climber, Erik Weihenmayer. If this isn’t social-emotional learner at its finest in a world that is beyond “real” or beyond “daily life,” then there is definitely something limited to just defining education to a classroom.
