Karpinska - Education and instability

ZUKI KARPINSKA looks at the challenges posed to education during natural and man-made disasters and considers what constitutes a basic educational necessity

In southern Sudan, the average age of a child entering school for the first time is twelve. That child will stay at school for an average of only one year, a full year too early to gain functional literacy. And these statistics are much worse for girls than they are for boys. Sudan was recently ranked the world’s worst place to live, beating even Iraq for the dubious honor. Decades of civil war coupled with severe underdevelopment have rendered primary schooling – much less university – an unattainable luxury in vast areas of the country. However, Sudan is hardly exceptional: more than 500 million people are living in similarly fragile states. How can children living in situations of instability be given the opportunity to gain at least a basic education? The problems connected with education in countries affected by natural or manmade disaster are at once more rudimentary and more complex than most people who attended school in an industrialized nation could imagine.

I first became interested in educational development while performing research for an undergraduate essay. Living in Washington, DC I approached the embassy of Guinea (Conakry) for data. Standing in the ramshackle townhouse that served as the embassy, I asked the receptionist what he considered to be his country’s greatest need. “Education,” he answered without hesitation, and handed me two grant proposals that had recently been submitted to the World Bank. I had expected the proposals to seek funding for textbooks, school furniture, or possibly teacher salaries. Instead, both documents contained requests for items I did not associate with teaching and learning: deworming medicine, latrines, food. I had never before considered that the prerequisites for formal education include healthy bowels, proper sanitation facilities for girls and students with energy. Although one of the world’s poorest nations, Guinea was relatively stable at the time of my research. Given adequate funding, these basic needs could be met. In situations of instability – in countries affected by war, famine, flood, or earthquake – the solutions to these problems require more intricate solutions.

The humanitarian aid industry usually divides these problems into those concerning access to educational opportunities and those concerning quality of education, but in practice the two categories frequently overlap. The good health of students increases their potential to access education, but also enhances the quality of their learning by improving concentration. School materials – chalkboards, textbooks, and visual aids – improve the quality of teaching and learning, but can also be argued to increase access to educational opportunity. The overall objective for most education projects usually marries access and quality. But how can this be achieved in a disaster area?

At its most rudimentary, formal education requires only a teacher and students. Even a school building is not strictly necessary, as thousands of ‘schools’ across Africa are held under trees. Except when it rains. And it rains in abundance in the tropics. Building a school with a roof, therefore, lengthens the amount of time students spend learning and thus raises learning outcomes. In a stable developing country, given sufficent funding, the construction materials may be procured and transported to the chosen school site, a construction crew employed and – a few months later – a school stands.

In a situation of instability, however, not only are funding needs substantially greater, but the risk of failure to construct a school by project end increases exponentially. Firstly, no building materials are available locally. War may have halted production, floods washed away stocks or earthquake destroyed all structures.. Moreover, school construction is hardly a priority in the early months after a natural disaster; tents are used to shelter students until roads are cleared of debris and homes rebuilt. Contractors and construction crew? Chances are, all able-bodied men are soldiers in the conflict or displaced in camps. Construction personnel may be hired in a neighboring country, but the expenses are great and the risk of desertion during attacks or air raids high. Donors are therefore unwilling to back projects during the conflict period. In a post-conflict situation, risks remain but the level of insecurity has decreased somewhat, and donors begin to entertain the notion that a physical school could act as a peace dividend: a tangible symbol of the end of conflict. Yet obstacles persist. Roads may be mined and materials may have to be air-lifted. Trucks may be attacked by returning soldiers on either side of the conflict, or by hungry villagers who can sell the cargo for food. What to do then, to increase equitable access to quality education when transportation is impossible? Air drop school materials to a populated area in metal chests, with fingers crossed that the community will not only use them but also know how to use them? UNICEF does just that.

During an active conflict, school is held when it is not raining and when the situation allows. School is held when a literate volunteer teacher can be found (the state is no longer willing or able to pay salaries ) and when students have not fled from the fighting forces and not too malnourished or sick to attend. The two requisite ingredients of formal education – a teacher and students – may not exist in disaster-affected areas.

Primary level teaching, the feeder system, cannot improve without high-quality secondary and tertiary education. Higher levels of schooling depend on permanent-construction buildings, on not only a series of textbooks but also expensive equipment for lab work, and on regularly paid, highly educated teaching staff. In areas of disaster, existing universities – if there are any – are often moved to the capital city until the situation stabilizes. Whether the students move with the institution depends on their luck and their wealth.

The interface of education and instability calls for innovative, multi-level solutions to the problems of poor access to and low quality of education. The funding and risk levels involved in implementing education projects in such circumstances are colossal. But, what is the alternative? Do nothing?

Zuki Karpinska has been a humanitarian aid practitioner in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa since a decade ago. She is currently reading for a D.Phil. in education and instability at St. Antony’s College, Oxford.