This past Friday at Newcomer was a typical Friday in the science classroom. One of the things that was the most shocking to me was the struggle that students had figuring out how to create a line graph. I always grew up with the perception that math and science were taught universally across the globe. You don’t really need to understand the language to understand the concepts as much as you would in other subjects. The students really struggled with grasping the idea of finding a point on the graph with two data points. This struggle made me reflect on the differences in education systems across the world. I decided to do some research into Islamic countries to relate educational systems to our readings and studies this semester.
Saudi Arabia, a predominantly Muslim country was established in 1932. At the time, education was only available to a few children coming from wealthy families. The education system today consists of over 50 public and private schools that are open to all citizens (both male and female). The Qur’an teaches the importance of education and education has a strong root in the Middle East stemming from the Golden Age. The study of Islam is at the core of the educational system which also includes a focus on modern fields of arts and sciences. The school system must balance the countries religious, social, and economic needs. General education consists of kindergarten 6 years of primary school and 3 years of intermediate/high school. The literacy rate in Saudi Arabia is 94.84%.
On the other hand, Afghanistan is a country that has been ravaged by war and conflicts that have negatively impacted the education system. There have been many reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 that have led to some progress. Prior to 2002 less than one million students were enrolled in school and they were mostly boys. Gender inequality is one of the biggest problems in the education system due to traditional beliefs, lack of female teachers, and lack of proper sanitation facilities in all-girl schools. Currently there are approximately nine million children enrolled in school and at least 39% of them are female, however, these numbers include absent students who have not returned to school in the past 3 years. Education in Afghanistan is still very hard to attain (especially in rural areas) due to geographical and cultural boundaries. Afghanistan has one of the lowest literacy rates in the area – 38%.
My time at IPS has taught me that an education is one of the most important gifts that we receive and it is not to be taken for granted. I hope to one day become involved with an organization that helps provide education to children in countries like Afghanistan because an education can truly change a life. The children in the IPS Newcomer program are learning many necessary skills in addition to language that will help them in their future. Increasing access and quality of education can truly change a country.