Education as a Foundational Human Right

As seen in a voguish society, education is a foundational human right. It is essentially an enabling right that creates various avenues for the exercise of other basic human rights. Once granted access, it can lubricate the fulfillment of other rights and freedoms more specifically pertaining to children. Essentially, the lack of education allocation is detrimental to every fundamental right associated with the well-being of human beings. Consequently, the role of education for girls in particular as a forefront to nation states welfare cannot be exaggerated. As various scholars assert, the challenges and problems faced by the African girl, to enjoy her right to education are multifaceted. Many of the difficulties faced includes discrimination, child marriages, poverty, religious and cultural practices, and health issues. There are millions of young girls who are lacking access to a proper basic education in developing countries.

This crisis has sparked a bit of controversy over it even in our contemporary society, as it is critical in the more remote and poor regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. Although, “poor countries agreed to develop comprehensive, nationally owned strategies for achieving universal education. Such plans include a clear domestic fiscal objective and commitment to education reforms” (Herz and Sperling, 2019). The commitment was created from more than 180 countries in the UN Dakar Frame-work of Action on achieving universal education by 2015 for boys and girls. However, the target of this research is mainly focused on girls.

Having the acceptance of gender equality and the privilege to quality education in Sub-Saharan Africa would help to decrease the poverty rates and increase economic productivity because it will expand the impact that women have in business. The biased society in Sub-Saharan Africa unknowingly perpetuates disadvantaging situations by continuing the “ignorant is bliss” attitude towards girl’s education and figuratively restraining them from taking part in their local economies. Girls were raised in a society that institutionally disadvantages them while relying heavily on religious and cultural traditions. From the laws of the land to the culture that penetrates the lives of Sub-Saharan natives, girls are not seen as productive members of the economy. Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the poorest countries in the world, with some of the highest child labor and illiteracy rates.

In order for Africa to reach the universal education goal for all its children, then specific efforts need be clearly attempted by policymakers such as addressing the social, economic and cultural barriers hindering a large portion of girls in less developed countries from attending school. Essentially, the human capital enhancement is a critical element in the reduction of poverty. More importantly, the participation of children in primary and secondary schools plays a fundamental role in the development of social infrastructure in the less developed countries. Primary education provides the foundation for a lifetime of learning. According to (UNICEF Data, 2019), “providing universal access to, and ensuring the completion of, primary education for all girls and boys is one of the key areas of concern identified in the Beijing Platform for Action adopted in 1985”. There has been an extensive amount of research that has established that investing in girls’ education exhibits high results because it isn’t just limited to female educational attainment but also for mother and children’s health, income growth, productivity, sustainable families, democracy and woman empowerment in the society (Herz and Sperling 17).

When talked about, people generally associate the Saharan region with poor economic conditions and social disorder that goes with the Third World Status. Although some of the assumptions are accurate, society as a whole has failed to see the tremendous potential for this area of world. The Saharan governments have several factors that they could look into if they want to effectively and efficiently revamp the regions quality of life. The major aspect being for them to improve the more crucial aspects to functioning and healthy region, for example, allowing ALL children to possess their natural rights to a decent education. However, other factors have high contributions to the continuous complications this region is currently dealing with. In order for Sub-Saharan Africa to have a full development and become an economically viable region, it has to first address its over growing population crisis, preventing the HIV/AIDS epidemic and thoroughly improve its educational systems. “Early marriage and teenage pregnancy are significant factors. In sub-Saharan Africa, 40 percent of girls marry before age 18, and African countries account for 15 of the 20 countries with the highest rates of child marriage globally. The region also has the world’s highest prevalence of adolescent pregnancies” (Tibasima, 2019)

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