The Slum Problem
The Slum Problem
UNESCO reports that over 2 billion people in the world live in slums and that number is expected to double by 2030. That means every day, approximately 250,000 children are born into slums. That's 250,000 more children each day who are denied access to basic human rights such as health and clean water.
The United Nations Millenium Development Goal 7 Target 11 states: "by 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers." Unfortunately, as we near this hallmark year, conditions have only worsened. The reality is that because of exploitation by local slumlords and neglect from state governments, slum dwellers are left without a voice. Living conditions in slums are often sub-human as the denial of government services lead to children playing in gutters of human feces, houses mounted on heaps of trash, and cesspools that serve as incubators for infectious diseases.
Opportunity in the Slums
Paris was once a slum in the 18th Century.
London was a slum in the 19th century.
Despite common belief, there are endless opportunities for slums. Governments often try to bulldoze slums because they are an embarrassment to cities that are modernizing. There is also a lot of money to be made in selling the slum land. However, slums are homes and communities for these dwellers. The solution is not destroying this social fabric and moving them somewhere else to face alienation and financial hardships, but working to harness the development and self-sufficiency from within these slums. Where it has to start is with education.
Lack of Secondary Schools
Slum children are 5 times less likely to attend secondary school than their city counterparts.
Parents want to send their children to secondary school, but schools are just not available. Slum children can often only graduate from primary school. Even with recent rollouts of free government schools closer to slums, parents have seen the low quality of these schools and see poor schooling as too much of an opportunity cost. They would rather pay the small tuition for community schools. Therefore, there is a need for community secondary schools that are readily available and committed to excellence in slums.
Impact of Secondary School Education
Increase in wages, delay in girl pregnancy, lower percentage of alcohol / drug abuse, and lower crime rates.
Other impacts of effective community secondary schools
- Safety
- Identity for street children / orphans
- Civic responsibility
Scenarios
Without secondary school education
Boy: low-skilled labor job, low wages, higher risk of drug and alcohol abuse, higher incidence of crime
Girl: early pregnancy, higher risk of HIV and other STI's, very low opportunity for jobs and wages
What Can Happen with a secondary school education
Boy: possible opportunities for tertiary education, higher skilled jobs, 25-50% higher wages, develop leadership skills and civic responsibility, ability to negotiate
Girl: possibilities for tertiary education, potential for skilled labor, large decrease in pregnancy rates, significantly lower chance of HIV / STI's, healthier future children, higher education levels for their children
Slums can move from apathy-riddled places of despair to places of real opportunity. Higher levels of education is the long-term solution to bringing these communities out of poverty and restoring not only the dream of a better place but also the realization of it.