education for life
There are lots of reasons why children don’t go to school.
- In poor countries, people often have to pay for education. And many parents can’t afford the fees. Instead, children help with chores like fetching water or farming.
- Children have to work to help the family earn enough to survive and sometimes this is at the expense of their education. Some children may have to walk for hours to get to school.
- War affects education. There has been war in Somalia for years. In the last ten years, not one teacher there has been fully trained. Sometimes schools move from a proper building into a grass thatched structure in a safe area.
- In countries where primary school is free, schools are often run down and don’t have basic resources like books, blackboards or pens. Children sometimes have to learn outdoors.
The conditions for teachers in rural areas are sometimes very poor. In some places there is no housing, so teachers, once trained, do not want to work there. - In areas where HIV/AIDS is common, lots of children have been orphaned. Many children have to run the house and look after their younger siblings. There’s no time to go to school.
But Byron gets up at 4am every Saturday and travels for three hours to the city of Quito! The reason? He is doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. ‘Sometimes it is hard to get out of bed,’ he admits, ‘but the challenge deserves the sacrifice!’
Byron is working for the Bronze award, and has already done first aid training with the Red Cross. Now he is learning how to bake. As well as learning useful new skills, Byron gets the chance to develop his leadership ability. He enjoys meeting new friends on the course.
Once he finishes at the bakery, the next part of the programme is sport. Byron has chosen swimming. ‘At home, I’m used to playing football with my friends,’ he says. ‘Now I want to learn something new.’
Byron having fun learning new skills.
