Solutions for Extreme Poverty - Education

1. Expand Access to High-Quality Early Childhood Education

1.1. Studies show that if children are introduced to high quality education from a very early age, they are far more likely to succeed later on down the line academically. Children who attend these programs are far more likely to do well in school, achieve better jobs and therefore, receive a better pay check then those who don't. They are also less likely to drop out of school and experience teen pregnancy. Therefore, if we were to introduce more high-quality early childhood education, more people would be less likely to be subject to poverty in the future. Perhaps solving the issue needs to happen before the issue even arises.

1.2. In 1970, Osborn and Milbank analysed data from 8,500 pre-school children. They assess the effects of cognitive and behavioural development of 5-10 year olds and found that those who went to pre-school were more advanced than those who did not. This is proof that high-quality education for early childhood development is very beneficial for the child. We can, therefore, see how this would help solve poverty because it will be able to open doors for people and prepare them for the future.

2. Lessen or Eradicate Student Loans

2.1. Student loans vary from place to place. In Wales they are roughly £3000 a year, whilst in England they are £9000 and in America they are averaged to be between $9000 to $23,000. People who are suffering from extreme poverty cannot afford to go to university and therefore, they cannot get a good education or job. This leads to them being unable to get good pay and they are still then stuck in poverty.

2.2. Canadian students are relieved of their student loan after 15 years, and the government pays the difference. Canada also has debt reduction plans that can reduce the debt by up to $26,000

2.3. Swedish students do not have student debts. They do have debts for the high living cost, but this is roughly $19,000 worth of debt, which is around 45% less than the average American's debt

2.4. French students only have to pay around 200-2000 euros per term. Less than 2% of students need to take out student loans. Other countries that have no or very little student loans include Germany and Australia. Evidently, this can work for other countries quite efficiently, so if we were to lessen our student loans, this could help more people in poverty to obtain a better education and get better paid jobs in the future.

3. Give All Children Equal Opportunity

3.1. If we gave all children equal opportunities in education and make all education standards the same (no private schools), people suffering from extreme poverty would not have to miss out on good education purely based on their financial situations. If we were to stop spending money on nuclear weapons and if we were to improve on teaching standards, as mentioned before, children would be able to get a better education that would be able to keep them out of poverty in the future.

3.2. Statistics show that students who go to private schools are far more likely to achieve better grades than those who go to public schools (89% of private school students achieve at or above their achievement level and those who go to public schools had 82%). This is because those who go to private schools have a better standard of teaching and have one to one tuition. If we were to high this standard, then we will be able to keep people out of poverty as they will get a better job.

4. Stop spending on Nuclear Weapons

4.1. Government should spend money on education not nuclear weapons. Britain would face a bill of £25 billion for just 4 new nuclear submarines (according to the Independent newspaper)

4.2. If at least some of that money went into education and not nuclear weapons the state of education would improve dramatically

4.3. International Monetary Fund (IMF) show that the means of Trident's replacement would more likely be £167 billion

4.4. Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) argues the figure could be £205 billion once dis commissioning costs are taken into account, although they could be exaggerating the figure because they are against nuclear weapons and want to make it seem worse than it truly is so people will be against nuclear weapons too. The CND is an organisation that is against nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

4.5. If the government were to stop spending money on these nuclear weapons, and at least not create any new submarines, and this money were to be put into education, the standards of education would improve dramatically. This money could go into school resources and better teaching styles and more teachers so that pupils could have more one to one lessons and therefore improve their grades. This would solve poverty because more people could get better jobs and therefore more money and finally be free from extreme poverty.

5. Changing teaching standards

5.1. There are currently 438,000 teachers in the UK, and there are guidelines of teacher standards that teachers must have in order to teach. If the government were to raise these standards of teaching required in order to be a teacher, then the standard of education people would get would be drastically improved.

5.2. The guidelines for teacher standards are currently: set high expectations for pupils, promote good progress, demonstrate good subject knowledge, plan and teach well-structured lessons, apt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils, make accurate and productive use of assessment, manage behaviour effectively and fulfil wider responsibilities

5.3. If the government were to raise these standards or approach it differently, it could make a huge difference. For example, instead of setting just high expectations for pupils, teachers could set realistic goals for pupils and then work from there to help them achieve the highest goal they can possibly reach, instead of putting a huge amount of pressure on them to reach extremely high expectations. Another example of how teacher standards could be reached differently is they could try to ensure every pupils understands instead of teaching a large group of pupils. They could teach a class and then towards the end go around each pupil individually and ask them if they understand. If they do not it will be easier for them to say it to the teacher instead of in front of the entire class.