Poverty and Early Childhood Education Around the World

The World Bank: Poverty in Latin America & the Carribbean:  Opportunities for the Children of Colombia

     I visited the website of the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre’s page and learned about the opportunities for the children in impoverished areas of Colombia.  The three areas of the article that most interested me were; which circumstances allowed the children to access opportunities, access to goods and services for children, and the Urban-Rural Gap.

     In the article, “Measuring Inequality in Opportunity in Latin America and the Caribbean”, Barros shares that there are five opportunities for children to access key services and goods between 1997 and 2003.  Two of the services were directly related to education, while the other 3 were connected to housing.   The Colombian Human Opportunity Index measures the availability of services that are necessary for children to progress in life, such as having running water.  The Index takes into consideration both the unfair distribution of services and the fact that in the last two decades income inequality has remained the same.

Access to Opportunities

     There were several factors that demonstrated that some growth had been made during the years 1997-2003 toward the access of opportunities that children in Colombia have experienced.  Colombia experienced an increased regional access of opportunities by approximately 9%.  This was attributed to the conclusion of 5^th grade on time, primary education, and school attendance for 9-15 year olds, access to clean water, sanitation and electricity between the ages of 0-17.  The HOI assessed that there had been a 17% increase based on the conclusion of 9^th and 11^th grade on time, school attendance to preschool, children 0-5 in un-crowded dwellings, children 0-5 with health insurance, safe environments 0-17 and access to telephones for ages 0-17.  The HOI concluded that there was more growth in the access to opportunities for children in the first three stages of life which could be attributed to the vulnerability of children during infancy.  The growth demonstrated translates from a 26 to a 56 percentage point.  Therefore the adverse circumstances that children face have been decreased by opening the doors of opportunity just slightly.  

     Despite HOI’s advances, the 2008 opportunity gaps between those children in favorable and unfavorable circumstances remain large.  The largest gaps remain in the areas of education, food security, access to water, sewerage, and the internet.

Access to Services and Goods

     In the last decade the largest gains have been made towards providing access to services and goods to the children of Colombia.  Health insurance, preschool attendance, completion of middle and high school on time, sewer, electrical and telephones has been the contributing factors that have slightly improved the conditions for children.  Access to water remained nearly the same over the last decade and the index showed that “security-perception plus victimization” also remained the same.

Rural vs. Urban

     Children in urban areas continued to have better access to opportunities and access to goods and services that are important to success in life, than those in rural areas.  Over the last decade, the gap did shrink by 9 percentage points; however the main disadvantages for rural children continued to be education and Housing.  Education improved in the younger grades; however completion of 9^th grade on time and completion of secondary education continue to fall behind.  In Housing, access to water and sanitation remained low.  Despite the lag in rural areas, they did improve in their completion of primary -8^th grade on time, and there were improvements in access to telephone service, electricity and some sanitation.

     Reviewing this research on poverty in another country allowed me to see that here in the United States the majority of our population has access to all of the goods and services that they mentioned. I feel that reviewing this allowed me to see that although we have put a lot of resources in the reach of our population, many people continue to struggle to maintain the basic needs.  Because resources are available to people, does not mean that they can afford to have them.  Personally speaking, I am one of those middle class families that Dr. Cathy Grace discussed in our media resource this week.  I live in a nice home in a comfortable neighborhood drive a new car, but have to be concerned about if we can afford groceries every month.  There have been times when I have to play what I call the “bill lottery”, to determine what I will pay this month and let go for the next money that comes into the house.  Telephones are not a necessity when money is tight.  One little occurrence, such as a car needing repair or a bill going up, can cause our whole budget to go out of sync.  What I realize is although we are more fortunate than people in other countries. We are only one or two extra bills away from living in poverty ourselves. 

     Professionally, this has given me the opportunity to reflect on how I approach my students.  I feel that I understand the circumstances that they are coming from; however I know that sometimes I do not truly consider how hard their families may be having it right now.  Especially when it comes to purchasing materials for class assignments and projects, we are lucky to have paper and pencil for all students daily.

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTLACREGTOPPOVANA/Resources/840442-1291127079993/IOH_Colombia_2010.pdf

“The Effects of Poverty on the Early Childhood Community” (approximate length: 13 minutes). Conversation with Dr. Cathy Grace (Director of Early Childhood Development, Children’s Defense Fund). Retrieved from Walden University Course Page.