Your Name and Title:
Kasey Beck, Founder and President
School or Organization Name:
Invictus Institute
Co-Presenter Name(s):
Ed Gragert
Adriana Vilela
Area of the World from Which You Will Present:
United States
Target Audience(s):
Orphanages
Schools serving disadvantaged students
Non-profits serving disadvantaged students
Individuals interested in global education initiatives
Short Session Description (one line):
Invictus Institute arranges for students to be tutored online; we seek additional support to globally roll out our program.
Full Session Description (as long as you would like):
The world has set a goal to “Ensure inclusive and quality education for all” by 2030 as Goal 4 of the global Sustainable Development Goals. All young people have a right to a quality education, but many do not have qualified teachers or the right infrastructure to get a quality education. In 2017 there are 130 million young people aged 5-19 who are either not in school or who are lagging behind due to class size, under-trained teachers, geographic isolation, physical disabilities and lack of educational materials. The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) notes that there is a huge shortage of trained teachers worldwide. To get every child into primary school, we need 1.7 million more teachers – 1 million more in Africa alone. Other global education challenges include:
- 74 countries have a teacher shortage, Nigeria alone needs 217,000 additional teachers, and India needs 370,000 teachers to meet demand for primary education
- According to the India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development, 6 million children aged 6-13 are estimated to be out of the school system
- Thirty-one countries report that fewer than three quarters of teachers are trained (to any accepted national standard).
- Chad has just one pre-primary teacher for every 1,815 children of this age group
- Teacher absenteeism is over 20% in Uganda, India, and Pakistan
- Niger reports just 1,059 trained lower secondary school teachers in 2010 – compared to 1.4 million children of lower secondary school age – meaning only one trained teacher for every 1,318 children.
- In Mali, only half of all primary school teachers are trained – and only a quarter of these have had training lasting six months or longer
- Teacher ratios of 80:1 in Central Africa Republic,74:1 in Malawi and 59:1 in Rwanda.
- Some countries count those who have completed primary school and a one-month training course as trained.
- In Sub-Saharan Africa, 10 million children drop out of primary school each year.
One way to help meet this need is to use a variety of connective technologies to tutor students online to promote universal access to a quality education by the skills of millions of educators and others, like student teachers and retired professionals
Since 2011 we have piloted online tutoring/mentoring arrangements between volunteer tutors in the U.S. and students located in global south countries. Through weekly online sessions between volunteer tutors and students preferably in a one-on-one setting through Skype, Google Hangout, etc., we have demonstrated that education can be enhanced. We are currently tutoring around 100 students in seven countries.
Through existing education networks, teachers’ unions, universities, etc. we can recruit thousands of volunteers to tutor and mentor the millions of students needing educational services. Even when universal education policies help enrollment numbers, little is being done for the students who fall behind. Teachers are paid very little so they often take up 2-3 jobs and are unable to help students on a personal level. Teacher turnover is high so students will often see a few different teachers in a school year. It is common for students to be in classrooms with 100+ students and automatically advance to the next level.
There is a tremendous need for personalized education and a very large pool of volunteers who want to help (teachers, former teachers, college students, high school students, etc.). We have the ability to set up a system globally for students, regardless of the country in which they live, to receive regular help from a tutor/mentor. Our main limitation has been computer equipment and internet access. With the right partners and resources in place we can make the connection possible and effect change in individuals’ trajectory and their communities.
Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session:
Replies