United Nations Sustainable Development Goals-myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theUnited Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Answer: Introduction: - The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals were set in 2015 during the historic summit and came into force in 2016 by focusing on building on the success of the Millennium Development Goals that had been set before. Somalia being one of the low-income countries as ranked by the World Bank faces historical, cultural and structural factors that inhibit the achievement of the goal for the children in the country. Hussein (2015) suggests that being in transition; the country faces higher challenges of meeting the educational needs of young people in the country even as the world works towards achieving the education for all. To Somalia children, this is a dream that may never be realized any sooner. This essay analyses the state of achieving goal number four in the context of Somalia. Structural Challenges: - Somalia is a country that has not seen peace and tranquility for a very long time. Fighting is the order of the day and school going children are almost getting used to it. One challenge facing the education system in the country is structural factors that inhibit access to the education (Leeson, 2007). Structural factors exist in the stratification of the society through social institutions and patterned relationships and any other network ties that exist with the society. One common factor that affects the education access is poverty which has been fueled by increased wars in the country (Africa The education Trust, 2017). Most families are thus lacking household resources that can be used to take children to school. Some regions in the country offer free education while others do not thus make access to the education difficult. War itself is a structural barrier to the education since armed conflict directly affects schools and the education in general by damaging learning spaces and infrastructure. Further, O'Malley (2007) adds that children and teachers are affected by the war and are always fleeing for safety thus having little time to stay at school and learn. The trauma effects of the war may also affect children psychologically thus making it difficult for them to concentrate and learn like their counterparts in peaceful places. The need for the education environment to be nurturing, caring, safe and conducive to create rapport for educators and students to succeed is a requirement in the education sector. Without proper structural conditions, students have difficulty settling down and coping with the environment. Lack of government support towards the education is also a structural challenge that the country is facing in achieving the dream. Most teachers who work in the country are underpaid by the government thus making them less motivated and seeking supplementary income. Sommers (2002) suggests that such system lacks a payment structure to be used for paying teachers which makes them underpaid and less motivated thus making the brightest people in the country less attracted to the sector. Paulson (2011) reports that this has led to shortage of teachers with large classes having more than fifty pupils while most schools lack subject specialists to train students. Historical Challenges: The war witnessed in the country has taken toll on the education system thus affecting access to the education. Schools have been bombed while some teachers have been killed or are participating in war thus leaving schools with few teachers. Hussein (2015) reports that most teachers in Somalia have no bachelors degree or are not trained at all thus compromising the quality of the education that children receive. According to UNICEF (2018),the country lost the opportunity for formal the education since it has the lowestenrolments with only thirty percent of children in school with girls account for forty percent of the enrolled population. Rural areas are more worse since they have only 18% of children in schools. This challenge creates a broken state of theeducation system that cannot allow the country to meet the development agenda. Curriculum challenges have also been reported as the major barrier to achieving quality the education. The curriculum used in Somalia is outdated and the teaching styles used are authoritarian. The system has not been reviewed for a long time with different languages being used by the school(Paulson, 2011). The system of eduction is not uniform with a big variation in the schooling system and subjects taught in schools. Some schools use the four-four-four system while others use the six-three-three system which creates lack of uniformity in the school system (O'Malley, 2007). Further, there is a mixture of the curriculum used where some schools use the one before the civil war while some use the one imported from Kenya. The education policy framework creates challenges on how the education for all can be achieved. The ministry of the education is on a drive to revive the education at all levels to offer equal access to the education (Somalia Minstry of The education, 2012). However, the number of internally displaced people in the country calls for the need to provide emergency the education which is not sustainable (Leeson, 2007). This also presents the challenge of the type of the education curriculum to be used. Since leaners environments present different challenges, a uniform curriculum becomes challenging for the country. Cultural Challenges: Somalia is an Islamic male-dominated the country where women have no rights. Like many Islamic states, the culture of silence is common where women are not allowed to own property, and other privileges which limit the access of girls to the education (Elmi, 2010). From UNICEF (2018), reports children from nomadic communities in the country that make up sixty five percent of the population are denied the opportunity for the education further, if the same children join school, they do it at later age which is beyond the recommended age of six thus making it difficult for them to progress and finish school. Lindley (2008) suggests that the culturalsystem of this community does not recognise the rights of the girl child thus most girls stay at home with incidences of female genital mutilation which frustrates the education efforts. Other cultural factors manifest themselves in treatment of boys to girls thus creating disparities that make girls lag behind in the education. Lastly, Hussein (2015) study reported that retention rates are low since most students drop out along the way. Parents roles in retention of children is low since most of them are not interested in the education for their children. Accordin to Hussein (2015)This role has been left to the civil society groups who are struggling to meet the needs of the society. Such groups are supporting the educationprogramme through funding and empowerment that allows children from families to have meals in school as a way of retaining them. Critical Analysis:- The education is a process of acquiring knowledge through a continuous learning process. The need for an educated world through providing equal the education for all by 2030 is a global agenda driven by the United Nations and being implemented in many lower-middle and lower income countries (UNICEF, 2018). However, Somalia seems to be on the verge of failing to meet this goal because of historical, structural and cultural challenges that the country has been facing (Williams Cummings, 2015). The state of prolonged war in the country has rendered most school environments unfit for both learners and educators. The turmoil has made the system vulnerable to the extent that there is no uniform curriculum that meets the modern standards. On the other hand, providing the education is a challenge on its own in the country since the country is still struggling with post-war trauma. This means that achieving the intended goal is a tall order for Somalis. As other countries struggle to meet the goal through accelerating existing policies and aligning them with the United Nations requirements, Somalia is still struggling with inherent post-war challenges that have affected the state of the education in the country. Research shows that displacement rates in the country have affected the education by destroying infrastructure, displacing and educators and even students who are supposed to attend classes (African Education Trust, 2017). This implies that Somalia may not achieve the intended goal unless the structural, historical and cultural factors towards the education are addressed. Recommendations: - To improve the education program in the country as a way of aligning the system with the United Nations development agenda, the following recommendations can be used to improve the education system. The first step in achieving the education is to ensure quality of the education program by reviewing the curriculum. For uniformity the ministry of the education is supposed to review and come up with a single curriculum that reflects the current the education standards. Such system is supposed to be competitive globally. Secondly, there is need for the government to invest heavily in putting up proper the education structures to meet the number of students in schools. Currently the learning environment does not reflect global standards that allow students to easily learn. Further, more teachers need to be employed since most educators are not trained teachers but service volunteers. Another recommendation is addressing cultural barriers through capacity building programs that address the importance of the education. Parents and children need to understand the role that the education plays in the society to be able to fully support the system. For example, the girl child is the most vulnerable while pastoralist communities do not value the education at all. Lastly, the education support through availing relevant learning resources is a way empowering more children to stay at school (Hassan Wekesa, 2017). Since most parents fail to meet basic requirements like food and learning tools, then support through the civil society groups or the government can assist in increasing learner retention levels in the country. References Education, S. M. (2012). Somalilands Education Sector Strategic Plan 2012-2016. Hargeisa: Somalia Minstry of Education. Elmi, A. (2010). Understanding the Somalia Conflagration: Identity, political Islam and peacebuilding. New York: Pluto Press. HASSAN, A. H., WEKESa, M. (2017). Factors influencing education. The Strategic Journal of Business Change Management , 3, pp. 127-146. Hussein, A. S. (2015). Educational challenges in post-transitional Somalia. Mogadishu: The Heritage Institute for Policy Stud. Leeson, P. T. (2007). Better off stateless: Somalia before and after government collapse. Journal of Comparative Economics , 35 (4), 689-710. Lindley, A. (2008). Transnational connections and education in the Somali context. Journal of Eastern African Studies , 2 (3), 401-414. O'Malley, B. (2007). Education Under Attack. Paris: UNESCO. Paulson, J. (2011). Conflict, Education and Curriculum Contemplating Past, Present and Future. Conflict and Education , 1 (1), 1-5. Sommers, M. (2002). Children, Education and War: Reaching Education For All (EFA) Objectives in Countries Affected by Conflict. Washington: World Bank. Trust, A. E. (2017). Somalia . Retrieved from Africa Education Trust: https://africaeducationaltrust.org/somalia/ UNICEF. (2018). Education in Somalia. Retrieved from UNICEF Somalia: https://www.unicef.org/somalia/education.html Williams, J. H., Cummings, W. C. (2015). Education from the Bottom Up: UNICEF's Education Programme in Somalia. Journal of International Peacekeeping , 22 (5), 419-434.