Policy Brief: Lessons to Be Learned: Education in Dryland Regions

November 2019

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Lessons to Be Learned: Education in Dryland Regions

Working Group III - Policy Brief

Figure 1: University of Central Asia, Khorog Campus, Tajikistan (Photo: Monika Mętrak)

Key messages
1. Dryland areas are facing a number of common problems that are relevant for
education. However, differences in the economic situation and in historical and
cultural backgrounds of dryland countries can lead to differences in their scope
and impact on the population.
2. Schools in dryland areas generally are heavily underfunded. Continuing unequal
allocation of resources can further exacerbate and reinforce the existing
regional disparities.
3. Educational systems should be reoriented towards developing talented children
so that they become resources for local communities, rather than being
enstranged from them.
4. Both teaching and learning in a language that is not one’s own, which is typical
for post-colonial countries, is considered to be the least advantageous model
for education.
5. Educational systems in dryland countries often face serious problems with
insufficient managerial and administrative capacity, leading to forms of private
education that can be both expensive and inappropriate.

Dryland areas of the world are facing a number of common problems that are relevant for
education, among others low population densities, a nomadic or partially nomadic lifestyle of local
populations, a diminishing resource base and various environmental problems triggered by climate
change. Though in general the challenges are similar, differences in the economic situation and in
historical and cultural backgrounds of dryland countries can lead to differences in their scope and
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impact on the population. Therefore, the following brief was prepared using examples from
dryland countries of different backgrounds, located in the arid areas of Sub-Saharan Africa (the
stretch of countries running from Mauritania to Somalia, plus Botswana and Namibia), the
Maghreb and the countries of Central Asia (Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan).
Common challenges for education were examined in four selected areas: (1) low population
densities, (2) the question of how to make the best match between the labour market and
education, (3) language issues and (4) the issue of private and public education.

Low population densities

A consequence of low population densities in dryland areas is that all types of infrastructure are
more difficult and more expensive to provide and maintain. Thus, the schools in drylands tend to
be sparsely distributed and heavily underfunded. They often shift extra expenses to students and
their families, as official and unofficial out-of-pocket fees. Such solution makes education
unaffordable for many impoverished households (Habibov, 2012). As the best teachers pursue
their professional careers in big cities or abroad, dryland areas are usually deprived of qualified
and dedicated staff, which leads to high pupil-teacher ratios (PTR) and often lower quality of
teaching in rural schools (Sapargaliyev and Shulenbayeva, 2013). Net attendance ratios for schools
and early childcare institutions are in general lower in dryland, rural areas than in and around
bigger cities (relevant UNICEF MICS surveys 2013-2016), causing unequal development
opportunities for youngsters and consequently affecting basic educational attainment at later
stages (Takala et al., 2012, Yembuu, 2010). Yet, this is not unavoidable, as shown by the
experience in the Central Asian countries, where during the Soviet period a wide system of
schools and preschool institutions was built. This system remains partially operational today and
local inhabitants are still accustomed to sending children to public educational institutions. The
observed disparities between dryland, rural regions and better developed, urban areas can be
explained by the lack of mechanisms that would link regional needs to priorities for government
expenditures for education. Continuing unequal allocation of resources can further exacerbate
and reinforce the existing regional disparities (Habibov, 2012).

Match between education and labour market

In many dryland countries, education is geared towards training and recruiting the most talented
children for the urban-based sector of the economy. This means that the most talented children
are lifted from their communities, are given an education not relevant for their communities and
are offered the opportunity to acquire a new life, divorced from the people ‘back home’. Those
who do not make it through this selection process become menial workers in urban centres, or
unskilled workers and subsistence farmers in their own communities, lacking both the modern
skills to deal with their changing environment and the skills that in olden days used to be
transmitted within extended family systems. Thus, educational systems waste locally invested
resources and lead to intellectual impoverishment of local communities. As a result of over 60
years of massive command economy, educational and training systems in Central Asian countries
often teach old occupational profiles no longer required in a market economy, or relevant for
rural areas. In some Maghreb countries, especially in Tunisia, much less time is devoted to
teaching science than to teaching humanities at lower education levels (less than 5% of the
primary school timetable is devoted to teaching science, compared to a global average of 12%
see Akkari, 2005: 70 as cited in Subrahmanyam, 2011). Thus, low interest in technical degrees
can be observed among students and consequent overproduction of graduates in fields of social
sciences and humanities follows, which is associated with failed school-to-work transition and
high unemployment rates (Subrahmanyam, 2011).
This situation is one of many legacies of the colonial period. In most dryland countries the link
between theoretical knowledge and practical skills is not strong enough and students generally
perform much worse at complex procedures and problem solving tasks than at knowledge items
and routine procedures (Wallenborn, 2009, Ydyrys et al., 2014). At the same time, vocational
and technical education remains neglected and underinvested in many dryland countries
(Yembuu, 2010). The challenge is to re-orient educational systems towards developing the most
talented children from dryland communities so that they become resources for local
communities, rather than being enstranged from them.
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Language issues
In most dryland countries in Sub-Saharan Africa former colonial languages have been maintained
as languages of instruction in education, including in primary education (with the exception of
Somalia and Sudan). Yet, evidence is available that when teachers use a language that is not their
own to teach a subject to children in a language that is also not their own, great losses of
effectiveness are caused and this is considered to be the least advantageous model for education
(Busse and Walter, 2013). Thus, the great majority of children are left with only the most basic
of skills after their education and effectively enter into ‘semilingualism’: a situation where they
have inadequate levels of communicative abilities in all the languages that they speak. They do not
speak the colonial languages well, nor are they literate in their mother tongue or in a regional
wider language of communication.
The linguistic situation in the Maghreb is very complex (French, classical Arabic vs. various
dialects, diglossia, Arabization), which could to a great extent be attributed to the colonial legacy.
Instead of being an advantage, bilingualism here seems to generate social problems, especially in
Tunisia (e.g. Aitsiselmi and Marley, 2008; Strengholt, 2002; Daoud, 1991; Guellouz, 2016). Van
Pinxteren (2018) has hypothesized that countries approaching high enrolment ratios in education
will be forced to change at least part of their curriculum. This has indeed happened in Tunisia (a
Gross Enrolment Ratio of nearly 35% in tertiary education in 2015), where most University
studies are now offered in Arab, with the exception of math and science subjects.
In the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, up to 1989, Russian played a central role in
education. In Mongolia, education has always been in Mongolian, although there was a change
from Mongolian to Cyrillic script in 1941. After 1989, in Central Asia education in the national
languages (Kazakh, Tajik, Uzbek) was pursued energetically and English has been added to the
language repertoire. Today, educational systems in the Central Asian countries try to combine
both international and national approaches. Governments emphasize national themes (history,
heritage, culture, see e.g. Zharkynbekova et al. 2014, Gaipov et al., 2013). Simultaneously they
try to make education more open to foreign influences, for example by trilingual education in
Kazakhstan, where Kazakh, Russian and English are taught from the 1st Grade up to the 11th
Grade. The Higher Education System is also considered to provide tri-lingual education. In
addition, Kazakhstan has shifted from the Cyrillic to the Roman alphabet (Gaipov et a., 2013).

Private versus public education

In many dryland countries, governmental budgets for education are low and do not keep pace
with inflation and population growth. In addition, there are serious problems with insufficient
managerial and administrative capacity in education, as responsibility is often distributed across
several ministries and across multiple levels of the system (Chapman et al., 2005, Yembuu, 2010).
Lack of proper governance in education causes rapid development of private religious and
commercial schools in dryland countries. While the Islamic educational system is oriented
towards Koran learning, knowledge of Islamic traditions and Islamic law (sharia), Christian
education has proliferated and offers a large variety of degrees. Commercial private education is
experiencing rapid growth, making use of the high demand for education and the limited
opportunities available through state-run systems in dryland countries. Quality of education
offered covers the whole range between excellent and abysmal. There tends to be an over-supply
of ‘fashionable’ curricula, which are imported from abroad and provide qualifications that may be
of little use in the local labour market.

Recommended Actions and Conclusion.

The issues outlined above lead to a number of recommendations, divided into more general
recommendations and more specific ones.
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Figure 2: Overview of recommendations (photo: www.ilri.org)

The general recommendations are not specific for dryland areas alone. Their implementation
will lead to a general improvement in education and to efficiency gains across the board.
1. Extend mother-tongue instruction to the whole of primary education
2. Concentrate on literacy, numeracy and life skills
Education that starts with the mother tongue offers great advantages in teaching basic
numeracy and life skills. Even those who do not gain access to further education still profit from
the education they do receive.
3. Invest in primary education and in teacher education
4. Respect cultural differences
Imported teaching methods may be culturally ill-suited for a specific group. Teaching methods
must be respectful of the cultural values and norms of local communities, without attempting to
cast them in stone.
5. Develop e-learning programmes

The specific recommendations, on the other hand, are especially suitable for dryland areas and
pastoral peoples.
6. A more flexible and innovative approach to education, including establishment
of Pastoralist Field Schools.
This approach results in problem based learning by doing in a familiar environment; discovery-
based learning tools; training teachers from within pastoralist groups; facilitating the learning
process instead of teaching; linking literacy and numeracy training with practical vocational
skills; developing appropriate teaching materials in local languages; allowing parents and children
to learn together to address adult illiteracy; funding grants to buy livestock to help communities
pay teachers.
7. Involve and mobilize diaspora communities
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References
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Authors
Bert van Pinxteren, African Studies Centre, Leiden University, the Netherlands
Mirza Emirhafizović, Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Inga Dailidienė, Department of Geophysical Sciences, Klaipeda University, Lithuania
Aleksandra Figurek, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Rareş Hălbac-Cotoară-Zamfir, Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania
Monika Mętrak, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw

This policy brief is based upon work from COST Action Drylands Facing Change: Interdisciplinary
Research on Climate Change, Food Insecurity, Political Instability (CA 16233), supported by COST
(European Cooperation in Science and Technology). We identify common challenges in the education
sector in dryland areas to be considered in policy-making processes, alongside with a set of strategic
policy actions.

COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a funding agency for research and innovation
networks. Our Actions help connect research initiatives across Europe and enable scientists to grow their ideas by
sharing them with www.cost.eu