Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
23
appropriate location.99 When implementing interventions specific to childrenwith disabilities,
families need to be on board. Family-centred interventions might help create a balance between
the child’s home and education environment. Therefore, key services to link families with
service providers would be helpful to create impact.100 However, one should note that the main
issue arising in early interventions for disabled children is targeting. Evidence shows that even
though the poorest families are the ones who would benefit most from these interventions, they
are least likely to have access to these services.
Interventions addressing language and ethnicity
Multilanguage education programmes or non-formal complementary education
programmes help children integrate better with the education system. A good command
of the language of instruction is a strong determinant of academic achievement. When children
are comfortable with the language spoken at school they are more likely to perform better.
However, when the language spoken at home is different from the language of instruction,
children, risk falling behind. To combat this problem, an important number of countries in Sub-
Saharan Africa are moving to multi-language education in which children start learning in the
language that they speak. At the time of their independence, 43 percent of Sub-Saharan African
countries used the local language in instruction rising to 80 percent now.101 For instance in
Ethiopia, eight years of primary education is provided in seven languages now while at the time
of the independence, the language of instruction was only Amharic.102 This way, the demand
from households is also enhanced. In a study conducted in Ethiopia, a parent states that they are
happy to send their children to a school where the medium of instruction is their mother
tongue.103 Apart from multi-language education, another implemented method to cope with
language differences is “complementary education”. In Ghana out of school children aged 8-15
years old benefit from a complementary education programme called “School for Life” that
provides classes in their mother-tongue. The programme was found to improve the probability
of attending formal education for participating children with 82 percent of the participating
children moving on to formal education.104
The interventions aiming to contribute in language outcomes are commonly consolidated
around structured pedagogy.105 The teacher’s role becomes prominent in structured
pedagogy type interventions. Most of the programmes build their basis on improving teachers’
skills in managing different languages which is among the most important components of
children’s educational success. In addition to language specific interventions, early education
settings can also play a key role in eliminating language based disadvantages by teaching
children in the language medium of schools in the early years prior to school enrolment.
99(Newman, McEwen, Mackin, & Slowley, 2010)
100 (Newman et al., 2010)
101 (UNESCO, 2016c)
102 (UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) & UNICEF, 2015) and (UNESCO, 2016c)
103 (Orkin, Yadete, & Woodhead, 2012)
104 (UNICEF & UIS, 2012a)
105 Snilstveit et al. (2016).