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From VOA Learning English, |
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this is the Education Report. |
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Recently, there have been efforts |
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to make sure children in Africa |
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get a good strong education. |
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But a new report says governments |
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are losing about $129 billion every year |
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on poor quality education. |
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As a result, about one in four students in poor countries |
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cannot read a complete sentence, |
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that represents about 175 million young people. |
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The report comes from UNESCO - |
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the United Nations Educational, |
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Scientific and Cultural Organization. |
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It says poor teacher training and spending cuts |
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are just two of the reasons for underperforming school systems. |
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Pauline Rose, an education specialist directed the report. |
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She says more teachers are needed across Africa, |
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especially in countries south of the Saharan desert. |
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She says the area would need about 225,000 additional teachers |
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a year to guarantee a primary school education |
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for all boys and girls by 2015. |
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Miss Rose says governments like to save money |
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by using contract teachers. |
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These educators are not government employees |
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but work under a special agreement. |
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Contract teachers can be easily dismissed |
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if found to be underperforming. |
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They also earn far less money than teachers working for the government. |
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Contract teachers represent more than half of |
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the teaching work force in many West African countries. |
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Pauline Rose says teachers need to have a strong desire |
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to help children learn. |
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She says they should want to be in the classroom |
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instead of doing other jobs. |
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In recent years, financial support for education |
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has gone down or stayed the same in many countries. |
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The UNESCO report says governments |
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will need to increase spending on education. |
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Miss Rose says governments can do better on collecting taxes |
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and making sure everyone pays their fair share of taxes. |
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She says governments could also offer good housing |
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to make sure impoverished areas have enough teachers. |
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The report says South Africa gives six times more money |
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to students in areas with low education levels and high unemployment. |
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Malawi is creating teacher colleges to train new candidates |
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for teaching positions in skills for rural areas. |
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And Ethiopia is urging mentors and supervisors |
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to help support teaching candidates. |
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And that's the Education Report from VOA Learning English, |
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I'm Mario Ritter. |