Pay For A School In Every African Village...

[vetuste_ennemi]

...and in twenty years time we wouldn't need to give aid. to Africa.

This is a quote from a Mirror journalist on Sky's Press Preview discussing the utility of Western aid budgets to the third world.

My question is in what way would universal education oin Africa solve the problems of food shortage, occasional drought and lack of clean water?

[ummmm]

Contraception is not always available.

[jim360]

Education at least helps to combat those attitudes, though. It's pretty clear that the Mirror journalist's quote is wildly optimistic, but nevertheless funding or supporting widespread education can only have a positive influence.

[fiction-factory]

so Naomi- are you saying it's religion and beliefs that are the main cause of breeding? I thought you said it was ignorance

[naomi24]

fiction-factory, //so Naomi- are you saying it's religion and beliefs that are the main cause of breeding?//

Why are you asking me what I'm saying? You can read what I've said - and clearly I didn't say that.

[ummmm]

Regardless of religion people have sex. It's natural.

[ummmm]

Yes you did, Naomi!!

[fiction-factory]

Of course you said it Naomi.
I'll bow out as your debating style is frankly weird

[-Talbot-]

She didn't

'Other factors have to be taken into consideration'

Where is the word 'main'?

[naomi24]

Thanks Talbot. At least someone has read what I said, but I’ll add to it. Superstition among African people is rife. I’ll give you a couple of examples. I know a highly educated African man who lives in the west and has done for years. He is married to a westerner, he holds a very responsible, well paid job and he speaks twelve languages. Nevertheless he is terrified of Black Magic.

Another example. A South African doctor friend of mine travels to outlying villages to tend to the sick. She told one of her patients, an Aid’s sufferer, not to have sex with anyone because if he did he would give the disease to them. On her next visit she asked him if he’d had sex with anyone. Yes, he had – because to his mind if he gave the disease to someone else, he would no longer have it.

[naomi24]

*Aids*

[EDDIE51]

In 3rd world countries children are expected to work as soon as possible to provide food for the family. That is why they are taken out of school . It is not lack of schools that is the problem, it is lack of money. People have children just to ensure there are family members who can work for an income. Solve the problem of poverty and the other problems soon cease to exist .

[david small]

That’s fallacious Eddie51. Over population will be the death of this planet eventually. Not poverty,though they do go hand in hand. Stop making more mouths to feed, then they don’t need feeding.

[andy-hughes]

The problem with solutions to Africa's problems are the same as the solutions to ours - they involve a long-term commitment, and politicians are short-term only.

No government is ever going to invest in something that will involve a result twenty years down the line, with the exception of major infrastructure projects which cannot be halted once they have commenced.

Any and every government wants to be able to see the results of its policies by the next election, so they can be re-elected, and that tunnel vision has, and will affect policy from the earliest days of parliament, through to today, and for the foreseeable future.

No point in spending lots of money on African children - they don't vote in British election, so there is no incentive to engage with them.

[CrapAtCryptics]

If we havent managed to solve the problems with more than 60 years of donations perhaps we need to look at it differently. Maybe a global initiative to have controlled migrancy to safe fertile areas with adequate water supply.

[naomi24]

//No point in spending lots of money on African children - they don't vote in British election, so there is no incentive to engage with them.//

Nonsense. We spend a vast amount on overseas aid, a significant proportion of which goes to Africa.

[fender62]

african countries with a majority muslim population, do not want girls to learn only to be wives, any learning would be how to recite the koran..contraception is out of the question, bit like the catholics
god allah needs more worshippers, soldiers etc, as for other countries in the region.. i think the west has tried just about everything, aide wise..tribalism superstition corruption, i heard kenya is sort of doing ok ?

[Peter Pedant]

// Yeah, but degrees don't dig no wells!..//

usual AB crushing one liner
which is really illogical crip

OK - they have fewer degrees now - but still no wells !
duuh

You can show education is positively associated with lower child mortality and better health
( cuba and puerto rico)

[Peter Pedant]

// Yes, he had – because to his mind if he gave the disease to someone else, he would no longer have it.//

o gawd as nigh might say - what is this in argument for?
dont supply triple therapy to africa ?
build a great warl around england ?

[vetuste_ennemi]

Education is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for social advancement. That's a truism, isn't it? Or ought to be.

I see one poster has mentioned culture, but nobody so far has mentioned good governance. Might these not these two things (clearly not totally unrelated) be the preconditions on which social progress depends? And whose absence cannot be filled by any amount of money? Or education for that matter.

[EDDIE51]

Every village? Some 'villages' are only 3 or 4 houses, there has to be minimum size.