School education Cancel Title is required

www.children.org/learn-more/contact-us/faq/about-child-details/my-school

In India , it says..
- Primary (grades 1 to 5)
- Lower secondary (grades 6 through 8)
- Upper secondary (grades 9 to 10)

I think, it should be corrected as follows:
- Primary (grades 1 to 5)
- Lower secondary (grades 6 through 10)
- Upper secondary (grades 11 to 12)

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In the Dominican Republic , although school is free, students are required to pay for all public primary and secondary schools.

- Is this extra cost for things like uniforms, textbooks, transportation and supplies?

I am considering sponsoring a CI youth in the Dominican Republic so I have been researching the Dominican Republic school system -- the conditions are far, far from favorable, but to your question about costs: School is free, technically, but according to Makario International (a religious org) there are costs, this is from their website, quote :  Another factor that keeps children out of public school in the Dominican Republic is not being able to afford the extra expenses incurred from attending; uniforms, shoes, supplies, and sometimes “recess” and “special privileges” must all be purchased, closed quote .

Who ever heard of paying for recess?  That's terrible.  I really wish children from all countries had free and good primary and secondary education.  How much better would the world be if we did.  Even the U.S. has lack luster education in certain parts of our country.  Its what saddens me the most since education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty.

In Viet Nam, many elementary schools have no books and no electricity.  In Chad, the ratio of teachers to students is one teacher for sixty-two students .  In a staggering percentage of the world's countries, the dropout-rate is solely because families cannot afford to buy school books, school uniforms and school supplies.  In more than half the world's countries, teachers in schools have not been taught how to teach, most teachers in poverty-bound African countries have no education themselves.  An overview of world education stats is troubling indeed --- I had a nightmare about all this recently because one of my sponsored youths was just accepted at a University -- a university which is massively underfunded and was recently closed "indefinitely" by the country's President because he is angry with student protesters...

It's sad that a politician will rob a child of the opportunity to pull themselves and their families out of poverty because he doesn't like what people say.  Sign of a person with low self-esteem and weak character definitely.  To bad he's taking the rest of his country down with him.

Oops!  the DR info actually has a word or two missing!  It should say: Although school is free, students are required to pay forall public primary and secondary school supplies.  Our web team will be correcting that soon. 

As far as the India grades info, we double checked with our regional director in India, and while what we have is correct, we are going to update it to indicate that 6-10 is secondary and 11-12 is post-secondary.  Again, our web team is working on it :-) 

Thanks for the interesting discussion. CI DR provides educational assistance, which certainly helps meeting the extra cost [ childreninternational.do/nuestros-programas/educacion ] + 19 pupils per teacher in the DR (2017 stats – uis.unesco.org/country/DO ) is an indication of the system getting better. Rachel, Good Luck in finding your DR Youth!

In Zambia , (the link at the start of this tread) says..

"Sponsored children in Lusaka attend public, privately owned or community schools. Here, public schools offer the best quality of education but are less available for our sponsored population."

I don't understand this..

- Is it public or private schools offering the best education?
- If children must complete 12 years of school, do/why public schools charge fees?

In Zambia private schools means schools that are run and owned  (mainly) by religious organisations. They are not like the private schools that exist in modern countries.  In the public schools there are requirements for instructors like teaching degrees or certificates.  In community schools and private schools there aren't any. From what I've read public schools offer the best education, but there aren't enough of them to accommodate the large numbers of Zambian students.  Now for your second question.  Zambian public schools are free until the eighth grade. Starting in the eighth grade students must pay to attend. I'm just guessing there wasn't enough money for grades 8 through !2? 

barbmc, I'm glad you found this discussion. You have experience with education in Lusaka with Ceaser. 
There are different types of private schools in Zambia - faith based and for profit. Private schools come at a high cost and are not regulated by the minimum standards of the government; they are not accessible by all children. Out of the affordable options available, some children have to choose between governmentals chools (which can stop at 7th or 9th grade) and community schools that are formed due to scarcity of schools in the area.
As barbmc said, the first seven years of education (primary school in Zambia) is mandatory and free to attend. According to Unicef, Zambia has almost achieved the UN's goal of universal primary school access with a rate of 93.7%and a completion rate of 78.6% in Lusaka specifically. (OH YEAH!) In 2002, this number was just above 50%. Many community schools, sometimes the only option for children,might include fees in order to pay teachers and have basic operations. 

Thank you for this very informative discussion about education in Zambia! I have been following it closely. 

My question now is how can we help our sponsored children get a solid education? I have requested education information on my 9 y.o. boy in Zambia. I made it known that I am open to pay for private schooling. But from this discussion, it seems that private school may not be the answer. Are there strong tutors? Does anyone have any advise on how us sponsors could meet educational needs in Zambia? I have worked with children who want to become doctors... How do we help them get ahead when the education available is lacking? 

Thanks barbmc/ramfam and Claire!

I'm a freshman to Zambia, and have just begun my journey with Faith (8), whose family is not able to afford to send her to school.

I'm in favor of free-education, and have found below article published some 4yrs ago in Zambia Daily Mail.

[ daily-mail.co.zm/free-education-grade-one-university-possible ]

Even though public school is mandatory and free to attend (up to grade 7 or age 12/13?) plus offers the best education, it's less available for CI sponsored children – why?

- Is this because public schools are also making (hidden) charges (other than cost of uniforms/school supplies), over crowded classrooms or far distances to travel to get to a public school from compounds in Lusaka?

- Do Zambia sponsors know what type of school their children go to – public, private or community?

- Being a sponsor, why would you explore private or community school systems for your child?

It's not a hidden fee. Any sponsor can ask CI to provide them with a list of the items and costs  that their  sponsored child  will need for the coming school year.  CI requests that sponsors send the money for Zambian students by the end of November so they can assure your child will have a place in school in January when the new school year in Zambia begins.  It takes awhile to get this information so I would make this inquiry now and also ask for an education report at the same time.  That will give you additional information about you child's education. Keep in mind some of the information is provided only by the student or their family. Sometimes students are not completely honest with CI. In one educational report Ceaser said that he was doing well in school. The staff wrote that he would not be able to pass his 9th grade exams without a private tutor. Then the cholera epidemic  struck and shut down the schools in the compounds for months.  Like Elemay posted  sometimes a child's success depends on circumstances beyond our control (or theirs).  Isn't food a first priority? I read that  around 45% of children under the age of 5 in Zambia suffer from chronic malnutrition or stunting (low height for age). Stunting affects both physical and cognitive development capacity as well as productivity in adulthood. I'm sure the lower the family income the higher the percentage of stunting is. You're a really generous and caring sponsor and I'm sure anything  you decide to do will help your sponsored child. Poverty is so complicated. 

Sure, the inquiry has already been sent, but..

- Will CI tell me if/why public school option is not available before considering private/community schools?

- How does sponsorship work in CI-Zambia with regards to HIV cases?

- Faith's profile has 1 photo, but she was waiting only 18 days to find me. Can CI confirm when she enrolled and if she ever had previous sponsors?

I think specific questions about your sponsored child are better directed to the Care Team directly via e-mail, phone call or live chat, rather than publicly on this message board.

Thanks for the caution, Gabor!

For the awareness and completeness of our discussion, this is what I found about after a long chat with CI (over the phone) today..

- Can CI confirm % sponsored children attending public, private and community schools in Zambia?
> 40% (approx) of CI children in Zambia go to public schools with classroom size of around 60 pupils, and the rest go to private/community schools with around 45 pupils per classroom.

- Will CI tell me if/why public school option is not available before considering private/community schools?
> Yes, I have made my intentions clear and will find out if Faith can find a public school in the first instance.

- How does sponsorship work in CI-Zambia with regards to HIV cases?
> There were such cases of children in CI care (as shown in this video [youtu.be/i5c8tjoFgqE] from 2011), but unless the family gives the consent to share, the sponsor won’t know about it.

- Faith's profile has 1 photo, but she was waiting only 18 days to find me. Can CI confirm when she enrolled and if she ever had previous sponsors?
> Believe it or not, she only enrolled in this month and I’m her first sponsor. I thought age 8 was too late for new enrollments, but apparently not in Zambia.

Hope this helps, but please don’t be hesitant to fill in any gaps (in the public interest).