The main obstacles to children attending school in developing nations (PDF)

Essay from the year 2014 in the subject Sociology - Miscellaneous, grade: 95, The University of Sydney, language: English, abstract: "Get angry," Tomasevski demands, "[and] help expose and oppose economic exclusion from education" (Tomasevski, 2006). This essay examines Tomasevski's pressing call for indignation and action by uncovering the main obstacles to children attending primary school with a focus on the Sub-Saharan region. To preface this, it will first be established why education matters and is a human right reflected in international declarations. The essay will then narrow its effort into the economic direct, indirect and opportunity costs causing "the right to education [to] take a back seat" (ibid.).

In doing so, it will also consider what values, ideologies and priorities are underpinning the persistence of these costs and the consequential inequities and violations of children's human rights. The discussion will be broadened to cover two other non-economic barriers to attendance, health and gender. This will serve to illustrate that "institutionalised economic exclusion" (ibid.) is not the only problem to tackle in order to ensure that all children are provided with the appropriate opportunities and environment to gain a quality and transforming education. Essentially, an integrated and comprehensive rights-based approach is necessary.