User:Shayan amini95/sandbox

Peer Review: Hey Shayan it's Angela. Overall, great work. You did a good job highlighting the important components of each article. Your citations are all well-done, just remember that you must add 15 more for the final project for a total of 30. Specific feedback is below- please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

Education in the DRC

1. Grammatical edits: Be sure to proofread. For instance, "has also been an obstacle" should read "have also been obstacles" since you are discussing more than one obstacle in that sentence.
2. Choppy writing: The writing is a bit choppy- try to smooth it out a bit. For example, "several shortage of teachers" would read better if you added the word "A" to the beginning of the sentence. It reads as choppy that you say "according to the national statistics" when quoting the teacher-student ratio, but never list out where your other sources come from. Either add in more information about where the data comes from, or just leave everything as citations and take out the phrase "according to the national statistics."

Women in Iran

1. Again, the writing is a bit choppy. Try combining sentences together or adding more descriptions to make it smoother. For example, how is a literacy program different from a formal education
2. Organizationally, keep like thoughts together. For instance, you discuss the current percent of female attendees, then throw in a sentence about what literacy programs teacher, and then return to statistics about the high ratio of women - to - men. I would move the description of what literacy programs teach to earlier in the paragraph.
3. The paragraphs on religious schools and sex ed are very interesting and well-written. Nice job.

Let Girls Learn

1. Emily Luna is also editing this article, so be sure that you don't duplicate or delete each others' work on the main wikipedia page.
2. I would define "adolescents" in this instance. It's such a vague term that it doesn't fit well when you are citing specific statistics.
3. For the celebrities section, link to each person's wikipedia page.
4. It looks like you have some things to fill in under the celebrity section. Be sure you don't have it as "... or...."
5. I would cite more specific programs under the first part of this. How exactly is LGL furthering girls' education? Just through raising public awareness? Are they sponsoring any schools or specific programs?
6. Other than those few small things, this is a strong article. Nice job.

Thanks,

-Angela

Revised: Education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Despite government initiatives making primary education free in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2010, access as well as attendance remains poor amongst children. Currently, 25 percent of the primary school-aged children and 60 percent of adolescents are not enrolled in classes. Severe shortage of teachers in public schools are another concern with the education system. The national average for primary schools is one teacher for 37 pupils; however, marginalized or rural areas endure much worse ratios. On average, educational programs in marginalized areas consist of one teacher to 100 pupils per class.

Complications in DRC’s education system stem from the 1980s when the state’s budget essentially evaporated. Because of structural changes and program implementations within the government, the educational budget was cut from 25% to 7% of national state expenditure. Between 1982 to 2002, teachers’ monthly salaries decreased from $68 to $13. In addition to the governmental modifications that resulted in the economic crisis of 1990s, wars devastated the DRC. To this day, many natives struggle with the effects of wars that raged between 1996 and 2003. Current violence in the east of the country as well as corruption and poor governance have also been an obstacle to education.

Programs

Enrolling OOSC in South Kivu and Katanga

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Educate A Child (EAC) is supporting the International Rescue Committee to implement the Enrolling Out of School Children in South Kivu and Katanga Project to ensure that 47,750 Congolese children who are currently out of school have access to quality formal and non-formal primary education.

Equitable Quality Primary Education for All Children in DRC

In partnership with EAC and the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UNICEF is implementing the Equitable Quality Primary Education for All Children project in DRC. The aim of this project is to ensure that approximately 1.5 million children in DRC have access to and are enrolled and participating in quality primary education.

The Expansion Project of Support to the Education of OOSC

Through the Expansion Project of Support to the Education of Out of School Children and in partnership with EAC, CARITAS Congo ASBL will provide access to primary education for a total of 46,000 out of school children, and create conditions to significantly reduce the dropout rate in the provinces of Orientale, Equateur , Katanga and Kasai Occidental Kasai Occidental .

EDITS TO Female Education

Revised: Educational Routes for Women in Iran

Literacy Programs

While formal education is prevalent amongst Iranian women, non-formal educational intuitions are an option as well. Non-formal education in the Islamic Republic of Iran originated from the Literary Movement Organization (LMO), which aspired to decrease illiteracy rates in the country. Established in 1984, LMO’s tremendous efforts rectified the Pahlavi regime’s neglect in regards to educating children and populations in rural areas. In the late 1980s, LMO created adult literacy programs, vocational-technical schools, and religious institutions to combat high illiteracy rates. Adult literacy programs teach introductory reading, writing, and math in two cycles. While reading, writing, dictation, and arithmetic are introduced in the first cycle, the second cycle delves into Islamic studies, experimental and social sciences, and the Persian language. Although these educational organizations are gender inclusive, they mainly cater to women; in fact, 71% of enrollees are women between the ages of 15-45. Throughout the 1990s, two-thirds of enrollees in literacy programs were women, which directly led to a dramatic rise (20%) in female literacy rates in Iran from 1987 to 1997.

Religious Schools

Religious schools are another educational route for Iranian women. Their popularity is illustrated by the rise in the institution of "female seminaries" as of 2010. In 1984, Ayatollah Khomeini, former supreme leader of Iran, called for the creation of Jami‘at al-Zahra, an alliance of smaller religious schools. This led to the creation of the first female seminary in Iran. These institutions offer the opportunity to earn anything from high school diplomas to doctoral degrees. The acceptance rate for women into these religious institutions was 28% in 2010 (7,000 accepted out of 25,000 applicants).  

Other Educational Routes

Newlyweds (women specifically) are educated on family planning, safe sex, and birth control in population control programs. In addition, the government has established rural health houses managed by local health workers. These health professionals travel to different areas in order to impart information about women’s health and birth control.

Education in UGANDA

Universal Primary Education

Universal Primary Education (UPE), introduced in 1997, aimed to combat poverty throughout Uganda. In an effort to increase literacy and school enrollment rates amongst adolescent, the government provided full tuition to four children per household. Meanwhile, educational institutions were given resources to accommodate new and incoming students via capitation grants. In fact, government expenditure on primary education increased 65%. As a result of UPE, gross enrollment increased 145% (from 3.1 million to 7.6 million children) in primary schools from 1996 to 2003. Since the Ugandan government had not anticipated a response of this magnitude, problems began to surface. There was a clear mismatch between available resources and number of students, which negatively affected the quality of primary education. Even though enrollment rates continued to rise 92% by 2011, overall test scores amongst Ugandan students did not improve. Consequently, the government has redirected its focus on reducing the student-to-professor ratio as well as provision of additional resources.

Primary Teachers Colleges

Primary Teachers Colleges (PTCs) produce aspiring instructors for primary schools in Uganda. From 47 active PTCs, 45 are run by the government and 2 are religious-based private colleges. PTCs employ a standard curriculum created by Kyambogo University, an authority on primary teacher education. Consequently, students earn a Primary Teaching Certificate upon completing the curriculum, a minimum requirement of becoming a teacher in Uganda. In order to join a PTC, applicants must complete the Ordinary Level national examination. This ensues 11 years of education (7 at primary, 4 at secondary) with a pass in 6 subjects including two sciences, English, and math.  

Introduction

Let Girls Learn, an initiative launched by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in March 2015, addresses a variety of problems that prohibit young girls from receiving a quality education. Currently more than 62 million girls, half of whom are ages 5-19, are barred from school throughout the world. Millions more endure unthinkable hardships on a daily basis to remain in school. The importance of education is generally undermined by physical, cultural, and financial obstacles for young girls in underdeveloped regions of the world. In many instances, young girls are exposed to physical abuse, arranged marriages, and a lifetime of poverty. This conscious initiative expands educational prospects for young girls in areas suffering from conflict and crisis by assisting existing programs and establishing additional institutions. Areas of emphasis include but are not restricted to Albania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Georgia, Ghana, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Togo, and Uganda

Partners

The Obamas assembled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of State, the Peace Corps, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in support of Let Girls Learn. With the financial contributions as well as expertise of nearly 100 private sector institutions, Let Girls Learn is making efforts towards advancing adolescent girls’ education throughout world. Organizations such as Alex and Ani, Dining for Women, and Instyle aspire to raise awareness and drive action. Additionally, IBM, Oracle, AOL, CARE, IRC and others are offering programming expertise to Let Girls Learn. The initiative has attracted investments from Cambridge University and Georgetown University to conduct research on adolescent girls’ education and community-based solutions. Civil society organizations like Girl Rising, Girl Scouts, Girl Inc. and Girl Up have also dedicated additional manpower to the cause of adolescent girls’ education in support of Let Girls Learn.

Supporting Movements

Girl Rising is an international campaign advocating for educating and empowering girls. Through the power of film and narrative, Girls Rising aspires to teach the world the importance of valuing girls’ education. Furthermore, Girl Rising gives educators around the world the opportunity to directly engage with their campaign. They have created Girl Rising Educator's Edition and The Girl Rising Curriculum, which are interactive videos showcasing the inspiring lives of girls overcoming incredible odds in pursuit of their education. These films can be purchased via their website. Additionally, Girls Rising has created the hashtag #62MillionGirls, which refers to the 62 million girls who are not in school. This hashtag is a direct reference to Michelle Obama’s Let Girls Learn movement.

Celebrity Endorsements

Let Girls Learn has been extremely successful in recruiting powerful figures to endorse their cause. Celebrities such as Alicia Keys, Anne Hathaway and Tyler Perry have participated in video campaigns that shine light on the struggles millions of girls face while pursuing their education. These real world examples include mass kidnappings in Nigeria and shootings in Pakistan. Moreover, the Let Girls Learn video campaign cites statistical evidence highlighting the positive effects of educating girls. For example, children born to educated mothers are twice as likely to survive past the age of 5 … or … girls with basic education are three times less likely to contract HIV.

In addition to the above-mentioned celebrities, the long list of acclaimed names include Amy Brenneman,  Chris Colfer, Darren Criss, DeAndre Jordan, Denise Richards, Diego Boneta, James Van Der Beek, Jennifer Garner, Joe Manganiello, Josh Duhamel, Julie Bowen, Julie Delpy, Kelly Osbourne, Lance Bass, Moby, Nick Cannon, Nikki Reed, Paul Wesley, Rita Wilson, Shonda Rhimes, Soledad O'Brien, Susan Sarandon, and Missy Elliot This PSA campaign leveraged the power of Hollywood to spread the underlying message of Let Girls Learn.

Moreover, Michelle Obama enlisted the help of many famous female musicians and leaders to perform the power anthem "This Is For My Girls." The song, which was inspired by the Let Girls Learn initiative and other 62 million girls around the world who do not have access to education, features Kelly Clarkson, Missy Elliott, Janelle Monáe, Kelly Rowland, Zendaya, Lea Michele, Chloe x Halle, and Jadagrace. Proceeds from the song go to support the global Let Girls Learn initiative.