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Formal primary education
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Improving the Quality of Primary Education
Offering all children access to education within a short space of time poses a great challenge to developing countries. Under pressure to achieve this goal on a nationwide basis, many countries are finding it difficult to respond to the many different learning needs. The quality of education suffers as a result. Improving the quality of education is therefore a priority in German development cooperation. This includes the adoption of measures in the following areas:
Training and development for teachers
Germany supports teacher training and development. One particular focus is on female teachers, because there are still very few of them in many countries. The importance of female role models as a means of promoting gender equality is widely recognised.
Curriculum development
Curriculum development is a key element of German development cooperation with the partner countries; it aims to align education more closely with schoolchildren's needs. Promoting democratic conduct and peaceful community relations, environmental and health education, HIV/AIDS prevention and preparation for the workplace are all issues which are being integrated into the curricula.
Promoting mother-tongue education
In multilingual societies, the teaching language plays a key role in determining children's educational prospects at primary level. The use of the mother tongue, or at least a second language familiar to the children, is a prerequisite for effective teaching. In addition, mother-tongue education greatly helps children to build a strong personal identity.
In the early 1970s, Germany launched a development cooperation programme to introduce mother-tongue education in primary schools in the Peruvian Highlands, where there are many indigenous children. The project, which has now ended, had a positive impact on neighbouring countries too. Thus, Germany over a period of ten years provided support through Technical Cooperation for education reform in Bolivia. Germany is also involved in promoting intercultural bilingual education in Guatemala.
In various African countries support was provided in the production of textbooks and other publications in local languages.
In Sri Lanka, Germany provides development cooperation support to the Ministry of Education and the National Education Institute when it comes to education policy. This includes multi-lingual lessons in the country's two official languages Sinhala and Tamil, classes in peace-building and special courses for particularly disadvantaged children.
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