A project proposal presented to the Faculty of College of Informatics and Computing Sciences, Batangas State University - The National Engineering University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements in the course BAT-404: Analytics Techniques and Tools.
Education plays a key role in each of our lives and is essential for every one of us to reach our full potential. It is the process through which we gain the skills, knowledge, information, and understanding required to recognize, appreciate, and uphold the obligations we have to our families, communities, and nation. Dr. Jose Rizal once quoted that "*the youth are the hope of the land.*" The youth of today will be able to support such statement via education.
However, there’s one truth that cannot be neglected. The number of youths who are not in school has been steadily increasing over time. Out-of-school youth refers to members of the population who are 15 to 30 years old, who are not in school, not gainfully employed, and have not finished college or a post-secondary course. This issue is a significant concern that many countries worldwide is facing. Unattendance in school is considered to be a problem for 263 million children, adolescents, and young people globally, despite significant advancement over the past 20 years. That translates to one in every five people, a number that has stayed largely constant over the past five years. According to UIS data for the school year that ended in 2018, there are almost 258 million children and young people who are not in school. 59 million kids are in primary school, 62 million are in lower secondary school, and 138 million are in upper secondary school, making up the total. Out of many identified causes, poverty/inequity is certainly a factor, both within and between nations. The average student in low-income nations performs worse than 95% of pupils from wealthier OECD nations. In South Africa, third graders from the poorest homes lag behind their wealthier counterparts by three years. Statistics also revealed that female out-of-school youth have higher counts compared to male. This emphasizes the need for an in-depth analysis of the topic in order to provide better understanding.
The analysis will focus on **Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4**, “*Quality Education*”, which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all and in relevance to **Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1**, “*No Poverty*”, which aims to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. The analysis seeks to contribute to the achievement of SDG 1 and 4 by providing a comprehensive overview of out-of-school youth worldwide, examining the causes and consequences of the issue and analyzing current efforts to address it. By shedding light on this important topic, this analysis aims to inform policy and practice and contribute to the ongoing efforts to improve the lives of young people worldwide.
Absence from school has serious effects. Lack of education results in fewer work options and lower earning potential for young people, making it challenging for them to leave poverty and provide for their families. Also, they are more susceptible to exploitation and other dangers, such as taking part in criminal activity. That is a destructive cycle. Lack of education causes poverty and low-paying occupations, which make it difficult for people to support their children's education. As a result, they are unable to escape the cycle of poverty. This will have a significant impact on the nation's future, contributing to higher poverty and slower economic growth.
The analysis on out-of-school youth in the world has significant implications for examining the causes and consequences of the issue. With the comprehensive approach, policymakers would be provided with information that would be simple to analyze thus consuming less time on dealing with the problem. That will greatly aid in enhancing the government's ongoing efforts. With the help of this analysis, other people will also have a complete grasp of the problem. Educating them on how they can help eradicate the problem in question.
Furthermore, this analysis can contribute to the advancement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, “Quality Education”, and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1, “No Poverty”, which has a purpose of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all and ending poverty in all its forms everywhere respectively. By providing analytics with comprehensive approach, the analysis can contribute to the ongoing efforts of the policymakers worldwide while promoting sustainable development.
The proposed project will specifically aid the following:
- Students. It will allow them to have thorough understanding of the topic as well as the data presented will help them in their future endeavors.
- Teachers. They will have a thorough understanding of their students’ personal issues and find ways on helping them to cope up and continue their studies still.
- Policymakers. The resulting data will serve as their basis in enhancing the policy that they have regarding the out-of-school children and youth.
- Future researchers. They will be provided with prior knowledge in the proposed topic and the results will provide them with new insights.
A systematic method will be used in the gathering, organizing, and analysis of data pertaining to this demographic in order to examine the current conditions of 'out-of-school' children and youth, as well as the issues and the sources of the issues. Finding patterns, trends, and insights that can guide decisions and the creation of successful interventions to support out-of-school youth will be very helpful.
Additionally, the Python programming language will be used by the proponents to analyze the data gathered. With the ability to manipulate this language, the proponents hope to achieve the intended results, which will help to significantly address the problem of out-of-school youth in the world.
The purpose of this project is to obtain understanding of the scope, root causes, and effects of the problem in order to inform evidence-based plans and interventions aimed at removing or drastically lowering the number of youths who are not in school. The government can use the conclusions and suggestions as a foundation for developing evidence-based policies and programs, advocating for funding, and putting into practice focused initiatives to effectively stop or minimize the problem. The government may work to guarantee that all youth have access to high-quality education by using data to inform decision-making, which will help to promote their social and personal growth as well as the general advancement of the nation.
[1.] https://leverageedu.com/blog/importance-of-education/
[3.] https://www.youthpower.org/youthpower-issues/topics/out-school-youth-0
[4.] https://uis.unesco.org/en/topic/out-school-children-and-youth
DATASET SOURCE: [8.] https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/komalkhetlani/out-of-school-rates-global-data