Pardon me, I hadn't Realized I'd Won the Lottery...

Its depicted as the jackpot. You win and you win big. Famous American television shows depict what it would be like to win the lottery including Friends and Roseanne. But really, what is winning the lottery?

If anyone believes universal education exists anywhere in the world --- I'm here to tell you your sadly mistaken. When you go without money; equality in education is wiped away. Even in Western countries like Canada where primary and secondary education doesn't cost money directly per student - money is a factor. How do families afford school supplies like backpacks and pencil cases or nutritional food for breakfast to give students the strong start they need in the morning to function throughout the day? Then there is the obvious: the cost of education at the post secondary level. The largest barrier for post secondary students is the cost of higher education and the biggest challenge for students attending university or college is working. Student struggle to maintain a healthy work-school balance that allows them to do well in school academically and afford it financially.

The Education pyramid shows us that less and less people progress through the education system generally. Students have difficulty maintaining a higher education at a higher level. Its difficult to think about in the context of Canada and almost unbearable to think about in the context of the developing world.

Lets look at some of the people who are cut off from the education pyramid in Kenya:
-Those children who are malnourished: Malnourished children do not perform on par with children that are fed well and have a harder time focusing on schoolwork and performing well on tests.
-Poor performing children: To be considered to go on to secondary schooling (9-12) you must score a 430 on your primary exams to attend a national secondary school (the best government secondary school there is in Kenya) or a 400 to get into a provincial secondary school (the only real other option for students that can't afford private education). At one of the schools only one student out of a class of 92 scored a 400. The truth is this statistic holds up to most government schools in Kenya.

To go onto post-secondary education is even more difficult because you have to have the money. Only 1% of people are able to move up the pyramid and attend university. One young man I met, James was an orphan on the streets at the age of 10. James won the lottery. Not actually, but an American by the name of Tammy adopted him on her first trip to Africa 9 years ago. Because of that adoption, James was able to progress through the education pyramid and was taken off the streets and given a real home. James is now beginning his post secondary education at a good university on time in comparison to when most students begin post secondary studies.

There is a two-tier education system here. If you are in a government school in the slums, the fact is there is little chance for you to continue your education. The chances of successfully graduating and getting a good paying job are slim to none. I talked with an Education for Life worker and she said to me, 'If you get the chance to visit a well to do school or school for the rich, its just sad to see how much better off they are and how smart they are.' I look at myself and my beyond borders colleagues and the truth is that we have all won the lottery just by the system in which we grew up in. We are so fortunate to have good families, good schools and good options. You really do pay for the education system you have and there is something that is majorly unfair about that system.

Understanding the bottom line makes universal sound like an unachievable ideal. In Kenya, even where basic education is free, it doesn't guarantee quality. In Canada, even though the basic education is full of quality and free --- it doesn't mean each child has an equal chance. There is still the pressure and necessity to have the right supplies and the basic right of having food, clothing and shelter. Universal should strive to reach beyond basic costs and work towards an equal chance. Otherwise, is it truly universal? I don't think it is and I know it certainly isn't right.