English test about poverty.

ENGLISH

2. Define the causes of the problem and its consequences, as well as its significance (how many people, what countries, social groups involved, evolution of the situation…), its location (in time and space: when, where), its dimensions (social, economic, political, legislative, educational, environmental...).

Useful questions to ask yourselves: see p. 3 Asking, Researching and Answering a Research Question.

You will be expected to compare a Western and a developing country.

So, as Aude said previously, we are going to talk deeply of Burundi. Burundi is located in Central Africa. You are wondering why we have chosen this country I guess. In fact, we have chosen Burundi because it’s a country where too many people are affected by poverty. Fifteen years of civil war since 1993, combined with extreme poverty, a fragile political process and recurrent climatic shocks, have had a strongly negative impact on Burundi’s economic and nutrition indicators. The poverty has not gone down since the conflicts. It has just increased over the years. Poverty is really alarming and it’s a major problem in Burundi. It is going worse and worse. 64% of the population is under the poverty line! Burundi is almost as populated as Belgium, it means more or less 11 millions inhabitants. It’s a densely populated country with a high population growth rate. Only 28% of the population is food secure and the rest of the population is mainly malnourished. The population is not assured of eating everyday. Those facts lead to awful deaths rates among the elderly but more especially among the younger and newborns. The life expectancy for women and men is 54 years. They don’t have enough food to grow up normally. The vmortality rates in Burundi are among the worst in Africa.

The poverty in Burundi is more than just a question of malnutruition. It also has an impact on the education, the economy, the politics.  Most of the children can’t afford going to school. Only 71% of children are educated even though is mandatory until the age of 12. Furthermore many schools were destroyed due to the civil war that ended in 2005. The country suffered extreme teacher shortages and a lack of access to educational resources. Due to the civil war, many children are forced to walk several miles each day to the closest school. Education of children is not only a way to stabilise but also a way to restore and maintain peace between the communities affected by the conflicts. The government is still increasing funding for free basic education but it’s remaining a challenge in term of quality of education. Not enough of qualified teachers, classrooms , desks, etc.

Burundi is on the top of the list of the countries having made the greatest progress in education. Furthermore , the fact that Burundi is just emerging from war makes the progress even more remarkable. And it’s thanks to the government that has taken the question of education very seriously. No matter the challenges, access to basic education is a right.

The country is governed by Pierre Nkurunziza, a former Hutu leader. He became the first president to be chosen in democratic elections since the start of Burundi’s civil war.

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