FIVE WAYS THAT ENERGY POVERTY AFFECTS EDUCATION

PAULO N. BUTIU

According to Gretchen Knoth, there are five ways that energy poverty affects education:

1. Energy poverty greatly reduces teaching resources and classroom materials.

Without electricity, teachers aren’t able to make copies of school assignments or connect to the internet to research what activities or materials are available online. They also can’t access online resources, such as videos and other multimedia sources, in their classrooms as valuable methods for instruction. As a result, teachers are unable to provide their students with the quality of education they deserve. 2. Energy poverty complicates work for staff and school administration.

School administrators are required to keep documentation of student’s and faculty’s grades and attendance rates manually on paper, instead of keeping a reliable, online record.

3. Energy poverty means limited working hours for students to study and complete assignments.

Many children in the developing world walk long distances to get to school from home, often leaving or returning in the dark. If, as is often the case, their house doesn’t have a source of energy, these students aren’t able to study at home in the evening. They are often forced to seek other sources outside their houses, sometimes at gas stations or under street lamps, in order to have enough light to complete their schoolwork. Families that do have energy at home often rely on kerosene lamps to provide light, a practice that is expensive, poses serious health risks and oftentimes cannot be found locally.

4. Energy poverty discourages teachers from working in areas without access to electricity.

The lack of electric lighting, televisions, computers and other services deters well-trained and well-educated teachers from living and working in communities that may need them the most.

5. Energy poverty reduces the amount of time that children spend in school.

Children are oftentimes forced to collect firewood or clean drinking water for cooking, heating and drinking instead of attending class, preparing for an exam or completing homework assignments. Alternative fuel sources or devices, like smoke hoods that cook food more efficiently, require the use of little to no firewood. Solar-powered water pumps provide families with easily accessible drinking water and reduce the number of cases of diarrhea and other water-borne illnesses that contribute to disease and poor school attendance rates.

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The author is Master I at Pampanga High School