CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION DURING THE VICTORIAN AGE AND TODAY The cruel experience of childhood yesterday and today

Index The education during the Victorian age Children exploitation The problems of poverty and education today Marginalisation and poverty Inequality between boys and girls

The education during the Victorian age Even though schools have always been, many Victorian children did not have the opportunity of going to school. When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, education was still mainly for the privileged. Rich children might have a governess to teach them at home until they were old enough, if they were boys, to go to Public Schools. The girls continued to be educated at home.

The education during the Victorian age On the other hand, most poor children did not go to school. Earlier, Robert Raikes (an English philanthropist) had started a system of education based in churches: the Sunday School  by 1831 almost a million and a half of children went to lessons in this way. That was about a quarter of the population at the time. Robert Raikes

Children exploitation In 1870 a law was passed saying that children aged between 5 and 10 had to attend the school. The leaving age was raised to 11 in Even so, many children were kept away from school by parents and employers who would preferred them earning money. Children had an unhappy childhood. They worked hard to satisfy the needs of their parents because the families were very poor and they didn’t have enough money; so children started to work in industries.

Children exploitation A further reason for the use of child labour in factories was that they were easier to control than adults. Children were adapt to work in factories for the reason that local labour was scarce and the agricultural workers (who came from the countrysides to the city) were unsuitable for industries production. So, children were used to adapt to all situations because they are usually more flexible and malleable. To sum up, in the 19th century, children lived in very difficult conditions because they lived near factories and in unhealthy flats or in suburbs with poor hygiene. They also had bad nutrition: they used to ate just some bread, pork or milk and not everyday. This fact, caused diseases and infant mortality.

The problems of poverty and education today Today, education continues to be inaccessible right for millions of children around the world. More than 72 million children of primary education age do not go to school and 759 million adults are illiterate and do not have the sufficient instruction to improve both their living conditions and those of their children.

Marginalisation and poverty Factors linked to poverty like unemployment, illness and the illiteracy of parents, multiply the risk of exploitation of children. Moreover, many children from disadvantaged backgrounds are forced to abandon their education for health problems related to malnutrition or in order to work and provide support for the family, as it used to happen to poor children during the Victorian age.

Marginalisation and poverty Furthermore, usually in poor countries but not only, children do not have access to education because of inequalities that originate in sex, health and cultural identity (ethnic origin, language, religion, etc.). These children find themselves on the margins of the education system and do not benefit from learning that is vital to their intellectual and social development.

Inequality between boys and girls Today, it is girls who have the least access to education. They make up more than 54% of the “non schooled” population in the world. This problem takes place most frequently in Arab States and Asia and it is principally explained by the cultural and traditional privileged treatment given to males. Girls are destined to be associate to the home life, while boys are intended to receive an education, just right during the Victorian age. In sub-Saharan Africa, over 12 million girls are at risk of never receiving an education. In Yemen, it is more than 80% of girls who will never have the opportunity to go to school. Even more alarming, certain countries such as Afghanistan or Somalia make no effort to reduce the gap between girls and boys with regard to education.