Lesson 4.
g Learners Under Difficult
Circumstances (Marginalized Group)
At the end of the session, student can…
1. distinguish the different types of learners under difficult circumstances.
2. demonstrate understanding of the situation of children in marginalized
groups and its effect to their education.
Introduction
How we treat a person, a group of people or ideas as significant or
peripheral is known as marginalization. The history is filled with examples of
discrimination against the marginalized such as scheduled groups such as
scheduled castes, scheduled tribe, the disabled, women and those who were
denied access to the basic needs such as hygienic water, nourishing food and
a shelter where a person can sleep soundly.
Engage!
Activity Title: Challenges of Marginalized Group
Instruction:
1. Divide students into small groups and give each group an index card.
Each card will represent a challenge faced by a marginalized group
such as lack of access to education, class discrimination, isolation,
being ignored by classmates, etc)
2. Ask students to think and discuss the impact of these challenges on
a personal life. Encourage them to consider these challenges might
affect a person’s mental health, opportunities to have a better
education/life and relationships with other people that affects his
development as a child.
3. After discussion, have a representative from each group to share the
summary of their discussion with the class.
Discuss!
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The term “Marginalized groups” is typically applied to political and
cultural contexts where disadvantaged individuals fight for the right to access
resources and participate in society. Marginalized persons are those person
who are neglected and excluded and those who have disadvantages in the
politics, society, economics and law that makes them vulnerable. In most
cases people who are in marginalized groups are represented by the
undisguised cultural generalization of human to exclude or marginalize those
whom they seen undesirable or unfit for a certain role.
A. Marginalization in Education
The theory of marginalization can trace to its roots to the “Theory of the
Marginal Man” which at first pointed to the peculiar personality traits that arise
when a person is situated in a marginal position, among the two social
environment that are not completely matched. Robert Park and Everette B.
Stonequist’s analysis of the marginal man focuses on an individual who was
born and raised with a culture and then was immersed in a different one. The
difference that the person experiences during this transition and adjusting to a
different culture will give him/her challenges. Thus it will be difficult for this
person to participate, engage and interact with the people and society that
has a different perspective and ways he/she got used to. Sometime, the crisis
that the person experience becomes personal that leads to rejection and
isolation. This marginalization usually start when the child get to school and
persist until they become adults.
The United Nations Development Programme of 1996 defined
Marginalization as “the state of being considered unimportant, undesirable,
unworthy, insignificant and different resulting in inequality, unfairness,
deprivation and enforced lack of access to mainstream power”. The 2010
Education for All Global Monitoring Report, argues that the global economic
downturn of the education system could create a lost of generation of children
whose life chances will have been irreparably damaged by a failure to protect
their right to education. UNESCO report that marginalization in education is “a
form of acute and persistent disadvantage rooted in underlying social
inequalities.” Its existence is a result of policies and processes that sustain
this prejudice to a group or to some individuals. The report stated that children
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that are in marginalize exhibit lower levels of educational attainment. The
higher form of marginalization, therefore has a insufficient education
availability.
Marginality is a practice that affects millions of people worldwide.
People who are marginalized have little central over their lives and the
resources available to them are hampered. A vicious circle is formed in which
their lack of positive and supportive relationships prevents them to participate
in the society and leads them to segregate themselves. Because of this, it
impact significantly to the human progress especially in the field of education.
It is very important to address the issue of marginalization since the
development of the society depends on the local people the support the
environment. A supportive environment can lead to have a healthy, successful
and creative life. Thus, engagement of all people in the society is crucial for
the development and progress of the overall community.
Messiou’s study (2006) illustrates how conversations with children can
enhance thinking and practice in relation to the development of inclusive
education. It concludes that children’s voices should not only be used as a
strategy for understanding and developing more inclusive practices, but more
importantly that listening to children is itself a manifestation of being inclusive.
His study suggests that marginalization can be conceptualized in four ways:
1. when a child is experiencing some kind of marginalization that is
recognized almost by everybody including himself/herself.
2. when a child is feeling that he/she is experiencing marginalization,
whereas others do not recognize this
3. when a child is found in what appears to be marginalized situations
but does not view this as marginalization
4. when a child appears to experience marginalization but does not
recognize this.
B. Marginalized Groups
1. Child Laborers/Domestic Workers
The definition of child labor given by the International Labour
Organization (ILO) is “Work that deprives children of their childhood,
their potential and their dignity and that is harmful to physical and
mental development.” Child labor is when the child is being separated
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from their families and is in an unsafe situation. They are doing
extremely tiring and demanding work and being paid very cheap or
sometimes not paid at all. By law a child is a human being who is
below 18 years old. Thus, those people who experience these and
aged 18 and below can be in the group of child laborers.
Children are still developing in all of the domains: cognitive,
physical and socio-emotional makes them weak to the can easily be
affected by the unsafe work and harmful workplace. Child labor can
cause children to get sick, vulnerable to violence, abuse and
separation from proper education. Child labor are those children who
experience poverty and need to work to earn a living for food and the
needs of the family.
The International Labour Organization Convention No. 182
clearly defines the worst forms of child labor, to be forbidden to all
persons below the age of 18. These are the following:
a. all forms of slavery or practices similar such as sale and
trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom (feudal
laborer), or forced to compulsory labour, including forced
recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
b. offering a child for prostitution for the production of
pornography or pornographic performances.
c. offering a child for illicit activities such as production and
trafficking of drugs as defines in the relevant international
treaties.
d. work that can carried out of likely to harm health, safety or
morals of children.
Two ILO Conventions on Child Labour:
1. ILO Convention No 138 on Minimum Age - ensure that
children do not start working too young and to set the age at
which children can legally be employed or work. It stipulate that
the minimum age of children to work is 14 years old. The child
should also finished the compulsory schooling and develop
mentally and physically before working.
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2. Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour -
defines hazardous child labour is done by a child below 18 years
old that will impair the child’s physical or mental state.
2. Indigenous People
Indigenous people are the heirs and practitioners of distinct
cultures and costumes of associating with people and the
environment. They are the people that can be identified according to
certain characteristics:
1. They are self-identified as Indigenous people
2. They share an ancestral link with those who inhabited a
country before colonized or before people became dominant.
3. They have strong link to particular territories and the
surrounding natural resources
4. They have distinct social, economic or political system which
resolved to maintain and reproduce
5. They have distinct language, culture and beliefs
6. They are politically and socially marginalized
Indigenous people have different customs and their culture may
differ. They experience harsh realities in the world and their human
rights are routinely violated by state authorities and face high levels of
marginalization and discrimination. They face eviction fro the ancestral
lands they have inhabited for generations and restricted access to
education, health care and housing. They live most likely in extreme
poverty and suffer higher rates of landlessness, malnutrition and
internal displacement that other people. They often rank the highest for
prison inmates, illiteracy and unemployment while their life expectancy
is expected to 20 years lower compared to non-indigenous people.
Education for Indigenous People
International human rights law, underpinned by the principle of
equality, guarantees the right to education of everyone. And yet, IP are
likely to be denied with their education. The Minority Rights Group
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International stated that majority of children who are out of school
worldwide are minority and indigenous children. They are regularly
deprived of access to quality education.
1. Indigenous and Tribal People Convention, 1989 (No. 169) - Part VI
of this Convention is about the Education and means of
communication. This ensures that IP children will have the opportunity
to acquire education at all levels on at lest an equal footing with the
rest of the national community. It states that education programme
and services for IP children shall be developed and implemented to
address their special needs and incorporate their histories, their
knowledge and technologies, their value system and their social,
economic and cultural aspirations.
2. Indigenous and Minority Children under the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CDC)
a. Article 30 - This states that “In those States in which ethnic,
religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin
exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is
indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with
other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own
culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to
use his or her own language”. This protects the rights of the
children from minority or indigenous groups to enjoy their
culture practice their religion and use their language together
with other members of the group.
b. Article 17 - The shall encourage the mass media to have
particular regard to the linguistic needs of the child who
belong to a minority group or who is indigenous.
c. Article 19 - This address the violence against children. It
emphasis that state must have proper laws to prohibit
violence but also requires states to implement administrative,
social and educational measures to protect children.
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3. Abused Children
Abused can be done in different forms. Regardless of what kind
of abuse it is, it affects the development of the child. Republic Act
7610 known as Special Protection of Children Against Abuse,
Exploitation and Discrimination Act defines child abuse as
maltreatment of a child, whether habitual or not, including any form of
physical harm. This Act plays a vital role in safeguarding children in
the Philippines from all forms of abuse, including minor physical
abuse. It empowers the community, law enforcement and social
welfare institutions to take decisive action against child abuse. This
law includes the following maltreatment:
1. psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual
abuse and emotional maltreatment;
2. any act by deeds or words which degrades or demean the
intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being;
3. unreasonable deprivation of his/her basic needs for survival
such as food and shelter;
4. failure to immediately give medical treatment to an injured
child, resulting to serious impairment of his/her growth and
development.
Different types of child abuse
1. Physical Abuse - one of the most common types of abuse that
occurs when a child suffer physical harm, committed by a parent
or caregiver. It can be an isolated case that has been occurring for
a period of time.
example: hitting, shaking, choking, biting, poisoning and
using physical restraints
2. Emotional Abuse - This happens when a child is treated in a
way that negatively impacts their social, emotional or intellectual
development. This is sometimes called psychological abuse. It
occurs when continued emotional mistreatment is experienced by
a child
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example: rejection, name calling, bullying, yelling,
criticism, isolation for extended periods, exposure to domestic
violence
3. Sexual Abuse - Child abuse happens when an adult, teenager
or a child uses their power or authority to involved another child in
sexual activity. This can also occur when any sexual encounter
occurs between a child and an older person. This happened as
well when the parent knows the occurrences of this abuse and
neglects to protect the child.
example: exposing of genitals, engaging in sexual activity
4. Neglect - This happens when the child’s basic needs are not
met and affects their health and development. The basic needs
are food, clothing, hygiene and supervision.
example: Frequently left alone, wears filthy clothes, poor
hygiene, have injuries and illness that is not treated
4. Refugees or Displaced children
Natural disasters and internal wars within the country take away
the chance of young people to live with their family. Those who loose
their love ones, their shelter and source of living have no choice but to
look for another place to live a better life. These family are forced to
flee, live in a temporary homes, and sometimes they cannot even
provide the basic needs of their children. These children are at-risk
with their situation. There are times, they cannot go to school, no
nutritious food for their development, clean water and health care.
Some of them are even expose to harmful situations, targets of abuse
and violence that they are not capable to defend themselves. Children
who are in this situation cannot live just like other normal children who
enjoy their childhood life.
The following are the terms that are related to this topic
1. Internally displaced children - unlike refugees, these children do not
cross international borders but are displaced within their own nation.
2. Refugee children - this is a child crosses international borders and
has specific rights
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3. unaccompanied minors - as a result of armed conflicts and other
catastrophes, there are children that are separated from their parents.
some of these children are not “orphans” but just separated from their
family.
The negative impact of this situation is not justifiable that these
children are expose to violence and exploitation. They are at-risk for
being the victim of child labor, rape, bullying, slavery and extreme
poverty since the they are not safe and most of them have no proper
guidance.
UNICEF works around the world to protect the rights of migrant
and displaced children. They provides refugees camps where children
could at least move around to play and where mothers can feed their
babies in private. The UNICEF support the national and local
governments to put a law, policies and services that are inclusive for
all children and address their specific needs of migrants and displaced
children.
Children who are refugees are very insecure position because
they do not know what is going to happen to them. This has a great
impact to their well-being and growth and development. Because of
this, the education is not a priority for them but their own safety and
survival. Though, UNICEF provides refugees camp, the quality of
education in this environment is different compared to the regular
education. The quality of their education depends of the teacher
teaches them, learning space available in the camp, and available
educational supplies and materials.
5. Children in Conflict Zones
The nature of war has changed dramatically. Today's conflicts
happen where people live and they take a brutal toll on children. Attack
and bombing in was creates problems in the different countries. These
cause the lack of food, shelter, clean water and medicine that are the
basic needs of children to grow. The result of wars and attacks affects
the health and development of children. Traumatic experience and
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lasting emotional, cognitive, behavioral and physiological function of
children are damaged.
Children in the conflict zones often struggle to express
themselves freely due to the constant fear of being interrogated or
imprisoned. This becomes the reason why most children of the conflict
zone exclude themselves, have anxiety and insecure. Too much
exposure to such adversity compromise their psychological well-being
and impact on the development of their socialization and physical
security.
Concerns for these children is addressing today’s violence.
Wars cannot be stop in just a day, but their effect can be reduce.
People can stop recruiting child soldiers from joining the war and
banning of weapons. Child protection can be used as means of
opening up dialogue. Children of war already received immunization,
during war food are allowed to pass through for young children.
The “Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally
binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human
rights. It spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere
have: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from
harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in
family, cultural and social life.
The International Labour Organization Convention No. 182
declares child soldiering to be the worst forms of child labour and
prohibits forced recruitment of children under the age of 18 in the
armed conflict.
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