Free Essay About Canada And Guatemala

Canada and Guatemala

Canada is one of the world’s leading countries in terms of standards of living and economic development. On the other hand, Guatemala is a poor Latin America country. The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast the educational and health care systems as well as employment in both these of them.
The Canada’s educational system is considered to be one of the best in the world. According to the World Bank, Canada’s spending 5.4% of its GDP on education, thus, relating to countries spending the most among the OECD countries. Canadian education is mostly public, though there are some private institutions. It is funded by the government on all the levels: federal, provincial and local. However, there’s no general and nationwide educational system. Hence, education as well as the curriculum is the responsibility of each province and territory. There are three levels of education in Canada: primary, secondary and post-secondary. In most provinces education is compulsory up to the age of 16. However in Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick this age is 18.
Guatemala has also three-level educational system. Compulsory education lasts from 6 to 15 years. Guatemala’s level of education is not as high as the Canadian one. The expenditures on education account for 2.9% of the GDP. However, it is very little. According to UNESCO, approximately 31.7% of Guatemala’s population is illiterate. The main problem for such low level of education is poverty. Many children have to drop studying at school in order to support families or because of lack of money for school supplementary. In addition, there is a great gender inequality with male literacy dominating over female’s one. Another significant problem is a great enrollment differences between urban and rural areas.
Canadian health care system is known to be one the best in the world. It is a publicly funded system consisting of provinces’ and territories’ insurance plans. This means that the government is not involved in everyday care, but rather tries to provide the quality of services through setting federal legislation. The system is based on the Canada Health Act of 1984 constituting main principles for both territorial and provincial health insurance programs to be met in order to receive federal transfer payment. This piece of legislation, thus, ensures the insured people with coverage of medical services. However, according to O’Grady and Rose (2015), there may be a great difference between services coverage included among the provinces and territories. In addition, this act doesn’t provide coverage for drugs prescription or home care, for instance. In fact, the Canadians still have to pay for their medical care which accounts for nearly 30%, according to O’Grady and Rose (2015).
Guatemala’s health care system is declared to be free to everyone. However, in fact nearly 40% doesn’t have access to any medical care at all, according to Encyclopedia of Nations. There are three parts of this system in Guatemala: public, private non-profit and private for-profit. The main problems are low funding, lack of doctors, outdated equipment. In addition, most of these poor resources are concentrated in the capital, so those living in the rest of the country have much worse care. As a result they usually go to conmadronas, midwives usually without proper education but with knowledge of the general herbal medicine.
Being an economically developed country, Canada is a desirable place to work for many people. Canadian workers are also allowed to form unions. Their main aims are to represent the workers’ interests and protect working conditions and safety. According to Retail Council of Canada, the minimum hourly wage is almost the same in all the provinces and territories, ranging from $10 in Northwest Territories to $11 in Nunavut. The worktime varies from 40 to 48 hours per weeks with at least one obligatory 24-hour rest per week. Unfortunately, there are problems with some groups representation. Native Americans, for instance, are usually paid less than their counterparts on similar positions. People with disabilities are subject to the same discrimination. There are also some problems with cultural pressure making people speak the language of the majority either in Quebec or elsewhere in the country. On the other hand, employment in Guatemala is subject to various violations and mistreating. According to WageIndicator, the minimum wage per hour is $1.29. Trade union may be organized in case 25% per of workers will decide so. The main issue concerning employment in Guatemala is working conditions, as most people work in in unhealthy and unsafe places. In addition, there is a use of child labour. Moreover, there is a great share of shadow economy. Finally there is no stable working culture, so violence and coercion remain common things.
Therefore, having considered all things mentioned above, Canada is much better developed country than Guatemala concerning education, employment and health care. However, in case of implementing some reforms this situation may be seriously improved in future.

References

Data.worldbank.org. (2015). Public spending on education, total (% of GDP) | Data | Table. Retrieved 5 April 2015, from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS
O’Grady, K., & Roos, N. (2015). Health - Guatemala - average, system. Nationsencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 5 April 2015, from http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Guatemala-HEALTH.html
Retailcouncil.org. (2015). Minimum Wage by Province. Retrieved 5 April 2015, from http://www.retailcouncil.org/quickfacts/minimum-wage
The Globe and Mail. (2014). Five things Canadians get wrong about the health system. Retrieved 5 April 2015, from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/five-things-canadians-get-wrong-about-the-health-system/article20360452
Uis.unesco.org. (2015). Country Profiles. Retrieved 5 April 2015, from http://www.uis.unesco.org/DataCentre/Pages/country-profile.aspx?code=3200®ioncode=40520&SPSLanguage=EN
Wageindicator.org. (2015). WageIndicator.org/Gautemala - Minimum Wages in Guatemala for agriculture and non-agriculture activities. Retrieved 5 April 2015, from http://www.wageindicator.org/main/salary/minimum-wage/guatemala