Education is the Way Forward

Education is something that I feel very strongly about and yet, surprisingly, if my memory serves me correctly, this is the very first blog entry with regards to education. They might be many more blog entries on education in the future, so please bear with me.

Education is one cause that is very near and dear to me.  Basically education for all. Education is a cause that is very near and dear to my heart and a cause that I feel very strongly and passionately for. Education is a basic right of every human being, unfortunately education is instead taken as a privilege for the selected few. Or we think education is just “job skills” or something that is only done if you want a high flying job or it is something that is done for “time pass”. Yes, they are many many people who understand and realize the importance of education, but at the same time there are those who do not realize its importance and give it weird labels similar to the ones I just mentioned. And those who think education is a pointless privilege.

In my opinion, education is the best thing that a person can give another person. The best thing that a parent can give their kid. The best opportunity a human being can be provided with. Because education sets you up for life. Yes, education opens many doors for you employment/job wise. But education has many other hidden benefits also. It is a weapon, it is a tool. Your family will treat you differently if you have education, because they know you have something to fall back on. You are less likely to be abused or denied your basic rights if you have education, because your education can protect you. If you have fallen upon hard times, who is most likely to be employed, the educated or the uneducated? Education gives you credibility. Education means better healthcare hygiene practices. Education means more opportunities for the next generation.

Usually when I am asked what my dream is, I say it is to get a PhD and become a lecturer. But in fact, my very true dream is something else. It is to open an organization that provides free education to those who are denied this opportunity otherwise. I even thought of the slogan for the organization. Thought I'd steal, or should I say, borrow the Kuwait Fund's dialogue, "Helping people to help themselves", LOL. I realize that undertaking will be no easy task because you literally need like a crapton of resources in order to be in any position to undertake such a project, plus there is a huge planning process is quite intensive. Despite these hurdles, this is a project that I would simply love to undertake this project. It is very essential.

No country can survive without education. There are examples internationally where fixing an education system and making it accessible to every single citizen has turned around the future of not only of the country itself, but also improved the quality of life of every single citizen, and not just on the economic front, but otherwise also.

Why am I so passionate about education, you ask? It is because I myself was denied the opportunity to study despite having two university educated parents. I wanted to go to university, parents said no. Finances were not playing a role here, they could cough up the money to pay for it and it wasn't like they were being stingy with their money either. It was because they simply saw no point in it. My mom would say, “You learn nothing new after 10th grade” and, “So you spend a few years at university. Then what?” and, “Study study and go crazy”. I am a university graduate. It was a hard and difficult road for me. I had to fight lack of opportunity at every step. I had my going to university stopped even five times. And at one time my dream was to one day walk on a university campus, carrying my books walking to my first class. Lack of opportunity was so strong that this seemed like an impossible dream to fulfil. Literally impossible. This is the reason why education is a cause that is so near and dear to me.

They say that when something is denied to you or taken away from you, do you learn its true value and only then do you begin to appreciate it. That is exactly what happened to me. I used to be your typical school hating angry kid who wanted to grab a lighter and set fire to their textbooks. It was only until the opportunity to study was being denied to me did I realize its importance to the extent that I now strive to become an education activist.

Education is the way forward.  It is the thing of the future. The world cannot prosper or survive without education any longer.

There is a local news channel which is doing a strong campaign for education, highlighting people who have turned their lives around due to education and highlighting the improvements that are needed in the education system. Anyways, we have elections coming up in May, and with regards to that, I want to leave you with the dialogue that they say with regards to the elections, “Vote For Education!”