educatenotdiscriminate-blog

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If you are wondering how you, a person living in the first world, can help these children in need in a small but impactful way, the Malala Fund is something you can contribute to! Every cent counts!

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Let us join forces to bring education to children around the world as they have the right to study no matter what race or religion they are

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“Chinasa”

The following is an excerpt from the short story “Chinasa” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian author

Her arms were still and bandaged but she had the most expressive face and in the flickering naked light of the kerosene lamp, she would laugh, smile, sneer, as I read to her. I had lost many of my things, running from town to town, but I had always brought some of my books and reading those books to her brought me a new kind of joy because I saw them freshly, through Chinasa’s eyes. She began to ask questions, to challenge what some of the characters did in the stories. She asked questions about the war. She asked me questions about myself. I told her about my parents who had been determined that I would be educated, and who had sent me to a Teachers Training College. I told her how much I had enjoyed my job as a teacher in Enugu before the war started and how sad I was when our school was closed down to become a refugee camp. She looked at me with a great intensity as I spoke. Later, as she was teaching me how to play nchokolo one evening, asking me to move some stones between boxes drawn on the ground, she asked whether I might teach her how to read. I was startled. It did not occur to me that she could not read. Now that I think of it, I should not have been so presumptuous. Her personal story was familiar: her parents were farmers from Agulu who had scraped to send her two brothers to the mission school but kept her at home. Perhaps it was her brightness, her alertness, the great intelligence about the way she watched everything, that had made me forget the reality of where she came from. We began lessons that night. She knew the alphabet because she had looked at some of her brother’s books, and I was not surprised by how quickly she learned, how hard she worked. By the time we heard, some months later, the rumor that our generals were about to surrender, Chinasa was reading to me from her favorite book THE AFRICAN CHILD.

This excerpt mirrors the life of many children living in the third world who have no access to education either due to cultural traditions, as seen by Chinasa’s parents sending both her brothers to school while keeping her at home, or due simply due to the political climate of the country, as seen by Chinasa being injured by the war. However, Chinasa is described to have “great intelligence” and it was a stroke of luck that Chinasa could use her intelligence to learn how to read. However, in reality many bright children are unable to hone their knowledge as they do not have access to school.

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This website shows the horrific work that children are forced to do in some parts of India. Thus, this illustrates the importance of education as children would not be forced to work if they were at school. Furthermore, education provides children with skills that will allow them to be qualified for higher paying jobs and thus moving their family out of poverty. Education prevents child exploitation!

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Sometimes its important to remember not to take education for granted here in the first world. We often complain about the workload and the many tests but it’s also crucial to remember that there are others who are much less fortunate than us. Though many may not realise, education gives us the ability to enjoy literature, understand the world around us and the ability to climb the social ladder by giving us skills necessary for our future. Thus, we must remember to treasure our education!

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education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.

Malcolm X

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Despite the Indian Government’s best efforts to educate their children, the culture there undermines this. Poorer families take their children out of school to help with the family work, hindering their education. There are not enough teachers to teach the students and thus class sizes are enormous (60-80 students), making it difficult for existing teachers to ensure their students understand the concepts taught in school. Therefore, despite the Indian Supreme Court stating in 2011 that “the right of children to free and compulsory education has been made a fundamental right under Article 21A of the Constitution.  Now every child of the age of 6 to 14 years has right to have free education in neighbourhood school till elementary education”, India still has a long way to go on the path to children’s education. 

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When girls are educated, their countries become stronger and more prosperous.

Michelle Obama

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According to Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, states are obliged to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal rights with men in the field of education.

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As said by Malala Yousafzai, we should not underestimate the power of education. What if that child that just was taken out of school could have invented the cure for cancer? So many ideas that these children could have created will never be expressed if they remain illiterate. 

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The education gap between the rich and poor is still a prevalent issue in even first world countries. Education is meant to empower students from lower income families, but the achievement gap threatens to dilute education’s leveling effects. Children from affluent families tend to do better in school, yet the income divide has received little attention from policy makers and government officials.

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Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/education/education-gap-grows-between-rich-and-poor-studies-show.html

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1MkBNVfAxE)

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lsDJnlJqoY)

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Dunya Aur Larki from Pakistan Coalition for Pakistan on Vimeo.

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Cambodian Children’s Fund is just one of various funds out there aimed at getting all children education! If you have the time, it would be good to support one of these funds. After all, a even a small amount goes a long way.