School: Lords Secondary School, Oyo.
17 Years. Male
What happens when a country is still under colonialism and there is nobody willing to fight for independence? What happens when an independent nation continues to plunge into abysmal backwardness and retrogression? This is not freedom. True freedom can be gotten only through education.
It is imperative that I should define the keywords in the topic above. Education gotten from the Greek world ‘educo’ which means to ‘create, erect or build’ can be defined as the process of acquiring knowledge and experience through formal, informal and semi-formal means. Freedom is the state of being free from or gaining emancipation from something while the future refers to a period of time that is yet to come.
On education as the path to freedom, I think that a thorough consideration of several times in history when nations get emancipated and fevered ties with colonial masters as well as the independence of nations now being enjoyed were brought out by people who were ready to die for their countries. Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jnr, Nelson Mandela and even Professor Wole Soyinka; These great people either dead or alive contributed their own quota to ensuring that their nations enjoyed true freedom. Either it was through a walk around Dandi or an ‘I have a Dream’ speech, or through a speech from the docks and even satires such as ‘The man died’ and ‘Dance of the forest’, these people were able to achieve all that they have done to education.
So great is the impact od education in attaining freedom, that the United Nations in article Thirteen of its International Economic Convention that it recognises the right of every individual to an education. Also in ite article twenty six of the International Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations proclaimed that all individuals have a right to education.
The Brussels Conference of 1885 as well as the Slavery Convention of 1926, which both abolished slavery and colonialism and also recognised the right of every government to self-rule was brought about by educated people. Only these people could confront tyrannical leaders such as Bennito Musolini of Italy, Idi-Amin of Uganda, Adolf Hitler of Germany and even Gen. Sanni Abacha. Only these people regardless of exile, torture and even death penalties stood their ground.
Education is not only a path to colonial freedom but also to financial freedom. According to world research, individuals could become ten percent richer if they stay one more year in school. What this means is that over one hundred and seventy one million could be lifted out of penury as a result of an extra year in school. If majority population of the world left school with basic reading ability, there would be fewer occurrences of poverty. Also, education broadens the reasoning ability of an individual. This makes him capable of gaining employment opportunities and upgrading his status. Hence, education is the path to freedom. As Fredrick Douglas will put it, ‘the path to freedom is education’.
On education as a path to the future, i must firstly commend the likes of Albert Einstein, Ptolemy and so on who due to their education questioned the existing norms and paved way for a better future. They were regarded as insane and their teachings ‘outrageous’, however due to their education, they refused to be discouraged as a result of their education, they refused to be discouraged as a result of their education, the world is now a better place to be. The breakthroughs in science and arts that male life better and our future safer are made by men and women that were educated.
From another perspective and in numerous parts of the world, children are referred to as the future. Our children have to be equipped with tools that would enable them to face the challenges other than education. Education can also be defined as ‘any experience capable of affecting the thoughts, feelings and actions of an individual’. Therefore, education can be seen as the sum total of experiences is able to gather over time in order to become a better person. Education is indeed the path to the future.
Nigeria has come to realise the focal position of education par excellence and for this reason established the Universal Basic Education (UBE) which was created in 1977 and revised in August. The UBE is a reaction of the section nineteen of the 1999 constitution which states that government through its agencies must provide free and compulsory basic education.
According to another world research, a child born in third world nations has the ability to survive past age five if his iir her mother has fifty percent literacy rate. This means that education if embraced and invested in can save more children from dying and consequently make our future. If carefully considered, we shall see that the highly feared sect called ‘Boko Haram in Nigeria is able to initiate members that are illiterate. Personally, i do not think that an educated person in his or her right senses will decide to die for any reason when he or she realises that there is a bright future for him or her. Also, female genital mutilation, under age marriage and so many more backward practices which render our future bleak are carried out by the illiterates. Such danger and human inflicted on a child in the developmental stages is capable of making a child become dependent, sad, and with little confidence and self esteem. Children, the future of the world can only become better when they and their societies are able to see the need for education. It is for this purpose that schemes such as the UBE are developed. The UBE in Nigeria as directed by the federation and entrenched in the constitution aims at making children better equipped for life’s challenges by providing free and compulsory basic education which according to the **** Convention comprises formal, informal and semi-formal means of making a child fully equipped to conquer the challenges.
Conclusively, i believe that for nations to become developed and tp experience rapid growth there has to be huge government investment in education. When we especially consider that no Nigerian University is among the best three hundred and other situations like this, we shall see that in order for Nigeria to move forward, the government indeed needs to draft out ‘edu-friendly’ policies which would encourage learning and provide employment opportunities. According to Obanja, the government needs to address the issue of low rate of literacy by establishing agencies and policies which could make learning, especially acquisition of basic reading skills easier.
Education is indeed the path to freedom and the future. Thank you.