Imagine a 12-year-old girl named Lingling, living in a leaky hut with her 80-year-old grandma, in the remote mountains of Yunnan, China. The nearest public school is 3 hours away, so it is impossible for her to go to school. But Lingling’s dream is to become a doctor when she grows up.
Lingling and her home in Yunnan, China
According to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), around 258 million children worldwide remain unschooled. The UN has established 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved for the improvement of life quality for all mankind, and “ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education” (SDG#4) has been featured with great priority within the seventeen goals. It is also regarded as the key to achieving many other goals, such as eliminating poverty (SDG#1). However, there is still a long way to go to fully achieve this SDG as there are still so many children out of school globally that need help.
It is of vital importance for all children, regardless of family circumstances, to receive an education because education is not merely a privilege for those who are fortunate, but rather, a basic human right for all. Getting an education not only benefits these children with acquiring knowledge and skills to support their daily lives when they grow up, which positively benefits the overall economy but also makes them better individuals. Fortunately, there have been many efforts made to develop and implement solutions to address these issues on ensuring accessible education of adequate quality.
Why Should We Care
Every child has the inalienable right of dignity, equality, and right to education. Education is a fundamental human right. There are certain fundamental rights that every human being in the world, regardless of ethnicity, gender, nationality, or social status, is inherently entitled to. These are commonly known as “human rights”. In 1948, these rights were formally declared and recognized by many countries in the “Universal Declaration on Human Rights” which was later recognized by more countries and adopted as part of their laws and regulations.
The right to education, is in fact, one of these fundamental human rights. It is also featured as SDG#4, set as a goal to ensure this fundamental right is guaranteed and enforced in all countries for all children to enjoy without discrimination. Therefore, children deserve all the help and care they need with regards to education accessibility.
According to the Rural Development Institute, “Education is considered a vital element in the development of a society, a system, and a country.” Receiving an education can better prepare students to have more job and career opportunities which would have a positive impact on the global economy, connecting to SDG#8, “decent work and economic growth”. In order for other goals to be achieved, education is crucial. It is also the solution to breaking the cycle of poverty happening around the world. Furthermore, education can help cultivate a healthier, sustainable, and peaceful community. An article from “Habitat for Humanity” describes the benefits of education to a community stating, “One needs to learn about culture, history and other important aspects so that they would be able to contribute to modern society.” This accentuates the importance of education, regardless of culture, race, and religion, pointing out how it helps with shaping a society, ensuring citizens to have the right knowledge to respect the laws to maintain peace and further lead to greater overall wealth and prosperity.
Benefits to Children
Education not only strengthens communities but also has powerful benefits on the individual level, helping children overcome their hardships and giving them a better chance to reach their potential.
Former South African president Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” The process of learning empowers children to solve problems in their lives and to gain confidence in their abilities. Therefore, education can be seen as a weapon, a powerful and positive force for children to bring themselves and the whole world a brighter future.
Reality is, individuals without an education have poor employment opportunities and lower incomes to support themselves, resulting in low self-esteem and even a higher probability of committing crime. Education brings people hope and leads to a reduction in crime. Crime often happens when people are unfulfilled, unhappy or that they just don’t have the proper means to get what they need, such as when they cannot find a job and do not have any source of income.
In other words, a lack of education directly results in poverty and higher crime rates. On the other hand, one who has received a decent education with sufficient income to support their family can ultimately avoid many problems and have the foundational skills to overcome hardships of poverty, hunger, health, inequalities, etc. Furthermore, those are the people who have the resources and can bring better opportunities for the next generation to receive the education that they deserve, contributing to a positive cycle for society.
Receiving no education or a poor education can also mentally and physically affect an individual’s health negatively. A study cited in the article “The Impact of Illiteracy and the Importance of Early Intervention” found that, “…people with low levels of literacy are more likely to experience adverse health outcomes, have poor health literacy, and practice poor health behaviors.” When one is educated, they learn about the world, learn about themselves, and learn about the right way to properly take care of themselves and treat others.
How to Help – Practical Solutions
While the positive impact of education on both society and individuals is fairly easy to understand, there are still so many underprivileged children who face this problem, as the solutions to this major problem are still vague. Root causes ought to be identified and solutions created that are actionable and practical to ensure each child can get access to quality education.
There are many solutions offered by different organizations around the world that are doing their part to help children who are unable to get access to education. Some examples of helping with rural education were providing funding for free education or giving out scholarships to these students. Some governments or organizations support building schools in places where there are not enough schools or teachers. Some of these schools even have boarding facilities for students and teachers to live in, built to overcome the barrier of gaining “access”, especially for those who live too far away in remote rural areas.
There are many other initiatives to improve the quality of available education programs. Most familiar approaches include donating books and money to buy learning materials and building campaigns to advocate for these disadvantaged children. Every small step taken to support them, such as raising awareness or raising donations, can greatly help these children build a stronger literacy foundation.
Despite many of these efforts (building schools and improving the quality of programs), many organizations are going one step further to identify why some students are still not going to school or allowed by their parents to go to school. They are coming up with creative ways to improve the attendance rates and ensure no child is left behind without an education.
According to World Poverty Clock, a system that measures poverty progress to the SDGs, it is estimated that about 86.8 million of India’s population was living in poverty in 2021. As a result, the government developed many conventions to encourage more children to attend school. They have found that some parents were reluctant to send their children because they did not have any money left to pay for food after paying for school-related fees. After identifying this root cause, the government initiated a scheme to address the problem, “According to this scheme, students were provided free and nutritious meals in school… The scheme led to the rise in the number of students attending schools” (Borkala, 2021). The parents were happy their financial burden has been reduced and had an incentive to send their children to school, where they are fed while being educated.
Indian students enjoying their free meal at school
Providing a free meal was not the only method for uplifting the students to attend class. The government and organizations helping also identified another reason why some students were still not coming to school – they lived too far. Consequently, these organizations started a campaign to donate bicycles to these student families, providing the students with the basic means of transportation to overcome this challenge.
Conclusion – Unleash the Power of Education
In the case of Lingling living in the rural mountains of China, fortunately, the establishment of a migrant school with boarding facilities was able to help her move one step closer to her dream. Education is a basic human right and can be transformational. Advocating for those less fortunate and eliminating obstacles they face is essential and beneficial to both society and the ones in need. Lingling’s story has shown us, with accessible education, there is hope for her to have a brighter future and for her community to break the cycle of poverty. Unleash the power of education— helping children receive the education they deserve is necessary to create a better tomorrow for everyone.
Works Cited:
Borkala, L.K. Monu. “Rural Education in India – A Perspective.” College Marker, 13 Feb. 2021, collegemarker.com/blogs/rural-education-in-india-a-perspective/#:~:text=Realising%20one%20of%20the%20main%20reasons%20the%20rural,6%20to%2014%20have%20the%20right%20to%20education. Accessed 11 May 2022.
Habitat for Humanity. “10 Benefits Showing Why Education Is Important to Our Society.” Habitat for Humanity of Broward, Habitat for Humanity, habitatbroward.org/blog/benefits-of-education/. Accessed 26 May 2022.
Lon&Queta. Girl in Rural Yunnan China. 30 Mar. 1995. Flickr, www.flickr.com/photos/lonqueta/4043507358. Accessed 31 May 2022.
Low, Amanda, and Nicola Miranda. “The Impact of Illiteracy and the Importance of Early Intervention.” World Literacy Foundation, Nicola Miranda, 23 July 2021, worldliteracyfoundation.org/early-intervention-reduces-illiteracy/?gclid=CjwKCAjws8yUBhA1EiwAi_tpEfnq8OTjrij_0QX3HjnHkNyn8n-SKt2tzY0fNEoBXP6BLL_bL66iHBoCuJsQAvD_BwE. Accessed 29 May 2022.
Philips, Tom. “Here’s a real cliff-hanger story about some courageous Chinese students.” Newsela, Newsela staff, 6 June 2016, newsela.com/read/china-scariest-run/id/18201/?_flash_query_param_1=. Accessed 10 May 2022.
“Poverty in India Statistics 2021-2022 | Poorest State in India.” The Global Statistics, www.theglobalstatistics.com/poverty-in-india-statistics-2021/. Accessed 29 May 2022.
Sajjad, Farheen. “The role of education in rural communities.” Medium, Rural Development Institute, 14 Feb. 2019, medium.com/@rdi_77976/the-role-of-education-in-rural-communities-b478ed01b9d6. Accessed 11 May 2022.
“Sustainable Development Goals: 17 Goals to Transform our World.” United Nations, www.un.org/en/exhibits/page/sdgs-17-goals-transform-world. Accessed 29 May 2022.
“The 10 most powerful Nelson Mandela quotes.” Department Of Arts And Culture, 5 June 2014, artsculturesa.wordpress.com/2014/06/05/the-10-most-powerful-nelson-mandela-quotes/. Accessed 31 May 2022.
“Understanding education as a right.” Right to Education, www.right-to-education.org/page/understanding-education-right. Accessed 29 May 2022.
“What you need to know about the right to education.” UNESCO, 5 May 2022, www.unesco.org/en/education/right-education/need-know. Accessed 29 May 2022.
World Bicycle Relief. “5 OF THE MOST INSPIRATIONAL NELSON MANDELA QUOTES.” World Bicycle Relief, worldbicyclerelief.org/5-of-the-most-inspirational-nelson-mandela-quotes/. Accessed 29 May 2022.