Love it or hate it, education is compulsory for all of us until the age of 18. It’s the same routine everyday, wake up early, go to school, come home, sleep and repeat. Nevertheless we cannot deny the fact that we are blessed with this opportunity and gift that is education, unfortunately although we live in a modern and technical world where technology is rapidly advancing everyday, in certain developing countries this is not the case.
Today, education remains an inaccessible right for millions of children around the world. Although it is difficult to apprehend, more than 72 million children of primary school age alone are not in school and 759 million adults are uneducated thus not obtaining this necessary awareness crucial to improve both their living conditions and those of their children.
This is evident in many lower economically developed countries such as Haiti. Before the earthquake of 2010 that terrorised the lives of innocent individuals only 50% of children attended primary school but after, these figures decreased dramatically raising levels of concern as studies showed how approximately 2.5 million children were left without a school to go to. Recent studies evidence how out of 100 children, 40 will never go to school. Out of the 60 who do only 42 will complete primary school, only 20 of these children will further study at secondary school and only 4 of those will graduate from high school!
These figures are very thought provoking in the sense that typically school is seen as chore rather than a blessing. We are offered countless opportunities in learning, socialising, leadership and so much more so it is difficult to understand why education is not generally considered as one of the most important values we have among students. This raises the question of what we can do to help others access this opportunity because where will these children be when they grow up without school as "education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world",Nelson Mandela. Schemes from Unicef and Save The Children are helping the dreams of these children become reality. After all "education is the key to success", obligatory in order for society to progress. Thus we must not fail to use every ounce of this gift we are given because despite the fact that us students only make up about 20% of our population we are 100% of our future.
Umeh Jamiath, The Sydney Russell School
