The right to education

Education is everybody’s right. It shouldn’t be limited to fighting illiteracy but to provide the learners with the means to acquire sufficient knowledge to develop their personality and to get a good job.

But as there are social differences between the rich and the poor, there is also education for the rich and the poor. The rich have the means to teach their children in the best schools with the highly qualified teachers who give individual attention to each student. The problem with education in state schools in many countries is that they are under-equipped and overcrowded. In some countries like Egypt, the number of students in a class reaches up to 60, where there are only basic means for teaching like chalk, blackboard and textbooks.

There can be talk about education becoming a burden for the states as it absorbs more than 13% of the national budget. Students don’t get their studies in adequate conditions, mainly because of overcrowding and under-equipment. Students end up undereducated. Only intelligent and self reliant ones can make it amidst this educational chaos.

There are also students unfit to be in school because of their lack of aptitude. But because of political reasons, they’re kept at school at least until the age of 16. Some students are cheated in being passed to another grade although they don’t deserve it just to make room for the new comers in that grade.

Educational curricula are sometimes disoriented and outdated. This goes from primary schools up to colleges and universities. Students end up with diplomas that like false money which they can’t use in any trade. No wonder if there are academically qualified people who just become jobless after finishing their studies.

The problem then remains with the problem of unfit or poor education. The educational system becomes for many countries an opportunity to boast the statistics about the educational staff, the number of the students and schools compared with the past years.

There is also the problem of some third world countries that copycat educational curriculum from developed countries, which doesn’t fit their reality.

What matters is the quality of education the learners get that can benefit them intellectually and professionally. Human beings are by nature curious and they want to get as much information as possible about matters of interest to them. People enjoy doing the jobs for which they are trained and have a liking. The same can be about education.

When learners get motivating materials for their education, they cherish learning without complaining. Those addicted to knowledge, naturally, have an insatiable desire to learn. No one in his right mind will claim to have full knowledge even of a particular subject.

It isn’t a question of being educated or under-educated but getting the right education that can benefit one professionally and intellectually. In other words, education shouldn’t be a mental burden, when it is delivered inappropriately. It should be a source of openness and the know-how for personal and general good.

In short, the educational system should be adapted to the current economic and social needs of each country, at least to offer the biggest majority of graduates the opportunity to get a job. Education for education’s sake has no place in the modern world. It should be the source of making a living, without forgetting that once an ambitious person is stable they can further their education for promotion or just for self-fulfilment.

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