The importance of education can be easy to overlook, but without it, would you be where you are today?
Education teaches us to read, write and use numbers, yet it can also teach us about our faith, our planet, and the people who inhabit it. Education teaches us right from wrong and praises positive traits like generosity, kindness, and humility while encouraging us to grow into the people we have the potential to become.
However, many of us end up taking our education for granted, considering it to be a chore rather than a privilege. We can sponsor a child to go to school in an impoverished part of the world, but why would we do that when we place such little value on our own education? Sadly, this negative attitude can prevent us from both helping others and getting the most out of our own education, hampering the experience and disrupting the learning that is essential to give us the best possible chance of succeeding as we grow older.
What Education Means Around the World
On the other hand, there are millions of children and young people around the world who would love nothing more than to be given the opportunity to go to school and have an education. These children jump at any chance they get to increase their knowledge and skillset, valuing what they can learn from even the simplest tasks of everyday life.
However, the sad reality is that many of these children live in poverty and therefore, have no way of attaining an education. When their families are struggling to survive and food is scarce, school is out of the question as every member of the family must go out and earn money to support one another – no matter their age. If work isn’t available, these children will instead spend their days caring for younger siblings or elderly relatives, cooking, cleaning and carrying out chores and general tasks around the house.
Of course, many of these children will be happy to help their family and loved ones, but in doing so, they are missing out on an invaluable part of childhood and the chance to shape their own future.
How Can Education Help?
Poverty isn’t the only thing that is preventing children around the world from attending school. Ongoing conflict and devastating natural disasters can destroy not just homes and buildings, but entire communities. Families are split up, children orphaned, and many innocent people have no choice but to flee their homes in search of a safer place to settle. In situations like these, education is often far from at the forefront of people’s minds, but it is still an essential part of life.
Not only can education help to inform young people about why these events are happening, but it can also provide a much-needed sense of stability and familiarity in a world that has become achingly unfamiliar. Many of these children will have lost everything – not just homes and possessions, but their loved ones and friends, too. Education can reach out to each child, no matter their individual circumstances, and provide an anchor to the real world in an environment that is constantly changing.
Everyone has the Right to an Education
Here at Al Mustafa Welfare Trust, we believe that education is an essential part of childhood and therefore, we are committed to providing access to education for children and young people in some of the most impoverished regions in the world. We know that our children are our future, which is why we believe that essential education to an elementary level should be compulsory and available to all children, free of charge. While this is a big vision, we have no qualms about doing everything we can to make our dream a reality for the next generation.
Join our campaign and sponsor a child to go to school, helping to free an innocent youngster from the cycle of poverty while opening up an eager young mind to a world that is full of endless possibilities. For many of these children, education really is the key to a brighter future that is full of knowledge, experience, laughter, and – above all else – hope.
So, the next time you catch yourself beginning to take education for granted, spare a thought for all those millions of children and, perhaps, reconsider how much you value your own education.
