The Most Powerful Weapon Is With Us
BERITA LAINNYA - 29 December 2020
The Most Powerful Weapon Is With Us
| By Ariella Maharani P. P. Siahaan
The former African President, Nelson Mandela, once stated in his speech, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” This famous quote holds a powerful meaning within. Nobody can ever deny the fact that education plays a huge role in the modern world filled with civilized society, developed technology, abundant knowledge, and ideas. Those who lack basic education tend to not be able to stand in these days and age. We may not have to acquire college degrees, as in reality, there are numerous successful people who did not finish formal education. Nonetheless, it is not a doubt that essentially, every person needs to be educated.
Nowadays, we tend to overlook what we have and forget that we are blessed with opportunities and access to education. Let us take a moment to look closer at ourselves. We might not realize that as we read this article by using our electronic devices, we are proving our privilege which we often forget. We cannot ignore the fact that we have further internet access, books, online classes, online meeting platforms, and many more. All those facilities around us and yet we still frequently make complaints about the ceaseless cycle of problems; why we have to go to school, how much homework we get, how stressful school is, how hard the school system is, and many more.
As opposed to our problems, those who live in Africa which consists of the countries such as Tanzania, Chad, Ethiopia, Somalia, are the least to get a proper education or any education at all. They still struggle to acquire clean water and adequate healthcare, let alone education. Moreover, South Sudanese are still recovering from the civil war for decades between president Salva Kiir's army and Vice-President Riek Machar’s army. This circumstance creates more challenges for the government to provide educational infrastructure. The civil war also hinders students in the early grades from concentrating, which leads to high drop-out rates and weak levels of learning progress. Moving forward, the Kenyan government introduced Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2003 after the failed attempt in the late 1970s. However, prior to its improved education system, the government faced innumerable forms of challenges, namely teacher shortages and delays in funds disbursements.
Source: https://s32152.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/uni47803.jpg
Let us also not forget to mention our fellow Indonesians who grow up in unprivileged families and have to maintain the struggles in order to attend schools – or solely to get access to any source of education. The gap between the poor and rich children is something that plenty of countries, including Indonesia, have been working on. Children who come from middle to upper-class households are more likely to get sufficient education than those who come from the lower class to poor. Furthermore, children who live in Papua and West Papua are facing more challenges due to its location which is difficult to reach. This geographical problem impairs them in terms of high-cost transportations and restricted facilities. With how difficult the condition has been, many teachers in rural areas of Papua have to take multiple roles (as an example, school principal also has to be classroom teacher) and are still dealing with late salary payment, which caused them to not be able to fulfil their necessities. Therefore, the rate of teacher absenteeism is rising. Nevertheless, it is very pleasing that people like Ben Malyo and Septinus Arui still have the passion to teach the future generations of Papua. Even if they do not get a decent amount of salary along with other obstacles that they have to go through.
Women and girls in Indonesia are blessed with the middling equal rights to access to education. The latest report from UNICEF shows that 62.4 percent of girls enrolled in secondary school compared to 60.9 percent of boys. Unlike Indonesia, South Sudan has the highest gap of level between the girls and boys attending primary school, followed by the Central African Republic, Niger, and Afghanistan. President of the ONE Campaign once mentioned that over 130 million girls are out of school. Meanwhile, surveys show that the causes of girls not in school are early marriage, pregnancy, child labour, extreme poverty, and so on.
Source: https://www.gsdmagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/child-labour-india-2.jpg
It is indubitable that school can be hard for most of us, particularly during this pandemic that brings difficult times for all of us. Hours of staring at the screen, being required to attend online meetings for approximately 7 hours a day, along with tons of assignments and tests which sometimes might be too much of a burden for us. The exhaustion is real and hard to avoid which most definitely will lead us to feel unmotivated. Nevertheless, that shall not stop us from realizing how blessed we are compared to those children who can’t turn their big dreams into reality as their conditions preclude them. Regardless of how tiring our classes could be, we must manage to overcome it. This current situation has been a rollercoaster of emotions and it is always fine to feel weary. But keep in mind that giving up on yourself and letting yourself drown will never be the answer to cope with the hard times. Instead of turning your web camera off and doing other activities during online meetings, it is way better to clean your space and do some stretches. Take a moment to loosen up, reduce the tension, and immediately get back with the enthusiasm for performing your best to pursue the bright future ahead. Thousands of children long for the opportunity to get an education, and since we are fortunate to have the opportunity, we must appreciate and not disregard it.
As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. ━ Daniel 1:17
References:
● https://edupapua.wordpress.com/2017/02/21/the-challenges-of-education-in-west-papua-indonesia/
● https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/oct/11/revealed-the-10-worst-countries-for-girls-to-get-an-education-international-day-girl
● https://borgenproject.org/top-10-facts-about-girls-education-in-indonesia/
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