Economic growth, development, health and education are intertwined. They all lead to a prosperous community. Our country is facing many problems but the most important issue which needs to be addressed is education which is the key to all these issues. Education for everyone, for every child, regardless of their gender. Where education can help a woman deal with many basic issues, education is the only thing which can change the mindset of our male population. We all agree how important it is to give a girl education but we must not forget it is equally important to give education to a boy because it is the only thing which can change a male prospective towards girl education in our society. In our country where males dominate the house, where they assert more authority, it will help them understand why they need educated wives or daughters.
When I was attending "Global education and skills forum, I had the privilege to listen to the vice president of south Sudan. It was a surprise to hear that he has a PHD in mechanical engineering, a real PHD unlike our educational minister having fake degree, he even introduced his three ministers who were also PHD. The most interesting thing was that all three studied from the schools under the tree, meaning there were no proper school and now when they are in government they are all working to improve their education system. Not only that they being in government trying to stop the parents from getting their daughters married off early? Which is quite common in south Sudan? So they being a male trying to bring change in their country because education has broaden their horizon and that should be the case, where men and women work together for development.
People who oppose girls education need to be told how having an educated wife will built a strong foundation of their house, how she will help bringing up their future in a better way, how that girl when becomes a wife can deal with the health and education issues of her children in a better way than an illiterate women. A woman with education is a strong pillar of our society and for men to realise this we need education.
Things can be changed in our society but only if we are serious to address this issue on all levels. Whenever we deal with this harsh mindset against girl’s education we need to see the root cause of it. We need to see why in some areas of our country men are dead against girl’s education. Who is infesting their brains with these things that they are blowing up girls school just to prevent girls from getting education. And the most important question is what kind of education these men are getting which has failed to impact their mind and Why it has failed to bring a change in that society.
Somewhere something is not right, We all know Pakistan has the world’s second highest number of children out of school and that is about 5.1 million, they are not only girls they are boys too. In every prosperous society they both have their role to play, Our religion has clearly defined that role. There should be equality but they are not told about this.
All these things point towards one direction. Isn't it obvious that the law and order situation is at its worse where people have no basic infra structure, where they have limited access to health and education, they have no jobs, and they are the people who can easily be manipulated in the name of religion. They are one ones being used by people having their own vested interests. We all know an uneducated man will harbour more extreme ideas, he will be non-progressive towards change and will obviously be intolerant towards women.
In many develop countries the teachers do not only teach the basic education like 1+1 or ABC, they also teach discipline, how to walk, how to talk and how to be friendly and respectful. some teacher take their children to a park and tell them, "Look this is a tree, its our friend, we give them carbon dioxide and it gives us oxygen which we breath, we do not cut tree". Actually these teachers are creating nature friendly citizens of tomorrow. They start at a very early age they show their student who are toddlers a side walk, a zebra crossing or a signal and tell them how to obey the rules, so in a way they create law abiding citizens of tomorrow.
So it is clear, Schools are not helping the situation there, they have zero role in shaping the society there, they have failed miserably to influence the minds of our young generation there and there is only one reason, that education is not enough, that education can teach them how to read and write but that system of education is not helping them how to grow as a human, how to evolve with time. That education will help them choose a future but the same education has not reached that part of their brain which helps them having an open mind, accepting new ideas or welcome change. We need revolution in our educational system to bring this change. A revolution to bring reforms, change the society for betterment and bring real social and economical development.
And for that we need target oriented education for boys and girls, it will not only prepare them for skills but it will makes their mind flexible, which can changes their perspective towards life, which not only gives them degree to have a secure future but also instill behaviour change, a positive change in their approach, in their living style and thinking.
We need to focus on those restricted minds which oppose our basic right to get education; we need to indulge them in new systems which will emphasis more on human values, on equality, on justice, on basic rights and respect for each other. Where they will learn to work together with women and improve our society. And I am hopeful one day we will find how to bring this change in our education system because we are a strong nation holding strong values and one day we will bring change.
We received our acceptance email two months prior to the event and I had to begin the visa procedure straight away. However now I want you all to imagine that I had bought my clothes, bought my bags, bought my plane tickets and prepared everything but there was no sign of the visa. As the days closed by, I was enveloped in a mental torture and stress due to the uncertainty about my visa status. There were only a few days left and I still did not know if I was even going to be able to attend the summer school or not. Now can you believe it, we received our visa status on the LAST DAY before the flight. Thankfully it had been accepted but it was still such an embarrassing moment as I wasn't able to confirm my arrival to QCSYS until the last day. All was well after that apart from jet lag there was no problems once I boarded my flight and reached safely. But the point is that "all is NOT well that ends well".
All of this stress and uncertainty could have been avoided, had there been STEM summer schools of the same kind in my own country. I mean it would have been easier to travel within the country with minimal expenses but as I searched countless times, scrolling through every possible web page, I found to my dismay that my country offers no such programs. And even if they did, nobody knows about them. All I found were charitable internships which are also necessary and i also have partook in one but in order to allow a student to grow and give that student experience which can help him narrow down his career path is also important. Nowadays if you ask a multitude of teens about their future career, a lot will answer: "I haven't decided yet". At least this is the response I get after I asked a lot of my fellow students. Apart from this, many people just choose careers for the sake of it, because it is popular or their friends are taking it. They don't know if they even have the knack or passion for it and this uncertainty can often lead them into taking the wrong subjects or into a career which they will not perform well in. This issue of uncertainty is widespread in our country according to my belief, that is why I believe we should have STEM or any kind of summer school that relates to any subject be it arts, business, computer or economics etc. This allows students to plunge in an experience first hand, how that subject will be like. It will tell them the practical implications of that subject and will also give them an idea as to whether or not they will be able to prosper in that field. This will help in making good career choices which is not beneficial only to the individual but for the whole community overall.
