Education – does it really save the World?

Education is a privilege that we in developed countries easily keep as a matter of course our duty. Well, it is a duty, too, but when we dissect the situation for example in literacy and primary school attendance worldwide, we find that it certainly is a privilege. There are millions of children in our world who have no possibilities to study, no possibilities to learn to read or go even to primary school, to have an education. There are also remarkable differences in education between countries. Briefly you could say that the poorer the country, the worse are the possibilities to study and have an education. That is naturally because the lack of facilities in school system and logistical problems, but also because poor families have to use their children as labour and thus they are prevented to study. This is one of the vicious circles that poverty is causing: when you do not study, you will never be able to catch higher social status and that encourages the poverty to blossom.

Nevertheless, I think investing in education is also a matter of system and cultural habits. In some countries, even though the lack of funding is present, the will to maintain good education and an attitude that education makes our future is saving a lot. For example in former Soviet Union countries, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, the literacy rate of youth is 100, even though the countries are not very wealthy (Unisef 2008). So when there is a will, there is a way, I guess. And when there is already education about the importance of education, people are possible to maintain good education regardless of lack of funding. The battle goes on.

Table of the state of world`s children (Unisef 2008) clearly presents the differences between countries in our world. It is surprising, that the problems of education are partly clustered into some continents. For example African countries, excluding the North Africa, show to have much lower literacy rate of youth and also the enrolment rate of primary school. On the other hand, if you compare the state of poverty in African countries to the one in former Soviet Union countries, it is natural that situation is much more difficult in Africa. There are more wars, starving, worse agricultural possibilities, larger families and rare poverty. For example in Somalia only 24 % of boys and 20 % of girls are attending primary school and under 8 % and 4 % are attending secondary school, respectively. The table shows also that especially in African countries and in South Asia there is a great difference in literacy rate between genders (Unisef 2008). Boys have better chances to study, even in the 21th century. We cannot see this same phenomenon between Latin America and Caribbean, Europe, East Asia or Pacific; the gender differences in education do not luckily exist. Is it the culture or religion or prejudices? And more interestingly; what to do to change this climate? It is funny to notice that the answer to the problem is the same as the problem: education.

The same table (Unisef 2008) also shows the number of phones and internet-users on each country. The differences are remarkable: industrialized countries predictably are shining in the top place. This can be a sign of positive vicious circle: the more you have equipment to study and find information, the easier it is for you to study and maintain good education and general knowledge. How to share education to everybody? How to guarantee the equal possibilities to have an education? Should we first eliminate poverty or which comes first? I don`t know - meanwhile we at least need to educate.

References:
Unicef. The state of the world´d children; table; 2008.