Jessye O'Connor
The very idea of equality in education has been around for
some time now. But what does it mean? Equality in education is a social justice
issue, and a human right. Although, sadly, in many countries people don’t have
the rich privilege of being educated.
Take Malala, for example. Malala is a young girl from
Pakistan, who has strong beliefs of equality and fairness. She believes that
every girl should have the right to get educated. Her father owned a school for
girls to attend which enraged the Taliban, resulting in Malala being shot, for
sticking up for what she believed. In Australia we believe that a free and
equal education should be a right. And we need to support the work of people
such as Malala, who are trying to win the same right for young people
everywhere.
More than 70 million
children don’t get an education. That’s more than double the whole population
of Australia. In many cases, the poverty cycle is one of the main causes of
children not being able to get an education. The poverty cycle occurs when poor
families get trapped in restraints of poverty for generation after generation
unless there is outside intervention, such as a donation. This poverty cycle
creates a barrier for poor families when they have fallen below a certain level
of resources. There may be cultural
barriers to a child, especially a female, receiving an education or the family
may be so poor that a child has to go to work early to contribute towards their
family finance. This then leads back to
loss of employment opportunities and the cycle can keep rotating for many
generations.
Hunger during school may prevent children in developing
countries from fully benefiting from their education. Children experiencing
chronic hunger, may develop learning difficulties and most of them will have
trouble focusing on lessons due to a lack of energy or motivation. Cognitive impairments
might lead to them falling behind in grades. Lack of vitamins and minerals will
mean that the child might not reach developmental milestones, or not reach them
at the expected age.
Education is a human right and should be equal in all
countries. However, laws are preventing people from getting an education, as a
matter of fact more than 27 million people worldwide haven’t received an education.
You can help lower this number. One option is donating to charities such as St
Vincent de Paul or Caritas. You can even help by sponsoring a child. These are
organisations dedicated to helping the less fortunate. Unless you do something
towards this cause of equality, nothing is going to get better. Be that person
who saves a life.
