Education for Breaking Out of Poverty
By Denise Nvomera Ntegeza
The Democratic Republic of the Congo — The objectives for sustainable development in education emphasize the importance of free primary schooling — something that has not been provided in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or in many African countries.
A seminar organized by ATD Fourth World focused on the theme “Everyone can learn if…”. The three suspension points represent the multiple obstacles that prevent all children from having equal access to education, including obstacles related to family poverty, increasing insecurity in many countries, wartime conditions, etc.
We need to think about how to change the way the public looks at people in the deepest poverty. We need to think about how to put people who live in extreme poverty topmost in our concerns.
As parents, we have to start in our own families by laying the groundwork for basic education to pave the way for what will come next. All guidelines and suggestions should help us in the process of finding peace and working for other long-lasting solutions. We’re not only calling on families to take on more responsibility, but also appealing to the government and its institutions to guarantee that justice is done on all levels, They should make sure that all children — including those who live in poverty — can enjoy their right to free and compulsory primary education and that schools are safely accessible with no illegal or hidden fees.
Being ambassadors of peace, we as parents have to start in our own families by first solidifying the education that we give to our children, because without basic education a whole life can be wasted. If we are successful, the results will speak for themselves. We shouldn’t leave all the responsibility to the state since, by itself, the state is powerless.
Right now, certain governments act as if the people didn’t exist, as if children didn’t have the right to education and protection. There will be justice once the existence of others is taken into account and starvation wages no longer exist. Three, four, five, or six months of unpaid work won’t support a person’s well-being.
Social classes exist in every society, but we have to show that inequality leads to atrocities and that some people are being brutally impacted by poverty.
With the help of ATD Fourth World, we must issue a plea for governments to apply the principles of equality and fairness, and then even children from a background of poverty will be able to sit in a classroom, and we will build responsible, viable nations.
Children experiencing grave poverty may suddenly stop going to school or never attend at all because they are obliged to earn money or take on domestic tasks at home. Worse still, some find themselves living in the streets, with a wretched future ahead of them.
Education is essential if children are to be allowed to develop their personality, skills, and talents.
Schooling provides children with opportunities to participate in an effective way in social life and thus escape poverty by becoming assets not only for themselves but for the whole community.
The failure to complete primary and secondary education has economic consequences that devastate families and prolong the cycle of poverty.
Listen to our brothers and sisters in Syria: Little 8-year-old Mouna said on Radio France International, “We have hidden schools; parents won’t allow children to go to school anymore because so many have died when the schools were bombarded.”
A Syrian teacher said that she and her colleagues volunteered to do what they could to contribute to the education of children.
School is life; it’s our children’s future; it’s the future of an entire people. Children who aren’t in school are a ticking time bomb.
“Everyone can learn if…”
