Who will be the next Newton?

From the day I learned about the amazing scientist Sir Isaac Newton I became fascinated by his life.

I got more interested in science, I got curious about our world and wanted to know more about everything. Curiosity is the drive that makes humans develop and reach the highest of skies. I started to become someone who would not settle for the ordinary.

As I grew up my interest in learning new things increased and my horizons expanded. I now have a Masters degree in Computer Communication Engineering and Bachelor degree in Literature. Over the years I’ve educated myself in other subjects too, using books and online tutorials to learn about astronomy, graphic design and 3D Projection Mapping. And I’m now setting up my own project that is going to be funded by a start-up company.

My story is simple: I was a child who fell in love with science and was able to pursue education because my parents were able to provide it for me.

What if a child had the same passion and was inspired by an author or scientist … and his parents weren’t able to enrol him in a school because of poverty or any other reason?

Education is the key to a better future, and should be given to everyone in the world. But education is not just about building a career, it’s about opening your mind to the wonders of the universe.

When you’re studying physics, you’re learning about how the universe works, when you’re studying maths, you’re learning how all things add up to be the things they are, when you’re studying philosophy, you’re learning to think and question everything around you.

As Stephen Hawking once said:

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”

With 59 million children out of school worldwide, we might be losing the next Newton every day. School is not for the elite, it’s for everyone.

I’ve joined this amazing movement “A World at School” as a global youth ambassador to help the next Isaac Newton get his or her deserved education.

“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” — Isaac Newton

Mustafa Dusaki is a Global Youth Ambassador with the #UpForSchool Lebanon campaign. He works as a Senior Teacher Facilitator at DOT Lebanon (Digital Opportunity Trust) and is developing his own start-up in 3D Mapping Projection.