REALIZING EQUAL ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION: REALIZING EQUAL ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION

Education has long existed before the introduction of the stereotype teacher – student - classroom format and also transcended beyond that. The world at large is a territory waiting to be explored, learned and understood. The people-people behavior translated social or behavioral sciences; its history and beauty translated into Arts, humanities and history, Animals and Plants into Zoology and our creative ability to innovate and mechanize labour we call technology.

At the early stage, there was no restriction as to who had the right to acquire the multitude of knowledge reserves and reinstating the male-beneficial laws sidelining the females. The big question from me is “what happened to the females with the introduction of the stereotypic teacher–student-classroom system” Doing a trace to history will cost us angered tangible time but we all know (especially in Africa and other Third world countries) that issues as Culture, Tradition, marriage and religion crept in with now disproved reasons for the exemption of the females.

The two-step forward to that one-step backward progress is to make educational policies facilities friendly to females; also to the less privilege, to the inclusive units (deaf , lame, sickle cell, blind etc.) and creative competitive opportunities with fair and equal playing ground especially in my part of the world (Africa and third world countries) so the woman can erase the “kitchen syndrome” and contribute immensely to the development of the world not excluding an avenue where the inclusive unit and less privileged are taught to “dirty” their hands and feet in interacting with, and understanding nature’s abundance then transforming the world youth by youth.

My interactions with female youths and other inclusive units who hadn’t the opportunity of formal education but are doing great and are geniuses in their field ignited my passion on the necessity of equal access to quality formal and non-formal education. And sum reasons I advice all youths to listen to Chimamanda Adichie’s “We should all be feminists” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg3umXU_qWc Cobhams “Ordinary people” http://www.mp3naija.com.ng/music/12159/Cobhams-Asuquo-Ordinary-People and follow-up great stories like that of Malala Yousafzi advocating education for all.

All the stories of these people give us the courage to through advocacy and diplomacy, convince and compel our leaders (political and otherwise) to provide quality and equal education for the boy and girl which make us better youths transformed into a greater generation cleaning up holes they created and reproducing as the future the greatest generation that can ever be.

To realizing this equal access to quality education, my suggestions are:

1. Workable plan of action on the part of the government to harness major areas and collaborate with organizations and institutions sharing like passion and vision.

2. Drafting and adopting local contents unique to our environment that can be transformed to global standards and enhance educational life

3. All stakeholders in the educational system should synergize with the government and seek creative measures to lighten the burden of the government. With this collaboration, the system will gather positive momentum.

4. Willingness on the part of the individual to be active in these processes and transform his/her creative energy towards development and growth.

5. Make curriculums creative and fun to accommodate hidden talents in other aspects of the student life.

6. Make education free at the basic level, and affordable at the tertiary level and easily accessible for all youths.

7. Think tanks, conferences, campaigns etc. championed by youths (male and female) to develop measures, resolutions and policies towards education. This is the more reason I am happy about the World Conference on Youth 2014 in Sri-Lanka.

I will love to summarize with famous quotes from my role model Nelson Mandela that: “Education is the best weapon with which we can change the world” and “it always seems impossible until it is done”