Education is a human right; not a privilege.
Education
is a human right; not a privilege.
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| Learning in EducAid Sierra Leone |
It is a good thing actually I never knew at the time that Education is a right for me and other children of Sierra Leone who struggled (and are still struggling) to get an education. In my experience now as a young man, I have learned that education, like all rights, are there to uphold the freedom, respect, and dignity of every human and to treat everyone with fairness. And, I have also learned that my government, to whom I pay my taxes, has a responsibility in upholding and promoting the right of every Sierra Leonean to get an education. Seeing this month’s theme took me down memory lane.
I am specifically remembering the events which took place in
my life about nine (9) years ago, forging the new path I was going to walk on.
I was then in my first year of junior school and had just promoted to year two
when all hell let loose on my mother. Years earlier, my father passed away in
the rebel war, leaving my widowed mother with eight children in total. My
mother was uneducated, and every day the pressures of paying rent, taking care
of us, and sending us to school grew at exponential rates, after some time
making it impossible for us to continue school. Our mother broke down to tears,
as there was no one to turn to for help. Every few days, one of us, would be asked
out of school for not having paid the ever numerous school fees the school
requested. I was brilliant, and loved going to school; my teachers said I had a
camera brain. But school had become a very difficult place for me to develop my
camera brain.
Soon, my elder brother (very bright) dropped out of school,
then my elder sister followed and got married instead to a man the age of our
father. Mom couldn’t hold on anymore. The curtains were drawing down on our
dreams. Our dreams of getting an education; my dream of becoming a doctor, and
my twin sister becoming a lawyer flew too far for us to reach – we acquiesced.
I learned the lesson, perhaps unconsciously, that education (as is the case
with many rights I now know I had in law) is a privilege for those children
born of ‘means’. It was a tough lesson for those of us born to poverty, but one
well learned.
My hopes of getting educated were kissing the hand of death
when I met EducAid. EducAid is a small organisation which provides education to
underprivileged young people in Sierra Leone. It had a school open in my
hometown of Port Loko. I spoke with my mother, who was in tears, this time of
joy, that we can finally continue our education. What was even more relieving
was that EducAid schools don’t require uniforms and you can come to school even
in bare feet! What have uniforms, and shoes got to do with learning anyway?! I
have been in EducAid for the past 9 years now. I attended secondary school
free, went to college free. Since 2012, I have been volunteering and working in
EducAid where I have the opportunity of helping underprivileged Sierra Leoneans
to get an education by teaching, heading schools and leading teacher trainings
where we strive to reach thousands more Sierra Leonean children with better learning.
Reflecting on my experience now, a light shines on the sheer
magnitude of this problem. There were friends of mine at that time (and so many
children right now) who faced a similar fate but did not have the helping hand
with which they would have reached their dreams of an education. Many of them
are now living in the streets of this country doing odd jobs, and becoming a
burden to our society in many direct and indirect ways. Our society (their
inaction), our government (their silence), and the rest of the world (their
indifference) are violating a fundamental human right which continues to hold
our country, and countries like ours in humiliating poverty.
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| Learning in EducAid Sierra Leone |
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