Give every child an education

Alicia N.
Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School
Singapore

Not everyone might know this but there are in fact more than 115 million children of primary school age who are not in school and more than half of them are girls. Most of them cannot afford to go to school. Thus, if there was something I could change to make a better future, it would be have to be giving every girl an opportunity to go to school. One of the things I would really want to do is to build a school for girls only in Africa, just like Oprah Winfrey did.

Going to school is very important and not only because we go to school for an education but it is also the place for us to make friends and to know more about ourselves. There, we learn moral values and can gain knowledge which we can share with our family. A country would also benefit if everyone has an education. Educated people have more ideas and opinions that can help in their country’s economic growth. Education is also part of human development. By going to school, people will have the knowledge they need to know in order to survive in today’s society.

So why are there so many children in the world who do not go to school?

There are many reasons. Some of the main reasons are poverty, safety and local traditions.

Uneducated girls have more problems in the future. As these women do not have an education, most of them do not have jobs and those who do have jobs that do not earn them much. Girls who do not have an education are most likely to live a poor quality life. On an average, women only earn three-quarters of what men earn today. Girls are also expected to do more housework. Therefore, some parents think that it is no use for a girl to have an education. Many girls in the poorer countries get married in their teenage years and thus, most of them often drop out of school just to get married or to go to work, leaving them little or no education.

Many solutions have been thought up world-wide to try and allow every child to have an education. When I grow up and earn money, I would start out small by helping the poorer children here in Singapore receive an education, no matter what. By then, I would also like to get involved with the organisation UNICEF. UNICEF’s aim is to get more girls and boys into school.

In Singapore, children in school do not treasure the fact that they get to go to school to receive an education.

In other countries, children who cannot go to school want to go to school. I want to be that one person among many others in the world who can give them that chance.

Education is essential in life, and thus, if there was something I could change to make a better future, I would like to have a chance to be able to give every girl - and boy also - an opportunity to receive an education.

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