Basic education is a need. Economics includes basic education as a need which arises soon after the fulfilment of basic requirement of food, clothing and shelter.
Basic education is necessary for the growth and development of human race. Education affects the following spheres of an economy in the following ways:
IMPACT OF BASIC EDUCATION ON PUBLIC HEALTH
Education and health has a positive correlation. Higher the level of education an individual acquires, more will be his or her awareness about the prevalent health concerns and remedies.
It is important to notice that all round education at primary or even lower secondary level does not only includes text book information but also knowledge passed down from parents and elders.
Starting from household remedies to need of vaccines, education is necessary to make people aware of diseases and how to prevent or cure them. For instance, the health benefit of milk is something which we all, irrespective of our social class and background, have been hearing from our parents from a very young age, possibly before starting school. It is the information we get from our elders. It is a gift of experience.
Similarly, the need of polio vaccine is general information received from text books, advertisements issued in public interest etc. Basic education is necessary to understand the effects and relevance of diseases like HIV, AIDS and ways to prevent them.
EDUCATION AND SOCIAL STIGMAS
Education is necessary to address and eradicate social stigmas and prevalent dogmas. Our history teaches us how education was a weapon to fight for social justice, a weapon feared by the authorities benefitted by these stigmas.
Education among masses was necessary to eradicate social evils like practice of sati, child marriage etc. The church before the Renaissance viewed the growth of science as a threat. History teaches us the importance of education and the need of people to unite against corruptive practices and take shelter under the canopy of education.
Young girls at Bal Khelar Math Takagech are fighting against the prevalent system of child marriage in their region. Many government schools have set up a source of free sanitary napkins in the school itself. It not only provides the basic need to young girls but also it helps to address the prevalent stigmas regarding menstruation.
Many rural women uses ashes, straw and other unhygienic elements during their period. They stay secluded when on the menstrual cycle. Mr Arunachalam Muruganatham, wasn’t any ivy graduate but a very common rural man who understood the dogmas prevailing menstruation and addressed them and brought in the much needed reform.
It was nothing but his basic education which provided him an opportunity to think beyond the masses. Basic education provides people with a podium, a way to rise.
Basic education is necessary to fight against the prevalent cast system, racism, and other prevalent evils. It is necessary to understand these are nothing but parasites in the social system, inflicted in the society by a certain group to feed their own selfish needs.
HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Basic education is a necessity for receiving higher education and training. Many enterprises arrange for training for the growth of their worker’s efficiency. Basic education is required to absorb the training given later.
Basic education provides a man with qualities like discipline, punctuality etc which is necessary for an individual’s growth in professional life. All these factors thereby help to increase an individual’s income and thus the standard of living.
Dr Sugata Mitra in her ted talk elaborated an experiment wherein she elaborated the effect of computer on slum children. In early 1999 she along with some of her colleagues installed a PC in an expansive slum in such a way that it was visible from the streets.
The computer had internet access and all pre-installed programmes but without any instruction manual. The children glued themselves to the computer. They started experimenting with the computer.The educationists were astonished seeing how the children self-taught themselves to access the internet. In some time they learnt to download games.
The youth is a mine of infinite opportunities. Such a youth can be given the needed push towards success with basic education.The government of India has taken many steps to provide basic education. The government provides children with the right to free and compulsory elementary education.
The government provides for mid-day meals. The parents of many poor families and daily wage earners send their kids to school only because it assures at least one meal to their child.
There is a very important point which should be mentioned here. There is a difference between education and literacy. A literate may or may not be educated. Education is the all-round development of an individual.
And it is beneficial to the growth and prosperity of a nation and the world as a whole. Basic education is necessary for the human race to survive and grow above the challenges of the modern world.
Author: Hrishita Mukherjee
Rotaract club of Calcutta
RID 3291
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