The power of education

Education is a very informative means of acquiring the necessary skills and intelligence, whereby the use of different mediums or seasoned staff with profound knowledge transfer it on to others who are less exposed. Print media such as books, magazines, and documents, as well as multimedia media such as films and documentaries, are used in the mediums. Education occurs in a variety of settings, but it is classified based on the system used to support the learning process. Thus, education can be both formal and casual. Formal schooling is organized in such a manner that it makes use of a particular program with a specified syllabus and fixed goals for both the learning and assessment processes. Informal education, on the other hand, is not structured and takes place in any setting as long as knowledge is gained at the end of the activity.

Education plays an important role in society as it makes individuals aware of themselves their abilities, weaknesses, strengths, rights, society, environment and the factors surrounding their existence just but to name a few. This vital knowledge equips one with the power of making informed decisions based on proper judgment and discernment of circumstances. Based on this acquisition of power, exposed members of some societies that have an exposure to this power based on acquired education seek to exploit the other disadvantaged members of society that cannot perceive the power entailed in their free will. These members thus restrict access to education to those that they wish to oppress.

The above deduction is clearly seen in the Pakistan society, through restrictions in accessing education for various parties. This translates to one of the major themes in the book by (Yousafzai and Lamb); this theme is considered as major as most of the other themes such as women’s rights are interrelated to this theme. In reflection, most of the atrocities occurring in Pakistan under the cover of the Government and other religious councils are as a result of lack of proper education.

From the book, education is seen as a vital tool for empowerment as it helps one gain confidence through the knowledge of facts that in turn reveal the power of education to them. This is seen through the struggle of Malala’s further in reading as he stuttered but once he continued engaging in learning and teaching himself he maneuvered through this challenge. Education also brings about rewards that are worth striving for this is seen through the rewards Malala achieves for being first in her class. She also admires the women that had prospered in education when she went to Islamabad and seeing their achievements she admires to be like them. The most important aspect of education is the power it reveals to the beholder, Malala reflects on a quote by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, that states “There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen” (Yousafzai and Lamb).

The power of education is clearly seen through the many people Malala is able to reach based on her articles this translates to be of great impact in the nation and beyond. Relating the two most important powers as illustrated by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the pen is quite small and effortless compared to its end result that can change worlds, the impact of the sword, on the other hand, is of immediate nature to the party in the same setting as the holder of the sword.

The power of education can clearly be seen based on the orders by the Taliban to close the schools. In a country of war, one might say schools are in totally different orientation with the war environment, as they do not cross paths, however, the outcome of the war may affect certain processes of education. The Taliban had their belief system that was built based on religious extremists’ view of Islam, to achieve their end objectives they had to pass down the nature of their belief to society so as to get more followers that were active in their cause. In comparison to education no weapons are used nor war tactics utilized yet they found education threatening to their beliefs to a point that they bombed schools, this translates to the real power education has such that those with physical powers i.e. weaponry feel threatened by it.

The Taliban beliefs were discriminatory towards women, in this way they limited their growth in society and wanted them to, strictly adhere to the traditional law and Islam religion, yet at the same time in Pakistan men adapted to modern ways of the west and copied their ideologies in order to ensure growth and development of Pakistan (Brightman). This rule of society as you can see is oriented towards the benefit of one party. This reflection might be translated to a theme based on discrimination of women, however, the steps the Taliban took to ensure their women remained traditional was through their restriction to access educational facilities. From this, it is possible to say that theme on women discrimination is partially built on the theme of the power of education.

This illustration clearly shows that education has the power to equip one with the necessary awareness and knowledge to break free from the conformity towards ideologies that are oppressive towards their existence. Despite these restrictions to access education, women were also banned from formal settings whereby they might learn a thing or two about society and their rights as these formal settings may facilitate the gain of knowledge that is oriented towards education (Khoja-Moolji and Shenila). These formal settings included religious courts.

The above analysis also brings into light another key importance of education, which is that it gives freedom to those that are captives towards certain rules. Many of the atrocities in Pakistan were oppressive to those that lacked status and power in society this ranged from women to families of lower status. This is seen clearly from the rape case of Mukhtar Mai (Brightman) whereby the powerful family had their way in issuing a judgment that was favorable to their satisfaction, despite the court having stipulated a different judgment. The powerful families had control over the police, religious councils, and courts, as they were senior members of all the mentioned groups. A majority of these powerful individuals hold their key positions in society due to the influence they acquire gained through education (Afzal, M. and E.).

Seeking to maintain their status and power, they wish not to support the access of education to all members of society especially women. From the case of Mukhtar Mai, she, later on, gained widespread attention on an international platform based on the atrocities done to her. She was funded to pursue a cause and her first instinct was to establish a school yet she had never gone to school (Brightman), this shows her belief in the power of education to solve the major problems experienced in Pakistan.

In conclusion, the true power of education is realized when the Taliban decided to kill Malala. She was an innocent young girl, blameless and of no harm in the physical context as this was the gauging factor of war. She could not even fight back if attacked; this is illustrated clearly when she reflects on what she would do when attacked by a Taliban as at the time threats had been issued to her. She reflects on this by pondering if she would throw a shoe, as her defense strategy, she then takes account of her actions and says that doing so would make her no different from the terrorist. At that intense moment of fear, she then decides that she would just plead with the terrorist and tell him that she is not against him personally, but she would like every girl to go to school (Yousafzai and Lamb). Such an instance brings into light the innocence Malala had in the event of an attack and to what extents education had affected her form of reasoning and analyzing situations for proper decision making. Despite all these characteristics of Malala, the Taliban’s were threatened by her and decided to attempt to kill her. The moment she was shot also shows that the terrorist was also afraid of her as it is stated that he trembled as he shot at her this is clearly seen as per how the bullets from the three shots were not precise to the target (Yousafzai and Lamb). It is thus possible to conclude that education is a powerful tool that can bring change.

References

Afzal, et al. ”Relationship among education, poverty and economic growth in Pakistan: an econometric analysis.“ Journal of Elementary Education 22.1 (2012): 23-45.

Brightman, Sara. ”Rights, women, and the state of Pakistan.“ Contemporary Justice Review 18.3 (2015): 334–351.

Khoja-Moolji and Shenila. ”Producing neoliberal citizens: Critical reflections on human rights education in Pakistan.“ Gender and Education 26.2 (2014): 103-118.

Yousafzai, Malala, and Christina Lamb. I am Malala. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2013.