Right to Learn

Need for Education for all

By Gargi Ghosh * updated on 11/12/2021

The importance of education for everyone can never be emphasized enough. It is the key to progress and development. It is the only weapon that can fight ignorance, and it is even more powerful than the atom bomb. It is the means by which man can conquer nature and remove poverty from his life. It alone can emancipate him from slavery and raise him to the level of a master.

Swami Vivekananda said: "If the poor cannot come to education, education must reach them at the plough, in the factory, everywhere."

Henry David Thoreau said: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation"

Millions of children in India don’t go to school. Instead, they help their parents work in the fields or work as child labourers. Some are kept out of school because they are girls – because their families feel that educating a girl is not as important as educating a boy.

Millions of children also drop out of school before completing their education. This leaves them with little hope for the future and prevents India from improving its economy and reducing poverty.

Many people don’t have enough money to pay for their children’s education. Others view it as a luxury that they cannot afford. And some think that all the children in the family can learn whatever they need to know from other members of the family – like grandparents, cousins, or even older brothers and sisters.

In addition, many public schools require students to pay fees, which poor families cannot afford. So these students either do not attend school at all or they drop out if they do not receive any money from home.

These barriers are one reason that India has such high illiteracy rates. Many people cannot read or write even basic sentences in their own language, let alone English or another language. And most Indians do not understand how important education is to the future prosperity.

Over the last few decades, India has made great strides in improving access to quality education, increasing elementary school enrollment and reducing the number of out-of-school children. However certain challenges remain:- 

"An estimated 6.1 million children out of school in 2014 reduced from 13.46 million in 2006. Out of 100 students, 29 per cent of girls and boys drop out of school before completing the full cycle of elementary education, and often they are the most marginalised children." (Source: SRI-IMRB Surveys, 2009 and 2014)

"Around 50 per cent of adolescents do not complete secondary education, while approximately 20 million children not attending pre-school." (Source Rapid Survey of Children 2013-2014 MWCD)

"Half of primary school-going children – which constitutes nearly 50 million children – not achieving grade-appropriate learning levels." (Source: National Achievement Survey, NCERT 2017)

In addition to encouraging Increased enrolment into schools and improving retention rates, it is also important to improve the quality of education received. 

Education is the only path to success and prosperity. The global community must rally together and help those countries that are still struggling to provide their people with proper education. This is one of the most effective ways for us to prevent war, poverty, hunger and any other social ills in the world today. Education is everything.

Written by Gargi Ghosh

Gargi Ghosh (M.A, B.Ed) is the Headmistress of one of the branches of Shemrock and Shemford Group of Schools. A winner of awards for the categories of Women's Award-An Inspiring Woman (2019), Most Socially Active Principal (2020), Top Educators of India (2020), Top 100 Iconic Educators of India (2021). She has published her poems in several international anthologies and secured the 8th position in a Global Poetry Competition.