“Everyone has the right to education, and elementary education shall be free.” is stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However in reality, developing countries, especially those affected by warfare are not able, or perhaps willing, to providing free primary education to children. The violation of this human right has been a dominant element of perpetuating poverty.
In the developing countries, there is inadequate alternative employment to farming due to their terrain, thus these countries’ economies depend almost entirely on agriculture. Successful cultivation requires appropriate farming methods, which requires acceptance and understanding of technology, and it means a literate population. Since education is not prevalent in theses countries, low crop yields and crop failures are predictable. Without other source of income, poverty is then firmly rooted.
Corruption of Governments at the same time deepens and exacerbates poverty. A person devoid of education possesses nothing but ignorance, and ignorance leads one nowhere but to distress and hopelessness. As uneducated citizens possess neither knowledge nor power, there is no way for them to complain and to bring remedy to the situation.
The abuse of human rights directly leads to poverty. And as we dig deeper, we could see the origin of this abuse is actually poverty – it is a vicious cycle.
Poverty is not sheer crumbs of bread and the crumbling remains of bricks and motors, it is the disclaimer of information, the dismissal of power and the denial of justice. Poor countries are short of cash for education, even the Governments do not have enough resources, let alone the deprived families. The poor are prevented from enjoying their rights to education, health and housing simply because they can’t afford to do so. They also hold no power, as they are mostly uneducated. As a result, problems in their society, such as corruption, can not be solved. Justice is prohibited, violation of all kinds of human rights is the end result.
The dissent of granting children free education crafts people into illiterate beings, which literally means poverty. Uneducated, people are doomed to be ignorant. Ignorance breeds misconception and it diverges into countless branches, but the trunk: greed and folly alone are enough to sink a nation deeper into bottomless abyss of poverty.
This sick cyclictic carousel goes on and on, forever and ever. If we do not want to contemplate any practical and realistic efforts to break out of poverty and human rights abuses, it will keep spinning around and eventually gets too big for the world to contain. The entire humankind will ultimately be trapped in it and burn into ashes of despair and agony. We have the rights, as well as the obligation to enjoy and promote respect for human rights, we should not let anyone of the human race suffer from inequality. Through education, delusion is erased, knowledge and power are endowed. It gives meaning to lives and prosperity and justice to humanity. For children who are the future of humanity, education will inform them of their rights and set them into the search of a meaningful life and a better world.
Now, let us take action and wish that the boy will pick the paper and pen up in time.
