Education
at all costs
Hi Readers,
It is often said that
getting a good education is very beneficial to setting one up for life, but
what would you do if you lived in a country where that very fundamental
birthright is banned, perceptively stigmatised or unaffordable. I’m writing
this article in honor of teen Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai’s
story who courageously fights for what she believes in, but there are people in
her country against her doing so.
Back on October 10, 2012,
15 year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban on her way home from
school where she had been campaigning to promote equal educational rights for
girls. This brave, aspirational teenager once wanted to become a doctor but had
a change of heart, “inspired” by the incident and her homeland’s troubles she
now wants to become a politician.
Malala advocates that
education is more than just the subjects that you learn, it is teaching you
about life, history, and communication. Treating all students equally teaches
equality, and acceptance of others, justice and respect, which in turn builds
the basis for living together peacefully.
My educational experience
was similar to hers in that the schooling system in Lebanon was not supportive
of a full and equal academic standard. I went to a special school for people
with disabilities which works on the basis that a student’s capacity to learn
is based on the student’s cognitive capacity to understand, this is in part
because the societal perception is that if one is physically crippled then they
must also be mentally crippled. In addition to this, I would have been forced
to leave school in Lebanon at 14 years old, as they no longer cater for those
with special needs after this age.
However as a bright young
girl I quickly reached the point at which my overall cognitive, academic and
social development was being hindered as a result of the mental-physical stigma
that disability presents, and at 12.5 years old my parents and I agreed that
“special needs schools” were no longer meeting my needs intellectually and we
began to explore new options.
Tied in with the different
educational standards was a stigma I commonly experienced in Lebanon; the idea
that caring for a person with a disability was something demeaning and to be
left to the “maids”. Many parents would have been disgusted to have their child
sharing a classroom with a disabled child, and while my family fought to get me
into mainstream schooling in Lebanon, the stigma coupled with financial
expenses made mainstream schooling a non-viable option.
My parents and I moved
back to my birth country of Australia to finish my school education in the
mainstream and get my life back on track. Had the right educational support
been available my family and I would not have had to leave the majority of our
family in Lebanon and move to Australia.
I’m now at a point where I
feel completely comfortable with my own ability because I haven’t been stopped
from pursuing anything I want to pursue. I’ve completed my school education,
including 2 years on the SRC and am now a writer for Fighting Chance Australia,
it is highly likely I would not have achieved all this had I remained in
Lebanon.
So, I conclusively feel
that developing countries should take a leaf out of Malala Yousefzai’s crusade
and start creating more educational awareness campaigns, promoting the benefits
of education for all persons, and put in
place centres like Fighting Chance Australia so that people can learn more
about people with disabilities and learn to see them as “able” instead of
disabled.
So, based on this story,
for this blog; I’d like to pose a question to the readers and the disability
multicultural community of Australia: – Have you ever had to leave your home
country and migrate elsewhere to seek a better education for yourselves or for
your kids? Feel free to share your story here.
You’re welcome to read more on Malala Yousefzai on
these links:
