WHY AN INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION?

WHY AN INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION?

Many people like saying ‘investing in education is the best form of investment’, is this really the case. Well, you be the judge after reading this piece.

According to Benjamin Franklin, “An investment in education always pays the highest returns”. In case you don’t know Benjamin Franklin, he is one of the founding fathers of the United States. He was a leading and am influential writer, philosopher, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and a diplomat. Wow! But everyone can be like him anyway.  Yes! And it’s no wonder that John Dewey also said “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."

HOW CAN WE INVEST ON EDUCATION

Obviously we can invest in education in so many ways, but I will discuss only five of them in this piece. Do you realize that many people invest in education without realizing it? It’s because they splurge it without a better expectation. Okay! Here are but not limited to the five ways to invest in education.

 

Being responsible for your child’s/children’s education:

This is the most common way of investing in education nowadays especially on children. It seems easier but it’s not, and that is why many failed. They think educating a child stops at paying school fees; paying a school fees is just a part on its own. Beside paying their school fees, the book bill is also part of the circle, uniforms and other forms of clothing are to be bought, children deserves a visit by their parents in their schools, pocket money should be given to them, and so on. Well it is not easy but worth’s it absolutely.

Buying or reading books:

One can buy books either for themselves or for others. In this case, I am shedding light on buying or reading books for oneself which in itself is a major investment. Reading does not only increase our ability to empathize, it also improves brain connectivity and makes us wiser as well. Investment does not only mean pulling out money from your pocket to a business, No! One can also invest by using your resources, energy, talent and time in order to get something in future. Successful entrepreneurs believe in investing on something whose value increases, and education is not an exception. There are many people out there buying and reading various eBooks to gain knowledge, improving themselves logically and academically, gaining experience and employment on their own, and so on. It is a matter of being passionate about your dreams and working towards achieving it in the coolest way.

Building a school

Hmm! You can, whether now or later. “School is a building which has four walls with tomorrow inside”, these are the words of Lon Watters. Investing in building a school is low risk, provided that a school operates at a quality level to suit its target market. Schools are built for specific purposes and thus can be achieved when their owners work for hard.

Sponsoring student(s)

Sponsoring student(s) is not an unusual effort especially in the Gambia and Africa at large. Every day we come across certain advertisements on the internet talking about scholarships. There are another ways of sponsoring people whom you might never know but they can also help you in the other way round at any given time, so do help! Is it the only way? No, You can help a child or children by paying their tuition fee or book bill or even to some extent fund their feeding. These too are great ways of investing in the education sector. It is an investment, not a waste.

Sponsoring a school

There is a difference between student and school thus you can invest on the school without investing on the students. I attended a Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) meeting before writing this post. They were struggling to finance their school kitchen as a government school, and the only thing they can do is to seek contributions from parents of the school. Oh! Imagine if that school is fortunate to get that fund from an able individual within the society. Many can, but none did. 

Still there are many ways to invest on the schools.

 

IMPORTANCE OF INVESTING IN EDUCATION

There is no doubt that investing in education produces a personal benefit. People who are more educated are healthier, more likely to get good jobs and pay higher taxes, and less likely to participate in risky behaviours. But the investment produces a public benefit too. When we invest in education, we are reducing: dependency, crime rate, unemployment, poverty, diseases, ignorance and depression thereby creating a better world for ourselves.

Education does not merit any kind of neglect. It is impossible to invest in education without gaining absolutely nothing out from it. Modern economies depend on knowledge and skills to foster their development and this obviously has to do with educated and skilled population. More investment in education is necessary to limit inadequate education, because inadequate education is the cause of many of our societal problems. This is not a mere saying. We all belong to a society and witness how various people behave in our societies.

In as much as education have abundant of social advantages, it also plays role in our personal development. Many attended schools while others learned without sitting in a formal classroom, but at the end what matters is quality education. Many people especially youths nowadays focuses on self-studies with the emergence of eBooks, YouTube, and other platforms. A lady or a gentleman can sit in his home with the phone only to be awarded 6 diploma certificates in a year. Is it magic? No; is the power of knowledge.

So, let’s learn, relearn and invest in education for if we do we will salvage the mother earth from the effects of ignorance. Remember “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” according to the great Nelson Mandela of South Africa.

 

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