All of us have heard about the fruits of education in general, but did we ever ponder upon how education encourages positive social development? A society can never prosper as a whole until and unless it has been inhabited by educated individuals who can contribute a lot to elevate societal status. Most importantly, education develops civic skills. This is valuable for an individual as it allows him to meaningfully participate in civil society and political life. Meanwhile, society equally benefits from informed and engaged citizenship.
An educated society can successfully act as a vehicle for equity and greater social inclusion. When the fruits of education are absent, they lead to a poorly delivered or unfairly distributed society, which is nothing more than a vehicle for injustice and greater social exclusion.
The eminent presence of proper education in a social circle or society can facilitate the reinforcement of basic human values as it aids in developing human talents and interests along with establishing the basis of social relations and encouraging social esteem. Quite simply, an educated society would push future generations to acquire proper formal education to provide a boost to the existing status of any society, be it politically or even economically.
A rather ignored issue is that of sustainability. Quite surprisingly, an educated society helps in widespread sustainable usage of the available resources which would ultimately result in the overall betterment of the world.
An educated society helps in widespread sustainable usage of the available resources, which would ultimately result in the overall betterment of the world.
Educated individuals in society can come together with innovative and enlightening ideas. Each idea being different from another contributes to the creation of what I like to call “INNOVATIVE DIVERSITY.” This occurs when all different kinds of intelligent ideas infuse and combine to create a rather ever-successful solution to every problem. And such societies are guaranteed to prosper.
Educated people understand how valuable it is to live in a stable and secure community. They are able to contribute to projects that help improve not only their neighbourhood but also the society. In addition, when people can afford their own homes, they are more likely to take part not only in improving their homes but in solving local problems as well. After all, it is quite important for them to get involved and give a hand to the less fortunate ones in order to build a better place for all of us to live in.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” Nelson Mandela said. It helps people become better citizens and get better-paid jobs, and shows the difference between good and bad. Education enlightens us about the importance of hard work and, at the same time, helps us grow and develop. Thus, we can shape a better society to live in by knowing and respecting rights, laws, and regulations. Learning languages through educational processes helps people interact with different people in order to exchange ideas, knowledge, and good practices, which again presses upon my point of harmony.
Being a self-claimed deep observer of my native city, Lahore, I can very well distinguish the potential of an uneducated society from that of an educated one. Being straightforward, uneducated social circles are nothing more than a burden on the city and society. Lahore, alone, if properly educated can turn into an excellent metropolis where everyone knows their capacitive role in society and what society expects of them.
The founder of our nation, Quaid said: “Without education, it is complete darkness and with education it is light”
An educated society would pave the way for gender inclusion where no gender is thought of as superior or inferior to another and every male, every female gets to play their collective role to their utmost yet unappreciated limits.
I strongly believe that we all have goodness inside us but it’s just concealed like a hidden treasure which may seem hard to open but the effort will always be worth it, the effort, in this case, is education which is the key to our inner goodness and our true potential as an individual, a society and a nation.
The writer is a student.