A SINGLE nuclear weapon can wipe out an entire city and its living contents. It can also cause severe blast over an average five-kilometre radius from the epicenter. Its radiation effects can kill more and deform human beings over decades.
I told them that the past of any people was shaped by their education. The today of any people is moulded by their education. So will their tomorrow. Therefore, when a nationality educates its child, it educates the nation and its future. Also, that education is the most precious gift anybody can give a child, and once given, it is for life; it cannot be retrieved.
For me, education is basically the development of societal values for the continuation and progress of society and humanity. Also, it is the development of critical consciousness, so that the educated, as Brazilian educationist, Paulo Freire posited, can liberate himself and society. We learnt various vocations, including carpentry, wood work, cookery, pastry, hair weaving and electricity. It was generally called ‘hand work’ and we were required to submit a project per term.
I argued that the Wakirike should be different from the rest of the country in terms of education, social and human development like the Kerala State in India. In my main submissions, I suggested that the Wakirike Nation in educating the child and guaranteeing a bright future, should first, establish an education foundation and fund to build education institutions and provide scholarship for students. Secondly, declare education a right for all Wakirike children and ensure this in practice. Thirdly, promote a programme to wipe out illiteracy within a timeframe, say of five years.