Importance of Girls Education

IMPORTANCE OF GIRLS EDUCATION By Lillian Mhando

According to UNESCO there are an estimated 130 million girls between the ages of 6 and 17 are out of school. 15 million primary School aged girls will likely never enter a classroom in their lifetime. This was taken in 9 July 2018. It breaks my heart so much to know that this kind of behaviour and injustice is still existing in this time.

I was born and grew up in Africa, in a beautiful country called Tanzania. A country that any child would wish to grow, because it has so much to offer, from the morning when you wake up the big trees and flowers that you see outside they gives you dream, peace, hope and assurance that one day I will be able to grow and become like that big tree or flourish and blossom like that flower.

But what the country has to offer it will much depend on which community, society or family that you are coming from, do they see the opportunity that the country has to offer and if they see it do they believe in it? In 1990 I was 7 years old it was the time when I was supposed to join primary school, but I was told that I cannot join school because how to handle house chores so that when I get married I will be good wife. As young as I was it pained me so much and at that point of time, I realised that the dreams, aspirations and hope that I had of becoming someone significant in the future was taken away, completely ripped away from me.

Do not underestimate the power of hungry girl: There are so many reasons to why girls are denied education, and one of them is the fact that they say, girls are not capable and not cleaver enough to go to school, but this is the big lie, it is a propaganda that does not have any truth in it. I will prove it in the following paragraph: In 2003 I turned 19 years old but still, I wasn’t able to read or write because I have not been to school all this time, I was working as a house girl. The same year my boss whom I was working for decided to reward me for my hard work which was to take me to school and not just a school to start primary no! She wanted me to start SECONDARY SCHOOL (Year7). When I started year 7 without knowing reading or writing, it seemed impossible but, because I was so much hungry with Education, I persevered and gradually things started to change. In two years time, I was able to read, write, do national exams and even knowing why I was in school. I have to say. It is remarkable that, through faith and hope that I had for a better future I defied the odds.

With no formal primary education, I managed to obtain a Secondary Education and become a graduate and associate member of the Association of Business Executives. In 2018 I managed to publish a book called the ‘’THE BOX OF THE COVENANT’’. I am now continuing to pursue other aspirations making sure that I give back to the community what I was given (Education) Why is so Significant to give Education to Girls. There proverb which says ‘’if you educate a boy, we educate one person. If we educate a girl, we educate a family, and whole nation. By giving a girl an access to education, you are ensuring the future of her children because you know that she will take her children to school as well, because she knows the importance of Education. When you give girls education you are basically rescuing their dreams and their lives. Since they will be in School, they will escape early marriage so as early pregnancy which causes lot of death to girls in so many developing countries. Girls who received education they are more aware of what is happening in their community and so it can be easy for them to involve themselves in bringing positive change in the community or the society they are in. When you educate girls, you give them confidence which can help them to be able to participate in Economic, political and social discussions, and in decision making which can lead in promoting productivity and effective government. Girls are so quick in picking things and doing them very well. If a girl want, something, she will move mountains to make sure that, she gets what she wants. Girls have an extraordinary power within them, if they use it well, they are unstoppable. My message to every Country, Society, Community and families, if we want this World to be a better place for everyone let’s come together and give Education to girls because it will change so many things.

Impact of Cultural Decontextualization of African Homes in the West By Edrissa Touray

Immigration, an ancient phenomenon of people moving from one location to another either for security, knowledge, or economic growth has inked an indelible social mark - a tapestry of global human geography.

Moving to a new country and meandering along the pivot ridden road to settle, seek livelihood and grow progressively, is often a daunting challenge for all immigrants. The difficulty level is further heightened if language proficiency skills becomes a variable in this complex equation. Immigrants must adjust, adapt, and employ different coping strategies on a journey that is often punctuated by sorrows, tears, anxiety, and yet hope – hope for a better future!

The youthful youth, with the distinct characteristic and unique quality of malleability, can find these challenges negotiable. However, for a parent with dependants, it has a far-reaching social, psychological, and mental health implications. The burden of pressure on the shoulders of these parents and their personal desire to fit in through a full social assimilation in the new environment, commands a religious devotion often at the expense of a person’s own acquired cultural enrichments including language.

To realise this life changing ambition, some parents deemed it necessary to ditch their home language ( and with it all their acquired linguistic and oratory abilities) to fully embrace the host language (despite their apparent proficiency skills challenges in the host language) in their interactions with their own children at home. As children are naturally more adaptive to environments and with the benefit of a structured education and social interactions at school and with peers (including first language speakers of the host language), parents, irrespective of their life experiences and acquired linguistic skills, become reliant on their very young children in brushing up their communication skills – battling phonetical sounds and learning syllables to aid pronunciation.

The new teacher in the house, at the beginning, corrects errors subconsciously but later consciously ignore errors and use it as measure of his/her parent’s degree of intelligence. In the absence of parents acquired (home) language, they become devoid of all tools necessary to effectively communicate, interact and intellectually engage their own children at home. This often blurred the line for children as to who is in charge in homes – a child who knows so much or a parent who lost the skills to adequately articulate himself/herself to his/her own children at home?

African languages, mostly without alphabet, are rich in linguistic diction as spoken word is used effectively to communicate and for the social, and intellectual development of users. They provide users with all necessary tools to attain great precision in communication in all contexts with a rich usage property for specific effects in poetry, figurative and coded speeches. The intellectual benefits of African story telling in the cognitive development of the young is immense.

These stories represent everything that a western child slept to in their bedtimes: characters of all attributes, varied settings, and plots of all imaginations. In addition, they are often accompanied by songs that are heart-warming or of marvelled poetic composition. This essential tool is sadly lost because parents do not make it their point to have their children acquire their language code to facilitate that effective parental cognitive and intellectual discourse and prompting.

Language is a communication tool. All languages have an equal effect in this regard. One’s lack of proficiency in a particular language does not equate to one’s limitation in the thought process or its internalisation. Host languages are essential functional skills, and all immigrants must make efforts to attain the required level of proficiency to aid integration. However, this should never mean abandoning your own language in your home: denying your children the benefit of bilingualism and limiting one’s own capacity in cultural education as part of the enculturation process.

Maintaining a home language benefits a child as a bilingual speaker. Bilingualism is associated with improvements in a child’s multitasking, concentration, creativity, and problem-solving skills. African parents in the West can also instil cultural values through language and ensure meaningful connectivity between African heritage children in the West with the home of their cultural roots in Africa.

Therefore, as a way to keep the flames of that fire of hope blazing, African immigrant parents should consider equipping their children with bilingual skills and also avoid curtailing their own ability to effectively engage with their children with the support of an acquired home language as a medium.