How Does Education Affect Poverty?
HOW DOES EDUCATION
AFFECT POVERTY?
How Does Education Affect Poverty?
Most of us take our education for granted. We were forced to go to school as children, and just followed the grind through high school and college because it was the thing to do.
What if I told you that there are millions of children in poverty stricken areas around the world who never had the opportunity to go to primary school, let alone higher education? In fact, it has never even crossed their minds.
The truth is, that If they can get an education, they can use it to lift themselves out of poverty. That is the power of education’s impact on poverty, and we can work to reduce poverty through education.
Proof of Education’s Impact on Poverty
At the end of her memoir, Educated, Tara Westover recounts how she confronted a transformed, new self who differed vastly from her former self and her family before she left her backwoods Idaho home to pursue higher education. While this was an extremely difficult choice for her to make and road for her to take, ending up in a great deal of sacrifice and loss of familial relationships, the memoir ends with her embracing her education because it is the true reason for her personal, intellectual, and financial growth.
Even though it came at a personal cost, the benefit of an education was worth it.
If Tara did not go for her education, she would have stayed on her overcrowded family farm in Idaho, working her body to the bone for too little food and a harsh social environment with no enrichment of the mind.
While this was happening (and continues to) in Idaho, an all too similar scenario is playing out all across the world in too many poverty-stricken countries from South America to Asia, most notably in Pakistan.
Earlier this year, the Pakistani Prime Minister brought up that 22.8 million school aged children in Pakistan were not in school. There is a major education crisis in Pakistan that NARA Education is committed to solving by using education to end poverty.
While the majority of these children are in rural and poor areas, like Tara was, they most likely will never even have the chance of an opportunity that Tara did to go to school and transform themselves. Their families need them more than ever to contribute to the work and wellbeing of the family, not allowing them to go to school.
And if you put it that way, why would a parent send their kid away to learn math, when there are not enough hands to work to guarantee that everyone in the family will be fed that day?
Education to Build Critical Thinking
What is often overlooked is that an education does not just provide a student with the ability to multiply and divide (which still absolutely comes in handy in doing any kind of work), but it also ignites the brain to curiosity and problem solving, which are the stepping stones to critical thinking.
Critical thinking leads to looking at circumstances from different points of view and coming up with new solutions to improve workflow, take risks, and develop new and more efficient ideas. These ideas ultimately lead to greater income that can lift a community out of deep poverty.
This is the key way to reduce poverty through education. The problem is that the deeper the poverty, the harsher the work conditions, the less time there is for curiosity and education, and this is the cycle that NARA Education aims to break.
Technology to Reduce Poverty Through Education
Children are naturally curious and love to discover through play. However, if their main focus is on work, then the time for play gets pushed to the side, for good reason. We understand that we do not live in a world where every child can leave their villages and families for an education because that is just not feasible. But we do live in a technologically advanced world where a child can play on a device remotely, and slowly but surely make their way through levels of games on the side of their work.
Now what if we told you that those games are actually age appropriate educational exercises that get more advanced as they make their way through the levels?
The child works, has fun, uses their brain, and gets the challenge and stimulation they need for educational and social growth, that can help them blossom into a critical thinking and curious adult, while also contributing financially to their families and communities. We believe this to be the ideal path to use education to end poverty.
Bringing Education to Remote Areas with Tablet-Based Learning
NARA Education has developed a tablet-based curriculum for multiple grade levels filled with intellectually stimulating and fun lessons and games to distribute to children in remote areas in Pakistan to educate them in the most accessible way possible.
This way, children can stay with their families, contribute to the community, play, and receive an education at the same time which will gradually lead to interest in and capability for higher education and better resources to help lift families and communities out of poverty. This ultimately benefits the entire country and population.
NARA Education’s Mission
Through building this curriculum and advancing this technology, NARA Education hopes to reduce poverty through education.
Our foundation wants to bring better educational, social, and financial circumstances to children and families in deep poverty in Pakistan, and hopefully all over the world. It is through this technology that we aim to give children the confidence in themselves to think critically and come up with their own innovative ideas to solve problems and gain independence, without sacrificing their relationships with and responsibilities to their families.
Our aim is that no child should have to sacrifice an important component of their life for an education like Tara Westover did and end up with an emptiness like her, but for the education that NARA Education provides to be fulfilling and empowering.
Would you like to see how you can help reduce poverty through education? Donate now to our ground breaking technology and see your contribution to education’s impact on poverty.
