Importance of Education to Youths
(Kiran Akhter, Islamabad)
Youth is that phase of life
when you dream big, hope for only the best to happen to you and look forward to
a bright tomorrow. It is that phase when nothing seems impossible; you want to
be successful and you believe you will. You feel you know exactly what you want
from life and you believe you will get it. During these years, life looks bright
and beautiful. You feel you can win the world. It's an important phase in your
life - youth - when you turn into someone different. Turning from a child to an
adult is a transition - a big transition. There's added confidence, added
responsibility, there's growth, there's life - a new life. It's when you begin
to understand yourself, discover your potential, know when opportunities knock
your door and dream of only success. It's the time to reinvent yourself and
redesign your personality. And that's where education has a big role to play.
Education is the best tool to bring a positive change in society, to develop a
generation of responsible individuals and contribute to the development of good
human beings. The fundamental purpose of education is to gain knowledge,
understand the forms of proper conduct and acquire technical competency in
specific subject(s). Education serves as the means to develop oneself
physically, mentally and socially. Here's how education makes a difference in
one's life.
The importance of education manifests itself in the need to cultivate youths to
become mature individuals. Youth is the growing stage of their lives. It is
during these years that they develop from kids to become mature and responsible
individuals. It is during this phase that they make career decisions and begin
pursuing their goals.
Education should consist of training and development in their field(s) of
interest. It should help the youths define their career objectives, decide what
they want from life and enable them to achieve what they wish to. Education to
youths must aim at helping them build a skill set and work on the skills
acquired to develop subject expertise. It should include courses that can help
them develop a career. The education should open doors for new opportunities in
different fields. It should help the youths find avenues to pursue their
interests. It should enable them to venture into new fields and explore new
areas. Education must help them set reachable goals and realize them.
It is important that education to youths aims at developing social awareness in
these adults-to-be. The training given to them should consist of environmental
education and social values. They should be made aware of the current social and
environmental issues. They should be explained the steps they can take in
dealing with the issues. Education should expose the youths even to the darker
side of society; the problems that eclipse it, the prejudices that shackle it
and the superstitions that blind it. Youths should be encouraged to come up with
ideas and devise ways to better the society that they are part of.
Overpopulation, unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, abortions,
unprotected sex and teenage pregnancy are some areas of growing concern today.
The reason - lack of sex education. Incomplete knowledge in this regard or wrong
notions about sex breed psychological problems in teenagers. This underlines the
importance of sex education to youths. Education should make the youths
self-aware.
While instilling the good in youths, education should also give them the ability
to reject the bad. It should enable them to choose good against bad. Education
should empower them to take decisions and make choices - each time preferring
right to wrong. Education should give them the strength to accept the mistakes
made, mend them and most importantly - learn from them. Education should give
them the courage to rise after every fall and turn every failure into a success.
The fundamental purpose of education is to create good human beings. Education
is vital to the healthy growth and development of one's personality. In
producing human beings out of raw individuals lies the importance of education.