By Habibu Temako
Various viewpoints exist regarding the true purpose of education. However, the notion that education’s sole purpose is to secure a job is a flawed and shallow perspective. This belief, often held by those with limited vision, fails to grasp the broader significance of education.
Some advocate the traditional path: go to school, excel academically, and secure a lucrative job. Others argue that a formal education merely leads to fierce competition in the job market, leaving many graduates unemployed and disillusioned.
For those subscribing to the narrow view that education exists solely to facilitate job acquisition, failure to secure employment can lead to despair, even suicide. However, true education transcends mere job placement.
However, education, in its truest sense, offers to give knowledge and intellectual development to individuals, which empowers them to achieve their full potential. In another respect, it significantly transforms individuals’ and societies’ changing needs and aspirations. Education also brings about social transformation in all aspects of our lives to conform with the dynamic changes of the world.
Meanwhile, it’s inarguably true to say that education benefits you personally because you get to have a job, and it benefits society because the knowledge being imparted to you will contribute to the overall productivity and progress of your community (or place of living). In essence, education simply helps individuals acquire knowledge, skills, and abilities that enable them to be deterministic in pursuing their aims in life.
So, to this very end, get your children educated not because you have the view that a job will be available for them, but have a view that the true purpose of education goes beyond that. And in all ramifications, believe me, that “education is the most powerful tool to change the world”.