Education, dual-carriageways and prawns

It still surprises me how important education is, despite having had firsthand opportunities to see how deeply a lack of education can affect people’s lives. Watching an episode of a recent Indian Ocean travel documentary I was struck once more by how education, or the lack of it, can impact all areas of our lives.

First, whilst driving down a dual-carriageway in eastern India, the presenter was shocked by all the drivers seemingly disobeying the rules and driving the wrong way down the wrong carriageway. Turning to his guide, he asked what on earth these crazy people were doing. The guide simply replied: “The road is new in this part of India, they don’t know how to use it yet”.

Suddenly, the presenter's seemingly fair assessment of the drivers (as ‘numpty muppets’), no longer seemed so fair. Whilst some of the drivers might be deliberately flouting the rules of the road to get to their destination quicker, the reality is probably more complicated. Most of the drivers probably thought they were obeying the rules just fine, keeping to the left just as they always do. They hadn’t come across this type of road before, they didn’t know there was a separate carriageway with two lanes for each direction of traffic. Education is needed when brand new concepts, such as dual-carriageways, are introduced. Without it people don’t have the skills to operate successfully and safely. They're not stupid or idiots, they just haven't had an opportunity to learn.

Later in the programme they visit a part of Bangladesh where there is a lot of prawn farming. They show the long lasting damage salt water does to once fertile farmland and the effect that has on the villages and communities around it. As they talked about the issues, and interviewed some of the farmers, I couldn’t help but wonder whether education was an issue there too.

Sure, some of the farmers might have known what they were agreeing to when they chose to switch from farming other crops to farming prawns. They may have heard all the pros and cons, weighed up the evidence and chosen to make the change. However, I would guess that unfortunately this was probably not the case for the majority of farmers. Without good education, both providing knowledge about a situation (prawn farming and its long-term implications for the land, for example) and providing the analytical skills needed to weigh up options in both the short and long term, communities are severely disadvantaged. They must rely on others to make decisions and they are left at the mercy of their goodwill and honesty.

Education clearly isn’t the only issue in both of these situations, as it is rarely the only feature in most contexts. However, education is one extremely important factor that can provide access to opportunities that would otherwise be completely inaccessible. Much of the work I (Matt) am now doing is focused on connecting language, education and development. Linking these things enables communities to move forward in ways that they choose. Ultimately that’s why we are involved in literacy work with Wycliffe. Would you like to partner with us to help improve literacy levels, and therefore education, around the world? To find out how click here.