EDUCATING THE LESS PRIVILEGED: WHY AND HOW

A popular proverb in Africa goes: it takes a village to raise a child. What this translates to in simple terms is that it takes the contribution of an entire village, community or nation, if you will, to raise a child. Our parents from two, three, maybe four generations ago experienced this form of nurture that fed from the combined effort of elders who handled instruction in the way of custom and tradition. What this system ensured was that every child met with knowledge within and without the walls of their home. 

Today, this system is mostly gone. 

In the past, it fell on the community to raise and take care of those that had less than the average family. It wasn’t an encouragement to pursue irresponsibility on the side of parents, although in certain parts of the nation, this became a problem with a man having more mouths, than he and his neighbour combined, can handle. This is still a problem especially in northern Nigeria and many have turned away from helping because of this irresponsibility. 

But this doesn’t solve the problem. Burying one’s head in the ground doesn’t take the problem away. The fact is, everywhere we turn and care to look, there is an under-privileged child staring back with hungry eyes. 

You may be asking why you should help. You may be asking why we should even bother educating them.

Education is vital to any nation’s growth. The quality of a nation’s labour force reflects its strength and capability, which means that the more children are left out in the cold, the more we would miss out on impressive innovations that contain the ability to shoot our economy. Educating our children today will ensure that there is someone capable of handling all we have amassed when we finally die and leave the world. Thinking ahead, 5 or 6 generations ahead will give you a glimpse of why educating less privileged children will give us an edge.

As to how you can go about this, you can start educating less privileged children by:

1. Start a library: This may seem like a large-scale endeavour, and it can be, when it isn’t bounded by a budget and manageable expectations. Starting a library doesn’t have to cost you a lot; it may even cost you nothing other than time!  Tell your friends and neighbours what you want to achieve then ask them to contribute with their old books and also spread the word. Chances are they will be more than happy to part with old books that will be of more value that children that actually need it. You can take it a step further and make social media posts about what you are doing in your community. Generally, when the request isn’t tasking, people would help you with what they can spare. 

2. Organise outdoor activities for the children: Of course we are working with the assumption that you have identified a child or children that are underprivileged and you want to do what you can to educate them! What better way to teach them science and life than by taking them out on an excursion or simply organise a sporting event, that always gets children excited. If you are gifted in the sciences, maybe you can start a science fair and get friends to help out with organising and giving the children a fun experience. 

3. Start a classroom: Don’t run off yet. Think about it for a second. These are less privileged children who have no one else to turn to for their education, but here you are, a shiny beacon of hope and laden with enough knowledge to supercharge their entire bodies, why not? Start a classroom right in your living room, under a tree, in an uncompleted building, after hours at a school near-by, whatever it is you decide on, just start. You may be saying that you are unqualified for such a task, but you know that is untrue; you are beyond qualified and you can do this!

1. Sponsor a child/children: If you feel inept or your schedule doesn’t permit you to try out any of the suggestions above, you are in luck, you can sponsor a child or two through school. This is exactly what SACTS was created for: a platform where people, like you, that are interested in the education of less privileged children can donate and partner towards the actualisation of this goal. We welcome partners and donors and encourage anyone curious about what we do and how we do it to contact us and ask questions.