Johannes Shifotoka
Education is the process of learning or acquiring knowledge, skills, values, morals, beliefs and habits. There are several steps involved in the entire process of obtaining and providing education. It includes teaching, training, discussion, research, storytelling and similar other interactive activities. Education can be both formal and informal through the method of teaching, which is called pedagogy. Formal education is achieved through educational institutions such as pre-school, primary school, secondary school, colleges and universities. However, informal education comes from self-directed learning, evidence-based learning, open learning and electronic learning. Education in any form reforms the life of an individual and society as a whole. Mandela (1984) stated that education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world. He said these impactful words in his ‘importance of education in society’ speech. Education is a stairway to the growth and development of humankind. Education shapes society into a better world. It is essential to understand the importance of education in today’s society. The importance of education in modern society is even more. The present generation needs the education to achieve better employment opportunities, and turn themselves into better citizens. Securing a higher income job through education is only possible when people realise the importance of literacy and education for society.
The meaning and importance of education in society only become clear when we see economic growth. The academicians and educated employees work towards achieving economic goals. Their achievements transform the lives of people belonging to marginalised communities as well. A country’s economic prosperity is highly dependent on the educated population they have (Manduku, 2015).
Education teaches people the way of life, how to live in a society, how to live peacefully and happily in society, and how to interact with the other people in a society. Education helps us to make a better and peaceful life for your child. Every parent desires and wants to give their child a better and peaceful life, and it is possible due to giving them the right education.
Teaching the meaning of life, moral values of life, skills, religious values of life, the rights of others, etc. are the main purposes of education. The people who know and understand such kinds of things are the actual ones who can make a better society for their selves and also for others. Education builds confidence. Building confidence in people is one of the key secrets of education. You can see that the more confident people are the successful ones in life.
Decision–making gets improved by education. This is the most difficult task for people. Mostly, the people are confused about making the right decision. Taking the right decision is based on the knowledge which you gain from your life, and the problems you faced in life. And the more confident and educated people can make the right decision easily because they have the knowledge and understanding of the situations and the impacts of their decisions on their life.
Education improves your creativity. If you have knowledge, then you can do any kind of work by applying different new ideas, and in a creative way. In education, you will get a lot of knowledge about different things from different perspectives and experiences, which improves creativity. There is a big difference between an educated person working and an uneducated person working. The educated person tries to work every creative way in less time. They always try to do new experiments, implement new ideas, and possibly employ creative ways of doing their work.
Education makes your dreams a reality. Everyone can dream from their childhood to youth, and want to fulfill their dreams and achieve the goals and desires. Some people achieve their dreams by being hardworking, knowledgeable and choosing the right path.
Education saves the environment. It means that education spreads awareness in the people about the environment and climate changes. In education, you will learn how to take care of the environment, and to make your environment clean and safe for everyone. Normally, the uneducated people do not know how to take care of the environment. They do such kinds of activities which can pollute our environment, and produce a lot of dangerous diseases in the environment.
In conclusion, education improves your lifestyle in many ways, such as education gives knowledge on how to be successful in life, educated people can get jobs easily, you can earn money with the knowledge you have, education makes you independent, it gives you the purpose of your life, it gives respect in society, education improves your skills, and you realise that your family is precious.