Education—for poverty reduction

PS Bali

"Education is not a way to vanish poverty — it is a way of fighting it.''

Poverty is much more complex than simply income deprivation. Poverty entails lack of empowerment, lack of knowledge and lack of opportunity, as well as lack of income and capital. Despite increased access to education, the poor—mostly women, socially disadvantageous groups, the physically disabled, persons in remote regions — are often deprived of basic education. And when basic education is available, the poorest are unable to avail it because the direct and opportunity costs attached to it are quite high for them.

Poverty is thus both a cause and an effect of insufficient access to or completion of quality education. Children of poor families are less likely to enroll in and complete schooling because of the associated costs of attending school even when it is provided "free''. The cost of uniforms, supplies and transportation may well be beyond the means of a poor family, especially when the family has several children of school age. This means that choices have to be made, and the choice is often to drop out of school or, worse still, to deny schooling to girls while enrolling the boys, thereby contributing directly in maintaining the inferior status of women. And as poor children who are enrolled grow older, the opportunity cost (their lost labour and the forgone income it may entail) becomes greater, thus increasing the likelihood of abandoning school.

Furthermore, dropping out of school because of poverty virtually guarantees perpetuation of the poverty cycle, since the income-earning potential of the child is reduced, not to mention overall productivity, receptivity to change, and capacity to improve quality of life. Lack of education perpetuates poverty, and poverty constrains access to schooling. Eliminating poverty requires providing access to quality education so that the poor could stand up in life.

The relationship between education and poverty reduction is thus quite linear as education is empowering; it enables the person to participate in the development process; it inculcates the knowledge and skills needed to improve the income earning potential and in turn the quality of life. Moreover, education of girls and women helps in improving the number of other indicators of human development. Education thus helps to lay the foundation for the following pillars of poverty reduction: Empowerment, human development, social development and good governance.

Basic education empowers individuals:

It opens up avenues of communication that would otherwise be closed, expands personal choice and control over one's environment, and is necessary for the acquisition of many other skills. It gives people access to information through both print and electronic media, equips them to cope better with work and family responsibilities, and changes the image they have of themselves.

It strengthens their self-confidence to participate in community affairs and influence political issues. It empowers entire nations because educated citizens and workers have the skills to make democratic institutions. Investment in women's education results in substantial social and economic gains.

Educated women have fewer children. In South Asia, women with no education have seven children on an average; women with at least seven years of education have fewer than four children. Educated women have healthier children. In Africa, one out of five children die before the age of five if the mother has no education; the probability is more than halved for children whose mothers have seven years of education. Educating women has a stronger positive effect on children's health than educating men.

Mothers are also much more closely involved in the immediate care of children and in the critical decisions about food, sanitation and general nurturing, all of which influence children's health and development. Longer spacing between births leads to healthier children.

Education provides women with greater opportunities for employment and income, and raises the opportunity cost of their time in economic activities compared to child rearing. Such economic gains motivate families to have fewer children.

The socialization obtained by attending school includes such values as punctuality, following instructions, managing time, planning work, focusing attention, adhering to rules and receptivity to new concepts, thus helping to develop persons better suited to function effectively in a changing society.

Education also plays an important role in cultural transmission. As traditional societies change, transmission of culture, appreciation of cultural heritage, understanding of national history, inculcation of cultural values are all increasingly left to the schooling process.

Education is a powerful tool for introducing members of a society to the system of government and the concept of governance. Educated persons are more likely to vote and participate in local and national government. They are more likely to demand better and more accountable government, thus creating demand for improved governance. Education is linked to empowerment, and a major manifestation of empowerment is the demand for better governance.

The continuing challenge for education is to ensure that all people have the knowledge and skills necessary for continuing human and economic development and for breaking the poverty cycle. The linear relationship between education, poverty and empowerment is, however, governed by the circumstances of a country and within a country in a particular region. Education, thus, influences and is influenced by the context in which it is developed. This powerful relationship implies that education must be in a constant state of change as it responds to changing social and economic needs, and that education in itself is a force for social and economic change as people become more empowered and more productive.

Reflection of life Listen and appreciate each other

PS Bali

Often, we are so stuck in our old beliefs and patterns that we aren't able to see the changes we need to make. Even when we feel frustrated about our problems, we may not recognize the need to learn to change things. That is why we need to use the mirror of life. Everything in our lives reflects where we are in the process of developing integration and balance. We can use everything that happens externally as a mirror to help us see the areas within us that need healing and development. Whenever we have a problem, especially a recurring or chronic problem, it is always an arrow pointing directly to some aspect of our psyche where we need more awareness.

If we accept that life is always trying to teach us exactly what we need to learn, we can view everything that happens to us as a gift. Even experiences that are uncomfortable or painful contain within them a key to our healing and prosperity. We may have difficulty understanding what the mirror of life is trying to show us, but if we sincerely ask for the learning and the gift in every experience, it will be revealed to us one way or other.

One of the clearest reflections we have to work with is the one provided by our relationships. Everyone we attract into our life is a mirror for us in certain ways. All of our relationships - our families, children, friends, co-workers, neighbors, pets, as well as our romantic partners -- reflect certain parts of us. How we feel with someone is usually an indication of how we feel about the parts of us that they mirror.

We all attract certain people into our life who have developed qualities opposite to the ones we are most identified with. In other words, they mirror our disowned selves, and we mirror theirs. These are often the most highly emotionally charged relationships. We either love them, hate them, or both! We feel very attracted to them, and, or very uncomfortable, judgmental, annoyed, or frustrated with them. The stronger the feelings, the more important a mirror they are for us. We have drawn them into our reality to show us something about what we need to develop in ourselves. The fact that we have such strong feelings (one way or another) toward them means that they are showing us a part of ourselves we need to acknowledge, accept, and integrate.

This does not mean we have to be with them or hold onto a harmful or inappropriate relationship. It just means that as long as they are in our lives, or even in our thoughts and feelings, we can use the relationship as a learning experience. It also does not mean we are supposed to become like them. They may carry an energy we need more of, but they may be too far to the opposite extreme, or they may express that energy in a distorted way.

Still, we can look for the positive essence in the opposite qualities they carry. For example, if you have been taught never to express any anger, you will probably at some point find yourself in relationship with a person who expresses their anger frequently and vehemently. Life is giving you a strong message that it's time for you to learn to acknowledge your own anger. It is not saying you have to become like this person and go around dumping your anger everywhere. Instead, you need to find the appropriate balance, learning how to assert yourself and stand up for yourself.

If we are strongly identified with power, we will attract vulnerable, needy people. This mirror is reflecting our need to recognize and accept our own vulnerability. If and when we do that, the needy people in our lives will either become more empowered, or will move out of our lives. If we are overly vulnerable and disown power, we will find ourselves in a relationship with someone who uses power one way or another. We will feel overwhelmed, controlled, or victimized by them until we own our power, at which point the relationship will either dissolve or become more equal.

We often seem to gravitate toward a romantic or business partner who has an opposite approach to financial management. If the difference is not too extreme, this can be a complementary and harmonious balance in which we appreciate and learn from each other's strengths. If we are highly polarized, however, it can be painful and frustrating, leading to a great deal of conflict and stress.

Still, it is a gift - an opportunity to recognize how we identify with one polarity and a chance to develop the opposite energy we need. Like any relationship issue, it requires that we communicate with one another, and be willing to listen and empathize with each other's feelings and perspective. If we feel stuck in our ability to communicate, it may be an appropriate time to call in a skilled third party -- a therapist, marriage counselor, or mediator -- to help us through. Personally, I find that most of us need help at certain times to get through the deep issues that are reflected in our intimate relationships.

The topic of relationships is a complex and fascinating subject. If you grasp the basic idea of how our relationships show us the next steps we need to take in our personal growth, you can begin to use your relationships as powerful guides on your path to true prosperity.

On Sikhism

PS Bali

Sikhism began in his lifetime. When Guru Angad became the second Guru of Sikhs, Guru Nanak gave him his collection of hymns and teachings in the form of a "pothi" (manuscript). Guru Angad added 63 of his own compositions and subsequently handed the enlarged manuscript to the third Guru, Amar Das. Guru Amar Das prepared a number of manuscripts, which he supplemented with 974 of his own compositions, as well as the works of various Bhagats. These manuscripts, known as GoIndwal pothis, mention the message of Guru Amar Das as to why the Bhagat Bani was included and how the Bhagats were influenced by Guru Nanak. The fourth Guru also composed hymns and preserved them in a pothi. The fifth Guru, Arjan Dev, in order to consolidate the Bani (Divine word) of earlier Gurus and to prevent spurious compositions creeping into the original text, decided to compile the Adi Granth. The ancient Sikh manuscript Tawarikh Guru Khalsa mentions that Guru Arjan Dev issued a Hukamnamah (official order), asking anyone who could contribute to do so. All of the sourcing and content of the Bani was reviewed, of the earlier Gurus as well as that of the Bhagats. Guru Arjan Dev's examination of the text sought to order and affirm the authenticity of the existing revelation. Guru Arjan started the work of compiling the Adi Granth early in 1599.

The final prepared volume is known as Adi Granth, or "original volume". It was written by Bhai Gurdas under the direct supervision of Guru Arjan who dictated the text. It included the compositions of the first four Sikh Gurus, to which were added those of the fifth Sikh Guru, Arjan Dev. The Adi Granth also contained the compositions of fifteen Bhagats, seventeen Bhatts ("bards", or traditional composers), and four others such as Bhai Mardana, a lifelong companion of Guru Nanak.

The Adi Granth took five years to complete and was installed in Harmandir Sahib ("the abode of God"), popularly known as the Golden Temple, on September 01, 1604, with Baba Buddha as the first Granthi. This original volume is presently in Kartarpur and bears the signature of the Guru Arjan. The Supreme Court of India holds that the Guru Granth Sahib should be, for historic and legal reasons, considered a 'Juristic person': "The Granth replaces the Guru after the tenth Guru. We unhesitatingly hold Guru Granth Sahib to be a juristic person." The court articulated this finding in the context of a case pertaining to a property dispute.