A Social Transformative Approach to Education

Social Transformation is a wave toward integral human development. It entails a systematic intervention toward a society with the aim of empowering the individual as well as the entire society. It draws its dynamism from a tripod

An educated populace is able to manage its health and is in turn productive. Education replaces a closed mind with an open one.

An educated individual is able to think beyond tribal borders.

This individual develops the capacity to critic own culture, and identify and maximize their strengths while positively dealing with the vice.

Education should not be equated with book learning. While learning and its subsequent passing of exams can be limiting, education is about relationships, it is about a critical inspection of oneself against the human and non-human environment.

It is the ability to use one’s learning to acquire competencies that in turn help improve one’s life and that of the community.

In this way, an educated person cannot be a social misfit. This person cannot be a leader in a societal vice.

The mediocrity found in wanton destruction of the environment cannot be for the educated.

A well-informed knowledge of the past, an awareness of the present, and a benevolent plan for the future generations are concerns of the educated.

                                              Education and health go hand in hand. As early as childhood, an educated individual learns personal body hygiene.

Starting with basic toiletry, the child continues learning until the acquisition of oral health.

Through diet, one checks and maintains the health.

With proper care of oneself, ailments are kept at bay. Even when an infection strikes, the educated person is able to speedily seek the right interventions.

When passing on life to the next generation, pre-natal and post-natal care is well pursued, including the necessary inoculations. At old age, one is aware of the changing physiology and the care needed for longevity.

With little or no education, health challenges are quickly linked to the spiritual world, side-lining medical interventions. This position only complicates the situation of the persons involved and in many ways, family resources are deviated leaving the family in poverty. Indeed a healthy nation is a wealthy one.

Education is wealth. There is a direct correlation between education and wealth.

Education wades off traditional practices that sustain poverty. These practices include beliefs in witchcraft and rampant fear emanating from jealous-related rumors. The educated learn new competencies and ways of doing things that help in wealth creation and management.

Through education, individuals become global citizens, thus increasing their world of learning and of wealth creation.

With current trends in technology, the educated are able to minimize their expenses, thus maximizing their profits.

The educated are able to increase their hours of work and diversify on income strands. Through the acquisition of relational values, the educated learn better interactions that in turn translate into more customers and clients needing the products/services.

This comes with increased incomes.

A socially transformed individual cannot separate education, health, and household economies.

The same case applies to a socially transformed community. Any efforts to promote human wellness, cannot ignore the social transformation tripod.  This is the meaning of social transformative education.

Since human wellness is in the domain of the individual and also in that of society, knowing how to live amicably with others is a core component of education. In this aboard, rights and duties become synonymous with education.

Not only is the individual aware of their own rights, but also of the rights of the other. In this way, one is aware of boundaries which if surpassed, human rights violations occur.

The basic principle of “Do unto the other that which you would like done unto you” does not require any emphasis.

In this way, the educated individual is able to respect and promote the operations of institutions that monitor human justice and rights. At all times, no matter how insignificant, the educated individual will lobby and advocate for the welfare of the community.

This person will interrogate policy, seeking to improve public institutions for the sake of the entire society.      

In addition to the four concepts, social transformative education is inclusive of environmental care. Such an individual is able to understand the ecosystem including its web chains. The interconnectedness of the animal and the plant life, and its influence on soils as well as on the atmosphere, cannot be ignored by the educated. In this way, the person understands their position as part of the wider world and universe.

Destruction of any of the components of the universe leads to a disturbance of the web. This in turn drops a bombshell on the sustainability of the human race.

As we think about education, it is hence important to understand the difference between it and learning.

It is mandatory that we look at education transformatively.

Only then shall it be of maximum help to society.