AS education is a product of philosophy, I want to quote these phrases from my initial article. ‘Education is a continuous and creative process. Its aim is to develop the capacities latent in human nature and to coordinate their expression for the enrichment and progress of society, by equipping children with spiritual, moral and material knowledge’. Education is not a commodity. It is not simply about learning and gathering facts. It is the fundamental pillar of the civilised society. It offers a depth and breadth of vision that we are not automatically born with. It challenges and it rewards. Put simply, education is the bedrock upon which any future civilised society will be based.
Similarly, civilisation is a gradual evolution of humanity in terms of science and technology, economics, health, morality, ethics, religion etc. It is an elaborate structure of ideas and institutions slowly built up over time by the intelligence and effort of countless individuals working alone and together. Civilisation is not something we simply inherit or even finally possess. Each generation individually and collectively needs to make a continual effort to appropriate it anew because a civilisation is not passed along with us at birth.
Today in the 21st century, there are major and significant societal disparities across nations in terms of economic status, living standards and conditions, education advancement, infrastructure establishments to name a few. Some societies and nations possess technological advancements while others profoundly still live close to the Stone Age if not in the Stone Age. The so-called western nations today possess educational and technological advancements that are envy of the developing nations. While there are now known advanced developing nations, like china and India, others do not yet qualified to be even categorised as developing nations because they are simply living in the dark ages (South Sudan). It clearly demonstrates that all nations of the whole world are gearing towards the same goal, and that is advanced civilisation.
Let me come down to my topic of enormous interest. Where do we as Sudanese people stand in this world order? Sudan is one the most backward, uneducated and uncivilised countries in the whole world! As a consequence its people are among the most economically and politically suffering human beings. It is my solemn assumption that something occurred or did not occur among the long gone generations in the Sudan. Perhaps the environment people lived in did not inspire them to technologically improve or change their living conditions. Perhaps there were no philosophers who could provoke and inspire people to improve their living conditions. Perhaps many other events prevailed. What about the today generations of the Sudan? What are we doing or can do to change the course of history in our loved society? What are we doing now so that the future generations will look back and say, yes! we are proud of our grandfathers and mothers!
Without education, there is no civilisation! Civilisation has come as a result of education and not vice versa, whereas philosophy, the mother of today advancement, inspired the quest for knowledge and know-how which is definitively referred to as ‘the education.’ The Sudanese, particularly the South Sudanese in the diaspora are highly expected back home to pursue and advance their academic achievements. Whether that will be realised or not is another thing all together. As I mentioned in my initial article that education is critical and paramount for any society to be civilised. It does not matter whether or not some educated individuals do not become successful in life. It is probably 99% of hundred that educated society is highly successful. They are not only educated in knowledge but also in moral and ethical standards and behaviours. As a member of the Sudanese community, I am justifiably concerned like any other member about the direction and future of our people in this beautiful country. I am gravely concerned about the Sudanese children educational aspirations and achievements in this country. The schools statistics tell that children who come from poor households mostly end up being poor themselves. Not only do they become poor but also illiterate because most do not go pass high school levels. These are shocking facts.
South Sudanese parents can play a critical role in helping shape the future of their children. Parents monitoring their children learning progress at school. Parents knowing and understanding the schools their children go to. It is also critical parents understand the differences between public and private schools. Raising kids you are able to spread the financial resources you have over them, hence calls into question ‘human morality.’ The educated, informed and civilised philosophy of the modern world is that people live and raise children in accordance with their economic status. Although most Sudanese might not be capable to decipher these fundamental issues, they are unfortunately living in a modern, educated and civilised society. It is perhaps an essential question of ‘make- or- break principle’.
However, this is not to argue that Sudanese parents are not working hard so that their children future is nurtured and secured. It is also to be pointed out that majority of the parents have already devoted their energy, time and financial resources to ensuring that their children have a better future. Children are the future of any society, hence nurturing them to become good and productive citizens of the world is a great contribution to the advancement of humanity. Instilling in children’s minds as they grow the fundamental principles of morality, ethics, integrity and honesty, fairness, independence and self-reliance among others has a lot of future rewards. It is heartbreaking to see and hear our south Sudanese people back home attacking and killing one another. Theses unlawful and criminal activities are occurring because the people involved lack these fundamental principles I just mentioned above. What is happening now in south Sudan reminds me every time of what one of the scholars pointed out that, ‘life without civilisation is brutal, nasty and short.’ We all look forward to a day when the lines of tribes shall be dissolved and for our people to live as a nation united in common goal. And that is perhaps peace and harmony and prosperity.
The aim of this article is to provoke and inspire constructive debate about current issues affecting Sudanese, and the future we all want to have. Therefore, I will end by quoting the following from one of the lines of an academic. ‘The difference between Creative societies versus stuck-in-the- mud societies. Creative society is described as a society open and adoptive to new and novel ideas. It embraces change and innovation. Whereas stuck-in-the- mud society is a society that opposes new ideas and novelty. It sees change as a threat and therefore must be blocked and destroyed.’ This society glorifies and values the past and does not dream about the future.
Mabior Deng