Does It Make Sense To Give Education For Free?

Free Education

Francis Bacon, the great philosopher and thinker viewed that “knowledge means power”. Once one gains power one can lead his / her life in a decent way. It is the power of education that can bring dignity and respect in one’s life.

If power is the sublime element for one’s existence and sustenance rather to say the stamina to survive in this world, why not all are entitled to have it? Why only the rich can enjoy the power of education? That means if a person by attaining proper education can exhibit his / her intelligence and capability, why the person will be deprived of that due to poverty?

If this disparity gets going, our society will not see its fullest possible all-round growth. The eventuality of this will be----somewhere or other the society will be languishing because actually the untapped potentials will be wasted. This will be a national hypocrisy.

Social Balance

The simplest and the best way of disseminating knowledge is to educate every one so that a strong and permanent social balance is transformed as the balanced social platform, where all can contribute to the uplift of the single, unbiased and harmonious society.

If education is free from primary level up to the graduation level, all can get the benefit. Once all are privileged to get education, the first benefit will be seen as the reductions of social ills. Mostly our societies are divided over poor & rich. This menace is more pervading than any of the biting problems.

Actually, our societies consist of unbelievably rich, very rich, measurably rich, middle class, lower middle class, poor and the big chunk of utterly poor.

However, the above pulsating discussion can hypnotise one to blindly vouch for free education for the have-nots. Many countries are plugging in the loopholes of many of the social problems which are culminating out of this uneducated lots’ liability. The tax payers are contributing their hard earned money to the state’s exchequer but the benefit is not derived as it should have been.

Examples are many like Ecuador, USA (under Obama Administration), Malaysia and a few more countries including India have realised the importance of free education for have-nots. Ecuador has taken up many steps; Obama administration has recently made a significant change in its education policy and has adopted many ambitious programs under the banner of free education.

India too is gradually freeing up its compulsory education up to secondary level. The gigantic step India has taken under the present UPA government is “compulsory education” for one and all up to secondary level. Although many countries are gradually adopting and also experiment this important issue, the fallacy of the fact is, the sediments (negative sides or the boomerangs) are always disturbing the planners.

Free Education Means Mockery of Education

Free education allows everyone to get education without spending a penny. But this frees the parents from many of the important responsibilities attached with the “education of a child”. The child on the other hand also does not learn the gravity and importance of the education, in Toto (which otherwise is learnt in paid education system).

The free education is not “a miracle out of nowhere”; it is the taxpayers’ dollars are being made use of. Tax payers mean not only the direct tax payers; it is also the indirect tax payers also. Indirect tax payers mean one and all, including the parents enjoying the “free education of the child”. This means many other projects for social developments are being either stopped or curtailed or even diverted which could have been otherwise helpful to the poor strata of people also.

Besides this, since it is the government run project, the entire administration put their heart and soul in this benevolent program and leave aside many of the constructive programs that could have benefitted the society in general and the nation in particular.

Conclusion:

This discussion with the just above arguments will be rather “abrupt end” of the discussion. With both the positive and negative aspects as references, it is rather recommended that to justify the second part of the title--“does it add value”—the answer is “yes”. If the countries mentioned above should not go with the ‘blanket plan” for free education for all. It should be only need based, so that people should not suffer from unnecessary burden of tax, state should not divert the other social development programs and the nation, as a whole should see the best of the best.