Children's education: A key to a peaceful future
Children whom we con sider to be our hope for the future have the right to family care, protection, love and safe spaces for them to grow and become good and productive citizens of the country. These rights should be looked after with shared responsibility by the parents, the community and the government to keep these children free from any harm and grow in a nurturing environment through the provision of good education.
While it is true that educationmay be acquired during daily undertakings, having a formal education in school makes a big difference. Being taught in school, a child learns how to read, write, speak, think critically, evaluate right from wrong, communicate effectively and gain a better understanding on how the world works. As they say, what happens early, matters for a lifetime, especially in instilling the importance of education to our children.
That is why promoting good early childhood education to children should be given significance in this stage for their brain development is growing rapidly and learning comes easily to them. This would lead in building a solid foundation of good education that would eventually help children develop the kind of life they would have when they grow up.
In the recent military operations that occurred in Surigao del Sur between military and lumads, it is sad to note that a minor was involved in an armed conflict situation that led to her death. In a normal situation, at her age, she should be with her family or in school, learning and pursuing her dreams. She should be in an environment of learning and growing where books and pens are her armour in gaining knowledge, learning and taking responsibilities, building character and integrity and preparing oneself for the life outside the four corners of the room.
The learnings we acquire in school can never be taken away from us nor be measured monetarily. So we can just wonder, what kind of ideology do these guerrillas have to let children be involved in war? Why do they keep recruiting, indoctrinating and training them to fight against the government whose primary duty is to protect the well-being of its people especially the children?
The Philippine Air Force believes that everyone has the right to education. It continues to support the advocacy of promoting basic education primarily the early education of children especially those who are less fortunate or in the IP sectors. This is done through establishing stakeholder engagements with private and other government sectors which share the same mission in promoting education and the welfare of children.
In line with this, the Air Defense Command together with the 355th Air Engineering Wing of Philippine Air Force will work togetherwith WIDUS Foundation Inc., (WFI) for the construction of a child development center at Br gy. Nabuclod, Floridablanca, Pampanga. This project is in relation to the “Para saBatangAyta” project wherein the group distributed a total of 660 packs of learning materials and food packs to indigenous communities of Mabalacat City, Angeles City, Municipalities of Porac and Floridablanca, Bamban and Capas, Tarlac last 24 Feb - 05 Mar 2021.