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Your letters: Toward education for all
Rough goings: Several students in Borowetan village, Central Java, cross the Bogowonto River using a bamboo raft on their way to school on May 28
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Rough goings: Several students in Borowetan village, Central Java, cross the Bogowonto River using a bamboo raft on their way to school on May 28. After a bridge was damaged, this is the only way for them to get to school.(Antara/Anis Efizudin) (Antara/Anis Efizudin)
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span class="inline inline-center">Rough goings: Several students in Borowetan village, Central Java, cross the Bogowonto River using a bamboo raft on their way to school on May 28. After a bridge was damaged, this is the only way for them to get to school.(Antara/Anis Efizudin)
I was lucky to be among 200 students who attended the Asian African Student Conference (AASC) held from April 29 to May 2 in the West Java capital of Bandung.
During the conference, I was assigned to a committee focusing on inclusive education. One may wonder what inclusive education is. It may seem like a big concept, but its main idea is that there should be education for everyone regardless of race, gender, nationality, physical appearance or religion.
Our committee also touched on the fact that there should be a type of education that helps people liberate and emancipate themselves. This is based on the fact that there are still many different forms of neo-colonialism-imperialism in our world today that should be eliminated.
Aside from that, many people are also labeled according to their financial status, the color of their skin, where they come from and much more. Some people are treated differently because they were born with a certain disability. Therefore, with inclusive education, all kinds of different people will be able to come together and be a part of a community full of diversity.
It is human nature to be curious, hence, this way everyone will be able to learn from each another and accept the differences in each and every individual.
Slowly, if the world develops this way, discrimination against a race or a certain group of people will decrease. Problems related to racism, for example, will also start to decrease and eventually disappear altogether and one of the aims of the Bandung Spirit, which is equality between all, will be achieved.
This conference was held in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the conference that was held in 1955 and I think that it would be great if the AASC became an annual event because it proved to be a great place for many young people to exercise putting their ideas in front of people from different countries and backgrounds.
This could be beneficial for participants as there would be an exchange of cultural beliefs and values and stronger friendship would be built among the two great continents.
Tanya Gandhi
Bandung
