Delia School of Canada
Tai Fung Avenue
Tai Koo Shing
Hong Kong
3658 0338

Monday, November 1, 2010.

RE: Lack of Education and Suggestions for Improvement

Dear Hong Kong citizens and government officers,

Signs of hope and confidence arise inside me as I send this letter to you, the government of Hong Kong, about the lack of education around the world. I am a student at Delia School of Canada, and I want to fight illiteracy around the world. I am writing this letter in order to eradicate illiteracy in every single corner of Earth. Illiteracy might not be a serious issue in Hong Kong, but it is a big issue in other countries.

Lack of education occurs because of many reasons. Poverty, location, and economic class are some of the reasons. Parents who earn their living by farming and fishing have low incomes; as a result, they are unable to afford quality education or may not have the money to send their child to school. Children lacking education in this generation will definitely affect the future generation. If this continues, communities will become illiterate, leading to parts of the country becoming illiterate, and then the entire country. If we don’t stop this now, we will not be able to in the future. Location also plays a part in illiteracy. A person will not get the same of education in remote rural areas as compared to in the city. Although, there might be schools in rural areas, they are often filled with teachers who do not have proper education, so their students do not receive the same level of education. Racism and economic class are also major reasons of illiteracy’s existence in this world. Often a Caucasian child will be more privileged in opportunities than a child of African descent. People with darker skin can often be completely ignored. However, a person’s brain and heart are ignored along with his/her skin colour, which has been given more priority. Once these issues are eradicated, illiteracy will improve on its own.

Around the world, 125 million children do not have proper education, creating a great chance that their children will also have improper education. To further my point, there are almost 785 million adults who are illiterate in the world! This situation is expected to worsen in the near future. What is more catastrophic is that even in modern countries, such as the United States of America, illiteracy is becoming a big issue. At the moment, almost 43 million adults in America are illiterate and each year an additional 2.25 million adults are added to this group. If illiteracy can strike a developed country like America, isn’t there a chance that the same thing could happen to Hong Kong? So, what has been done and has yet to be done?

Different organizations have realised this situation’s seriousness and have bravely stepped out to start changing the society we live in now. These organizations are UNICEF, UNESCO, Brac, and ChildInfo, which is a part of UNESCO. These organizations strive to educate the general public in every country. They are private organizations that take the community’s help to reverse the depressing situation the world is in. Even though their names might be different, their goal is the same: to help everyone become literate and create a better, healthy environment. When private organizations are taking 10 steps forward, why can’t the mighty government take 100 steps forward? The government is indeed powerful, and this is the reason why I am writing this letter. The Hong Kong government can not only educate its own people, but can also help other countries become better educated. Hong Kong can donate money to poorer countries to help them employ quality teachers and build schools in rural areas. Government officials can go to rural areas in China and Hong Kong to gather people who are illiterate and provide them free education. The Government can make use of literary devices, such as translators, to help people understand different concepts. The Hong Kong government can achieve many things; the above mentioned are only a few of the many. Even the steps taken by every individual person can bring a big change. All we want now is someone, some group, some community, or even some country to step forward, and create the change we need to make our big society healthy, peaceful, and above all, educated.

Sincerely,

Ramanan

Student, Delia School of Canada