Education as Power

Is education a power? Yes, indeed in the modern world education is made a tool to serve the powerful. In other words, it is a power in the hands of few individuals. They are the rich and the dominant that override and dictate what and how education should be.

Human beings in their innermost core of life nothing but are craving for power. Power is the essence that characterizes human life. I view the power from two points of view: Positive and Negative. Power is positive when people employ it to empower the powerless people. In other words, in the education of the people, the sole aim to make them realize their inner capacity with which they can conquer the knowledge. Power is negative when people use it to satisfy their own privileges and cravings. It means that the powerful people force their ideas, traditions and customs on the powerless people. It is clear from above that power either can produce a good human being (Positive power) or can harm the human being for his own collapse (Negative Power).

Education becomes power in the positive sense when voice is given to the voiceless, when people from margins are brought to the centre, when the cry of the poor is heard, when people are lifted up from their weakness, and when people realize their own inner power. It is the duty of education to create an environment first of all for the emergence of positive power and then to empower people for a positive powerful society. It is not a business of one day but every day business that calls for real struggle on the part of the dominant.