Poem: Unwarranted pressure

The path to higher education is littered with obstacles

Not to examine the physical make-up of the student

But to exempt millions of poor children from a better life

“Education is the key to success,” many of them are told

Without education they are deemed to be failures

Not worthy to be given the key to success

This is a narrow-minded approach to life

Life was fully established before education was conceived

Look at the birds of the sky

They are fully educated in their own way of life

Not even a day spent in school

They have mastered the techno-savvy skills of flight

It’s not a skill for those with low IQs

Yet birds have proudly adopted it

Look at wild berries

They are succulent and richly flavoured

Not out of years of education

But out of the intrinsic knowledge

Passed from generation to generation

Surely humanity is not cursed

To be without the ancient skills embedded in them

It’s perfectly fine to encourage education from an early age

But first we have to provide resources

Poor countries are struggling with the adopted systems of education

Yet they are supposed to be competitors in a globalized world

Students in third world countries are put under immense pressure

To excel under squalid conditions

Inequality, for some, begins in the classroom

Without proper grooming and resources

They are already marked for the trenches of this world

Without proper allocation of resources

Inequality, human trafficking, poverty and diseases

Will continue to threaten the pedestal of hope

Humanity will never progress beyond selfishness and hopelessness

Into the vast terrain of consciousness

Where unconditional Love is a basic necessity

And sharing of resources is the only achievement worth praising

©Kenneth Maswabi