Is Education the most

crucial element for

nations’
development?

FEBRUARY 24

English class assignment

written by: Mona Mansour.

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Preface:writter’s reflection.
My thought process.

The Japan essay is for the demonstration of Academic Education importance

alongside other elements (whose essence is still it, emphasizing its inherent value in
nations’ prosperity, and it can be considered the answer to the essential question of
the assignment)
The last paragraph in the Ukraine war one may not have a direct relation to the
question’s answer, yet it’s not superfluous, if merely for a more recent reflection on
post-disaster rapid educational adaptations.

“Ignorance is the mother of all the evil and all the misery we see. Let men have light,
let them be pure and spiritually strong and educated, then alone will misery cease in
the world, not before. We may convert every house in the country into a charity
asylum, we may fill the land with hospitals, but the misery of man will still continue to
exist until man's character changes.”

― Swami Vivekananda, Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 9 Vols.

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Table of Contents
Preface:writter’s reflection. .............................................................................. 2
My thought process. ..................................................................................... 2
Insights from the Japanese economical miracle: ................................................. 5
How bad was the post-war situation? ............................................................. 5
The Rise ....................................................................................................... 8
FOR WHOM GOES THE RECOGNITION AND APPLAUSE ? ...................... 10
HIGHER EDUCATION CAN HELP TO REBUILD SOCIETY AFTER WAR ............ 11
The war has wreaked havoc on Ukraine's educational system. ....................... 11
Current Education System efforts ................................................................ 12
Predicted future academic adjustments ....................................................... 13

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Egypt declared free of Avian flu, after years of being- contagion congested, How
non-academic education helped terminate the spread of the highly pathogenic
H5N1. ........................................................................................................ 14
Accessibility and equal opportunities ........................................................... 16
Improving the educational curricula and systems .......................................... 17

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Insights from the Japanese economical
miracle:
The aforementioned demonstrates that Japan's postwar economy had significant
inherent growth potential from the beginning. Its dynamic potential was derived from
two fundamental elements: (1) the technological gap between Japanese and
worldwide frontier technologies, and (2) a large agricultural sector with low
productivity. The economy was abrealizeealise this potential as a result of systemic
changes implemented during the war, which also allowed it to experience the rapid
growth depicted in the graph and eventually catch up to the industrial West.

How bad was

the post-war
situation?
as the summer of
1945 proceeded
japan's situation
grew steadily
grimmer,by the
end of jJulyJapan's
ability to conduct
major military
operations had all
but vanished, and a
USA. invasion of
the Japanese
mainland appeared to be imminent. While expressing their unwavering determination to
fight to the bitter end on the one hand, and tentatively reaching out to the Soviet Union
to act as a peace mediator on the other, Japanese leaders found themselves in a tough
situation.

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Two separate days in august finally brought imperial japan to its knees with two of its
cities obliterated by bombs with apocalyptic power six days after the bombing of
Nagasaki japan's radio waves crackled to life as the everyday men women and children
for the first time heard the voice of their emperor as he announced japan's unconditional
surrender the country which had been devastated by bombs food shortages and a
catastrophic loss of life was but a haggard shell of the glorious japan that it once was as
its cities continued to smolder and the Japanese people faced the reality that their leader's
imperial dream had not only collapsed but devastated
With USA ships converging on the mainland, it was only a matter of time before the
occupation of Japan began and the final humiliation throttled Japan once and for all.
However, what happened next not only defied expectations but almost certainly
exceeded even the wildest of dreams. Japan's spectacular rise after World War II is one
of history's most remarkable reconstruction periods, as a country on the verge of
starvation fought its way back to become the world's third-largest economy. The image
of the phoenix rising from the ashes has become a tired and somewhat lazy metaphor,
But, there is nothing more appropriate in the case hereby than the story of a broken
Japan and its astonishing rise after 1945.
When the Japanese surrender was formally signed on September 2, 1945, it marked the
end of a conflict that had seen the country's sphere of influence extend deep into
mainland Japan. China and included korea the Philippines indo china malaysia burma
today Myanmar siam now Thailand and countless small islands in the western pacific
but 1942 was the pinnacle for imperial japan and with the Doolittle raid in April the first
u.s bombing raid on tokyo the Japanese people were given a glimpse of the horrors that
would come
The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki signaled the end of a hellish period when
Japanese cities were hit first by precision bombing raids tand hen catastrophic
firebombing as the United States switched tactics and attempted to crush the spirit of the
Japanese people. On March 10, 1945, Tokyo was hit by the single most destructive air
raid of the war, an attack that all but destructed 41 square kilometers that are equivalent
to seven times the size of Cairo.
Over the following months, that carnage was shared generously as major and smaller
cities were attacked frequently. primarily focusing on manufacturing and transportation
through urban centers also received plenty of attention as the skies were filled with B-29
bombers. Over 1.3 million children were evacuated from major cities to stay with

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families in the countryside, while over 446 000 were relocated to Buddhist temples, inns,
and local families.
The level of destruction that had been handed out only really became clear once the
formal surrender had taken place aboard the Missouri and tTokyo bay, Between 350 and
500 000 civilians were killed in the bombing raids on Japan, and the country now faced a
4.2 million unit housing shortage across the country and over 8.5 million people were
homeless. This is before we even talk about food production, transportation links, ports,
airfields, schools, and well just about everything else you would expect in a modern
country. Japan had been decimated, and the scale of the rebuild was just difficult to
comprehend,yet the unenviable task of not only rebuilding japan but also instigating
radical social and political reform fell to general douglas macarthur who was given the
title of supreme commander for the allied powers scap during the war an allied plan to
divide responsibility for japan between the allied nations (corruption), the vast majority
of politicians linked with the military were removed from office while a total of 28
found themselves at the second war crimes tribunal after world war ii which began in
Tokyo on the 29th of April 1946. seven were hanged for their roles in the conflict 16
were given life sentences two died while standing trial and one was deemed mentally
unfit for trial but one man who escaped punishment was emperor Hirohito now this was
a highly contentious and very sensitive debate many in the u.s administration and indeed
many around the world felt that the emperor of japan needed to answer for what his
country had done president Truman left the decision to general macarthur and after
careful consideration, he decided against placing hirajito on trial and instead settled for a
reduction in role to little more than a symbolic figurehead whether you agree with that
decision or not an emperor in japan is seen as a god and the effect of witnessing him
being put on trial and perhaps even executed would have been psychologically
harrowing for the Japanese people.
a country teetering on the brink of starvation, average adult daily caloric consumption
fell to just 1042 about 65% of the minimum caloric intake for a healthy adult, the heavily
populated cities fared worse with rations often delivered sporadically those living in
Tokyo receiving only 70 of their allocated rations meaning that for six months in 1946
adults in tokyo were surviving on just 775 calories per day to put that in perspective the
average healthy adult today consumes around 2400 calories per day.

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The Rise

The Japanese cotton industry was brought to its knees by the end of the Second World
War. Two-thirds of its prewar cotton spindles were scrapped by wartime administrators,
and bombing and destruction of urban areas had caused a further loss of 20 percent of
spinning and 14 percent of weaving capacity, who could have predicted all of that land
reform was a key early element as the u.s sought to break up the traditional stranglehold
held by wealthy landowners between 1947 and 1949 approximately 23 000 square
kilometers that's just shy of 9 000 square miles of land 38 of japan's cultivated land was
purchased from landlords and resold at incredibly low prices to the farmers who actually
told on the land during this period three million farmers acquired land through this
system that radically altered japan's social structure large financial cliques known as the
zaibatsu which had monopolized many industries some for centuries were also broken
up though this based earned opposition from the wealthy and influential japanese who
suddenly began to see their privileged livelihoods come crashing down electric utilities
were privatized into nine privately owned government granted monopolies in 1951 and
this was joined by sweeping change in trade unions labor laws and education in which
the country implemented a more u.s style high school system, but key to it all was the
much-loved u.s cornerstone of democracy on the 10th of april 1946 an election that saw
a 78.52 turnout among men and a 66.97 turnout among women was held and from it
emerged japan's first modern prime minister shigeru yashida a year later the new
constitution of japan was formally ratified on the 3rd of may 1947 which essentially
outlawed war as a means to settle international disputes involving Japan (this soon
became a somewhat fluid concept because while the u.s certainly didn't want to see a
fully militarized japan anytime soon they also didn't want it to become an open door
invitation to the expanding communist tied to the east as a result japan set up its self-
defense force in 1954 a military force mandated with defending japan and assisting with
internal issues and environmental disasters).
Japan’s focus was on manufacturing with major investments made in electric power coal
steel and chemicals this focus combined with an excellent education system with the
highest literacy rates in the world by the way and a work ethic that bordered on the
sadistic led to some of the most astonishing periods of growth ever seen around the
world by the mid-1950s production had surpassed pre-war levels and between 1953 and
1965 GDP grew by more than 9 per year with manufacturing and mining increasing by
13 percent construction by 11 percent in infrastructure by 12 percent,They suddenly
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found out that not having to scythe enough the majority for an absurd war effort was
working out rather well.
Japan's rise at this point is best described as meteoric and has come to be known as the
japanese economic miracle the hugely ambitious income doubling plan instigated in
1960 aimed to double the size of the nation's economy in just 10 years with tax breaks
targeted investment an expanded social safety net and incentives to increase exports and
industrial development quite astonishingly it took them just seven years in which the
economy grew by more than 10 percent every year and saw japan establish itself as one
of the first developed nations in asia then no doubt this won't come as a great surprise
but japan's early focus was on providing high quality mechanical equipment that
eventually gave way to the computer age the average monthly consumption of urban
family households doubled from 1955 to 1970 with much of this down to an increase in
leisure goods while things spread to the countryside at a slower rate they were by no
means left out and with new agricultural machinery appearing along with improved
strains of crops farmers began to reap the benefits of a quickly growing population that
suddenly had lots of money to spare in 1965 japan's nominal gdp was estimated at
roughly 91 billion but just 15 years later in 1980 the country had smashed through the
trillion dollar mark to hit 1.065 trillion dollars the devastation that had been meted out to
japan's manufacturing sector during the war in a rather bizarre way proved to be a good
thing because once rebuilt with plenty of shiny new machinery from america to begin
with it was able to easily outperform other countries the japanese took american ideas of
productivity and business organization and made them their own soon they were
producing goods that were superior to anything you could get in the united states or
western europe population control which had loosely been in place since 1948 as a way
of combating food shortages was lifted and a nation that numbered 77 million in 1945
nearly doubled to 127 million over the next 50 years this period also saw large-scale
migration as millions left the countryside for work in the cities in response to significant
labor shortages when the economy began to skyrocket during the meiji period in japan
from 1868 to 1912 around 85 percent of the japanese population lived in rural locations a
figure that fell to 50 by 1945 however by 1970 less than 20 percent of the japanese
people remained in the countryside as the country's cities swelled with new arrivals at
this point one in every nine japanese citizens was living in tokyo as the city's population
moved past the 23 million mark but in an interesting twist 1970 also saw the point at
which the average farm household income surpassed its urban equivalent things what
would a bit thanks to the oil crisis of 1973 but japan proved itself resilient and weathered

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the storm significantly better than most by the end of the 1980s the country that had been
bombed into oblivion just 35 years before was now the third largest economy in the
world behind the us and the soviet union if the country had dragged itself from the pit of
despair after world war ii it now stood proudly among the most developed countries on
earth what happened in japan between the end of world war ii and 1990 was nothing
short of spectacular the final decade of the 20th century witnessed the country's
economic growth slow significantly and it has never been able to match the heady days
of the 1950s and 1960s.

FOR WHOM GOES THE RECOGNITION AND APPLAUSE ?

The japanese people have to be commended at this point, yes there were plenty of very
sensible economic decisions made and certainly the large leg up given by the united
states after the war helped but a population that put in plenty of hard work fostered
education social care and just plain determination to rebuild their broken country was the
real reason japan was able to succeed so quickly perhaps it's easier to begin from scratch
but in the decades following the war the Japanese people placed the reconstruction of
japan over self-interest this was an area that had been traditionally strong for many years
but their drive reached levels that are difficult to imagine in other developed countries
especially in the 21st century in just 35 years japan went from being a crushed hungry
country with little to no remaining industry and cities lying in rubble to the very pinnacle
of global development a success story of astonishing vision and growth that may never
be matched.

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HIGHER EDUCATION CAN HELP TO REBUILD SOCIETY AFTER
WAR
The education system's objective should be to aid in the recovery process as part of the
post-war reconstruction efforts. After a conflict, education is crucial to unlocking a
country's potential by providing the information and skills needed for progress, which
may help a country prosper both economically and socially. Additionally, education is
important in the peace process since it contributes to trust-establishment between parties
and prevents future clashes.
Higher education has had vital importance in post-war recovery and reconstruction.
Higher education was first viewed as a memeansf providing new job opportunities for
demobilized veterans nd troops that ad been discharged.
With the war staggeringly destroying Ukraine's social institutions, over six million
Ukrainians (This includes nearly 665,000 students (16% of a total number of enrolled
students) and over 25,000 educators (6% of total educators in the country) have fled
tneighboringng countries. The crisis has had a devastating impact on people's lives.
Those who fled had to choose between staying and risking injury or fleeing and going
into exile.( exoduExoduslions of people have chosen the latter option, seeking safety and
security in countries such as Poland, Germany, and Russia. As a result of the refugee
crisis, these countries have been forced to provide exiles with asylum and food.
The unprecedented rush of Ukrainian migrants has pushed the global refugee population
to its highest level since the Syrian conflict began, leaving the United States, Canada,
and other countries scrambling to find ways to assist The affected, Meanwhile, the
situation has strained ties between Ukraine and its neighbors, which have imposed
limitations on refugees' ability to travel freely.

The war has wreaked havoc on Ukraine's educational system.

Displacement of people and destruction of educational facilities ) As of May 6, 2022,
according to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MoES), 1,635 schools

11
and universities (5% of the total) have been damaged from the war and 126 have been
destroyed. ( have had a detrimental impact on fields such as education, teacher
preparation, and educational administration
Schools have been damaged, teachers have been killed or displaced, and classes have
been canceled. Most academic institutions are currently closed, while the open ones are
barely functioning. Students have been unable to attend school for months, if at all, and
those who have been able to attend have received inadequate instruction, averaging only
a few hours of peeek
. Disruptions resulting from conflicts or catastrophic events in universities and
educational institutions diminish the quantity of information covered while teaching,
reducing the chance for learning.

Schools and colleges should be capable of dealing with interruptions in several ways in
this regard. A conflict necessitates the development of preparations to safeguard students
and the stability of the educational system, as well as to allow for a quick restoration to
normal operations afterwards. While schools are closed, pupils should be able to receive
education via remote techniques such as online classes or video tutorials. As part of the
institution's policy and contingency plans, these should be available and planned. This
allows students to continue studying regardless of where they are physically located,this
enables students to preserve their learning potential. In spite of the actual location of the
school or university.
Current Education System efforts
Current Education System Attempts to Maintain Student Enrollment and Service
Delivery. The current pressing need is to keep students interested and help them finish
the 2022 academic year successfully. Following temporary closures following the
invasion, approximately 86% of schools in Ukraine have currently "officially" resumed
classes, but almost entirely through online/distance learning methods. Over 91,000 IDP
students have returned to their temporary residences schools (especially in Lviv Oblast).
Although there are large coverage gaps, there are numerous online education initiatives
to maintain access to education during the war for both Ukrainian students and refugees
outside Ukraine. Surveys to determine needs are in progress. Schools (grades 5–11),
which have access to the AllUkrainian Online School e-platform for online and blended
learning, which was created during the pandemic to guarantee that students in grades 5
through 11 had access to curricula and learning materials. Although the average daily
traffic has grown 20-fold since the war started, the online platform is static, and many

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teachers do not regularly use it as it offers little opportunity for direct student-teacher
interaction. For young children, there is significantly less online content available
(preschool to 4th grade).
The ability to modify one's pedagogy to suit the demands of one's students is a
requirement for teachers. In addition, teachers must be able to instruct in poorly prepared
or congested classrooms.
Teachers will be better able to tackle these new problems with continued education and
training, which will also serve to enhance the instruction kids receive.
conflict-related instability has resulted in the closure of universities, preventing students
from pursuing their educational and professional ambitions.
In environments with fragile or underfunded educational systems, conflict can have
disastrous consequences. For instance, the upheaval caused by the Iraq War, which
resulted in millions of people being displaced,h ad a big effect on higher education. As a
result, 84% of higher education institutions were demolished, looted, or burned to the
ground. Higher education institutions have suffered physical harm in addition to being
utilized as military installations or as evacuation stations, which has forced students and
other citizens to flee, as in the cases of Libya and Afghanistan.
Higher education institutions will be obliged to adjust to new realities and possibilities in
the midst of the Ukrainian war. Conflict's devastation will provide colleges with an
opportunity to examine their roles and place in society. Nations must restore their
economies and institutions after a catastrophe has wrecked them. Higher education, in
this context, is crucial to the process of rebuilding since it offers opportunities that may
help countries heal and thrive

Predicted future academic adjustments

Schools must realign their priorities and adjust their curricula in order to adapt to the
inadequate financing and the mentioned-above ‘new reality’. When faced with the
challenge of redefining their responsibilities in society, new ideas and new paths should
be handed to the youth, such as the creation of humanitarian and peace-building
programs, with the establishment of new connections with neighboring nations as their
objective.

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Egypt declared free of Avian flu, after years of being- contagion
congested, How non-academic education helped terminate the
spread of the highly pathogenic H5N1.
In 2006, as avian influenza spread from Asia into the Middle East, Egypt prepared for a
significant outbreak in the nation's poultry. As anticipated, the highly pathogenic H5N1
avian influenza virus was first confirmed in Egyptian domestic poultry in February 2006,
and it has since spread widely among this poultry population. Egypt is the worst-affected
nation in the eastern Mediterranean after Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and Thailand, with
15 human fatalities from avian influenza between March 2006 and August 2007.
Egypt had not been prepared for this outbreak and had “no previous professional
experience, or a unified national plan” on combating the virus, according to Mohiy
Sabry, an avian influenza consultant for the ministry of agriculture.
Despite being unprepared, Egypt has been swift in its response to the outbreak and has
been praised for its openness and frankness about the situation. David Nabarro, senior
UN systems coordinator for avian and human influenza, said that the Egyptian
government has been “exemplary—having more openness than just about any other
country on bird disease and human cases from bird disease”.
The main approach used by Egypt to combat avian influenza has been the vaccination of
birds and the killing of any poultry thought to be infected. So far, 30-35 million birds
have been killed, which has helped keep the infection under control in industrial farms.
However, because so many non-infected birds had to be killed, this policy of eradication
has its drawbacks. As a result, the government's main challenge has been controlling
avian influenza in domestic birds, which are frequently kept on people's rooftops, inside
their bedrooms, and in their homes.

14
culling all birds within 1 km vicinity of infections, which has driven peoples' poultry
farming underground, according to Nabarro, took a tremendous amount of time, halting
functions on all aspects of life with the country announcing quarantine
Devaud said that “backyard farms are very difficult to control, as those that keep them
are very poor and rely on the birds as an additional income. It is a very difficult decision
to report a sick bird for fear the authorities will come to cull all the birds in the 1 km
vicinity”. Jabbour explained that it is only when the infected person's condition becomes
critical that the family admits to any exposure to backyard birds.

“it is a social
and economic
problem more
than a cultural
issue,” said
Zuhair Hallaj,
WHO
representative
for the Eastern
Mediterranean
Regional
Office region,
Figure 1 a Television AD featuring Egyptian Singer Shaaban
Abdel Raheem with a Vet teaching common women about
Avian Flu.

“this is primarily an animal disease but due to the way animals have raised in this
country the contact between animals and humans is intimate”.
Furthermore, there is a very dense human population in the valley of the Nile and Delta
“which can average 500–5000 in some places and is very conducive to the rapid spread
of infection”, explained Devaud, to eliminate the spread of the contagion, alternatives to
daily activities that involve human interaction were introduced, with official, Education
Ministry supervised TV channels dedicated for that purpose, and the non-academical
education provided for common men and women about avian flu symptoms spotting, pre
cations, etc.

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These TV spots were developed to continue the educational process stopped by the
quarantine and as part of the Communication for Healthy Living project in Egypt, and
address correct handwashing, dealing with infected birds, and general information about
Avian Flu

Accessibility and equal opportunities

Implementing Learning Villages: Egypt has adopted the innovative approach of
intergenerational education reform in vulnerable rural areas by teaching primary-aged
children how to read as well as their mothers. This allows children to be able to be
engaged in literacy work at school and home.
Increasing Access to Early Childhood Education: The Education 2.0 program works to
establish early childhood education programs in schools in the student's villages. By the
third grade, students should be adequately proficient in the fundamental skills of reading,
comprehension, writing, math, and English. Early childhood is a crucial time for
children to learn these skills.
Remedial Reading Programs: Egypt's education reform reaches out to current students as
well by looking for students in grades 4 through 9 who have fallen behind on the
previously mentioned fundamental skills. These programs aim to raise these students'
academic standards to those of the rest of their grade levels.
Educating Refugees: Of the 200,000 refugees who have sought asylum in Egypt, 40% of
them are children who become reliant on the Egyptian education system. The Egyptian
government is using the model created by the U.N.’s Refugee Resilience Response Plan
to help these vulnerable children. The government plans to give refugees a combined
formal and informal, community-based education system that can bring stability to their
lives.

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Improving the educational curricula and systems
Improving General Assessment Skills: Previously, students were asked to directly
memorize exam answers and the exams were often leaked beforehand. This severely
limited long-term comprehension. The reformed education program endeavors to test
students understanding as opposed to memorization capacity.
Revamping Teacher Training Programs: Teachers will be re-trained and re-licensed
because it is crucial that their methodology changes to match education reform
programming. Teachers must help convince students and parents that it is imperative for
the education system to have a goal beyond passing exams. They also need adequate
resources to focus their attention on students who are falling behind.
Linking Education and Technology: While the Education 2.0 program was initially
stagnant, the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated technological advances due to social
distancing guidelines. Two companies, Promethean and the Egyptian Knowledge Bank,
have also aided in digitizing education resources by respectively creating free online
spaces to get educational content and providing educational technology to 26,000
classrooms.

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