Monthly Archives: March 2016

Role of Forensic Science in Modern Law Enforcement and Homeland Security by Nasik Elahi Ph.D.

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Role of Forensic Sciences in Modern Law Enforcement and Homeland Security
Nasik Elahi, Ph.D.

What is Forensic Science: a systematic multi-disciplinary approach to solving crime, civil and other legal and homeland security issues. The evidence is collected, catalogued, analyzed, preserved and presented to investigative and legal authorities. Forensic science practice is multi-disciplinary and draws upon virtually every scientific discipline arranged alphabetically as follows:
• Anthropology : help to deduce race, sex, age, stature from skeletal remains; facial recognition : methodical reconstruction of facial features has progressed from painstaking physical reconstruction to laser scanning and digital technology.
• Archaeology : help to establish sequence of events and evidence by carefully digging and sifting of evidence particularly in war crimes and scenes of mass murder.
• Audio-Visual: voice pattern analysis; audio and video reconstruction; phone tracking; facial recognition in crowds and match; 3D crime scene visualization.
• Ballistics: analysis of powders and ammunition; test firing and analysis of bullet fragments; toolmarks matching
• Blood spatter analysis: help to recreate violent event sequence
• Botany : study of leaves, seeds, pollen (forensic polynology), algae and fungi to help establish timelines of death and whether the body was moved to different locations
• Chemistry : drugs, chemicals, fire debris analysis, explosive residues, artwork
• Criminalistics : techniques to examine hair, fibers, and other evidence using microscopy; VIN numbers, gun registrations, artwork, tire and skid marks, powder burns.
• DNA and forensic biology: the most profound and far reaching discipline of forensic science; DNA profiling utilizes blood, saliva, semen; PCR – denaturation into specific polynucleotides, hybridization of the PNAs, replication using Taq polymerase and testing for the STRs short tandem repeats loci; FBI runs CODIS 13 loci band system for identification on electrophoresis; the older testing methods such as Rh factor, blood grouping, enzymes.
• Electronics: monitoring, phone tapping and tracking, database analysis and reconstruction of activity, decryption hardware and software, cloud farms.
• Entomology : study of larvae, types of insects and their life cycles help establish timelines and sometimes even the causes of death; Louisiana body farm.
• Fingerprinting: techniques, comparison standards and methodology, local, regional and national databases; footprinting for mass casualty identifications.
• Forensic Accounting: tracking the complex trail of money.
• Forensic and Anatomic Pathology, Histology. Autopsies and related investigations.
• Forensic Toxicology : drugs of use and abuse in post mortem samples.
• Forensic Ornithology : bird feathers and droppings as markers or evidence.
• Forensic Odontology : dental remains, bite marks.
• Marine biology : testing lung fluid to determine modes of drowning.
• Physiology : lie detector test; Dr. Ahsen and his hot and cold physiology testing.
• Photography: audio visual, film and digital formats, holography, 2D and 3D.

How Accurate is Forensic Science
• Objective testing
• Subjective testing
• Complexity issues and Standardizations and how they impact on service

How is Forensic Science practiced in US and Pakistan
• US has 18000 police departments and 400 forensic labs. The departments vary in size from 2 man to NYC with 35,000 man force. The police all have the same uniform recruitment policy; every officer starts as a patrol rookie and works up to command levels while the managerial posts are appointed. The larger departments support their own labs while the smaller ones work through regional or state labs to provide the needed service. Training and results are quite variable.
• Pakistan is based on the colonial British model with 3 types of police –local, provincial and federal — working within the same infrastructure. The patrol force is local, the midlevel officials are a mix of provincial and federal while the top tiers are federal. At the federal level there is FIA and the paramilitary Rangers. In addition there are the investigative intelligence arms of the army, MI, ISI and the civilian IB. It is a mix filled with tension and inefficiency. The forensic science services are a direct victim of such interplay and little organized headway gets made even after immense financial expenditures. US has spent nearly $400 million while the ADB provided $450 million to improve police and judicial services over the decade with little to show for it.

Forensic Science Practice in Criminal and Homeland Security

In criminalistic terms forensic investigations are reactive. The investigative process takes place after the act or crime has taken place. There are additional safeguards built in by law to prevent abuse of authority and ensure the rights of the accused.
Homeland security shifts the focus into a proactive mode. The objective is to prevent the criminal or terrorist act. The safeguards built in by law are far more elastic and often defined by executive action, e.g., Awlaki case, surveillance by NYC PD of Muslim communities .
The investigative techniques are similar in both cases although homeland security are often more advanced and secretive. The FBI has launched a billion dollar Next Generation project that combine Voice Recognition, Retinal Scan, DNA to build individual identification provided by fingerprint analysis.
Historically in the US the criminal and national security agencies worked under entirely different mandates. Since 9/11 the lines have become blurred. At the federal level, the FBI has added security surveillance and interplay with CIA and NSA to its core mission of law enforcement. Several large police departments such as NYPD have greatly expanded their security related surveillance activities even in other jurisdictions. The melding of the two starkly different mandates is sparking both debate and concerns. It remains a pivotal issue that has forever transformed the traditional mission and nature of police agencies. One can only imagine how far the transformation can go in the face of future terrorist attacks.

Pakistan Law Enforcement and Security
The national security agencies like ISI, MI, IB play a paramount role in defining and conducting investigations and the police become a subservient agency to Rangers as in Karachi. Punjab in particular has taken the lead in reforming its law enforcement but it has managed to create pockets of highly expensive excellence that cannot be sustained over the long run. The creation of the Pakistan Security Act after the massacre of 140+ school children in Peshawar even empowers military courts beyond review by the civilian high courts. Add to that is the parallel religious courts and bodies like the Council on Islamic Ideology. The conflicting directions of military and religious authorities and poor governance by successive regimes that undermine any effective law enforcement and judicial structure to emerge.
Role of Forensic Sciences in Modern Law Enforcement and Homeland Security
Nasik Elahi, Ph.D.

What is Forensic Science: a systematic multi-disciplinary approach to solving crime, civil and other legal and homeland security issues. The evidence is collected, catalogued, analyzed, preserved and presented to investigative and legal authorities. Forensic science practice is multi-disciplinary and draws upon virtually every scientific discipline arranged alphabetically as follows:
• Anthropology : help to deduce race, sex, age, stature from skeletal remains; facial recognition : methodical reconstruction of facial features has progressed from painstaking physical reconstruction to laser scanning and digital technology.
• Archaeology : help to establish sequence of events and evidence by carefully digging and sifting of evidence particularly in war crimes and scenes of mass murder.
• Audio-Visual: voice pattern analysis; audio and video reconstruction; phone tracking; facial recognition in crowds and match; 3D crime scene visualization.
• Ballistics: analysis of powders and ammunition; test firing and analysis of bullet fragments; toolmarks matching
• Blood spatter analysis: help to recreate violent event sequence
• Botany : study of leaves, seeds, pollen (forensic polynology), algae and fungi to help establish timelines of death and whether the body was moved to different locations
• Chemistry : drugs, chemicals, fire debris analysis, explosive residues, artwork
• Criminalistics : techniques to examine hair, fibers, and other evidence using microscopy; VIN numbers, gun registrations, artwork, tire and skid marks, powder burns.
• DNA and forensic biology: the most profound and far reaching discipline of forensic science; DNA profiling utilizes blood, saliva, semen; PCR – denaturation into specific polynucleotides, hybridization of the PNAs, replication using Taq polymerase and testing for the STRs short tandem repeats loci; FBI runs CODIS 13 loci band system for identification on electrophoresis; the older testing methods such as Rh factor, blood grouping, enzymes.
• Electronics: monitoring, phone tapping and tracking, database analysis and reconstruction of activity, decryption hardware and software, cloud farms.
• Entomology : study of larvae, types of insects and their life cycles help establish timelines and sometimes even the causes of death; Louisiana body farm.
• Fingerprinting: techniques, comparison standards and methodology, local, regional and national databases; footprinting for mass casualty identifications.
• Forensic Accounting: tracking the complex trail of money.
• Forensic and Anatomic Pathology, Histology. Autopsies and related investigations.
• Forensic Toxicology : drugs of use and abuse in post mortem samples.
• Forensic Ornithology : bird feathers and droppings as markers or evidence.
• Forensic Odontology : dental remains, bite marks.
• Marine biology : testing lung fluid to determine modes of drowning.
• Physiology : lie detector test; Dr. Ahsen and his hot and cold physiology testing.
• Photography: audio visual, film and digital formats, holography, 2D and 3D.

How Accurate is Forensic Science
• Objective testing
• Subjective testing
• Complexity issues and Standardizations and how they impact on service

How is Forensic Science practiced in US and Pakistan
• US has 18000 police departments and 400 forensic labs. The departments vary in size from 2 man to NYC with 35,000 man force. The police all have the same uniform recruitment policy; every officer starts as a patrol rookie and works up to command levels while the managerial posts are appointed. The larger departments support their own labs while the smaller ones work through regional or state labs to provide the needed service. Training and results are quite variable.
• Pakistan is based on the colonial British model with 3 types of police –local, provincial and federal — working within the same infrastructure. The patrol force is local, the midlevel officials are a mix of provincial and federal while the top tiers are federal. At the federal level there is FIA and the paramilitary Rangers. In addition there are the investigative intelligence arms of the army, MI, ISI and the civilian IB. It is a mix filled with tension and inefficiency. The forensic science services are a direct victim of such interplay and little organized headway gets made even after immense financial expenditures. US has spent nearly $400 million while the ADB provided $450 million to improve police and judicial services over the decade with little to show for it.

Forensic Science Practice in Criminal and Homeland Security

In criminalistic terms forensic investigations are reactive. The investigative process takes place after the act or crime has taken place. There are additional safeguards built in by law to prevent abuse of authority and ensure the rights of the accused.
Homeland security shifts the focus into a proactive mode. The objective is to prevent the criminal or terrorist act. The safeguards built in by law are far more elastic and often defined by executive action, e.g., Awlaki case, surveillance by NYC PD of Muslim communities .
The investigative techniques are similar in both cases although homeland security are often more advanced and secretive. The FBI has launched a billion dollar Next Generation project that combine Voice Recognition, Retinal Scan, DNA to build individual identification provided by fingerprint analysis.
Historically in the US the criminal and national security agencies worked under entirely different mandates. Since 9/11 the lines have become blurred. At the federal level, the FBI has added security surveillance and interplay with CIA and NSA to its core mission of law enforcement. Several large police departments such as NYPD have greatly expanded their security related surveillance activities even in other jurisdictions. The melding of the two starkly different mandates is sparking both debate and concerns. It remains a pivotal issue that has forever transformed the traditional mission and nature of police agencies. One can only imagine how far the transformation can go in the face of future terrorist attacks.

Pakistan Law Enforcement and Security
The national security agencies like ISI, MI, IB play a paramount role in defining and conducting investigations and the police become a subservient agency to Rangers as in Karachi. Punjab in particular has taken the lead in reforming its law enforcement but it has managed to create pockets of highly expensive excellence that cannot be sustained over the long run. The creation of the Pakistan Security Act after the massacre of 140+ school children in Peshawar even empowers military courts beyond review by the civilian high courts. Add to that is the parallel religious courts and bodies like the Council on Islamic Ideology. The conflicting directions of military and religious authorities and poor governance by successive regimes that undermine any effective law enforcement and judicial structure to emerge.
Role of Forensic Sciences in Modern Law Enforcement and Homeland Security
Nasik Elahi, Ph.D.

What is Forensic Science: a systematic multi-disciplinary approach to solving crime, civil and other legal and homeland security issues. The evidence is collected, catalogued, analyzed, preserved and presented to investigative and legal authorities. Forensic science practice is multi-disciplinary and draws upon virtually every scientific discipline arranged alphabetically as follows:
• Anthropology : help to deduce race, sex, age, stature from skeletal remains; facial recognition : methodical reconstruction of facial features has progressed from painstaking physical reconstruction to laser scanning and digital technology.
• Archaeology : help to establish sequence of events and evidence by carefully digging and sifting of evidence particularly in war crimes and scenes of mass murder.
• Audio-Visual: voice pattern analysis; audio and video reconstruction; phone tracking; facial recognition in crowds and match; 3D crime scene visualization.
• Ballistics: analysis of powders and ammunition; test firing and analysis of bullet fragments; toolmarks matching
• Blood spatter analysis: help to recreate violent event sequence
• Botany : study of leaves, seeds, pollen (forensic polynology), algae and fungi to help establish timelines of death and whether the body was moved to different locations
• Chemistry : drugs, chemicals, fire debris analysis, explosive residues, artwork
• Criminalistics : techniques to examine hair, fibers, and other evidence using microscopy; VIN numbers, gun registrations, artwork, tire and skid marks, powder burns.
• DNA and forensic biology: the most profound and far reaching discipline of forensic science; DNA profiling utilizes blood, saliva, semen; PCR – denaturation into specific polynucleotides, hybridization of the PNAs, replication using Taq polymerase and testing for the STRs short tandem repeats loci; FBI runs CODIS 13 loci band system for identification on electrophoresis; the older testing methods such as Rh factor, blood grouping, enzymes.
• Electronics: monitoring, phone tapping and tracking, database analysis and reconstruction of activity, decryption hardware and software, cloud farms.
• Entomology : study of larvae, types of insects and their life cycles help establish timelines and sometimes even the causes of death; Louisiana body farm.
• Fingerprinting: techniques, comparison standards and methodology, local, regional and national databases; footprinting for mass casualty identifications.
• Forensic Accounting: tracking the complex trail of money.
• Forensic and Anatomic Pathology, Histology. Autopsies and related investigations.
• Forensic Toxicology : drugs of use and abuse in post mortem samples.
• Forensic Ornithology : bird feathers and droppings as markers or evidence.
• Forensic Odontology : dental remains, bite marks.
• Marine biology : testing lung fluid to determine modes of drowning.
• Physiology : lie detector test; Dr. Ahsen and his hot and cold physiology testing.
• Photography: audio visual, film and digital formats, holography, 2D and 3D.

How Accurate is Forensic Science
• Objective testing
• Subjective testing
• Complexity issues and Standardizations and how they impact on service

How is Forensic Science practiced in US and Pakistan
• US has 18000 police departments and 400 forensic labs. The departments vary in size from 2 man to NYC with 35,000 man force. The police all have the same uniform recruitment policy; every officer starts as a patrol rookie and works up to command levels while the managerial posts are appointed. The larger departments support their own labs while the smaller ones work through regional or state labs to provide the needed service. Training and results are quite variable.
• Pakistan is based on the colonial British model with 3 types of police –local, provincial and federal — working within the same infrastructure. The patrol force is local, the midlevel officials are a mix of provincial and federal while the top tiers are federal. At the federal level there is FIA and the paramilitary Rangers. In addition there are the investigative intelligence arms of the army, MI, ISI and the civilian IB. It is a mix filled with tension and inefficiency. The forensic science services are a direct victim of such interplay and little organized headway gets made even after immense financial expenditures. US has spent nearly $400 million while the ADB provided $450 million to improve police and judicial services over the decade with little to show for it.

Forensic Science Practice in Criminal and Homeland Security

In criminalistic terms forensic investigations are reactive. The investigative process takes place after the act or crime has taken place. There are additional safeguards built in by law to prevent abuse of authority and ensure the rights of the accused.
Homeland security shifts the focus into a proactive mode. The objective is to prevent the criminal or terrorist act. The safeguards built in by law are far more elastic and often defined by executive action, e.g., Awlaki case, surveillance by NYC PD of Muslim communities .
The investigative techniques are similar in both cases although homeland security are often more advanced and secretive. The FBI has launched a billion dollar Next Generation project that combine Voice Recognition, Retinal Scan, DNA to build individual identification provided by fingerprint analysis.
Historically in the US the criminal and national security agencies worked under entirely different mandates. Since 9/11 the lines have become blurred. At the federal level, the FBI has added security surveillance and interplay with CIA and NSA to its core mission of law enforcement. Several large police departments such as NYPD have greatly expanded their security related surveillance activities even in other jurisdictions. The melding of the two starkly different mandates is sparking both debate and concerns. It remains a pivotal issue that has forever transformed the traditional mission and nature of police agencies. One can only imagine how far the transformation can go in the face of future terrorist attacks.

Pakistan Law Enforcement and Security
The national security agencies like ISI, MI, IB play a paramount role in defining and conducting investigations and the police become a subservient agency to Rangers as in Karachi. Punjab in particular has taken the lead in reforming its law enforcement but it has managed to create pockets of highly expensive excellence that cannot be sustained over the long run. The creation of the Pakistan Security Act after the massacre of 140+ school children in Peshawar even empowers military courts beyond review by the civilian high courts. Add to that is the parallel religious courts and bodies like the Council on Islamic Ideology. The conflicting directions of military and religious authorities and poor governance by successive regimes that undermine any effective law enforcement and judicial structure to emerge.
Role of Forensic Sciences in Modern Law Enforcement and Homeland Security
Nasik Elahi, Ph.D.

What is Forensic Science: a systematic multi-disciplinary approach to solving crime, civil and other legal and homeland security issues. The evidence is collected, catalogued, analyzed, preserved and presented to investigative and legal authorities. Forensic science practice is multi-disciplinary and draws upon virtually every scientific discipline arranged alphabetically as follows:
• Anthropology : help to deduce race, sex, age, stature from skeletal remains; facial recognition : methodical reconstruction of facial features has progressed from painstaking physical reconstruction to laser scanning and digital technology.
• Archaeology : help to establish sequence of events and evidence by carefully digging and sifting of evidence particularly in war crimes and scenes of mass murder.
• Audio-Visual: voice pattern analysis; audio and video reconstruction; phone tracking; facial recognition in crowds and match; 3D crime scene visualization.
• Ballistics: analysis of powders and ammunition; test firing and analysis of bullet fragments; toolmarks matching
• Blood spatter analysis: help to recreate violent event sequence
• Botany : study of leaves, seeds, pollen (forensic polynology), algae and fungi to help establish timelines of death and whether the body was moved to different locations
• Chemistry : drugs, chemicals, fire debris analysis, explosive residues, artwork
• Criminalistics : techniques to examine hair, fibers, and other evidence using microscopy; VIN numbers, gun registrations, artwork, tire and skid marks, powder burns.
• DNA and forensic biology: the most profound and far reaching discipline of forensic science; DNA profiling utilizes blood, saliva, semen; PCR – denaturation into specific polynucleotides, hybridization of the PNAs, replication using Taq polymerase and testing for the STRs short tandem repeats loci; FBI runs CODIS 13 loci band system for identification on electrophoresis; the older testing methods such as Rh factor, blood grouping, enzymes.
• Electronics: monitoring, phone tapping and tracking, database analysis and reconstruction of activity, decryption hardware and software, cloud farms.
• Entomology : study of larvae, types of insects and their life cycles help establish timelines and sometimes even the causes of death; Louisiana body farm.
• Fingerprinting: techniques, comparison standards and methodology, local, regional and national databases; footprinting for mass casualty identifications.
• Forensic Accounting: tracking the complex trail of money.
• Forensic and Anatomic Pathology, Histology. Autopsies and related investigations.
• Forensic Toxicology : drugs of use and abuse in post mortem samples.
• Forensic Ornithology : bird feathers and droppings as markers or evidence.
• Forensic Odontology : dental remains, bite marks.
• Marine biology : testing lung fluid to determine modes of drowning.
• Physiology : lie detector test; Dr. Ahsen and his hot and cold physiology testing.
• Photography: audio visual, film and digital formats, holography, 2D and 3D.

How Accurate is Forensic Science
• Objective testing
• Subjective testing
• Complexity issues and Standardizations and how they impact on service

How is Forensic Science practiced in US and Pakistan
• US has 18000 police departments and 400 forensic labs. The departments vary in size from 2 man to NYC with 35,000 man force. The police all have the same uniform recruitment policy; every officer starts as a patrol rookie and works up to command levels while the managerial posts are appointed. The larger departments support their own labs while the smaller ones work through regional or state labs to provide the needed service. Training and results are quite variable.
• Pakistan is based on the colonial British model with 3 types of police –local, provincial and federal — working within the same infrastructure. The patrol force is local, the midlevel officials are a mix of provincial and federal while the top tiers are federal. At the federal level there is FIA and the paramilitary Rangers. In addition there are the investigative intelligence arms of the army, MI, ISI and the civilian IB. It is a mix filled with tension and inefficiency. The forensic science services are a direct victim of such interplay and little organized headway gets made even after immense financial expenditures. US has spent nearly $400 million while the ADB provided $450 million to improve police and judicial services over the decade with little to show for it.

Forensic Science Practice in Criminal and Homeland Security

In criminalistic terms forensic investigations are reactive. The investigative process takes place after the act or crime has taken place. There are additional safeguards built in by law to prevent abuse of authority and ensure the rights of the accused.
Homeland security shifts the focus into a proactive mode. The objective is to prevent the criminal or terrorist act. The safeguards built in by law are far more elastic and often defined by executive action, e.g., Awlaki case, surveillance by NYC PD of Muslim communities .
The investigative techniques are similar in both cases although homeland security are often more advanced and secretive. The FBI has launched a billion dollar Next Generation project that combine Voice Recognition, Retinal Scan, DNA to build individual identification provided by fingerprint analysis.
Historically in the US the criminal and national security agencies worked under entirely different mandates. Since 9/11 the lines have become blurred. At the federal level, the FBI has added security surveillance and interplay with CIA and NSA to its core mission of law enforcement. Several large police departments such as NYPD have greatly expanded their security related surveillance activities even in other jurisdictions. The melding of the two starkly different mandates is sparking both debate and concerns. It remains a pivotal issue that has forever transformed the traditional mission and nature of police agencies. One can only imagine how far the transformation can go in the face of future terrorist attacks.

Pakistan Law Enforcement and Security
The national security agencies like ISI, MI, IB play a paramount role in defining and conducting investigations and the police become a subservient agency to Rangers as in Karachi. Punjab in particular has taken the lead in reforming its law enforcement but it has managed to create pockets of highly expensive excellence that cannot be sustained over the long run. The creation of the Pakistan Security Act after the massacre of 140+ school children in Peshawar even empowers military courts beyond review by the civilian high courts. Add to that is the parallel religious courts and bodies like the Council on Islamic Ideology. The conflicting directions of military and religious authorities and poor governance by successive regimes that undermine any effective law enforcement and judicial structure to emerge.

Is there a possibility of an Islamic Renaissance similar to European Renaissance by Mirza Iqbal Ashraf

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Is there a possibility of an Islamic Renaissance similar to European Renaissance?

Until today, after the irreversible decline of scientific knowledge in the Muslim world, they still remain focused to base their polity on the original Islamic rules of community. But there also exists a trend for modernity, as Oliver Leaman, in A Brief Introduction to Islamic Philosophy argues: “During the ‘Nahda’ or the ‘Arab Renaissance’ movement of the nineteenth century, the challenge to Islamic thought was clear. How can the Muslims develop a view of society which incorporates the principles of modernity, yet at the same time remain Islamic?… [According to the modernists], ‘Islamic Renaissance’ should follow the Western Renaissance, and put religion in its place; only in this way can Islamic world participate in the material and political successes of the West.“

When the Ottomans, the Safavids, and the Mughals lost their glories, the European nations went from strength to strength, acquiring more and more territories and trade centers, and succeeded in defeating the Muslims on land and sea. Today, Muslims are divided in nations, lacking an understanding of the Western challenges and its imperialistic threats. Instead of looking back to their past glory, they need to comprehend that the past cannot be revived. Unfortunately there still exists in all Muslim societies an “Islamist-Utopia,” which stands as an impediment to scientific and political modernity. It is time to move forward. New IT technology and modern scientific exploration can help them catch up fast the time they have lost. Muslims need to understand that during the golden era of their knowledge of philosophy and science, religion of Islam has never been an obstacle in their pursuit of scientific exploration and rational thinking. Today, the pace of technology is so fast, its impact so deep, that our lives will be irreversibly transformed. The coming era will neither be utopian nor dystopian, it will drastically transform the concept human beings relying on to give meaning to their lives. Today, a global revolution of “Scientific Enlightenment” is knocking at the door of the whole mankind; an enlightenment where human intelligence is going to give way to artificial intelligence of super computers. Time is gone for a seventeenth century type of renaissance, not only in Muslim countries but also in the whole world. — MIRZA IQBAL ASHRAF

‘The Importance Of Education For Women’ By Fatima Farooq

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(The article was forwarded by Azeem Farooki with following note:The Importance of Education for Women – an article written by Fatima Farooq was selected by Clarkstown High School South on this website.   She is the first one who got this opportunity in 12 years and in recognition they gave her login to publish anything she writes in future).

The Importance of Education for Women

“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” Maya Angelou

Regardless of the fact that it is now the year 2016, issues such as the rights of women and the benefits of female education remain utterly controversial. There are no real disadvantages of teaching an entire population, so why is it that female education is one of the most popular subjects for popular debate? Knowledge, as symbolized and depicted in many illustrations, is shown as a lamp. And the only way to further this society, the only way to progress by the masses is to turn on this light.

The Fundamentals of a Society

Educated women really put the “fun” in “fundamental”. Literally. Since practically the beginning of time, men have acted as the providers while women were caregivers. They’re a part of every family, as mothers, and daughters, and sisters. Family can’t happen without them. Men are necessary to the process too, of course but we aren’t worried about them—the majority of them receive education already.

But women—when a man wants a child, she gives him a child. When he is away, she cares for and nurtures the child. And when this woman is raising this child, of course you want your child to be safe and happy and the best possible person that they can be. You want them to survive to grow old one day far in the future. Which is why you would want the mother to be educated, since according to the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative, children with educated mothers are twice as likely to survive past the age of five. They can’t really grow old if they don’t get past the age of five.  And if, miraculously if this child should survive, they will reach the age of war between nature and nurture. If you want this child to thrive, to live up to the expectations you so dearly held for them, you will provide for them the best conceivable upbringing. You will want an educated mother to teach your child right and wrong, to teach them manners and how to survive in a world of snakes while so closely resembling the innocence and goodness of their next meal.  Do not allow the future to be snatched out from the gaps between your fingers and devoured—educate your women.

A Mind of Their Own

It is much too common these days, turning on the television or reading the newspaper or logging into nearly any form of social media and seeing something related to a woman either being left to fend for herself (and oftentimes her children) or are victims of an appalling issue that is shameful to admit still exists: human trafficking. Seeing as divorce rates are at an all-time high, women do need to have a plan in case things just don’t work out. And then they need a plan in case they have children and then things don’t work out.

Because if you are a woman without an education with an infant or young child to feed, it does not matter whether you are in a first world or a third world country. If you are hungry, if you want food, you have to work for it. If you are sick, if you need medicine, you need to pay for it.

And to pay for it, you will need a job. And in the highly competitive free-for-all wrestling match that is today’s job market, how will anyone get anywhere without a degree? Even if a woman is to get a job without a degree, it will most likely be badly compensated. According to UNESCO, just a single year of primary education has proven to increase a girl’s wages later in life by 20 percent. Just one year of education can increase wages by 20 percent, just imagine the benefits of a full education.

Of course, as the ideal situations in media are portrayed, a male superhero swoops in to rescue the struggling woman promising to make everything perfect. But realistically, there is not a superhero for every woman going through a hard time. And at the point of realization, women have to get up and save themselves.

Since women are most vulnerable to human trafficking when they are uneducated and poor, it is infuriating that there are a handful of countries are adamant in their opposition to female education. Indirectly, these leaders are supporting human trafficking by doing this to their female populations. Human trafficking is one of the most low, disgraceful crimes and anyone that assists in this blasphemy is just as equal a criminal than the one that committed it. Don’t be another statistic. Educate your women. Protect them.

The Economic Survival of a Society

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. This is used to determine the economic potential of a country or region. Now, in areas when only men manufacture goods and work, the resulting GDP is half of what it can be. Now if we throw women into the mix, GDP increases by 3 percent when 10% of women attend school. Therefore if both boys and girls were provided with equal education opportunities, GDP would soar. And now, in a world where nearly every economy is struggling, scraping their fingernails to keep from slipping into the crater that is bankruptcy, well—we could all use some extra money.

When women are provided with education opportunities in safe environments to learn and thrive, they end up participating in business and economic undertakings and events. Increased earning potential and income prevent poverty-filled futures by allowing women to be able to support entire families. This is needed. This is needed for widows and single mothers and sick husbands. Empowering women is not shameful—it is enlightening the future.

Marriage and Family

Marriage is great. People happy together is amazing, but what isn’t is this: child marriage. Still a big issue in a number of areas, young girls (more commonly than boys) are married off at shocking ages. In underdeveloped countries, one in every three girls is married off before the age of 18. But, in areas where girls are provided with a proper education, these marriages are delayed by an average of five years. In terms of sexual safety, a girl who completes primary school is three times less likely to contract HIV. Looking into the future, education essentially has the potential to prevent AIDS in future children. Education has the power to cut out and entire disease. A disease with no cure. Of course the fact that once a woman is educated, she can work to find the cures of diseases no one has found yet goes without saying.

An education could be the universal solution to overpopulation. As per surveys taken in Mali, women that did not receive an education had an average of seven children, while those who did had an average of three. As fertility rates decrease over time, seven or more years in school and later marriages are a great elucidation of a largely disputed issue for a better and brighter future.

Ultimately

One day, sooner or later the sun will burn out and the world will be plunged into eternal cold and darkness and everything will die. Of course, as per scientific predictions this will take a few billion years or so, but the end is inevitable. There will probably be nothing left of the planet we call home, no one to look back on our accomplishments and the things we’ve done. We don’t have a definite timeline on how long our civilization is to survive. It’s very simple to map out things that have burned and died and collapsed, it is easy to map out the lives of the ones that came before us through artifacts and research but there is no way to predict how long we have. And in this indefinite amount of time, it is our responsibility; it is what we owe the earth that weaned us and the earth that we will return to, to be the best and to do the best for humanity that we can possibly do.

The sun and the stars and the moon may all burn out one day—but for right here and for right now, we still have the opportunity to turn on the light.

Fatima Farooq

( posted by f.sheikh)