Jakarta  (Jurnal Nasional: (15/08/07)  Muhammad Yunus pointed out that education had not been perceived as a means to eradicate poverty. The right education liberates children to choose their own profession. Freedom will motivate children - in their homes and in school - to work harder to achieve their goals.“A child has to determine his or her own goal, not anyone else. Their success also depends on their own will,” said the winner of 2006 Nobel Prize for peace Muhammad Yunus in a meeting with businessmen and community leaders in Jakarta last week.

In a discussion on improving the access to education through partnership, Yunus said most education system in the world, including in Indonesia, confines children in monotone. Worse, under such a system students were never taught about the meaning of freedom, creativity and independence which they need once they enter the real world. “Students are stuffed with theories, formulas, home works, tests and other assignments which keep them occupied all the time,” he explained.

Therefore, Yunus asserted, education should let students free from the ties that bind them and make them lose their freedom, creativity and independence. Under the existing education system, children are worn out after doing all the assignments their teachers give them without having enough space to develop their creativity and independence. Sometimes parents make the situation even worse by forcing their own will. The right education, Yunus asserted, allows children to be free to develop their creativity and independence in determining their own goals. This is much better than confining them in routines.

In his book, Banker to the Poor, which is already translated to Indonesian language under the title “Bank Kaum Miskin,” Yunus introduces his revolutionary idea concerning he role of education in fighting poverty.According to him, the existing universities have created a very wide gap separating students from the daily life. Yunus explains “When you have the world in your hands, and enjoy it like a bird flying in the sky, you tend to be arrogant. You don’t realize that everything seems unclear when you look form a distance. Therefore, Yunus chooses to see from the “eyes of a worm.”  According to him, if we take a close look into poverty, we will understand better. On the contrary, the theories that students learnt in the classroom would not mean anything in dealing with the real poverty and hunger.

The opinion of the former lecturer of the University of Chittaging in Bangladesh, is linked to his deep concern upon learning about the wide gap between the theories he used to teach and the reality of everyday poverty, which is very obvious in his country, Bangladesh. This concern also prompted him to quit his job as a lecturer and learnt directly from the rural poor communities.