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01.12.2018 Opinion

Don't Die If You Don’t Have A Child Educational Policy

...My Experience With A Primary 5 Pupil
By Joseph Atchulo
Don't Die If You Dont Have A Child Educational Policy
01.12.2018 LISTEN

Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of America once said “if a man empties his pocket into his head he has nothing to lose, for an investment in knowledge pays the best dividend’’. Aristotle one of the greatest philosophers of all time once said that" those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them, for these only gave them life, but those the art of living well" What Aristotle meant was that, it is not just the ability to produce children that makes one a father or a mother but your ability to invest in your children’s education, for even a mad man may have the ability to procreate.

Being in the life insurance industry for well over 5 years, I have had several experiences regarding the industry, however one experience that struck me in the spine was my experience with a primary 5 pupil of one if the best private schools in Tamale, name of school withheld. We had a session with this particular school, where we educated parents on the importance of taking child educational policies for their children as a means of safeguarding the education of their children to the highest pedestal even if death came in the way.

I came across this little girl who was brought to school by her mother on a "Mapouka" the commonest motor bike used in Tamale, in my interaction with this beautiful little girl, I asked her a simple question, what do u want to become? the little girl told me she wanted to be a medical doctor and that she wanted to study medicine in Harvard University, I turned and asked her mother who happened to have lost her husband the same year whether she heard what her daughter said, a primary 5 pupil did not tell me the JHS or SHS she wanted to attend, but the University she wanted to attend which was not even in Ghana.

I then asked her mother whether she knew how much it cost to study medicine in Ghana today, not to talk of the next 8 years, how much it will cost to study medicine in Harvard University. I told her to the face that if she didn’t start a child educational plan that guarantees the education of her ward, this intelligent girl will complete with the best of grades and as a parent she would not be able to afford to finance her child's education. As classroom teacher she understood the implications of what I was saying and immediately signed onto an educational plan for her daughter. I look forward to seeing that bright kid in Harvard in a few years’ time thanks to her proactive mum.

As parents when we close from work on our way home, we buy assorted gifts and toys for our children as a prove of the love that we have for our children, but the prove that we love our children is not demonstrated in those things that we buy for them but in our ability to invest in our children's education.

Today with a life expectancy of 62.74 years at November 2018 in Ghana, and the increasing number of death tolls on our roads, the increasing number of deaths in our hospitals as a result of dreaded diseases like stroke, heart attack, paralysis, multiple sclerosis, major organ transplant like the transplant of the heart, liver, kidney pancreas etc. The need for life insurance policies has become increasingly important, however the tragedy and irony at once is that the life insurance penetration in Ghana is just a little under 2 %, which implies that about 98 percent of the population do not have life insurance policies especially for their children’s education.

The African does not even want to entertain the fear of death, no wonder Julius Ceaser said '' it seems to me most thrilling why men should fear death a necessary end which will come when it must come " Because of our fear of death we hate the concept of life insurance because the average African mind does not even want to entertain the fear of death. Most Africans die intestate (Die without a will) because we don’t want to entertain the fear of death.

Have you ever taken a moment to ask yourself these fundamental questions?

1. How will you feel (assuming you could feel) lying in your grave knowing that you have left nothing to finance the education of your children from primary to the tertiary level?

2. How would you feel of you were lying in the hospital diagnosed of stroke or any dread disease like heart attack, paralysis, multiple sclerosis, major organ transplant like the transplant of the heart, liver, kidney or pancreas etc. and all the doctor needed to save your life was just GHC 50,000 and you had to die simply because you had no life insurance or couldn’t afford the bills?

3. How would you feel (assuming you could feel) if your children had to drop out of school simply because you were dead and could no longer provide for their fees, their healthcare, their livelihoods how would you feel?

Don't wait until life threatening circumstances get in the way of you and your loved ones, get a life insurance policy today, sign onto a child educational plan that guarantees the education of your children whether you are alive or not, sign onto a comprehensive life insurance plan that provides a guaranteed sum assured (money) for you and your family in the event of life threatening diseases, disability and even death.

If you love your children, before buying them cloths, bicycles and toys for this Christmas, buy a child insurance policy for them and make regular contributions to ensure that their education is safeguarded to the highest pedestal.

Get a life Insurance plan today, protect your family and secure their future. It can be done and it must be done and it should be done, because if it is not done we are done.

Joseph Atchulo

Email: [email protected]

Contact: 0204176170

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