Education As An Instrument Of Development

Development over the years has been used to describe a rise in Gross National Product per capita of countries, Gross Domestic Product, growth in the economy characterized by infrastructure, modernization, industrialization and the like without a look at the quality of life of the people. Nussbaum (2010) argues that, this notion of development does not consider those aspects of human life that does not share a direct correlation with economic growth. According to Sen (1999) development is about enhancing the ‘real freedoms’ of people and expanding their capabilities. That is, development is about eliminating poverty, unfreedoms, poor economic opportunities and distribution, discrimination and the ability of people to live the life that they choose. This kind of development is seen as a way of empowering people by developing their capabilities and ensuring that they have a voice in matters that affect their lives. Empowerment on the other hand is a ‘process that foster power in people, for use in their own lives, their communities and in their society by acting on issues that they define important’ (Kabeer, 1999). Sen (1999) emphasizes that, development is the progressive activation of a range of freedoms, including political rights and choice, freedom from coercion and freedom from income poverty.

Through education, individuals can attain the capabilities needed to exercise many freedoms and have access to fundamental human rights. As such, being developed means to be empowered to have the right to live a well sustainable life. Thus, education is both a means and an end to development (UNESCO). Education plays an important role in the two conception of development highlighted above. The purpose of this work is to address the role of education in empowering development looking at the general benefits of education to development and branching to how women’s education empower development

Education

Education is a fundamental human right that has been enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Almost all nations of the world have education as one of their focus found in policies and constitutions. This throws light on how crucial education is for the development of a people and a country at large. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) affirms that countries can better achieve sustainable development through education because education is about transformation. A lot could be said about education whether it being a blessing or a bane to society. Whereas some scholars believe that education today does not have much to offer since it is structured around the capitalist model and only produce people to serve the capitalist economy, others also speak highly of education and how it results in progress.

Education as a means of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

Education has been identified as a major tool for the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Consistent with the report by the Brundtland Commission (1987), formerly World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), sustainable development can be seen as ‘development that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development came about to tackle society’s impact on the natural environment. While development was essential for every country, it was supposed to be attained without putting the natural environment at risk. Thus, the Sustainable Development goals seek to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by addressing environmental degradation, inequalities, poverty, conflict and the like. More than ten percent of the world’s population live in extreme poverty and live on less than 1.90 dollars a day. Most of these people live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty reduction, good health and wellbeing, quality education, gender equality to mention a few are some of the issues of sustainable development that can be tackled by education. The ability of education to address these major global issues helps in the development agenda. All these goals are inter connected and so the provision of quality education results in transformation that addresses all them. As stated by United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, education has the key to transforming people’s lives (UNESCO). Education equip individuals with knowledge, skills and experience that puts them in a conducive position to having a more sustainable life. The inclusion of female in education and provision of jobs for both men and women goes a long way to reduce the inequalities that exist in the world today. Access to good and quality education has as its returns the improvement in the economic, social, political and health conditions of people. Through education, enough skills have been produced to tackle the climate issues of the world. Education play a role in helping eradicate poverty the first target of the Sustainable Development goals by the provision of jobs and entrepreneurial skills, that enable people to set up themselves in life. Gender equality can only be achieved with the help of education by empowering both males and females to respect each other’s rights and offer women the platform to fight for their rights. With these points discussed, it is no doubt the contribution education can give and continue to offer towards the realization of all the seventeen goals

Education, Human Capital formation and Development

Education brings about the formation and production of human capital. Human Capital includes anything that contributes to the productive capacity of the workforce (Milan & Burnett, 2016). Nations are believed to develop more if they have a highly educated workforce. This is because educated people are thought to be more productive and efficient at work because they posses the technical know how from several years of schooling. This however does not mean having an educated workforce makes development automatic. But rather when good policies are implemented together with the availability of a skilled workforce, the possibility of developing becomes viable. Education for human capital formation brings about foreign direct investments. Singapore employed extensive education and training to build on the skills and expertise of its labour force and this directly resulted in the attraction of foreign investments. The infuse of foreign investment led to better jobs and higher productivity. This accelerated a lot of development in Singapore (Brown, Lauder & Sung, 2014). Highly skilled scientist like engineers, meteorologists, doctors are trained through education to address the many health, climate and environmental problems today and this promotes development. Doctors trained through science and technology are helping cure and treat some life-threatening diseases and illness today. Also, the provision of healthcare to people is a way of improving the quality of life of individuals. All intervention by the World Health Organization to address issues of Ebola outbreak in remote places in Central Africa, vaccination for cholera in Yemen, provision of polio vaccines for Cameroonians in Nigeria are all acts towards development. Country can only attain development when the people are healthy and are able to contribute their share to the economy (WHO). These interventions and the high pace at which health issues are being addressed are all product of education.

Educating good citizens for development

Education trains good citizens by equipping in them good values needed for life. This role of education enhances development by contributing to democracy, addressing conflicts in societies, maintaining peace, tolerance and justice. These conditions immensely impact on nation building. People are able to have a healthy and sustainable life when they live in a peaceful environment where their rights are respected. Education as a social good lead to the full development of human potentials, capabilities, talents and freedoms. Education trains individuals to be critical thinkers who can make sound decisions that reflect their life values. According to Nussbaum (2012), good citizens are able to reflect on political issues, recognize fellow citizens as having equal rights, have concern for others and have the welfare of the nation at heart. Education trains people to become responsible members of the society by championing the respect of human rights, the care of the environment and the need for tolerance. These qualities promote peace building in a society which contributes to stability and development.

Women empowerment through education and its impact on development

Gender inequalities exist everywhere in the world today. All over the world, girls and women are considered second class citizens and are discriminated against in many spheres of their lives. Women in most countries still have no property rights, cannot set up businesses of their own, are denied basic education to the extent that some are even denied the opportunity to drive cars. Bridging this inequality gap between men and women is crucial for the development of any country. This is because a country cannot fully develop without tapping and putting to use the capabilities, talents and potentials of all its citizens both men and women. It is for this reason that major international stakeholders like United Nations (UN) and United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have policies that try to bridge the inequalities that exist in the world and particularly in education. Number two of the Millennium Development goal talk about universal primary education for all and full gender equity. The Sustainable Development goals also has as a target to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and to promote life long learning. All these policies are calls in the right direction to ensure that development is fully attained by educating and empowering women.

Also, education provides women with knowledge, skills and the requisite expertise to compete on the labour market making them partakers of the development process. The ability of educated women to compete, gain employment and earn an income leads to a growth in development by reducing their dependency on men and bridging the inequality gap between men and women. Even though there are a lot of barriers in the labour market the restrict the ability of women to gain jobs as compared to their male counterparts, the fraction of these women who are able to gain jobs in the gendered labour market still contribute a lot to economic growth. The decline in the dependency ratio of women to men impacts on the gross domestic product of the country thus accounting for development. Educated women in the labour force also contribute their quota to the country’s economy through the payment of taxes. When more women are educated and empowered to find employment or create jobs of their own, there is a high tendency of the tax revenue of the country to increase and this growth in the country’s revenue is an index of development. Thus, the more women are educated, the more the economic benefits.

Again, education helps in the development of women and the society at large by giving women the platform to fight against discrimination and gender-based violence. Education promotes development by empowering women and bringing about liberation from oppression. Being educated gets a person acquainted with their rights as individuals of a society and the ability to exercise these rights. Education builds up women and equip in them a voice of their own to fight for their human rights and to take the necessary actions when these rights are infringed upon. This is in connection with Sen definition of development where people are not discriminated against, do not go through injustices and have rights of their own. The ability of education to give a voice to the marginalized and minority groups in the society like women is an aspect that reflect on human development and the development of a country. Also, education provides an awareness about the social conditions of women and the need for women to live as they choose. It enhances women ability to question cultural norms and values that discriminate against them. For instance, educated women in Ghana have questioned Female Genital Mutilation as a cultural practice and are in the world today fighting against it. Studies shows that, female education leads to a reduction in infants mortality rates, maternal mortality rates, and has the ability of fostering educational investment in children and the rest. All these are ways of protecting and checking the population of a country and ensuring development (Commitment to Afghan Women). Educated women also posses a high tendency of fighting for their children to be in school since they know the relevance of education. This is affirmed in the quote by Dr. James Kwegyir Aggrey that ‘if you educate a man you educate an individual but if you educate a woman you educate a whole nation. This quote highlights the fact that women have much to play in the development agenda of every country.

Political right is crucial for the progress of every nation. As stated earlier, development is about the ability of people to enjoy and exercise their rights. Thus, it becomes wrong to look at development purely from the point of view of economic growth without taking into consideration the rights enjoyed by the citizens. Women in most countries of the world happen to be the marginalized social group when in comes to politics and all other spheres of lives. They are seen to be vulnerable, without any potentials and so have men making decisions for them. Women everywhere have no or little representation in active politics and thus play no role in political affairs. This is not only an infringement of their basic human right but also, it’s a condition that impedes on development. The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights prohibits all forms of discrimination based on sex and promote the right to life, liberty and security for all (UNDP,2015). Access to education has a link with the participation of women in politics. Cited in Fanny and Adepoju (2014), education influences people’s participation in politic. They agree that formal education produces both direct and indirect significance on political participation thereby improving democracy and development. Formal education provides people with knowledge and communication skills that are required in public debates. Education therefore provides people with the necessary platform to actively participate in decision making. Women in this aspect are always relegated in the background because of the belief that, they have nothing to offer and because of the patriarchal systems in most societies. With the over fifty-one percent of women found in Cameroon, only a limited number of them are engaged in politics. Only 6.7% of Mayors in Cameroon are females, none of the regions has a female governor (Ministry of Women Affairs,2010). This is not surprising with the inequality gap that exist between men and women. Formal education in Sub-Saharan Africa has been a way of addressing these inequalities and promoting the rights of women. Notwithstanding the fact that women are still discriminated against in these areas, education has also done a lot in trying to correct these challenges. Through education, many women in African countries have been empowered to challenge the status-quo and take part in political activities which was not the case some years back. Although not an easy task, women are now more readily prepared to overcome the barriers that restricts their basic human rights. Quality and equal access to education in Ghana has improved the development of women and their participation in decision making in the society. In Ghana, a lot of political seats at the local and regional levels are contested by both men and women. This is an improvement from how things used to be back in the day where politics was the affair of only men. The proportion of men to women in politics is still not equal but there has been much improvement, and this has accelerated development. This is because women can now also provide their societies with the ideas and skills that are required to develop the various sectors.

Conclusion

This paper has tried to address the role of education in empowering development by highlighting on some of the benefits of education, and how they contribute to development. Emphasis was made on how education plays a key part in helping countries attain development through the diverse production of knowledge and skills. Education has a huge effect on the rate of development of every country. It is for this reason that, a lot of resources are to be channeled into making education a better one in other to reap good returns. The provision of quality education, empowerment of teachers, ensuring inclusive education and the provision of good curriculums will strengthen the educational system. These approaches when adopted will not only help individuals to utilize their capabilities and choose the lives they live but will also boost development in the economy in areas of economics, politics and the rest