EDUCATION, POVERTY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

This article is written by Adv. Sandra Sachin, Bengaluru. 

Credit:- Law essentials

INTRODUCTION

POVERTY is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, that has various manifestations that includes lack of income and productive resources sufficient to ensure sustainable livelihood, hunger and malnutrition, ill health, limited (or) lack of access to education and other basic services. Therefore, poverty can be understood as an economic state where people are experiencing scarcity (or) the lack of certain commodities that are required for the lives of human beings like money and other material things. Poverty is a major threat to the existence of humanity in modern times especially in developing countries as rightly said by KIFI ANNAN [7th Secretary General of the United Nations] that “Extreme poverty anywhere is a threat to human security everywhere.

”EDUCATION 

Education is the act (or) process of imparting (or) acquiring general knowledge, developing the process and powers of reasoning and judgement. It enables upward socio- economic mobility and is a key to escaping poverty. Education is understood as a process of inviting truth and possibility. Overall, education is the platform that makes it possible to defeat all barriers. Education is considered to be one of the fundamental factors of achieving sustainable economic development through investment in human capital. It is a premise of progress in every society and helps to improve quality of life and raises people’s productivity and creativity thus promoting various opportunities and advances in all fields.Education plays a major role in securing economic and social progress thus improving income distribution which may consequently salvage people from poverty. Poverty and education are inextricably linked for example - as people living in the conditions of poverty may stop going to study in order to work and earn more for their livelihood, as a result of which they remain illiterate without much job opportunities. Years later, their children in turn are also in a similar situation with less income and fewer job opportunities.

PRIMARY EDUCATION AND ITS IMPORTANCE 

Primary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after pre-school and before secondary school education. It provides students with a basic understanding of various subjects as well as skills they will be using throughout their lives. There has been spectacular growth in elementary education in India during post-independence period. Enrolments in elementary education have increased by 7 times from 22.3 million in 1950-51 to 170 million in 2002-03. All this may represent a very significant growth in elementary education but it is also associated with very serious problems such as high rate of dropouts, high pupil-teacher ratio, poor quality of education and low levels of student achievement. Among the 29 states in India, Kerala has become the first state to achieve 100% primary education rate. The Vice -President of India, in January 2016 officially declared the 100% primary education status achieved by the state. One of the major issues faced in India is the quality of learning as reports show that children are not achieving class-appropriate learning levels. Therefore, improving the quality of providing age-wise education in schools is the next big challenge for both the State and Central Government.

1. Expanding literacy to approximately three-quarters of the population in the [7-10 age groups] by 2011, India has made progress in terms of increasing the primary education attendance over the years.
2. About 29% of students in the age group of 6 to 14 years in the country receive private education.
3. 80% of all recognized schools at the elementary stage are Government run (or) aided. Therefore, it is the largest provider of primary education.
4. Under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) 2009, education for children in between 6 to 14 years of age; that is up to class 8 has been made free by the Government.
5. The District Education Revitalization Programme (DERP) launched in 1994 with an aim to universalize primary education in India, had its main focus on reforming the primary education system.
6. The student-teacher ratio in India stands 24:1 across all levels of schooling. According to the RTE Act the required ratio is 30:1.
7. Less than 5% schools have all 9 facilities as per the requirement of RTE Act and over 30% schools have no toilets, while over 60% have no playgrounds and there is a lack infrastructure.
8. The primary education scheme has shown a high Gross Enrolment Rate of 93 to 95% in some Indian states.

CHALLENGES FACED

1. In 2011, the enrolment rate for pre-primary schools was about 58% and 93% for primary schools. However, among rural children of age 10 and below, majority of them cannot not even read at a basic level, despite the high overall enrolment rate for primary education.
2. One reason for poor quality of education is the absence of around 25% of teachers on a daily basis. There are also cases where the teacher ratio within the public school system for primary education in 35:1.
3. About 50% of the schools have no facility of providing clean drinking water and about 89% schools have no toilets.
4. The District Information System for Education (DISE) data shows that only 6 out of 10 schools in the country has access to electricity and Bihar is the worst among them with only 10% of schools having access to electricity.
5. Teachers are appointed to do non-educational duty such as election duty and collecting census etc.
6. The quality of teachers is also important but the DISE data shows that about 69% of teachers in every school in the country only have a graduate degree (or) more.

IMPORTANCE

In our country, education was a subject in the State List but now it has been put in the Concurrent List, shared by the Central Government and the State Government. This has been done in order to achieve the goal of RTE as directed in Article 45 of the Indian Constitution. Primary Education is the stage where education touches every point, making it to do with more than national ideology and character than any single activity.Therefore, the main objectives of primary education are as follows:

 1) LITERACY– It is important for every child to learn his (or) her first language in order to communicate their ideas easily. They should also know how to write alphabets and read words to develop necessary skills of writing, reading and communicating. The child should also develop ability in at least four fundamental numerical operations in order to solve problems in daily life.

2) NATIONALISM – Every child needs to be taught how to respect the national symbols [ flag, anthem] of their country and should also learn to dislike casteism, untouchability and communalism etc. Therefore, a child should be taught how to develop a healthy attitude towards other humans regardless of their profession, religion, cate, creed and class etc.

3) SANITARY HABITS AND AESTETIC SENSE – The child should be taught habits of cleanliness and healthful living. They should be taught the importance of a clean environment and an understanding of the proper sanitation and hygiene of neighbourhood. Education teaches an individual to be creative and innovative and also teach them to acquire a taste for good and beautiful.

4) COOPERATIVE SPIRIT– Every child needs to be taught how to cooperate with others and appreciate the usefulness of working together for common good.5) OTHER OBJECTIVES – Development of character and personality through initiative, leadership, kindness and honesty, etc.

• Acquisition of literacy, numeracy and manual skills.
• Cooperative behaviour with every community.
• To develop social responsibility.
• To appreciate culture and life styles of various regions, religions and countries.

Therefore, it is laid down that primary education cannot be accepted as complete unless children acquire minimum level of learning according to the National policy on Education.

GROWTH OF EDUCATION IN INDIA

Literacy in India has been increasing overtime but it is still far from all-encompassing. In 2018, the degree of literacy in India was about 74.4% with the majority being men. It was also estimated that the global literacy rate for people aged 15 and above is 86%. The literacy of every country covers the level of education and skills acquired by a country’s inhabitants. It is a very important indicator of a country’s economic progress and standard of living. In India majority of literate are men. Especially in rural areas woman and girls are often not given proper education and even if they are, many drop out due to various reasons, and this disparity is reflected in the literacy rate of India- with scarcity of schools and education in rural areas being one factor and poverty being another. It is well known that India is already surpassed in this area [education] by other economies like China and USA etc. In order to bring about an increase in economic progress and development and also to catch up with other economies, India must provide more educational programs to its rural population not only on how to read and write but also on traditional gender roles and rights.EXAMPLE – Literacy Rate in 2011, 2015 and 2018 2011 – 69.3%; 2015 – 71.96%; 2018 – 74.37%Overall, the literacy rate of India is about 77.7% while Kerala emerged as the most literate State and on the other hand Andhra Pradesh has recorded the lowest literacy rate (66.4%) showed in the report of National Statistical Office (NSO) Survey. According to Statistics Kerala and Delhi has the best literacy rate at (88.7%) followed by Uttarakhand (87.6%), Himachal Pradesh (86.6%) and Assam at (85.9%). On the other hand, Rajasthan is the second worst performer with literacy rate (69.7%) followed by Bihar at (70.9%) and MP at (73.7%). In rural areas the literacy rate is (73.5%) compared to (87.7%) in unban areas of the country.

UNEMPLOYMENT

The unemployment rate in India fell to 7% on September 2020. The highest unemployment rate was identified to be 23.52% in April 2020 due to complete lockdown instructed by the Government of India as a result of the pandemic. Higher unemployment indicates that the economy is operating below full capacity and is inefficient. This results in the production of lower output and incomes. This results in the production of lower output and income.Unemployed individuals tend to spend less on purchase of goods which will contribute to lower spending and lower production of output. Unemployment is one of the main factors that result in the increase of poverty and reduction of labour productivity. Higher unemployment will also cause a fall in tax revenue because there are fewer people paying income tax, as a result of this there will be an increase in the Government expenditure for the purpose of providing for the unemployed. Therefore, unemployment leads to gaining lower GDP for the economy. Economic growth is necessary for both fiscal stabilization and for raising living standards.

IMPACT OF EDUCATION ON POVERTYEducation is an imperative area that is essential for the progress and development of the individuals, society and nation. The individuals, who reside in the condition of poverty often encounter various obstacles within the course of acquiring education and development of literacy skills. Poverty is seen as a deprivation of opportunities that lead to improvement in the human skills and abilities to lead an efficient life without dependency. Education is regarded as one of the most important area that leads to efficient living and deprivation of educational opportunities itself represents poverty which is termed as poverty of education (or) educational poverty. There is a close relation between income poverty and educational poverty. Education poverty is the main factor that leads to income poverty and income poverty does not permit the individuals to overcome the poverty of education.Poverty and the associated disadvantages influence the lives of children in a number of ways. The primary aspect during the childhood stage is acquiring education. The children, who reside in the condition of poverty are affected by both the lack of educational opportunities and the lack of quality education that they will probably experience. The children in India are usually divided into 3 categories; the ones who attend school, the ones who are in full time jobs [child labour] and the ones who don’t do anything [no-where children]. In rural areas, there are usually more than 3 children in one nuclear family. The poverty status does not permit the learning and education of all children. It has been stated that when parents go out to work, they usually expect their older girls to take care of their younger siblings, depriving them of education. According to 2004-05 stats, out of total child population of 223.5 million children, 2.9 (or) 1.3% were ultra-poor, 66.7 million children (or) 29.8% were poverty stricken, 124 million children (or) 55.48% were in the non-poor low category, 29.9 million (or) 13.38% in non-poor category. Thus, the proportion of children i.e., 31.1% who are poverty stricken is larger than the proportion of total population, 28.7% for rural sector and 25.9% from urban sector (2011). The increase in child poverty within the age group of 10 to 14 years in the States of Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, MP and Delhi have severe implication for potential increase in child labour and potential violation of compulsory elementary educational laws unless curative policy measures are formulated. 1 in 3 children resides in the condition of severe poverty with in the country, despite this problem about 70% of the children residing in the conditions of poverty get enrolled in school. There has been implementation of the RTE Act in India, where free education would be provided to children up to the age of 14 years.In the present scenario, in rural and urban areas, all children even those belonging to deprived, marginalized and socio economically backward sections of the society have acquired the opportunity to get enrolled in educational institutions and enhance their skills and abilities. The poverty-stricken children have obtained the opportunity to get enrolled in schools, but due to scarcity of resources, they experience problems in providing for uniforms, books, stationary items and so forth.

IMPACT OF EDUCATION IN REDUCTION OF POVERTYPoverty is regarded as an impediment within the course of social, cultural and economic, political and educational development. In the present world, education is regarded as important in elimination of the conditions of poverty. Education assists in the development of knowledge and skills among individuals. Acquiring knowledge helps people to acquire various types of employment opportunities and will be able to enhance their wages and hence lead to elimination of poverty. Higher the level of education, lesser will be the number of poverty-stricken people. As educated people are able to fulfil their basic requirements of housing, food, nutrition, civic amenities, health, education and other requirements. The indirect effect of education on poverty is important with respect to human poverty, the reason being that, as education improves the income, the fulfilment of basic necessities becomes manageable and increases the living standard of individuals. This indicates the decline in human poverty.The living standard of individuals eventually improves with the acquisition of education. They are able to work out a better living for themselves regarding implementation of norms, values and ethics and overall home environmental conditions. Poverty is also considered as a major impediment in educational attainment. Lack of knowledge, low education (or) no education leads to prevalence of violent and criminal acts. Conditions of poverty leads to prevalence of the feelings of anger and frustration amongst the individuals and they tend to adopt violent and criminal acts in order to sustain their living, e.g.- theft (or) robbery etc. On the other hand, education generates an understanding amongst individuals to adopt more ethical and honest methods to sustain their living. Therefore, education helps people turn into decent, moral and ethical human beings. When an individual gets enrolled in any educational institution, besides academic learning, he is also taught the essential aspects to posses a helpful and corporative nature and depict concern for the helpless and needy individuals. An educated individual usually does not stay backward (or) scheduled. Education and understanding have enabled rural people to migrate to urban areas in search of better educational and employment opportunities. He is able to form links and communication with the other individuals to enhance his living condition.

EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Education in every sense is one of the fundamental factors of economic development, no country can achieve substantial economic development without substantial investment in human capital. Education rises people’s productivity and creativity and promotes entrepreneurship and technological advancement. Education plays a major role in securing economic and social progress and improving income distribution. Economic development is a complex process and is difficult for economists to identify its fundamental factors.According to Adam Smith “The acquired abilities of all the inhabitants are a kind of capital,” what is now called ‘Human Capital’ as one of the four types of fixed capital that contribute to production in a national economy. Economists now accept that investment in education (or) human capital is an important element in the economical development process. Econometric studies provide very strong and consistent evidence that more educated workers are more productive and that they earn higher salaries. It is also proven that average education and national income rise simultaneously. The relation between two capitals namely human and physical capital are complementary. Human capital is created initially by providing children with primary and secondary schooling. Private financing of this type of investment is not feasible for poor children. Countries that are highly developed have a long history of providing free (or) highly subsidized education to the poor. Studies prove that educated workers rise the marginal productivity of physical capital and of other workers. In highly educated countries the spill over effect on other workers is very small whereas in less educated countries this effect seems to be greater. Therefore, in all the countries the positive effect of rising human capital on the productivity of physical capital is required to offset the diminishing returns to investment and make rising investment in physical capital financially viable in the development process.To conclude with, it must be well understood that education is the key to solve every problem, and that no nation can achieve sustainable economic development without sustainable investment in human capital.

CONCLUSION

Education plays a vital role in the reduction of poverty, and has both direct and indirect effect on national income. Therefore, both the human capital and physical capital are required for economic development and that each has a positive external effect on the productivity of the other. Education gives every individual the required skills to sustain themselves as well as to help in the development of their country. Education enables upward socio-economic mobility and is a key to escaping poverty. Education is the wise, hopeful and respectful cultivation of learning undertaken in the belief that all should have the chance to share in life. According to Nelson Mandela ‘Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.

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