The Relevance of Education Expansion to Development in Kenya.

Abstract

In many developing countries, formal education is the largest "industry" and the greatest consumer of public revenues. Consequently, poor nations have invested huge sums in education for numerous reasons: Literate farmers with primary education are thought to be more productive and more responsive to new agricultural technologies, trained literate artisans are better able to keep up to date with changing products and materials, while secondary school graduates with arithmetic and clerical skills are needed to perform technical and administrative functions in growing public and private bureaucracies. In former colonial countries, many people with such skills are replacing departing expatriates. University graduates with advanced training are needed to provide the professional and managerial expertise necessary for a modernized public and private sector. The people themselves have exerted tremendous political pressure for the expansion of schools in developing countries. Parents have realized that in an era of scarce skilled manpower, more schooling and certificates increases their children’s chances of securing well-paying jobs. More years of schooling have been perceived as the only avenue for poor children to escape poverty. As a result of these forces acting on both demand and supply, there has been a tremendous acceleration in LDC public expenditures on education during the past three decade. The proportion of national income and budgets spent on education has increased rapidly. Unfortunately, there has been a growing awareness in many developing nations that the expansion of formal schooling is not always associated with an improved ability to undertake productive work, and that too much investment in formal schooling, especially in higher levels, can divert scarce resources from more socially productive activities and drag national development. It is on the basis of this growing reality that this paper seeks to explore the relevance of education expansion to development.