GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT: Education

Question 1

Arguments that education is important

Answer 1

• Amartya Sen: education is essential both to increase human capability to make choices for ourselves and because development is not possible without it
• SDGs: significant progress in developing education in developing countries

Question 2

Key trends in education

Answer 2

• By 2015, although number of children not in school has fallen by half there are still around 58 million not in school and around 100 million that do not finish primary education
• Girls are less likely to attend school than boys
• Gaps between rich and poor has widened, with children from poorer families far less likely to go to school than rich ones
• Improvement from 18% illiterate adults to 14% now.

Question 3

What are some problems faced by schools in developing countries?

Answer 3

1. Many countries cannot afford universal primary, let alone secondary, education
2. Schools are under-sourced
3. Teachers not well paid so teaching is not an attractive career
4. Schools may charge fees that parents cannot afford
5. Facilities not always there to ensure a good education
6. Schools operate in double shifts to maximise use of buildings and resources

Question 4

Modernisation view on Education in relation to development

Answer 4

• Education is essential for development
• Favour western style of education, able to spread modern values
• Higher education is essential to train future politicians and business leaders
• Education is a way to spread modern values, encourage entrepreneurial skills and break traditional values that act as a brake on modernisation

Question 5

Dependency view on Education in relation to development

Answer 5

• See it as a form of cultural imperialism, imposing western values
• Was one of the ways colonial powers exercised power over colonised countries
• Copying western style education is not appropriate for today, when the situation of developing countries is different