Education's Role in Economic Development: Benefits and Measures
Education plays a crucial role in economic development by enhancing labor skills, reducing fertility rates, and empowering individuals. It also fosters social cohesion and facilitates the adoption of new technologies. Key measures of educational attainment include gross enrollment rate, net enrollment rate, average years of schooling, and adult literacy rate.
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Lecturer: Dr. Michael Danquah Contact Information: mdanquah.ug@gmail.com College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 2016/2017
Session Overview Session Overview: One of the critical assets of a nation is a highly skilled and educated populace. This session begins with the role of education in development and ends with the structure, trends and policy interventions of Ghana s education sector. Goals/ Objectives: At the end of the session, the student will Know the benefits of education Know the characteristics of the educational system of developing countries. Understand the structure of Ghana s education sector Analyse the trends in some indicators in Ghana s education sector Know the policy interventions in Ghana s education sector Slide 2
Session Outline The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows: Topic One: Education and Economic Development Topic Two: Ghana s Education Sector Topic Three: Goals/Prospects of the Education Sector in Ghana Slide 3
Reading List Refer students to relevant text/chapter or reading materials you will make available on Sakai Slide 4
Topic One EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Slide 5
Benefits of Education Education is important for the economic growth and development because it increases the productive skills and technical knowledge of labour Education is seen as a means to improve health and reduce fertility. For example, studies have shown that more educated people are more likely to adopt birth control practices such as birth-spacing and giving birth to fewer children. Education benefits individuals because it enables them to earn higher income Slide 6
Benefits of Education Contd Education is seen as an intrinsic good in itself since it empowers people and makes them confident. Education can also socialise people. Through common schooling experience, people from different national, social, ethnic, religious, and linguistic backgrounds can be encouraged to adopt a common outlook on the world. Education helps in the adoption of new technologies Slide 7
Measures of Educational Attainment Measures of education quantity: The generally used measures of education quantity are gross enrollment rate (GER), net enrollment rate (NER), average years of schooling of adult population, and adult literacy rate. Gross enrollment rate (GER) is defined as the number of children enrolled in a particular level of education regardless of age, as a percentage of the population in the age group associated with that level of education. The age range used for primary school is usually 6 to 11 years. For junior high school, it is 12 to 14 years, and for senior high school it is 15 to 17 years. GER for primary school for example is calculated as Slide 8
Measure of education attainment cont d Where Is the total number enrolled at the primary level irrespective of age Is the population aged 6 to 11 years Slide 9
Measure of educational attainment The formula above can be applied to compute the GER for other levels of education. The GER can exceed 100 percent. GER above 100 percent does not imply that all school-age children are in school. It only indicates that: There are grade repeaters at a particular grade which serves to raise the enrolment rates Due to some incentives, principals and teachers exaggerate the number of students enrolled Slide 10
Measures of Educational Attainment Cont d Net Enrolment Rate (NER) is defined as the number of children enrolled in a particular level of schooling who are of the age associated with that level of school divided by all children of the age associated with that level of schooling. The NER at the primary level can be calculated as: Slide 11
Measures of Educational Attainment Cont d Where Is the total number aged 6-11 years enrolled at the primary level Is the population aged 6-11 years NERs can never exceed 100 percent, and they reduce the bias in GER caused by the enrollment of over-age children in a given level due to repetition or delayed enrollment. Slide 12
Measures of Educational Attainment Cont d Adult Literacy rate is measured as people aged 15 years and above who can read and write as a percentage of the population aged 15 years and above. Sometimes the literacy rate is computed for the age range 15-60. This age range constitutes the economically active population. Average number of years of schooling is an index which is calculated as the simple average of the number of years of schooling for the adult population. Quality of Education The quality of the education system is often measured by the proportion of trained teachers, student-teacher ratios and performance of students on achievement tests Slide 13
Characteristics of Educational Sector of Developing Countries Children learn much less in school than the official cirriculum states. Grade repetition and leaving school at an early age. Teacher absenteeism as a result of weak incentives and little supervision Lack of the most basic school equipment such as textbooks, blackboards, desks and classrooms Poor quality of teachers High student-teacher ratios Deterioration in quality of education partly due to slow investment in education infrastructure and manpower Slide 14
Topic Two GHANA S EDUCATION SECTOR Slide 15
Structure of the Education Sector Basic education Secondary/High School Education Tertiary Education The education system in Ghana is grouped under three main sub-sectors, namely: BASIC EDUCATION consists of 2 years of kindergarten, 6 years of primary, and 3 years of Junior High School. SECONDARY EDUCATION comprises traditional secondary schools as well as technical and vocational institutions. TERTIARY EDUCATION includes universities and university colleges, polytechnics, and other professional and specialised institutions such as teacher and nurses training colleges. There is a very significant and growing level of private participation in the provision of basic and growing level of private participation in the provision of basic and secondary education in Ghana. In recent years, there has been an upsurge in the private provision of tertiary education even though it used to be the sole responsibility of the government. Slide 16
Trends in the Education Sector in Ghana GROSS ENROLLMENT RATIO (GER) Ghana continues to make progress in the area of gross enrollment at the basic education level. Ghana s basic school Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) is now comparable to any Lower Middle Income Country (LMC) and better than the Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) average. For instance, the five year average primary school GER for LMCs and SSA were 99% and 105% respectively as compared with 107% for Ghana. In 2014, GER increased at all basic education level except at the Junior High School level where there was a marginal fall (Fig ). There still exists a deficit of 18% in the aggregate number of places required for full enrollment of the official JHS age group population. But for KG and primary, GER exceeded 100 percent for the second consecutive year. Slide 17
Trends in the Education Sector in Ghana Cont d Net Enrollment Ratio (NER) The net enrollment ratio (NER) is a better measure of extent of basic education participation of children belonging to the relevant age group. As is the case of GER, Ghana has better record of NER than the average SSA country, but lags behind both her average LMC peers and her average Middle Income Country(MIC) model. Nonetheless, available data for the year under review indicates improvement in NER at all levels of basic education although disproportionately so. For example, while a 16 percentage point gain was made at the KG level, progress was very slow at the JHS level with only a 1.4 percentage point increase in NER. The improvements, notwithstanding, that about 11% of primary school and 51% of JHS age children were out of school in the 2013/2014 school year must be of concern. Slide 18
Trends in the Education Sector in Ghana Cont d Net Enrollment Ratio (NER) Cont d As could be expected, there were regional difference in NER at all levels. For primary NER, for example, the greater Accra Region lagged behind all other regions with a ratio of 75.4%. The Western Region had the best record of NER at the primary school level with 105.8%. Regions that one might consider as generally deprived performed quite well with respect to NER. The outcome could be correlated with policy interventions such as the capitation grant in deprived areas in particular. At the JHS level, NER is highest in the Greater Accra and Western Regions (55.7% each) and lowest in the Upper West Region (38.3%). Slide 19
Trends in the Education Sector in Ghana Cont d The school completion ration is the ratio of the total number of students graduating from the last year of school in a given year to the total number of children of official graduation age in the population. Completion Ratio Sustaining participation and completion of basic education is important since enrollment is necessary but not a sufficient policy goal. Both primary and JHS completion ratios fell in 20-14 compared with 2013. In the overall population 2.5% and 31% of the number of children who should have been completing primary and junior high schools, respectively, in 2014 did not finish. The JHS completion gap is particularly worrying and needs more concerted attention on all fronts. Slide 20
Trends in the Education Sector in Ghana Cont d Total Number of School Available The school environment including the physical aspects has implications for all the outcomes discussed earlier. The generally increasing trend in the number of schools at all levels continued in 2014 ( table 7.4). the number of available schools increased at all levels in 2013/2014 compared with the numbers in 2012/2013. The biggest increase was at the cr che/ nursery level (7.3%), with the least being at the senior high school (SHS) level ( 1.4%) as one would expect. It must be noted that apart from the SHS level where private sector involvement in establishing new schools fell over the period, the growth in the private sector involvement in school provision at all levels far exceeded that of the public sector. At the primary school level the number of public schools increased by 0.2% but the number of private schools increased by 10.8% at the SHS level, the public sector added 2.9% more schools to their stock while the private sector added 10.7% more. This clearly underscores the role of the private sector in education in Ghana. Slide 21
Trends in the Education Sector in Ghana Cont d Gross and Net Admission Ratios For planning and policy purposes, it is pertinent to also report on the Gross Admission Ratio (GAR) for the 2013/2014 school year. As in 2013, primary school level GAR exceeded 1000% in 2014, meaning that there still were some new entrants outside the official age (either younger or older) for primary level education . At the junior High School level GAR increased by 5.4 percentage points in 2014 over the figure for 2013. Because it accounts for the age of new entrants, the net admission Ratio (NAR) is considered a better measure of admission coverage. There was a 2.5 percentage drop in primary school NAR between 2013 and 2014 Slide 22
Trends in the Education Sector in Ghana Cont d On contrary, JHS NAR increased by 3.7 percentage points from 41% t0 44.7%. This means more children are starting JHS at the right age this was not the case at the primary level. Starting school at the right age increases the average probability of staying in school and thus improving completion rates. Staying in school is particularly important in some areas of the country where there are high dropout rates due to teenage pregnancy, for example. The reduction in primary school NAR in particular is a drawback for Ghana s attainment of 100% NAR, a necessary condition for achieving Universal Primary Education (MDG 2). It is doubtful that this can be achieved with the current distance of over 23 percentage points between target and realized NAR. At the JHS level, still more effort is required to ensure that children start school at the right age. Slide 23
Trends in the Education Sector in Ghana Cont d Quality of Physical Infrastructure The quality of physical infrastructure is another issue that needs scrutiny. The data suggests that private schools are of a far superior quality to public schools. For example, only 59% of public primary schools have a toilet but 82% of private schools have one. On the state of classrooms, between 21% and 27% of public basic schools are in a deplorable state but only between 7% and 8% of private basic schools are in similar state. There are regional differences, as could be expected. For example, one in every four public primary schools in the Volta and western regions needs major repairs while only one in every eight needs major repairs in the Upper East Region. Slide 24
Trends in the Education Sector in Ghana Cont d Table 7.3: Completion Ratios for Primary and JHS, by Gender Academic Year 2008/2009 Gender Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Primary 85.5 74.0 84.3 89.7 89.0 94.1 91.9 95.4 111.0 113.8 95.9 99.0 Junior High School 75.0 79.9 61.8 70.1 62.8 66.9 63.0 70.4 65.3 74.9 65.8 72.0 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 Slide 25
Topic Three POLICY INTERVENTIONS Slide 26
Increasing Inclusive and Equitable Access to, and Participation in Quality Education at all Levels The key strategies to be implemented to achieve the objective of inclusive and equitable access to, and participation in quality education are: i. remove the physical, financial and social barriers and constraints to access to education at all levels; ii. expand delivery modes including distance education, open schooling, transition education and competency-based training for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET); iii. mainstream education of children with special needs; iv. convert the NFED into an agency and empower it to make the necessary interventions for life-long education; v. roll out a programme for the attainment of universal access to free secondary education; and vi. bridge the gender gap. Slide 27
Promote the Teaching and Learning of Science, Mathematics and Technology at all Levels To promote science, mathematics, technology and technical education at all levels, the policy interventions to be implemented will include: ensuring that tertiary institutions adhere to the national policy on 60:40 admission ratio in favour of science, mathematics and technology; expand the Mathematics, Science and Technology Scholarships Scheme (MASTESS) and use it to attract majority of students into science and science-biased courses; expand infrastructure and facilities in tertiary institutions to absorb the increasing number of qualified students; providing incentives for science, mathematics, technical and vocational teachers; upgrading tools and equipment for teaching science, mathematics and technology subjects; and encouraging the private sector to support initiatives in science education. i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. Slide 28
Improving the Management of Education Service Delivery Management of education service delivery will be improved through policy interventions to be implemented over the medium-term to consolidate it with the decentralised structures. This will entail the involvement of MMDAs in local determination, in consultation with the central education authorities, of the required staff numbers, responsibilities, functions, deployment and resources. strengthen the capacity for education management; accelerate the implementation of the school and district report cards in all public basic schools and districts; ensure the efficient development, deployment and supervision of teachers; promote community participation in management of schools; introduce a programme to reward outstanding education service providers to boost morale in the sector; provide timely, reliable, and disaggregated data for policy-making, planning, programming, monitoring and evaluation; and strengthen institutional arrangements for enhancing the roles of CBOs and CSOs in advocacy. i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. Slide 29
Improving the Quality of Teaching and Learning The policy measures to improve quality of teaching and learning include i. providing adequate supply of teaching and learning materials; ii. reviewing and standardise curricula especially at the basic, iii. TVET and Non-Formal Education levels; deploying adequately qualified teachers and improving teachers time-on-task; iv. expanding the Untrained Teachers Diploma Education (UTDE) programme to reduce the number of untrained teachers by, at least 50% in the medium-term; and accelerating institutionalisation of the In-Service Education and Training (INSET) programme at the basic level. Others include: v. Slide 30
Improving the Quality of Teaching and Learning Others include: vi. deepening the implementation of the national programme of education quality assessment and increasing management capacity to support and implement it; vii. implementing a diversified mix of incentives, including housing, training and professional development; and strengthening supervision and viii. management in schools to constantly monitor quality with the support of district assemblies, communities and parents. Slide 31
Ensure the provision of life skills training and management for managing personal hygiene, fire safety, environment, sanitation and climate change To achieve the objective of providing life skills training and management, some of the strategies to be implemented are: Integrate essential knowledge and life skills into school curriculum, including identifying strategic language options for Ghana and integrate them in the education curriculum in order to ensure global competitiveness; equip community members with life skills to manage personal hygiene, fire safety, environment, sanitation and climate change; and provide all public basic schools with modern toilet facilities and improved access to potable water. investing in national values, discipline and good moral; promotion of vigorous public education on attitudinal change, human rights, including the rights of children; integrating religious and moral education into the curricula of schools and institutions of higher learning; and promoting programmes that will assist in the prevention and management of HIV and AIDS/STIs/STDs. i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. Slide 32
References Slide 33
