The Curse of Education

Despite a long time Education for All movement, we can observe many inequalities in education or education-induced inequality. Underachievement in education is one of the most potent factors in transmitting poverty across generation. Low income groups have high drop out rates and lower progression from primary to secondary education. Differences in educational attainment, allied to wider social and cultural factors, help explain male-female income gaps in many economies.

Social scientists have long observed the "curse of education". Here is some important linkages:

Education, inequality, poverty-The educational system in many developing countries act to increase rather than decrease income inequalities because:

• There is positive correlation between education and income.
• The poor are effectively denied access to secondary and higher education because of higher cost (mainly opportunity cost) lower benefit (more difficult to get high pay jobs in urban areas due to lack of connection). So rate of dropouts much higher for the poor.
• Family environment, peer group interaction, and early malnutrition and poor health all work to the disadvantage of poor students in learning.
• Curricula have strong urban bias and pay little attention to priority needs of majority of student who live and work in rural areas.
• The wholesale import of formal educational system from developed countries into developing countries contributes not only to external brain drain (migration to developed countries) but also to internal brain drain (diverting attention of professionals from local problems and needs).

So, whether education lead to greater inequality should be a disturbing question. Whatever the answer, our attitudes toward it will determine whether education becomes a tool of liberation or of oppression.