Why the nation should invest these funds in education
You work for the Ministry of Education in a low to medium development country, Lazristia (fictional). An international foundation has just donated 3.4 billion dollars to aid this low income country’s development. Write a brief memo (800-1000 words) to the country’s leadership to explain why the nation should invest these funds in education. In your memo, you should demonstrate your knowledge of 1) development, 2) the linkages between education and development, and 3) measurement of development and education indicators.
Sample Solution
To: Leadership of Lazristia
Subject: Investing in Education to Advance Development
The recent donation of 3.4 billion dollars represents an incredible opportunity for our country to make significant strides towards development and economic growth. We believe that investing these funds into the education system is key to achieving this goal and should be given priority when allocating resources. According to the World Bank (2020), one of the most important factors for long-term development is human capital, which can be greatly improved through educational investments such as high quality primary and secondary schooling. This has been seen in numerous countries, from Thailand’s introduction of universal primary education, leading to a yearly GDP growth rate increase of over 1%, (Vasquez & Rauch, 2014) to Ghana’s increased public spending on secondary education resulting in higher levels of national productivity (Asante et al., 2017).
In addition, access to quality education will help reduce income inequality throughout the nation while simultaneously providing individuals with more opportunities and pathways out of poverty. By investing in basic foundational skills such as reading comprehension, mathematics and problem solving abilities students are better equipped with life-long knowledge and skills that can lead them towards successful careers (Barbosa et al., 2016). Moreover by providing those who live in rural or poorer communities with equitable access to free schooling it would create more equal opportunities between different socioeconomic classes thereby helping reduce disparities within society(Attanasio et al., 2011).
Measuring both educational attainment rates as well as indicators related directly or indirectly linked towards human capital like literacy rates would enable us assess how effective any new investments have been at boosting both local economies as well overall individual well being (Kodila‐Tedika & Zhang ,2016 ).
Therefore based on the evidence presented above we strongly recommend that at least a portion of these funds be allocated towards improving our nation’s education system so that we can ultimately reach greater heights with regards to both economic prosperity and social equity.
