The Possibility of Education to Eradicate Rural Poverty

Deficiency of basic quality education has been a continual controversy globally. In this research paper, the significance of education, factors affecting rural education and constraints to solve this issue would be highlighted and taken into consideration. Education can be described as a game changer in abolishing communities out of the cycle of poverty as a number of people still living below the poverty line, particularly in the rural areas. A survey was designed to understand the opinions of respective respondents from different age groups. The survey finds that education could accelerate positive changes towards a better standard living. This report concludes that poverty reduction is inversely correlated to education attainment.

Introduction

Deficiency of genuine education in reducing the rate of poverty in rural areas is one of the persistent problems globally. United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA 2017) claims that the global poverty rate is affected by the availability of mankind to seize sophisticated education. Poverty is literally associated with rural areas and rural is defined as a non-metropolitan area geographically isolated from technological advancements.

In fact, education is the prime mechanism in alleviating poverty. Greaney cited in Moulton (2001) agrees that it will be a challenge to fully develop our capacity and deliver back to society without basic education skills. Education attainment and poverty reduction are inextricably linked between one another; hence, becomes a major role in the rejuvenation of economic capital. Thus, everyone should be given equal privileges to acquire the universal basic education in their life whether in the denser urban areas as well as the remote rural areas. Predominantly, the aim of this study is to develop a comprehensive view of education functionality and effectiveness in rural poverty declination.

Significance of a quality basic education

Character building advancement

Education cultivate a positive outlook and instil exemplary values that shape our entity in becoming a well-mannered citizen. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO 2017) assures that equitable knowledge will increase a person’s productivity and hinder them from exposing to risks. Likewise, 60milliongirls (2017) believes that educated people are more adaptable to changes in terms of economic, environment and personal. Ultimately, Obama (2009) convinces that with education, people would have the opportunity to create the next milestone in their life and to control their destiny towards a prudent lifestyle.

Job opportunities

To cope with the challenging global economy, education is the leading platform to build our future career. An educated person will get a higher chance of being employed compared to the out-of-school dropout. Mihai, Titan and Manea (2015) agree that people with higher education have higher possibility to promote higher productivity during their period of working. On top of that, employee will be able to increase salary by 10% for every extra year of schooling.

Promote social and economic development

Education plays an integral role in developing human civilization and reforming the society. The standard living of the citizen is affected by the level of education they acquire. With this in mind, investing in education is beneficial for the government. Based on World Bank 2000a, a higher investment in human capital will produce a prominent effect of development in alleviating poverty. As justified by economist, Schultz cited in Moulton (2001), schooling is vital to mitigate the effect of poverty because the formation of human capital is the production and dispersion of new wealth. If all children were granted with education, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in low income countries would have 70% reduction than it supposed to be by the year 2050.

Factors causing educational barriers between rural and urban areas

Beliefs that education is worthlessness

Enforcing the significance of education becomes more difficult in poor families because they believe investing in education will not bring any worthy returns. This can be supported by Moulton (2001), if the children’s guardian sees no return in the time and money spent on schooling, they are likely to pull them away from the institution. Financially, in order to lessen the family’s expenses, they will send the boys to work and married their girls off. On a more personal level, less educated parents have a higher tendency to raise the children in a poverty environment which will reduce the possibility for intergenerational mobility

Teachers shortage

Moulton (2001) identifies that rural areas are lacking in quality teachers due to their reluctancy to be posted to remote rural areas. In fact, urban areas provide better job satisfaction, favourable salary structure and innumerable job opportunities. Mulford cited in Marwan, Sumintono and Mislan (n. d. ) assures that teacher shortage has become a prevalence issue worldwide and probably will reduce the quality of rural school. Although teachers could not overcome the problem of poverty, they play an important role in guiding the school’s authority dealing with children with poverty issue. In all, urban area provides better work condition compared to rural areas.

Poor school infrastructure

Lack of effective communication between schools and the minister’s office would disrupt networking to happen. Malhoit cited in Marwan et al. strongly agrees that the bad condition of the school is correlated with the quality of students’ learning. Correspondingly, he states that … it is difficult for teachers to teach and for students to learn in places that have leaking roofs, rotting floors, and inadequate lighting, heating, and air conditioning.

Moreover, dilapidated school buildings send a message to children that they and their education are not valued. Rural students, like all students, are entitled to attend a school in a building that is healthy, safe, and conducive to learning. Yet, historically rural school facilities have been ignored, neglected, and under-funded because states tend to rely on local communities to pay all or most of the costs of school repairs and maintenance.

Availability of transportation

Less transportation available is one of the major problems that differentiate between remote and well-developed areas. In general, rural area has lesser population compared to urban area, where parents believe that it is impossible for the children to walk to school or paying for their transport as it will take such a long journey to reach the school. Moreover, the absence of public transportation in rural communities may affects the quality of education delivered as they might not be able to join the after classes programmes.

Suggestions to solve this issue

Adequate and equitable pay for teachers

In order to recruit and retain high quality teachers, the government should offer sufficient pay and salary for them. Holloway cited in Marwan et al. strongly agree that the teachers’ salary should be paid depending on their level of education and skills. Furthermore, any additional incentives such as subsidized housing, food or transportation should be given by the minister. In order to overcome this issue, the state should develop a competitive pay practice to set the standard of rural schools as other schools to compete in hiring quality teachers.

High quality curriculum and school facilities

To address the needs of students, school authorities should have responsibility and integrity in fully utilized the education funds they received with the reason to increase educational standards. Safe and decent schools are an essential part of schooling. Rural school requires additional education resources in order to achieve the standard learning outcome. Malhoit (2005) explains as rural school are normally small in size, it is possible to use the technology as a medium to promote effective curriculum with limitless courses such as learning foreign language.

Government’s support and parental involvement

Generally, Malaysian parents are considerate of the importance of education as a key factor in the transition of social status. Gregory (2005) claims that small school should be sustained and valued as it will enhance parental involvement in the educational process. Nevertheless, Malhoit (2005) states that sufficient investment of resources should be provided to engage parents’ participation in governing education.

Conclusion

Limitation of acquiring basic education has created a world with less educated people especially in rural areas. This phenomenon might jeopardize the future of the nation if no serious measure and action are taken. Although transforming rural education is not an easy task, implementing the preferred system from developed countries could help the nation escaping from poverty. Humans are depending on education to live a prosperous life and confront adversities with intellectuality. Thus, basic education is essential in developing nation’s economy and alleviating poverty.