The Role of The State: Implementing Educational Goals and Objectives

Introduction

Education is a natural right entitled to any individual and a critical social and economic development, therefore, an article of trade in financial positions, but it varies from another service because it is a community feature. Education yields in both the private and public sector in terms of learning and higher learning more so, it benefits the society in social ways whereby a farmer may become more creative through literate skills, also a literate woman may be capable in taking good care of her family health needs, lastly an educated individual can exercise the social and political rights as a better citizen. Therefore it is essential for the government to invest in education since it yields progressive externalities. This educational goals and objectives essay will focus on the importance of the state's contribution in educational planning, as it involves a systematic and scientific set of decisions aimed at achieving set educational goals and objectives through the effective use of scarce resources.

UNESCO (2003). “Educational planning is the application of rational, systematic analysis to the process of educational development with the aim of making education more effective and efficient in responding to the needs and goals of its students and society.” Its methodologies are sufficiently flexible and adaptable to fit situations that differ widely in ideology, level of development, and governmental form. Its basic logic, concepts, and principles are universally applicable, but the practical methods for applying them may range from crude and simple to highly sophisticated, depending on the circumstances. It is therefore wrong to conceive of educational planning as offering a rigid, monolithic formula that must be imposed uniformly on all situations.

“It is equally wrong to conceive of educational planning as being exclusively concerned with the quantitative expansion of education, with making things bigger but not different.” Peerzada, (2016) This misconception arises partly because that is how educational planning has so often been used, but it is not an inherent limitation. It also arises because planning makes extensive use of statistics. But it should be remembered that a statistic is merely the shadow of a fact, and the fact may just as well be qualitative as quantitative.

On the other hand Educational planning involves a systematic and scientific set of decisions for future action with the aim of achieving set educational goals and objectives through effective use of scarce resources. It provides the tool for coordinating and controlling the direction of the educational system so that educational objectives can be realized. It is a process of identifying and classifying educational needs of a nation and the direction education should take and the strategies for implementing decisions concerning educational development. Akpan (2000) maintains that educational planning should reflect the state of development of a nation including the needs and readiness to execute the planned objectives. Thus, educational planning must take into consideration the population growth of children of school age in relation to access to education, educational opportunities and the demand for education.

Having understood educational planning now, the paper look at the contribution of the state in the process of the educational process by looking at the roles the state play in educational planning.

One role that states play in educational planning is to subsidize education in several forms including school fees for low-income parents. School fees could be lowered in favor of needy parents and students so that anyone can afford the school fees regardless of the financial status.

Education fights poverty in the nation and the society, therefore as the country gives training to its needy citizens the government will be significantly investing in its future economy and status. Any nation that has got a higher percentage of educated members or elites means that country is rich. Therefore to eliminate poverty the government has to eradicate illiteracy among its people.

Further, the Provision of meals in schools by the state could help keep students in school in order to achieve the educational planned goal. Many students fail to show up in schools because of lack of food at their homes; therefore, they fail to show up due to pans of hunger thus, preferring to look for food than going to schools. Friedman, (2015). Shows that “Students in classes could also lack concentration when it comes to learning and teaching processes; therefore the student fails to understand what is being taught in the classroom. Food could be used to attract many learners to schools. One could be living in a home where there is no food, therefore, and provision of food in schools could capture many students. Parents could also see it wise to take their children to school because they are sure of the well-being of their students since hunger problems could be catered for thus smooth learning.

Further, state ensures that education is providing equality in education whereby the government ensures that the public schools offer a high quality of knowledge to the learners. “The private school has always given competition to public school by acquiring high grades in their examinations thus attracting more investors in their business compared to the public.” Horn and Paslov, (2014).

Private schooling has, therefore, remained out of reach for the majority since the private sector is driven by the profit gains thus exploiting parents. Therefore the government should make sure that the private sector realizes that education is an essential business for the government and it is accountable for it. More so, the Government also ensures that the teacher it employs to serve public schools should be well trained and experienced to lower the competition in the quality of results attained. Therefore as the public could be able to compete favorably with the private sector, the parents that could not be able to pay fees could have a sigh of relief. Ranson and Tomlinson (2018). “Parents who could be investing in the private sector could withdraw and start investing in the public raising economy of the government.”

The provision of free education could also help the needy people and the less fortunate in the country. School should be taken as the universal factor or necessity and a need for every individual. Every student who comes from poor background will be able to access education as any other student or person because the class levels could have been removed. Therefore, every student could be running for equal opportunities nationwide and as result inferiority in education could have been dismissed. Landry and Neubauer, (2016). “Percentage of school dropouts in the country due to school fees could be minimized since anyone could learn freely without spending more.” Free education also increases the literacy level in the country thus education development.

Another role is that the state ensure that teachers are well paid so that they are motivated in the provision of their services so that they can achieve the goal of the educational plans. Teachers employed in the government sectors are mostly underpaid while they are overworked on the other hand. Underpayments make teachers lose morale in their work and could even make them provide inferior services to the learners, which could yield poor performance. Akpan. (2011). ‘Government act by ensuring that teachers are catered for well at all cost will give the public education an upper hand in its functioning.” The private sector mostly outshines the public because it takes care of its employees.

“Thus they are well paid well in that the salary is proportional to their work.” Horn and Paslov, 2014). More so, the teachers in the private sector are always paid on time and with minimum chances of delayed payments, whereas the public operates on late payments of its teachers. Therefore, teachers could get no reason for teaching to work on other projects for money.

Besides, teachers should be motivated whenever there is a significant improvement in their teaching fields. Landry and Neubauer (2016). Motivated teachers could always double their effort and compete between one another so that they are still motivated the by achieving the goals of education in the country and improving the economy. Therefore the teachers will work towards achieving the best in learning outcomes not just teaching for the sake of earning and finishing the syllabus. Consequently, the education performance would be improving day in day out and shining all times.

More, “A state put in place rules that checks to eliminate outdated syllabus since it misdirects many teachers and learners in schools.” Friedman, (2015). The wrong outline could lead to improper planning and schedules in the teaching and learning activities, therefore leading to wrong services delivered to learners throughout. An effective syllabus acts as a tool for excellent performance in schools since the teacher teaches what is tested nationally.

Further, the correct plan would put all activities in the truck. Learners are able to compete with other students elsewhere since they are subjected to the same thing and if the comparison can be made, it will be fair to all the learners. The wrong syllabus misdirects the whole school failing most candidates because they waste time tackling what is not tested. Frequent checking of the program could help students reach for excellent performance and desired goals since they will be working on the right lane.

A government should ensure that private institutions interested in carrying out educational activities meet certain standards. Private sectors mostly run for profit gains and not what they are licensed to do. “Management in the private sector could be weak, in that the school could lack infrastructure, teaching and learning textbooks and even playgrounds. Also, education cannot be in the classroom alone since people are talented in different fields.” Akpan. (2000).

Therefore, the government should make sure it checks out to make sure that the private institution is fit for learning and all that the institution could partake in. Furthermore, the government should ensure that the set fees in the private institutions are not higher than usual in such a way that the parents are discriminated. Fees should, therefore, be affordable by parents since other institutions should be set higher prices for profit gains and also take advantage of parents who are weak to bargain.

A State ensue that they act towards empowering school leaders and teachers towards professional responsibility and set standards and support them wholly in a quest to deliver quality learning prospects for the learners. Teachers need to be trained so that they can manage well in the school setting. Since without qualifying one is regarded as not restricted, therefore, he or she cannot take roles to lead or teach students.

Another role is that a state ensures effective monitoring supervision and evaluation of plan implementation in planned goals and objectives. Adeyemi and Oguntimehin (2000). “This help the government to know the extent of success or failure in plan implementation.” Supervisory and evaluation reports help educational planners and the government to take remedial measures or to review the plan if necessary. In order to succeed here there is need for effective management of information systems. There should be effective communication of information between planners and implementers of the plan.

Conclusion

In conclusion, educational Planning should involve technical experts, the polity, and the implementers. Government should provide adequate fund for the planning and implementation of education plans. Participation of representatives from state, state, and local governments, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders should be enlisted in the educational planning process. Strategic or corporate planning should be adopted in educational planning because it is systematic rational and scientific in achieving set educational goals and objectives.

Reference

1. Adeyemi, O. B. Oguntimehin, Y. A. (2000). Nigeria and the problem of planning for quality education. In J. O. Fadipe and E. E. Oluchukwu (eds.) Educational Planning and Administration in Nigeria in the 21st century.Pp (66-73), Ibadan: NIEPA.
2. Akpan, C. P. (2000). Effective planning: A pre-requisite for successful implementation of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) scheme. International Journal of Research in Basic and Life-Long Education.