The Role Of Education In Eradicating Poverty
Author: LawSphereX
Category: General Law
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THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN ERADICATING POVERTY
Shivnandini Dube, Sri Sathya Sai College of Law for Women
ABSTRACT
Education has a very important role in society. It is the ice breaking tool in order to eradicate poverty. In India we can see that the absolute poverty exists. So, in order to remove the absolute poverty, it important to implement the educational system. The education should reach to everyone especially to the individuals belonging to below poverty line. In India, children have the right of free education under Right of Education Act which is recognized under the Right of Education, a fundamental right under Article 21A. Even though there are laws regarding education but still it lacks proper implementation. After the pandemic period, the poverty and dropout rates got increased as the online education was not reached out to everyone and the economy was fallen. There was no source of income in order to get the education.
The main purpose of this paper is to understand the importance of education, sustainable development and how it can be achieved also how the education plays huge role in eradicating poverty. At last, the 2030 agenda is being discussed and the aim to get rid of poverty in all its forms and dimensions. Further, it is discussed the challenges faced in India in order to get education. Some of the main points were highlighted such as lack of funding, lack of nutrition, lack of financial resources, gender inequality and local practices which affect the one’s right to get the education. Some of the main areas were being discussed as dynamics of poverty and the problems faced due to poverty. The awareness programmes, missions and schemes are discussed further and the functions, implementation and lack of areas.
Lastly, the recent data analysis is mentioned that how there is the decline of poverty seen over the last few decades. The keywords which have been taken to discuss are mentioned below. Keywords: Poverty, Education, Economic Development, Sustainable Development
1. Introduction:
Education is the mediation of knowledge, skills, characters and manifests in different forms. It influences social and economic development in society. Education provides fostering of economical development of the country. It develops positive attitude and brings peace and prosperity in the society. The term education has been defined from a Latin word “educare” which means to bring up. The education consists of the process i. e. , teaching, schooling, learning and understanding resulting in disposition of educated individual. Poverty is the lack of adequate financial resources for an individual. It has been observed over years that education has been playing an operational role for eradication of poverty. According National Survey of India, the literacy rate has been increased over the last 13 years and recently in 2022 it was reported to be more than 77. 7%.
The declining of poverty has been seen around 7. 2% which is attributed to governmental programmes targeted. Still many sections in India are having least rate of literacy and the reasons are unemployment, slow income growth, increase in population and unequal distribution of income and resources. These factors somewhere affect the development.
2. Education:
Education plays an operational role in order to eradicate the poverty from the society by educating the individuals and influencing them resulting in social development. Over the last few decades, the poverty is eradicating from society and the positive impact can be seen. Some theorists have provided the definition of education reflecting the specific feature of education. Education theorist R. S. Peters outlined the three features, including imparting, knowledge and understanding to the student, ensuring the process is beneficial, and conducting it in a morally appropriate manner. Education provides the active participation to build the nation and the individual communities. Some of the important factors for educational success is psychological, social and educational technology which mutually overlap and influence each other.
Education gives new insights for the problems in the society. It helps the society to mold in a desired direction.
3. Education as an important aspect of society:
Education is an integral part of society and helps as a catalyst for social and economical
development. It helps to overcome the problem in society. It empowers people, boosts the economic growth, improves health outcomes, cultivates and uphold the knowledge and innovation. Havighurst and Neu Garten has given two important functions. According to them it is – (a) a mirror that reflects the society as it is or to be a stabilizer of society. (b) an agent of social change and a force directed towards implementing the ideals of society. Emile Durkheim, the French sociologist, said that ‘Society can survive only if there exists among its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity; education perpetuates and reinforces this homogeneity by fixing in the child from the beginning the essential similarities which collective life demands. ’ He also broadly classified education into three parts; i) It transmits culture from one generation to the other.
ii) it trains people for specialized adult roles. iii) It changes the cultural heritage by developing new knowledge. The literacy rate of India has been increased compared to last decades. The graph has mentioned below showing the literacy rate. The graph shows literacy rate from 1981-2022. 11 4. ) Poverty: Poverty is multidimensional concept as it is not only lack of financial resources but also many other resources which are needed in the society. One of the biggest problems in India can be
seen is poverty. India is developing country but despite increasing of economic growth, poverty is a major concern. With increase in population and illiteracy the situation is not getting better. The time of pandemic got worsen the situation as the economy was already in trouble. 5. ) Dynamics of Poverty: As mentioned above Poverty is a multidimensional concept. The poverty consists of mainly four dimensions, they are: (a) Resources (b) Opportunities and choice (c) Power and Voice (d) Human Security Poverty can take place majorly due to the population pressure, low capital formation, lack of infrastructure, lack of demand and lack of literacy. 6.
) Education as a powerful tool for breaking the cycle of Poverty: Education is a powerful tool for the society in order to improve skills and provide individual skills for economic success and empowers them regarding the active participation among their communities. The education and poverty reduction are closely associated as to invest in education leads to the sustainable development. In India there are several initiatives and programmes which helps in poverty reduction. Some of them are mentioned below: (1) Right to Education – The Right to Education,2009 is an Act to provide the education to children age between 6years to 14 years to have free and compulsory education. The Act requires the students to get enrolled, attend the school and complete it. The RTE Act also provides institutional infrastructures, faculty and helps in improving the teacher-student ratio.
The Act also provides the education to the person with disabilities till 18 years of age. (2) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan – The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a major programme of India. This program is the part of 86th Amendment of the Constitution of India. It was started by former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. This program is operated by the Ministry Human Resource Development. The objectives of this programme were to bring the gender equality, provide elementary education, improve quality of learning, building infrastructure and opening new schools in settlement of the fact where there are no facilities. It is both funded by state and
central government. It serves approximately 192 million children. (3) National Education Mission – It is the mission that covers the school education sector from pre-school to class 12th. It was launched in 2018. It aims to address issues related to teachers, teaching, teacher preparation, innovation, curriculum design and professional development. The programme also aims to develop a strong cadre of teachers in order to improve the education quality and improve the performance for the innovative teaching. (4) Skill Development – The Indian Government has launched the mission which is known as National Skill Development Mission in order to encourage the skill development. Its aim is to skill the youth of the nation in various fields. It has the vision to achieve ‘Skilled India’. It was launched on 2015 on the occasion of World Youth Skill Day.
Education is an ice breaking tool as it empowers the individual to control their own lives. Education is a long-time investment to establish the sustainable development. As we can observe through the report that there has been an extreme decline of poverty in India over the last decades. 9 According to the data the poverty fell from 32. 15% to 19. 28% in rural areas compared to a decline from 8. 65% to 5. 27% in urban areas between 2015-16 and 2019-21. The educational programmes and mission have played huge role in eradicating the poverty and boosting the economic growth. 7. ) Challenges faced in India to get Education: The challenges faced to get education are listed below:
(a) Lack of Funding – The biggest problem for education is lack of money. People living below the poverty line cannot afford to send children to school and are unable to arrange the fees of school and the other facilities. Though there are many missions and programmes which provides the fund for the education but still it is insufficient. The government released the policy regarding education and proposed for increasing funds from 10% to 20%. (b) Gender Inequalities – According to United Nations Children’s Fund, the main reason for gender inequality is due to poverty and the local culture practices which takes place. The 2030 Agenda is to have complete gender equality. (c) Child Development – Children living in a poverty are most likely to get malnutrition and a lot of problems related to hygiene, which would affect the child. Almost 19% children are being stunted.
(d) Dropouts – Due to several problems the students tend to dropout. According to one of the surveys it is found out to that over 23. 7% of students dropout due to economic conditions. 12 8. ) Latest Statistics regarding eradication of poverty: Poverty is the biggest obstacle for the student’s education. Though the India is known for 1/3rd population as homage to poverty, recently there has been seen eradication of poverty. Due to pandemic there was rise in poverty as the economy was falling and there were major dropout rates in India. 10
For instance, the online education was reaching only to the few students due to the closing of schools across the country. Though the National Education Policy was being implemented and Right to Education Act, was providing the education and other facilities as well but still it was not enough still some of the parts of countries were underfunded. The delayed payments were the major issue as to why the states does not receive enough fund. Covid-19 had a serious impact. As India became world’s second largest school system after China, nearly 320 million were affected in India alone. There are some government actions which improved the literacy rate and eradicated the poverty. Some of them are listed below: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan – It is a flagship programme to promote elementary education and is mandated by the Constitution of India.
It was launched by 84th Amendment of Indian Constitution. It was launched in collaboration with state government to cover the entire country and meet the needs of students and households. In 2020-21, the scheme was allocated Rs
38.750 crores against the projected demands of Rs 45,934 crores. Though the allocation is still
less and underfunded but it has helped in order to enhance the education. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao – It was launched by our honorable Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi on 2015. It was a campaign on a national scale. It aims for the safety of girls and to provide proper education as well as security. It comes under three ministries – • Ministry of Human Resource Development • Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Ministry of Women and Child Development This scheme mainly targets Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Bihar and Delhi. This scheme is open to girl child below 10 years of age. National Education Policy – The National Education Policy is launched in the year 2020 which was started by the Union Cabinet of India. It aims to restructure the regulation and governance of Indian Education System to address sustainable development of the country. 9. ) Future agenda to eradicate the poverty of its forms and dimensions: The 2030 agenda is to eradicate the poverty of its all forms and dimensions. It is the most important global challenge and it is the requirement in order to eradicate the poverty and establish sustainable development. It has the five critical dimensions which are people, prosperity, planet, partnership and peace.
It has been targeting to seek to end poverty and hunger, achieve the women empowerment, achieving the gender equality, ensure the lasting protection of planet and natural resources. Sustainable development mainly focuses on social, human, economic and environmental. The first sustainable development goal aims to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere. ” To get sustainable development its important to have green skills. The green skills include technical knowledge, values, attitude and decision making at work and in life. These terms play huge role in order to achieve the 2030 agenda. In order to achieve the sustainable development Indian Government has took some of the steps to eradicate the poverty: Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana – To provide housing units and to provide employment to the rural areas.
Integrated Rural Development Programme – To provide the requirements to the groups belonging to the below poverty line in order to establish sustainable development. Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana – To develop the infrastructures such as hospitals, schools and roads and to provide sustained wage employment. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) – It provides reservation for women for employment and allowance to unemployed. It aims for the National Employment Guarantee Funds. It was launched in 2005 by the Ministry of Rural Development.
National Nutrition Mission Poshan Abhiyan – It was launched in 2018 by Ministry of Women and Child Development in order to reduce the level of undernutrition and improve the nourishment of adolescents, children, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana – It was launched in 2016 by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to provide LPG connections to women below Poverty Line. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana – It was launched in 2015 by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to focus on the freshers to the labor market and especially to class X and XII dropouts. 10. ) Conclusion: After going through surveys and data analysis it can be seen that education is the only option to eradicate the poverty. Poverty affects the individual in many ways. It affects emotional, socio-economic, physical and development of a child.
Raising the awareness is the most basic key to bring changes. The underprivileged should be aware in order to realise their educational rights. Though the government are taking numerous steps but it cannot guarantee the hundred percentage of poverty from society. Moreover, the society should have changes to the mentality and should focus on the aim of establishing the literacy among youth and to encourage them to get the education. Education should be a compulsory part of the one’s individual and there should be the regular check on the attendance, meals, educational technology, quality of education in order to provide superior education in order to help the economic growth as well as educational growth. There should be the proper utilization of the resources provided by the government through government schemes.
There should be abolishment of discrimination, malpractices and the local practices which actually affects the one’s educational right and distracts from the main aim of the nation. The achievements which world has achieved is nothing possible without the education, or without the secretion of knowledge. It is a long-time investment in order to help improving one’s lifestyle and make a progressive nation.
11.) References: 1.) https://www.undp.org/india/publications/national-multidimensional-poverty-indexprogress-review-2023 2.)https://www.noblenonprofit.org/education-in-breaking-the-cycle-ofpoverty/#:~:text=Education%20can%20provide%20individuals%20with,and%20improving% 20overall%20well%2Dbeing. 3.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education#Education_studies 4.) https://gitnux.org/poverty-and-education-statistics/ 5.) Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development ISSN 2222-2855 (Online) The Role of Education in Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from Bangladesh 6.) https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/povertyeradication 7.) Indian journal of law and legal research VOLUME IV ISSUE V | ISSN: 2582-8878 education and poverty correlation in India: an analysis
8.) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY EDUCATIONAL
RESEARCH ISSN:2277-7881 POVERTY AND EDUCATION IN INDIA - AN INIMICAL
RELATIONSHIP
9.) https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/10/23/indian-economic-reform-much-more-than-youwanted-to-know/ 10.) https://shashidreamfoundation.medium.com/lack-of-funding-for-education- 5c79db2808ca 11.) https://www.statista.com/statistics/271335/literacy-rate-in-india/ 12.) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/school-dropout-rate-india-tamana-t 13.) Ians, 230 million Indians pushed into poverty amid Covid-19 pandemic: Report, BUSINESS STANDARD, (May 06, 2021, 4:39 PM), https://www.businessstandard.com/article/economy-policy/230-million-indianspushed-into-poverty-amid-covid- 19-pandemic-report-121050600751_1.html. 14.) https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/coronavirus-pandemic-may-have-doubledpoverty-in-india-says-pew-study/article34110732.ece