EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Advancement and application of knowledge increases both the economic and social development globally. According to World Bank (1999) “education in general and high level of schooling in particular, is fundamental to the construction of a knowledge economy and society in all nations”. Despite this, problems of finance, equity, quality, efficiency and governance in higher institutions which provide these services are some of the difficulties in attaining higher level of education in developing countries. Many low income countries most especially, in Africa still give less attention to educational expansion. At times policies are often adopted without due consideration for the particular nature of the developing countries and, most educational institutions have been subjected to under-funding by the government which resulted in the declining level of educational output. For this reason, public policies on education must take the needs of the country in terms of developing human capital into full account since, there are limited resources for developmental growth. Education is means of enriching individual knowledge, develop their full personality and also prepare them to perform functions that are essential in transforming their society therefore, education can be consider as a consumer good and capital good as well. The concepts of “human capital” attach a high premium to human skill as a factor of production in any developmental process. The relevance and importance of education to economic growth and development are highly recognised in developmental planning, as human skill and productivity are important input in finance, natural wealth and physical plant. World Bank (1995) shows that “experiences of developing countries during the past decades have indicated that shortage of talents and skills needed for development decisively retard economic growth”. Investment in human capital is essential in other to increase employability, economic prosperity and social welfare. This is why education is desired by families and by the society for reasons other than its capacity to raise workers productivity. Because of the innovative tendency inherent in manpower the central role of human capital development in explaining the performance of  developing economies cannot be over-emphasised therefore, it is important to give priority to the development of human capital in other to cope with the present and future challenges, the best means to achieve this is through education but, enough resources has to be allocated to this sector of the economy in other to achieve this however, due to tight public budgets there is also a clear pressure to ensure a more efficient use of existing resources and a larger appeal to private investment, the utilization of these resources must be maximize to ensure that both individuals and the nation at large benefit from it. This indicates the reason for a better use of research findings for educative policies.