The Role of Education in the Development of Underdeveloped Countries

Extract

During the last decade and more there has appeared a vast literature on economic growth, especially with reference to underdeveloped countries. This literature ranges from the sophisticated models of the mathematically inclined to the very practical down-to-earth reflections of the less erudite technical assistance expert with experience in the field. The literature demonstrates that there are many approaches to the problem of economic development and also that there are still areas of controversy to be resolved. In fact, while we have learned much about economic growth and much more about underdeveloped countries it seems that we are still feeling our way towards devising a satisfactory analytical framework for economic growth.

There has been waste of manpower and capital not only because the processes of economic growth are imperfectly understood, but also because governments of recipient countries have a propensity to ask either for the wrong things or the right things in the wrong order of priority. Waste also results from the failure of assistance agencies, even within the framework of the United Nations, to co-ordinate their activities, from competition amongst the departments of government in the recipient countries for preferred treatment in the matter of aid, and competition amongst assisting countries, agencies, and organizations in giving aid for political and prestige reasons.