Role of education in social development: an empirical analysis.
Venkatraja, B. ; Indira, M.
Education plays an important role in human development. Human
development encompasses development in several dimensions of human well
being. Social development is one of the important dimensions. The main
objective of the paper is to analyze the contribution of education to
social dimension of human development. The present exploratory study is
based on the micro level household survey conducted in ten villages of
Dakshina Kannada (D.K) district of Karnataka state. The frame work
developed by Oxford Poverty Human Development Initiative (OPHI) was used
for the identification of the indicators for the Social dimension of
human development. Accordingly the five indicators are health,
empowerment, safety and security, ability to go about without shame, and
meaning and value in one's own life. UNDP methodology with
appropriate modifications is adapted to quantify development at
individual level as well as aggregate social development. Results show
that there exists high correlation between attainment of education and
social dimension of development at individual level. This reflects on
the importance of education in influencing the social well-being of
individuals.
Introduction
Education is one of the most important means to improve personal
endowments, build capabilities, overcome constraints and in the process,
enlarge available set of opportunities and choices for a sustained
improvement in well-being. The process of education and attainments
thereof has an impact on all aspects of life. It is a critical invasive
instrument for bringing about social, economic and political inclusion
of people (NHDR, 2001). In this context, the present paper makes an
attempt to assess the contribution of education to one of such several
dimensions of life of individuals, i.e. social development.
Social development first attracted widespread attention through the
principles set out in the millennium development goals of the United
Nations in 1995 (the Copenhagen Declaration- "World Summit for
Social Development"). Midgley (1995) conceives social development
as a "process of planned social change designed to promote the
well-being of the population as a whole in conjunction with a dynamic
process of economic development". The goal of social development in
the context of modern welfare is to produce a social well-being that
makes people capable of acting and making their own decisions in the
broadest sense. In this context, Oxford Poverty Human Development
Initiative (OPHI) has proposed a methodology to evaluate development
including social sphere of well-being of individuals. According to OPHI
health, empowerment, meaning and value in life, external humiliation and
safety and security are some of the major indicators of social
development.
Gould (1993) opines that the rapid expansion of education over the
last three decades is one of the most outstanding achievements of the
developing world. This book examines the origin of this expansion and
its impact on the improvements of social and economic development at
local, national and global levels. Through discussions of the
historical, economic and political contexts of the demand for education,
a review of the issues in educational planning in the developing world
and the governmental and community response at all levels is provided.
His survey reveals that expansion of education has greatly contributed
to the quality of life, economic and social development. The text
concludes with an overview of the social effects of education and also
specifies its failure to meet the aspirations of all individuals and
communities.
"Health literacy as a public health goal: a challenge for
contemporary health education and communication strategies into the 21st
century" authored by Nutbeam (2000) explains the role of health
education in addressing the social determinants of health. In this
analysis, improving health literacy means more than transmitting
information, and developing skills to be able to read pamphlets and
successfully make appointments. Instead, by improving people's
access to health information and their capacity to use it effectively,
it is argued that improved health literacy is critical to empowerment.
Similarly, Albert and Davia's (2010) have explained that there
is a link between education and health in developed countries. The
analysis is based on 11 European Union countries. They estimate
country-specific health functions, where the dependent variable is
self-reported health status and the education attainment is one of the
main inputs. Results confirm the positive impact of secondary education
on health in most cases and tertiary education in all cases, even after
taking unobserved heterogeneity into account. Secondary education has an
impact on health in all countries in the sample except for The
Netherlands and UK. The effect does not differ between secondary and
tertiary education in France, Ireland and Greece. From their results,
the correlation between education and health is interpreted in different
but complementary ways.
Child labour is a pervasive problem throughout the world,
especially in developing countries. Africa and Asia together account for
over 90 per cent of total child employment. Siddiqi and Patrinos (1995)
in their working paper on "Child Labour: Issues, Causes and
Interventions" firmly believe that these working children are the
objects of extreme exploitation in terms of toiling for long hours for
minimal pay. Their work conditions are especially severe, often not
providing the stimulation for proper physical and mental development.
Many of these children endure lives of pure deprivation. According to
them any plan of abolishing child labour depends on schooling. The state
could help by making it worthwhile for a child to attend school, whether
it be by providing students with nutritional supplements or increasing
the quality and usefulness of obtaining an education. This emphasises
the role of education in bringing about a transformation in the social
lives of the children.
According to Karnataka State Human Development Report (2006),
development is predicated upon universal access to education, with its
implications for equity and social justice. Education empowers people to
make informed choices about their lives and about their rights as
citizens in a democracy. It further states that when women have access
to education, which increases their sense of autonomy and self worth.
Therefore, gender justice is closely and positively linked to
educational attainment. People's health status also improves as
their education levels rise. Above all, education is valued, quite
simply, for itself and the avenues of knowledge and awareness that it
opens for us.
These literary works of different writers though vary in their
approach and methodology, share a similar opinion that education is
instrumental in achieving the well-being in all dimensions of social
life. It may be health, nutrition, empowerment, gender justice, child
labour or other social issues duly depend on education attainment to
progress.
Filed Work: Methodology and Context
The main objective of the paper is to analyse the contribution of
education to social development of the people in selected villages
located in Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka based on micro level
data. The specific objectives are: to develop a broad based methodology
to measure social dimension of human development, and to analyse the
impact of education on social dimension in study area.
The present exploratory study is based on the micro level household
survey conducted in 10 villages of Dakshina Kannada (D.K) district of
Karnataka state in India. A sample of 250 households from 10 villages
located in five taluks of the district was selected randomly. From each
taluk, two villages were selected purposively. Data was collected
through a pre-tested questionnaire. The reference unit was the
individual. Due to the nature of the indicators selected, which mainly
pertain to the personal situation.
On the basis of education attainment, the individual respondents
are classified into five groups such as: (i) Illiterates, (ii) Primary
education (class one to seven), (iii) Secondary education (class eight
to ten), (iv) PUC (Plus Two and Graduation), and (v) Post Graduation.
Dimensions of Social Development
Social development, in the present study, has been evaluated on the
basis of a list of dimensions proposed in Oxford Poverty Human
Development Initiative (OPHI) survey. It is confined to a set of five
dimensions-health, empowerment, safety and security, ability to go about
without shame, and meaning and value in one's own life. Appropriate
indicators were developed to represent each of the five dimensions. The
dimensions selected and their indicators are the following: (i) Health:
It is measured by variables related to health care services, food,
sanitation and water. It is denoted by Health Index (HI). (ii)
Empowerment: It is measured by several variables that express subjective
perception of one's own ability to make decisions and their
effectiveness, and the extent of free choice in life. These variables
are measured on rank order scales. The composite index of these
variables is called Empowerment Index (HI). (iii) Safety and Security:
This dimension is measured by the presence/absence of violence in the
neighboring area. To measure this, Safety and Security Index (SSI) is
developed using a list of five variables with different degree of
seriousness. (iv) Ability to Go About Without Shame: It is referring to
external humiliation. External Humiliation Index (EHI) measures this
dimension of social development. (v) Meaning and Value: This is the last
dimension of social development. This dimension measures individual
perceptions about one's own life and is measured by four variables.
It is denoted by Meaning and Value Index (MVI).
Measurement
In order to measure these five dimensions of social development,
each variable was assigned rank order score ranging from one to five;
one signifying the least achievement of the variable, whereas five the
most. Based on the scores, the individual index for each of the five
dimensions is computed. UNDP methodology was adopted for the computation
of the individual index for each of the dimensions (2). Through this
operation, five indices are obtained. Finally, an overall index i.e.,
Social Development Index (SDI), has been computed by taking the simple
average of the five resultant indices, giving equal weightage to each
(2).
Each of the five dimensions and the resultant composite index, i.e.
SDI, have been rated on the scale of zero to one, where zero shows the
absolutely no social development and one represents the highest social
development.
Correlation Coefficient
Association between education and indicators of social development
was estimated with correlation coefficient.
Status of Education in Dakshina Kannada District
Dakshina Kannada (D.K.) is one of the districts which rank high in
educational attainment. According to population census (2001) of
Government of India, the literacy rate of D.K. district was 83.4%. While
male literacy was estimated to be 89.7% and female literacy was 77.2%.
However, there exists a wide gap between urban and rural literacy rates.
When the urban literacy rate is as high as 89.1%, it is only 79.7% in
rural areas. High literacy rate in the district is because of the
availability of good educational infrastructure. For instance, the
district is comprised of 1374 primary schools, 415 high schools and 150
PU Colleges. Apart from this, the district also has 150 general colleges
and 30 professional colleges (Dakshina Kannada District At A Glance,
2008-09). The literacy rate of the district is found at 95.9% in the age
group of 6-40 years. The district has therefore been declared as totally
literate.
Influence of Education on Social Development
In order to understand the influence of education on all five
dimensions of social development, the indices are presented based on
educational level of respondents. A comparison of achievement of these
social dimensions by people with different levels of education explains
the differences in social development among people with different
educational attainment.
Health Dimension
Health is the first dimension of social development. A Health Index
(HI) is constructed to measure the status of health in the study area.
HI is measured by taking into account four variables pertaining to
health viz. health care services, food, sanitation and source of
drinking water. Health Index of illiterates is 0.699. It is estimated to
be 0.745 for people with primary education. Respondents with secondary
education appear to have better HI, i.e. 0.78. Influence of education on
health and hygiene is, further, clear from the fact that individuals
with PUC and degree education have still more achieved HI (0.832) and it
is highest among post graduates (0.849). From this it is understood that
respondents with higher levels of education attainment have better
health conditions. The results presented in Table I show that in the
case of health dimension of social development, the illiterate people
appear to have attained a lower level. There is not much difference
among those who are educated; whether they are educated up to only
primary or secondary. But, those who have higher attainment in education
level also attained greater levels in health dimensions of social
development.
Empowerment Dimension
Empowerment is the next indicator of social development. An
Empowerment Index [Emil is constructed for all individuals. It shows to
what extent an individual is free to make decisions affecting his/her
own life. There is a wide gap in the achievement of empowerment between
people with different levels of education. While the EmI of illiterates
is only 0.473 and EmI of people with primary education is 0.568.
Respondents with secondary education have achieved EmI of 0.634.
Therefore, individuals with higher grades of education have attained
more empowerment. This is, once again, proved from the fact that EmI is
the highest among post graduates (0.703). Thus, greater achievement of
EmI among better qualified respondents vividly explains that they are
more empowered and have free choices and more control on their life.
Whereas, low EmI of the illiterates and low qualified people is the
reflection of deprivation of empowerment, constrained choices and lack
of control on their life.
Safety and Security Dimension
This dimension indicates whether there is security to life and
property of the respondents and whether the surrounding areas are free
from violence and whether they are able to resist any violence. It is
measured in terms of Safety and Security Index (SSI). The results of the
present study, as reported in Table 1, reveals that in the case of SSI,
only marginal differences are observed among the people with different
education levels, which means that educational attainment does not
influence the perceptions of people about safety and security of their
lives. It is only the society which they live play an important role.
However, it appears that more people among post graduates have reported
higher levels of safety and security compared to people with other
levels of education. This is reflected by higher SSI of post graduates
(0.797) than illiterates (0.727).
External Humiliation Dimension
This social dimension analyses the extent of respect and fair
treatment received by the respondent in the society. In other words, it
shows how far the respondent is free from external humiliation. Data
reveals that there are differences in External Humiliation Index (EHI)
of illiterates and literates. Illiterates have lower Index (0.529)
indicating that less percentage of sample respondents from this group
have reported that they are free from external humiliation and they are
able to live without shame. But in the case of educated, higher EHI
(0.644) shows that more percentage of people are feeling that they are
able to live without any external humiliation and live without shame. It
can be observed that EHI among graduates and post graduates is much
better than illiterates. This is the manifestation of greater ability of
the highly qualified people to go about without shame. They are highly
respected, treated very fairly by the community and are able to live a
life without shame.
Meaning and Value Dimension
This is the fifth and the last dimension of social development.
Meaning and Value Index [MVI] is developed out of the individual
perception of one's own life. In other words, it measures how much
an individual feels that there is a value and meaning for life. Table I
shows that people with higher levels of education find more meaning and
greater value in their life compared to the respondents with no
education or low education. This is substantiated by the fact that MVI
is only 0.505 among illiterates. But it is 0.612 among primary educated,
indicating higher meaning and value in their life than illiterates. Even
people with secondary level education (0.697) and plus two and
graduation (0.763) have much better MVI. In case of post graduates, MVI
is marginally less (0.719) compared to graduates.
Composite Social Development Index
An aggregated index i.e. Social Development Index (SDI) is
calculated based on the five indices of social development. Since all
the dimensions are equally important, equal weightage has been given in
the calculation of SDI. The SDI indicates the social well-being attained
by the people. A comparison of SDI achieved by people with different
levels of education attainment shows the influence of education on the
social well-being of the respondents.
As represented in Table 1, illiterates have high deprivation of
social well-being. This is indicated by their very low SDI (0.587).
Whereas, people with primary education have achieved more SDI (0.644)
and it is still higher among secondary level educated (0.744). The
respondents who have plus two and graduation have attained high social
welfare. This is indicated by their greater achievement of SDI (0.726).
The post graduates have the highest SDI, i.e. 0.73, marking greater
realisation of social development.
Correlation between Education and Social Development
The above analysis clearly explains that people with higher levels
of education have achieved greater levels in different levels of social
development. A positive correlation between these two variables is
expected. In order to understand the degree of association between
education and social development, correlation coefficient between the
two variables has been calculated. The results show that correlation
coefficient (r) is 0.731 and [r.sup.2] is 0.534. This shows that there
exists a strong and positive correlation between educational attainment
and social development of the people. Higher [r.sup.2] (0.534) shows
that 53.4% of change in social development of individuals is influenced
by the education attainment. And the remaining 36.6% of variation in
social development may be due to some factors other than education. But
education attained by individuals appears to be a very important factor
in determining the changes in social well-being.
Summary and Conclusion
The present paper makes an attempt to understand the social
development by developing an aggregate index of social development at a
micro level. The variables of social development are derived based on
the methodology proposed by OPHI and measuring social development is
based on the methodology adopted by the UNDP to calculate HDI. Five
dimensions of social development were identified to measure the social
well-being and different indices were calculated for each dimension. An
aggregate measure of social development was developed based on the
individual indices. In order to understand the relation between
education and social development, correlation coefficient was
calculated. The results show that: All dimensions of social development
are positively influenced by education attainment. People with higher
attainment of education are able to achieve greater levels in different
dimensions of social development. Aggregate index of social development
has high correlation with educational attainment, indicating the
importance of education in influencing social development of people.
From the results, it is clear that education empowers men and women
to make informed choices about their lives and about their rights.
Education influences people's confidence in their ability to go
about without shame and resist humility. It also increases their chances
of high respect and fair treatment in the society. Educated people have
a clear sense of purpose and meaning in their life. Social development
is predicated upon universal access to education, with its implications
for social justice. Above all, education is valued, for awareness that
it opens for us and removes inherited social evils, which are stumbling blocks in the path of development. The policy for universalisation of
elementary education has to focus on universal access and enrollment;
and universal retention of children up to fourteen years of age. The
governments need to evolve policy frameworks for bringing about
substantial improvement in the quality of education at all levels. The
focus of such educational strategies should be towards improvements in
educational infrastructure, standardisation and regular review of
curricula, improvement in teaching aids. This should enable children to
achieve essential levels of learning, which in turn contribute to the
development process.
References
Albert, Cecilia; Davia Maria A. (2010) Education is a key
determinant of health in Europe: a comparative analysis of 11 countries,
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gould, W. T. S. (1993) People and education in the Third World, UK:
Longman Group Limited, Longman Scientific & Technical.
Government of Karnataka (2006) Karnataka State Human Development
Report 2005, Government of Karnataka.
Government of Karnataka (2009) Dakshina Kannada District At A
Glance 2008-09, District Statistical Officer, Mangalore.
Midgley, J (1995) Social development: The developmental perspective
in social welfare, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp 25.
Nutbeam, Don (2000) Health literacy as a public health goal: a
challenge for contemporary health education and communication strategies
into the 21st century, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) (2008)
Department of International Development, University of Oxford.
Planning Commission of India (2002) National Human Development
Report 2001, Government of India.
Siddiqi, Faraaz; Patrinos Harry Anthony (1995) Child Labour:
Issues, Causes and Interventions, working paper submitted to the human
Capital development and Operations Policy.
UNDP (1990-1999) Human Development Report, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Notes:
(1.) Individual Indicator's Index = Actual Value - Minimum
Value/Maximum Value - Minimum Value
(2.) Social Development Index = HI + EmI + SSI + EHI + MVI/5
Venkatraja. B. * and M. Indira **
* Research Scholar, Department of Economics and Co-operation,
University of Mysore, Manasagangothri, Mysore. e-mail:
bakilapadavu@gmail.com.
** Professor, Department of Economics and Co-operation, University
of Mysore, Manasagangothri, Mysore. e-mail: mahindira@yahoo.com.
Table 1
Achievement of social development at different levels of education.
Levels No. of Index Value of Social Indicators
of Individuals
Education Interviewed HI EmI SSI EHI MVI SDI
Illiteracy 49 0.699 0.473 0.727 0.529 0.505 0.587
Primary 119 0.745 0.568 0.721 0.575 0.612 0.644
Secondary 48 0.78 0.634 0.763 0.644 0.697 0.704
PUC & Degree 30 0.832 0.69 0.715 0.631 0.763 0.726
PG 4 0.849 0.703 0.797 0.583 0.719 0.73
District 250 0.755 0.579 0.731 0.586 0.627 0.655
Source: Sample Survey.
