"THE BOUNTIFUL and BENEFICIAL EDUCATION"

Education has many benefits to the individuals involved and to society at large. The health effects of education can be large and the education of women can significantly reduce child mortality rates. However, education charities are unlikely to be as cost effective as some other interventions.

Education has many benefits to the individuals involved and to society at large. The health effects of education can be large and the education of women can significantly reduce child mortality rates. However, education charities are unlikely to be as cost effective as some other interventions.Education is as important as the air we breathe. It is the most important possession a person must have. Education is beneficial in many aspect of life especially, personal and social it is the only possession that cannot be taken away from you. Education is important because it will open up the windows of opportunities. In this competitive world having a good education is as important as the air we breathe because it is our weapon to conquer the world.

Education will help you grow as an individual because the more knowledge you have the better understanding you will have in any given problem that will come your way. It will give you self satisfaction and will boost your self confidence

Education charities in developing countries typically aim to increase the time that children spend in education institutions and the quality of teaching that the children receive by building schools, tutoring outside the classroom, improving literacy, incentivizing attendance, and providing supplies and technology.

In this category we include primary, secondary, and tertiary, education, but not vocational training or health-specific education , such as teaching about HIV and hygiene. Almost all of the available research covers primary education and this page reflects that.

Types of Education Interventions

This list is divided into supply-side (providing supplies, buildings or teacher training) and demand-side (helping to motivate school attendance) interventions.

Supply-Side Interventions

• School building: building classrooms or buildings for government-run schools, and build and run schools themselves.
• Teacher training: training new teachers and upgrade the skills of established teachers.
• Pres-primary schools: running schools for children ages 3-6 to prepare them for primary school.
• Textbooks and supplies: providing textbooks, and everything from pencils to chalkboards to uniforms and shoes.
• Computers: funding computers in classrooms in schools and provide out-of-school computer training classes.
• Libraries: building school- and community-based libraries.
• Tutoring: providing focused help for students who are behind their peers. Example from J-PAL .

Demand-Side Interventions

• Scholarships: sponsoring individual students and fund schools so that students do not have to pay the school fees that are common in the developing world.
• Attendance Incentives: improving or providing school toilets, or provide free meals at school, improving health and encouraging attendance.
• Motivating Parents: explaining the economic benefits of having their children educated in order to make education a priority for the family. We do not know of any charities that carry out this intervention but we believe it to be highly effective.
• Ensuring that children are healthy enough to attend school: addressing the health-related reasons why children do not attend school. Often simple health interventions such as de worming or providing micronutrients will increase the time spent in school. This is highly effective.

Demand-side interventions are generally considered more effective[1]. With demand-side interventions the money is only spent if the intervention is working, for example free school meals to motivate kids going to school will only cost money if the kids are actually going to the school and eating the meals. On the other hand, supply-side interventions have large upfront costs, are more complicated to implement, and often do not work, for example you may build a school and no students will attend, or you will provide books and they will not be used.

Potential Benefits

Education interventions promise a wide range of potential benefits: increased economic growth ; higher rates of societal production; quicker adoption of technological change; development of government and business leaders; improved health; empowering women; and the intrinsic value of education.

There is a strong correlation between education and wages in later life. One additional year in school for an individual has been shown to increase wages later in life by about 10 percent [2] [3]. However, this does not necessarily mean an increase in total wages of the country, as a more educated person may simply displace someone less educated. This could be the case if a country does not have institutions that facilitate new businesses which can absorb better educated workers, causing workers to compete over a fixed number of 'good jobs'.

There are also significant health benefits to education. Simply attending a school can encourage use of health services later in life. Education also empowers women and may let them have more control over health decisions that affect themselves and their children and reduces future infant mortality rates [4].

Cost-Effectiveness

In order to know whether to invest in an education intervention, we need to have some way of comparing them to other interventions - in particular to health interventions and our recommended charities . We used the DALY measurement to evaluate health interventions. The most common way of measuring education interventions is 'number of test score standard deviations gained'. There is, however, no straightforward way of converting the multiple effects of better education into averted DALYs, and any decision about which is preferable between health intervention and education interventions (or between any two types of interventions with different effects) will be based on a number of assumptions and approximations.

Intuitively, it seems very likely that providing better education, textbooks, skilled teachers, and classrooms will improve the lives and potential outcomes for children living in developing countries. However, most programs measure exactly those (number of schools built, number of books provided, number of computers donated, etc.), and do not provide comparable statistics on improved literacy, health outcomes, and future income increases. Providing textbooks may not work without training teachers, and building schools may not help if the children don't attend due to sickness, and even a well-educated child may have no opportunity if presented with unfavorable economic and social conditions. There are many reasons why an education intervention may fail and that providing basics of nutrition and economic assistance may be initially required for an education intervention's subsequent success.

Unfortunately, cross-country comparisons suggest that education is not necessarily associated with higher income per capita [5] [6]. If this is correct, education may not increase average wages. This is a surprising result, but it should at least give us pause to question how effective education actually is. In developing countries, education can be valued more as a way of selecting employees than as a measure of knowledge, particularly when education is of low quality. The students who stay longer in school and get better test scores will be offered better jobs, displacing those with lower scores. Another possible explanation is that education has received so much funding and development over the last 50 years that the economic benefits to further improving eduction are minimal. The growth in education enrollment is - in many African countries - an order of magnitude higher than the growth of wage employment [7]. Possibly developing countries are now educating enough people (to primary level) to fill the jobs that required educated people. Another possibility is that the quality of schooling is so poor that spending time there isn't providing students with valuable work skills.

There are exceptions. For example, in India, when Green Revolution technologies were coming into play, education had a big positive effect on average wages, as the educated rural workers were able to adapt to using the new technologies much faster than less educated workers.

In comparison, there is evidence that health interventions can have significant positive economic effects. For example, by comparing areas with different levels of malaria we can see that areas with less Malaria have more economic growth. One study estimated that eradicating malaria in an area will give a 3% increase in household expenditure. [8] Research on deworming has found even larger returns, though there are fewer primary studies to rely on.

Some have suggested that education has intrinsic value, even above any improvements in health or material quality of life it might generate. The World Values Survey, the largest collection of data on correlates of well-being, suggests that years in education does not itself increase happiness. [9] By contrast, health itself was found to have a significant effect on an individual's welfare.

As mentioned above, there are significant health improvements resulting from better education. Often these health effects are hard to measure because it is difficult to control for the more educated people getting better jobs so living healthier. The greatest heath effect is the reduction of infant mortality rates for the next generation. For instance, one year of extra education for women can lead to a reduction in infant mortality rates by 5-10 percent, and five extra years of education for women in Africa can reduce infant mortality by up to 40 percent.[10] A lower infant mortality rate reduces the fertility rate, and so reduces the chance of a woman dying during childbirth. It has also been estimated that education can reduce the chance of a mother's death from about five percent to about 1.4 percent. [11] Encouraging education may be an effective health intervention.

Increasing the secondary and tertiary education of a population can entice multinational corporations, particularly as technology allows for cross-border employment, creating new domestic positions that require educated people, so may have an overall positive effect economically. Giving What We Can has not yet looked at the effects of interventions that increase the secondary and tertiary education.

ADVANTAGES OF EDUCATION

Knowledge really is power, and chances are, you’ve already had at least a basic level of education available to you already. Unfortunately, there are many places in the world where access to even the most basic education is severely limited. This is a sad fact, because education is really one of the best tools for social change, economic development and prosperity in a country. To get started, have a look at this recent post on the ways learning is done effectively.

The advantages of having an education are many, and it’s up to you to take full advantage of the opportunity that’s there for the taking. This course covers how to fund your college degree without going broke, so there really is no excuse for not getting the best education you can. The second step is actually getting in, so have a look at this course and discover how you can set yourself apart from all other candidates in your application.

Getting a good education is the key to our growth as people, as it allows knowledge to be advanced from generation to generation. As follows are the top advantages of having a good education.

Employment

Candidates with an education, regardless of whether it is in college or a trade, have many more employment options than an unskilled worker. The credits and achievements you make in your educational field help to put you on the right track for a great job. This boosts your independence, and allows you to make a living once you finish studying, and be a positive member of society. People who have studied, and spent the time to learn specialist skills are usually rewarded with a higher salary, and are more financially secure than their uneducated counterparts.

Responsibility

Successfully completing your education teaches you how to manage yourself and be responsible. Throughout your education there will be many times where you’ve had to make sacrifices to study, or write assignments – and you have to spend time away from your family and friends. All just so you can pass your courses. Learning to deal with this, and take responsibility is the core of discovering what you’re really capable of. Get this right, and it will carry over into all aspects of your life.

Logic

Another great aspect about an education is that it teaches you how to use logic. You learn critical reasoning as you write assignments for your classes, and discover the tools and necessary arguments you can use to reinforce your opinions and back up your claims. It helps you to see when you are being told untruths, as you use your reasoning skills you’ve developed to question and analyze everything that you’re told.

Experience

Throughout your college education you will be in contact with a wide group of peers, much larger than you faced in school. It’s from these people you’ll discover new points of view, learn to appreciate diversity, and grow as a person. It also gives you a better and more developed understanding of the world, and the important current events that are occurring in it. It also helps you to build and reinforce your reputation and social image, which have a strong base in your educational qualifications. People look at you differently if you’re “Dr. Smith”, or Joe at the car wash, it’s an unfortunate fact of life. In addition, a good education allows you to positively contribute and become an active member in a society, as we understand, and participate in the changes and development that is required to make a community great.

Empowerment

Your teachers help you develop and reach your potential, challenging and pushing you to your limits so that you reach new heights, and achieve far greater things than you ever thought possible. Being educated helps establish your independence, and gives you a reliable trust in your instincts and knowledge to make the right decisions. It allows you to make decisions based on logic and reasoning, and create your own responses rather than simply following the pack.

Friends

Throughout your education you’ll have many opportunities to make friends along the way. In your classes and lectures there will be ample chance to meet new people, and circumstances often force you to work in pairs or a group to get a task done. In addition, you’ll also spend a large amount of time with your classmates, so take the time to get to know them. It’s in school and college you form the friendships that last a lifetime, as you are brought together with people that have common interests and share fantastic experiences with.

Learning

The key to education is learning, so that you can benefit from all of the mistakes people before you have made. This base knowledge allows you to capitalize on the solutions, and build on what has been achieved already, without repeating the mistakes. A solid education gives you a base level of understanding that allows you to actively participate in intellectual conversations, and makes you aware and open minded in any situation.

Time Management

With many classes, deadlines, and often additional family or work responsibilities outside of your learning, there will be many demands on your time. As a result, most students turn into effective machines, as they churn out assignments and study for exams, while working part time or looking after their family. This pressure forces you to become a master of time management, which will carry over into all parts of your life.

Discipline

There’s no better place than school to learn that every action has a consequence. Failing to pass a class means that you need to repeat it, where in the real world you may never realize the lost opportunity from missing a deadline or letting down your boss. Learning to deal with the consequences of your actions in a supportive environment is ideal, and will make you a more disciplined individual.

Social Skills

Throughout your education you are often forced to interact with people that you would not talk to in normal circumstances. Embrace it and learn the social skills you need to excel not just in the classroom, but in events, meetings and social gatherings as well. Building the “soft” people skills is a wonderful advantage of an education, and is reflected in the way you talk, make perceptions and interact with everyone that you meet. You’ll be much better off than your uneducated counterparts.

Organizational Skills

Regardless of the job you end up doing, being organized is key to success in your education. You won’t excel unless you have a study plan, allocate time to doing your assignments, and also balance your social life alongside the academic. The organizational skills you develop as you master the balance in your life will always remain and be a benefit to you, even after you graduate and are working full time.

Perspective

What you learn, and the people you meet as you are studying gives you a much broader picture of the world. You’ll understand diversity, other cultures, religions and places, and get a real sense of what the world is all about. This perspective is one of the key advantages of an education, as it opens your eyes to the opportunity that is all around you.

Potential

Throughout your education you have the opportunity to be exposed to many different fields. From accounting to biology, engineering to arts, there is the opportunity to learn almost anything that you could imagine. This lets you choose fields that both excite you, and you’re passionate about.

Reduces Inequality

For people that do not have a fortunate background, education is the greatest equalizer. The availability of education today is much more prevalent than in generations past, allowing individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds to compete with the majority of job seekers. Being able to gain a degree they are on the same level as many others, and can rise from their present level, reducing inequality, both at an economic and a social level in a society. This course is great as it helps you discover how to get the best education you can.

Ultimately, an education is key to improving the quality of human life. It’s the core where the combined knowledge, skills, customs and values are passed on to the new generation, and are essential in the development of an individual. In addition, the positive influence that these individuals can have on society once they are armed with the knowledge and experience to make a difference is immense, and there is no doubt that education is key to a world that is also a great place in which to live.

The benefits of education equip individuals of all ages with the skills and knowledge needed to be productive and successful global citizens. Educating citizens within poverty-stricken areas can be an effective way to address and eradicate global poverty.

The following are eight benefits of education that help to combat global poverty:

1. Education Raises Literacy Levels

Illiteracy is a cycle which reinforces long-term poverty levels throughout generations. Individuals living in poverty are often prevented from entering educational settings.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a 12 percent drop in global poverty could be achieved if each student within low-income countries received basic reading and literacy skills by the time they left school.

2. Education Increases Income and Wealth Creation

Increased education levels directly give individuals the necessary skills to increase their income level. Each extra year of schooling a child receives increases that student’s earnings by up to 10 percent, according to UNESCO.

Education also boosts the income levels and amount of food farmers produce on their land by giving them the necessary information to cultivate cash crops or follow other measures that may raise their cultivation levels.

3. Education Helps Reduce Instability and Corruption

According to the Global Partnership for Education, 36 percent of children worldwide who are not receiving education live in areas of conflict. This lack of opportunity damages their ability to find employment once the conflict ceases. Education promotes stable and peaceful societies that are capable of development.

4. Education Promotes Healthier Lives

Education and awareness give individuals the tools they need to take control over their health choices. Education is also important for the containment of communicable diseases.

According to the World Health Service, an individual who has completed a lower secondary school education has poor health 18 percent less than individuals with no education.

Prevention programs help to fight the transmission of diseases within affected communities and reduce mother/infant mortality rates.

UNESCO reported a mother who is literate is 23 percent more likely to give birth with the help of a skilled attendant or midwife. Further, children born to literate mothers are also 50 percent more likely to live past the age of five.

5. Education Empowers Females

The benefits of female education are not limited to childbirth. When women receive educational opportunities they have greater abilities to generate income, their families are healthier, they raise fewer children and get married at older ages, thereby averting child marriages.

Educating mothers is integral for the societies they belong to. Over the last four decades, around four million child deaths have been prevented due to an increase in female education according to a study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation posted in The Lancet journal.

6. Education, Food Security and Nutrition

Poor nutrition affects brain development and the ability to learn for individuals living within poverty stricken areas.

According to UNESCO, 1.7 million fewer children would suffer from stunting, a sign of malnutrition, if all women completed primary education levels. Education also contributes to a more varied diet which reduces the prevalence of malnutrition.

7. Education and the Development of Technical Skills

With increased levels of education, a country’s residents will be more likely to gain knowledge of technical skills creating employment opportunities in fields such as agriculture, construction, technologies and transportation. The development of infrastructure gives children living in remote areas the ability to reach school facilities more easily, raising educational levels within that particular area.

8. Education Boosts Economic Growth

Education promotes and fuels productivity gains that boost economic growth within countries. As reported by the United States Agency for International Development, increasing the average level of education in a country by one year can increase the annual gross domestic product of that nation by half a percentage point.

Conclusions

Many "common sense" education interventions, such as programs providing books and educational material and building schools , are minimally effective. There is a general lack of consistency in results and scalability. Interventions that work well in one area may very well fail in another.

We have not yet come across any clear evidence that suggests that future charitable spending on education interventions will have more than a small economic effect in the majority of cases, especially compared to the economic effects of health interventions.

It is also possible that the health improvements, reducing child mortality rates and more, that result from better education are highly cost-effective and that encouraging education may be an effective health intervention. Giving What We Can will look further into this possibility.

• It does not appear that education interventions are currently as effective our top charities , certainly there is a lot less evidence to suggest that specific education interventions have a significant positive impact. For this reason Giving What We Can is not recommending any current programs.
• The first thing that strikes me about education is knowledge gain. Education gives us a knowledge of the world around us and changes it into something better. It develops in us a perspective of looking at life. It helps us build opinions and have points of view on things in life. Primary education. The role of primary education is to ensure the broad-based development of pupils. This means ensuring that all pupils are able to develop their cognitive, social, emotional, cultural and physical skills to the best of their abilities, preparing them for their further school career.

Education is extremely important to me, because it is the foundation of life. It gives me knowledge of the world around me. ... Education helps me to make good decisions for my life. It also forces me to be responsible. I also believe education is important because it helps us develop a unique perspective of looking at life. Education has played a major role for all individuals in the society. It has allowed the community to succeed both socially and economically by enabling it to develop common culture and values.

Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. ... Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Importance of early childhood development. The emotional, social and physical development of young children has a direct effect on their overall development and on the adult they will become. That is why understanding the need to invest in very young children is so important, so as to maximize their future well-being.The Importance of Literacy. Helping someone to read and write effectively or acquire the basic math skills so many of us take for granted, improves the future of everyone in society. Literacy is critical to economic development as well as individual and community well-being.