Education As A Goldmine In Africa: A Case Study Of Eastern Africa

Abstract

As both a fundamental human right and an engine for growth, education is a key tool for enhancing sustainable development throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Despite unprecedented economic advancement, the region lags in educational success. SubSaharan Africa continues to face complex barriers that impede improvement of a stronger educational infrastructure, ranging from inadequate learning material and infrastructural decay to overcrowded classrooms. Education plays a key role in politics, this is because prominent leaders in Africa have benefited from leadership positions as a result of education, this is because at the time of Independence, they were the one to take leadership role in Africa. The prominent families who took leadership positions in Africa have enriched themselves through various means. Most of the companies in East Africa that produce products and services consumed by the common citizens such as Brookside, AMACO insurance are owned by prominent families who have been in leadership. The families also own large properties and land at the expense of the common citizens. The consequences of educational disparities are seen to elevate inequalities by reducing the capacity of the disadvantaged groups like pastoral to take advantage of ways of improving their welfare attributed to education such as competing favorably for employment opportunities with other communities. The rising demand for education and regional disparities in its access within communities coupled with commitments to world declarations on education and human rights inspired various approaches to address inequality in educational access in nomadic communities in East Africa. The importance of education has led to more parents investing in education since they view education as a key to wealth attainment, more so in Africa where every person wants to be employed in the public sector since they view the sector as key to wealth attainment. In the previous years in Kenya, there had been scramble for form one vacancies due to the limited vacancies available in secondary schools. The parents did all they could including bribing the schools’ administration for their children to be admitted in good schools especially the former national and provincial schools. It can be concluded that education as a gold mine has led to parents investing all their efforts to enable their children have a bright future. Key Words: demand for education in Africa, the role of education in politics, hunger for education by nomadic communities in East Africa, education as a goldmine in East Africa, education as a goldmine in Kenya, role of education system in combating poverty