Governing Education in Emerging States

While economists (Psacharopoulos, 1985, 1994; Pascharopoulos and Woodhall, 1985; Pascharopoulos and Patrinos, 2002) tend to argue that (i) the average return to education is higher than the expected return from the use of physical capital in economically poor countries than in economically rich countries, (ii) the contribution of primary education to income creation and poverty alleviation is quite perceptible and (iii) returns to primary, secondary and higher education tend to hover around 19 percent, 13 percent and 11 percent, respectively, with the research on social return to education primarily focusing on private economic return to education. But social rates of return to education, much of which flow to the social individual and the society at large in intangible form, are just as important as or even more important than the private economic rates of return to education particularly in countries with large population, pervasive poverty resulting from lack of proper education and employment, institutional failures including the breakdown of the governance institution as well as with the citizenry devoid of any knowledge of moral precepts and ethical values…