Educational Expenditure and Human Capital Development in West Africa, the Challenge to Developing Countries
- June 11, 2019
- Posted by: RSIS
- Category: Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue V, May 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186
Samuel B. Adewumi
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
It has been established in literature that education contributes majorly to human capital development, societal development and prospective tool in boosting the performance of the labour force, it is also a strong base for effective and efficient performance of world economies (UN, 2003). Also, many authors had linked the role of human capital – through education – in economic development (World Bank, 2003; Anyanwu, 1996, 1998), promoting economic growth (Levine and Renelt, 1992; Mankiw et al., 1992; Anyanwu, 1998); promoting income redistribution and poverty reduction (Ravallion and Chen, 1997; Sen, 1999; and Schultz, 2002) and other aspect of the economy to mention but few.
Moreover, government educational spending, which is a tool in enhancing human capital development no doubt had been on the increase in West African countries and other African countries at large (Rajkumar and Swaroop 2008). Different educational programme and policies had also been enacted to boost the performance of the sector. Some empirical findings also yield support that government expenditure has improved education enrolment rate in the Middle East and other middle income countries. But in spite the noticeable increase in education expenditure in West African countries, its impact in building strong workforce or human capital development in the region is still questionable (Schultz, 1999; Moja, 2000 Bloom, Canning and Chan, 2006).
Firstly, West African countries continue to experience different barriers that hamper the development and improvement on the infrastructural facilities in building strong educational system (Bloom, Canning and Chan 2006; Gebremichael and Jackson, 2006). It is of great concern that West African countries still face the problem of deteriorated classrooms and inadequate teaching facilities like learning desk, well equipped classrooms, poor water system, poor medical care in schools and other infrastructural decay in most of the schools (Adedeji and Olaniyan, 2011).
