It’s been thousands of years for human civilization since we have known the concepts of poverty and the differences between ‘have’ and ‘have nots’. Leaders and kings have followed the long tradition of developmental activities to pull up the poor and backward regions, and its people. Whereas, societies, regions, civilizations, and people have been through the cycles of being economically underdeveloped and developed subsequently.
Right now, in the 21st century, humanity is struggling with the imbalances in distribution of wealth. Economic backwardness is now a plague for the human race with less than 3 percent of the population owning more than 90 percent of global wealth. This however, is not entirely due to any tyranny or plunder. It’s a democratic world, a world of free speech, with information and the freedom of expression on fingertips. There is no oppression whatsoever. Rather, the enigmatic imbalance in wealth distribution is pandemic in nature, it’s systemic, it’s infectious, and it’s growing.
Poverty, economic backwardness, and low standard of living has become synonymous to the global population because it has become a regional symptom. It’s not some individuals who are poor in a region, it’s the whole region that is poor, it is the whole community that is lacking development, it is the entire country that is backward, or the entire continent that is downtrodden. Despite policies and dozens of global organizations lending helping hands, regional alliances, social welfare organizations, and unending funds, why alleviation of poverty and low standard of living have not been possible yet? It’s because the focus of planning and developmental activities is misdirected. Policies are not focusing on the root of the problem. It’s like directing the water nozzle on the smoke while trying to put out a fire.
Most leaders and non governmental organizations emphasize the objectives of their existence in developing the society. Education has always been the normal of development oriented programs. The talks and actions around development have always been around the idea of society, arts, culture, standard of living, and education. While employment, education, infrastructure, healthcare, and sanitation are the priorities for the government, non government organizations are buzzing the mantras of social empowerment. Such initiatives are proving to be futile because the priority is not set right. Only a handful of organizations or government mechanisms are truly up to the economic development of communities.
Mere creation of jobs, providing public amenities, opening up schools, are not even connected directly to economic upliftment and empowerment. Creation of public sector services, especially, cannot ensure economic development because it is not related to creation of wealth or production of resources directly. It is because the first priority must be on economic activities rather than activities on other sectors.
Social development is a far cry without economic development and standard of living. The community cannot sustain without economic activities and production as well as utilization of resources. Attempts to protect heritage and conservation of traditions are futile if a community cannot ensure economic independence and sustainability. It is only a matter of time for communities that cannot sustain economic activities to be subdued by an alien community or people who are with a strong sense and skill of economic activity. Economic activity and production are therefore the primary requirement for sustainability of a community. Therefore, rather than directing the policies to uplift a community in the lines of social empowerment, it’s more fruitful to direct the initiatives on economic and commercial lines.
Here in comes the education sector as a conundrum. A misdirected education system has been fueling unemployment and deviations from traditional practices of production and economic activities of communities. Education now has only become is a tool to create migrant laborers and so called employees, who are bonded in a modern form of slavery. Freedom to choose a mode of economic activity is curbed when an individual is employed under an employer. Which, in turn limits the reach and action of the individual under a fixed amount of resources or wealth.
In underdeveloped regions, investment in education is unavailing. Parents cannot afford to invest the time of their children on school education. A classic example is the government sector education in economically weaker states of India. Even after spending millions to pay teachers and building education infrastructure, government schools have failed to produce better students and human resources compared to private sector initiatives. Without creating a wealthy society where parents could at least afford schooling for their children it’s rather impossible to draw out the importance of education to them.
On the other hand, modern education is perceived as a solution to underdevelopment. Educated individuals are expected to keep up tradition and community heritage. However, since modern education has been creating more migrant laborers, it has backfired on the same traditional heritage and community development. Educated people are gradually being cut off from their own communities and native regions in the pretext of employment and livelihood. What could draw such educated individuals to their own communities and native places? The answer is activities of economic viability and production of resources.
Political organizations, student unions, and socio political groups focus primarily on social empowerment, community development, fights for rights, and in tribal areas, especially, about preservation of culture and tradition. They seem to be more interested in socio-political issues, education, and rights, while turning blind eyes to economic activism and production. It is the reason for their inefficiency in solving the issues they have been addressing despite being vocal enough. Without directing the emphasis on economic activities and production of resources, socio-political and education development is worthless.
Economic activity for resource utilization and production of commercial goods and services is the key to development. It is necessary to set the priority in economic development and subsequently in education. Economic development would facilitate imparting standard education, which will bring socio-political development without fail. The correct orientation and precedence of development is economy, followed by education. It will ensure socio-political development, which would trigger the pace of humanity towards equality and progressive mutual coexistence of communities in harmony.
