Educating for development

The pathology of the relationship between education and development is sometimes easier to see than the health. The term ‘educated unemployed’ implies some kind of causal connection between education and unemployment. And yet the educated unemployed often coexist with shortages of manpower critically needed in development, such as public health workers, entrepreneurs, construction workers, agricultural extension agents, surveyors, diesel engine mechanics, family planning advisers, refrigeration technicians, science teachers and others. When these symptoms of maladjustment are combined with the universally mounting costs of education there is a risk that public officials and their constituents will become disenchanted with education as one of the key components of development strategy.