Examine the role of education in the economic development of a nation.

An increase in the level of production of goods and services of a country along with improvement in the quality of life is referred to as economic development. The role of education in the economic development of a nation is explained through the following points:

(i) Imparts Quality Skills and Knowledge: Education endows people with quality skills and, thereby, enhances their productivity. Consequently, it enhances the income earning capacities of and opportunities for people. Moreover, it also enables human capital to utilize the available physical capital optimally.

(ii) Develops Mental Abilities: Education develops mental abilities of people and helps them to make their choice rationally and intellectually. Education churns out good citizens by inculcating values in them.  

(iii) Acceptability of Modernization: An educated public of a nation has greater acceptability of modernization and modern techniques. This not only helps the economy to grow but also facilitates a primitive economy to break the shackles of traditions and backwardness.  

(iv) Eradicates Skewed Income Distribution: Education not only increases the income  earning capacity but also reduces the skewed distribution of income and thereby forms an egalitarian society.  

(v) Raises Standard and Quality of Living: Education enhances the income earning capacity of people and, thereby, it raises the standard of living and also improves the quality of living.  

(vi) Increases the Participation Rate: It fosters economic development by increasing the participation of people in the process of growth and development. 

(vii) One Solution for Other Economic Problems: The importance of education is not only limited to making people educated but also in facilitating an underdeveloped economy to solve different but interrelated macro economic problems like, poverty, income inequality, population, investments, under utilization of resources.

• Increases knowledge and skill.
• Use of modern technology.
• Intellectual development.
• Increase in participation rate.
• Leads to innovation.
• Human capital and Economic Development.

Detailed Answer :

Role of Education in the economic development of a nation :

(a) Increase in knowledge and skill. 

(b) Development of rationality.

(c) Adoption of modern technology. 

(d) Development of intellect.

(e) Inculcation of moral values and ethics. 

(f) Increase in rate of participation.

(g) Encouragement for innovation. 

(h) Human capital development.

(i) Economic development. 

(j) Reduction in income inequality.

(k) Improvement in living standard.

The education plays a predominant role in economic development of India in the following way:

1. It modernizes the attitude and behaviour of the people: Education brings favourable changes in the attitude and behaviour of people. It gives inputs like what is right and what is wrong and contributes for taking sound and and able judgments. 

2. Promotes science and technology: Education always provides the knowledge about latest technology to people who know reading and writing. It explains the new methods of production through innovations in various sectors of the economy. They providing scope for latest techniques of production, it develops agriculture, industry, transport. power, etc.

3. Increases mobility of labours: Education helps the labourers to search for more re warding employment opportunities all over the world. It helps to chooses a suitable career according to one’s educational qualifications. It makes them to move from country to country or state to state as and when required. 

4. Creates national and developmental consciousness: Education creates civic, national and developmental consciousness among the literates. It provides information about the past events in History and tells about the freedom struggle of great national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagath Singh, Subhas Chandra Bose and others. It makes people to develop a sense of patriotism and helps them to adopt strategies of progress in life. 

5. Contributes to skilled and trained workers: Education generates skilled and trained labour force needed for the development of the country. Education includes both general and technical education. The general education includes Bachelor of Arts. Bachelor of Commerce.

Bachelor in Business Administration, etc. at the degree level and technical education includes Bachelor in Engineering in different streams like mechanical, civil, electronic, electrical, computer. etc. All these contribute for the supply of skilled labour for the overall development of the country.

6. Act as source of knowledge: Education is a house of knowledge for all purposes. Anything to know we need to be literate. It helps people to take decisions on the basis of their knowledge gained in different stages while getting education.

7. Develops moral values: As education provides number of stories and incidents people’s lives, people can definitely develop moral values. These moral values are included in their daily life. Some of the moral values are not to sell adulterated products, in case of seller and in case of buyer, not to create inconvenience for others in their routine life and so on. 

8. Creates awareness about culture and politics: Education always provides complete information about cultural heritage of any nation. It explains how they are constructed with the investment of money and human capital. It helps them to preserve the historical monuments, inscriptions and other valuable items. It also provides day-to-day information about politics when the person is literate.