Posts Tagged ‘Importance of Education’
Given the recent trends, education has been an economic activity that has risen from indispensability to a source of livelihood. Education exports are but educated students who seek employment outside the state, and remit money for their family members. The remittances have created a source of income. This income in turn generates allied economic activities that use the expenditure of this income. Therefore, education becomes the fulcrum that controls all these economic activities.
The importance given to education is such that government investment in setting up educational infrastructure is high, and clearly surpasses the domestic production output of the state. Comparing these two, the domestic output of the state is a dwarf to the investment in education and related activities. The Kerala government has realized that even if it cannot scale-up to the level of a state that scores high on industrial production, it still can reap the harvests of investing in youth. The education system has created lots of jobs for teachers. Teaching is a stable career in Kerala. It is an organized sector, and is given all benefits and recognition by the government. Teachers have the provision to join unions and association that work for their rights and privileges. They are also entitled to a monthly pension on retirement.
People who want to live, work, and settle in Kerala look for a teaching job as a safe and secure option. Due to this, the number of teachers in the state has surpassed the number of other kinds of workers. Teachers account for more than half the population of paid workers in the state, and this trend looks to continue. Therefore, it looks feasible for the government to concentrate on building knowledge-based industries, rather than scampering to establish chemical and manufacturing factories. The latter is subject to many hindrances like land prices, pollution controls, government stability and orientation, supply of workers and so on. Further, the state is quite backward in terms of the knowledge and know-how on attracting, retaining, and replenishing investment in heavy manufacturing industries. Thus importance of education in Kerala is now even more pronounced.