Poverty and Access to education
By Paul Andrew Bourne
Illiterate adults tend to be poor (Younger, 2002 p.98)
Poverty is correlated with adults’ educational level: 66 percent of illiterate are adults poor, …, 64 percent of adults who did not graduate for primary school are poor, …, 22 percent of secondary school graduates are poor (Younger, 2002, p. 100)
From Younger’s findings, an underline principle of poverty is illiteracy and how it affects the adult age cohorts. With such a finding, poverty directly affects the quality of the labour stock. The situation emphasizes how access to tertiary level education is inversely related to the adult poor as those who can access post-secondary education, the secondary graduands; only 22 percent of them are poor. Embedded within this finding is how increase in age of the poor will inversely relate to accessing post-secondary level education, and the low probability of the poor accessing post-secondary education.
The Tanzanian household budget survey conducted in 2000/01 on 22,178 household finds that “adult women have lower levels of education than adult men, but current school enrolment rates are slightly higher for girls”, this speaks to an issue that access to education is different for men than for women and this is similar in respect to poverty level. Within this finding is the distinction between the genders accessing education and the researcher is theorizing that this is similar at the post-secondary level
Post-secondary education provides a range of tools which are used in the production of commodities, enhancing social development, physical creation and aiding the conceptual framework of the socio-biological world to which we reside. According to the World Bank, productivity is a critical by-product of quality education (World Bank, 2006). Embedded within this theorizing is primary, secondary and post-secondary education but it is the latter that provides the bedrock upon which necessary knowledge base on functions of the events are built for interpreting one socio-physical space.
Access to tertiary level education is multidimensional. Many perceive access to tertiary institutions solely on the basic of entry (matriculation) requirement. Even though this holds true in respect to subject entry, tertiary education is hinged on financial resources and matriculation prerequisites. An example here is, according the deputy Principal of the University of the West Indies in radiojamaica.com, “According to UWI's rules, students who do not pay their fees on time would have failed to complete the registration process and will be given a compulsory Leave Of Absence for the semester” (radiojamaica.com, 2006). The Public Relations Office at the University of the West Indies, Mona, encapsulates the important of financial resources as a prerequisite to accessing tertiary level education.
The Office says:
The Finance and General Purposes Committee of the Mona Campus had given until October 15 for any student who had not paid their fees in full to do so or present a written request for a payment schedule on the basis of exceptional and verifiable difficulties. Those students who failed to meet these conditions would be deregistered (Public Relations Office, 2004).
With the stance of the University of the West Indies administrator’s on fee payment, it is automatic that access to tertiary level education is not dependent on matriculation requirements, but of equal importance is the issue of affordability. Even though access, on the other hand, may be had aided through funding from financial institution such as the Students’ Loan Bureau, the costing of post-secondary level education is not funded totally by those organization. Hence, the issue of access for the poor is not clear cut and simple as subject requirements, and tuition provision by SLB. A significant proportion of the cost structure of post-secondary education is living expenses, traveling and lunch expenses. Whereas the SLB and other financial institutions may provide the full tuition cost of post-secondary education, such expenses as traveling and lunch are infrequent provide for in the disbursement of fund in the coverage of tertiary education costing. If an individual sees this simply, then he/she will argue that all poor students have an opportunity of attending any tertiary level institution, but how can the poor cover the exorbitant cost of stationery and boors, traveling and lunch, and sometimes miscellaneous expenses arising from the class preparation when they are initially unable to afford basic living expenses.
According to the Jamaica Gleaner (2005) in an article titled ‘Deregistration of UWI students
But even at a fraction of the total cost of their education, tertiary students are faced with substantial fees which few families can find out of pocket. This is where the role of the Students' Loan Bureau (SLB) comes in for critical scrutiny. The SLB was set up as a statutory body under the Students' Loan Fund Act of 1971 to provide loans to Jamaicans pursuing higher education programmes at home or abroad.
The Gleaner fails to highlight the requirements of the loaner institution within the context of the families’ socio-economic space. An individual who seeks to borrow funds for his/her child/ren to attend a tertiary institution is expected to working a particular salary, or possess material resources, or knows someone who is able to be a guarantor for the loan. The issue is, the poor is highly like to associate with certain people and hence reduces the probability of accessing the loan and by extension an educational opportunity for his/her child/ren. On the other hand, if the poor is able to access the financing from the Students’ Loan Bureau, there are other substantial issues such as the financing - of food, toiletries, bus fares, rent, relocation expenses, and cost of course materials and miscellaneous expenses.
The adamant stance of the University of the West Indies, Mona, clearly indicates that poor students who have satisfied the matriculation requirement still do not have access to tertiary level education. Access, therefore, to education is not principally based on subject prerequisites but on ones affordability. The issue of affordability is a fundamental challenge to the poor. Hence, how are they to access tertiary level education within the context that they are initially unable to find the financial resources for survivability needs?
The issue of deregistration does not befall many tertiary institutions as registration is two, first, matriculation and secondly, payment of tuition fees. The University of the West Indies, Mona, has a particular culture to which the students have become accustomed, and this explains a proportion of the justification of the students’ involvement in the institution without have subscribed to the organization’s prerequisites. Despite ones view on public education, and the role of the government in its provision, universities are entities. The institution is faced with limited resources within the context of providing the highest degree of degrees within a particular space. Kurasha (2003) concurs with the University of the West Indies, Mona that responsibility of the students is to the meeting of the prerequisites of the institution – this includes tuition and matriculation. He writes:
… Due to limited financial resources, the students have to pay their fees up-front per semester or per year, depending on the program. Students that have not paid their fees neither register nor write assignments or exams and they do not get any learning materials (Kurasha, 2003, p.10).
Studies have clearly established that the poor are unable to afford particular commodities. Chief among the in affordability of the poor is access to particular level of education. Some academics are researched the issue of poverty and have discovered that poor are incapable of accessing education much more tertiary education. From the findings of scholarship presented so far, education is seen as a mode of poverty alleviation for its recipients. It is believed that education allows its holder to access opportunities which will transform his/her socio-economic status.
The use of example with University of the West Indies, Mona, is not to trivialize the issue of tuition costing and matriculation requirement but this is fitting as it emphasizes the importance of affordability in the quest for access to post-secondary education. Access to tertiary level education is not singled linked to the entry into the previously named institution but symbolizes the structure at the post-secondary. Therefore, access to tertiary level education is embodied in the affordability and affordability. The first affordability implies the associated cost of attaining the prerequisites for matriculation at the post-secondary level and the second speaks to the cost structure at the tertiary level. Within the context of that the poor are financial incapacitated; access to post-secondary level education despite its importance is a difficulty reality for many poor people with assistance from external sources.
The US Information Service in speaking of the issue of poverty uses the United Nations report of 1996 to argue that:
… the quality of people's lives cannot be measured by income alone. It says that while Pakistan has had enviable economic growth, 61 percent of the population there lacks the health, education and nourishment needed to climb out of poverty. Argentina's income is among the highest in the developing world, but 20 percent of its rural population lives in financial poverty and 29 percent lacks access to safe water (US Information Service, 1996).
From the US Information Service’s monograph, the poor is unable to access education, and some writers argue that this is not to any doings of their own. In its monograph, the US Information Service has not afford a perspective on the levels of education to which poor is unable to access. The researcher believes that this is even more difficult the higher one climbs on the education rung. This is even supported by US Information Service’s citation of the UN report that:
To reduce inequality while promoting growth, the report suggests that
national authorities need to give more attention to human development,
poverty reduction, and employment policies, especially for women;
expand access to land and credit; boost investment in and access to
education and health; and encourage development of that informal
sector of the economy that often does business on the street and in
homes (US Information Service, 1996).
There is a convergence in principle that access to education reduces poverty. Academics, researchers, non-governmental and governmental institutions are saying that access to quality education is the hallmark of poverty alleviation. According to the US Department of State, Food security and alleviating hunger hinge, among other things, on defining property rights for small-scale farmers, on technology, and on providing social safety nets to the most vulnerable groups, says U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman. Cato Institute economist Ian Vásquez also highlights the property rights issue, as well as the correlation of economic freedom with poverty reduction (US Department of State, 2002).
From the perspective of the US Department of State, poverty alleviation will only be accomplished by addressing not only ‘food security’ but on ‘economic freedom’. Such a state in the social setting of the poor must come from access to quality and higher education. Poverty reduction, therefore, does not rest with the provision of food to the poor or to poor countries as this will not go to destroy the economic livelihood of farmers and other institutions within the recipient country. The issue can only be address from a multidimensional approach which includes the provision and access of education to all peoples within the country. By provide access to quality education, the poor is given an opportunity to gain financial independence. This seemingly simplistic approach holds the key to financial freedom, hunger eradication, opportunities, plethora of choices and social harmony.
In They cry ‘respect’: Urban violence and poverty in Jamaica, Horace Levy, a senior lecturer in the department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona, in his research, finds that there is a relationship between unemployment and crime. He says that “along with people from other areas they point to a direct link between unemployment and crime. .” (Levy, 2001, p.10). Despite the qualitative methodology that he uses to acquire data for his findings, Levy’s findings provide a basis, upon which an understanding may be had of the importance of financial independence, violence and crime, unemployment and poverty. From Levy’s study, chief among the characteristics of youth involvement in gangs is “parents not educated”. It is clearly from Levy’s study, that the poor experience a high rate of non-school attendance because of in affordability. With such a setting, the ability to transform their lives is high improbable as they lack the financial resources, and their human capital is rather low making their labour cost low, and this explain the high degree of unemployment or involvement in menial work or ‘hustling’. Lipton and Litchfield (2001) forward an explanation for setting above. They say that “One of the main conclusions from Lipton (1998) is that higher levels of resources are associated with lower levels of poverty” (Lipton & Litchfield, 2001, p.3).
Access to tertiary education is a difficult option for the poor. Based on studies, education is a vehicle in the socio-economic mobility (development) (Nie, et al., 1972; Lerner, 1964) to which if can be access by the poor will transform their social-environment (Barr, 2005). Poverty prevents economic freedom and choice, and so despite ones willingness, this circumvents many realities of their experience. The poor is held in the vicious cycle of continuous poverty. The Inter-American Development Bank in highlighting the social conditions of the poor says that “Who are the poor? They are likely to be less educated and to work in the informal sector” (Inter-American Development Bank, 1998, p. 12). One writer forwards a perspective that converges with that of the Inter-American Development Bank that access to higher education is the most basic ingredient in the reduction of poverty (NetAid, 2005). NetAid asks the question ‘Why is education key to ending global poverty?’
Many writers have argued that education (i.e. formal education) increases one scope and employability, and this experience improves income capabilities, perception of health care, promotes fewer children and opens one access to information. Access to education, therefore, provides its recipient with particular skills that she/he will harness in accessing resources that will change his/her socio-economic status. The benefits to education are far reaching. They extend beyond the person to the wider community that the individual will interact on an ongoing basis. In attempt to illustrate the benefits of education beyond the personal, NetAid cites that “increasing the number of children who finish school leads to economic growth, social and political stability, a decline in crime rates and improved social services” (NetAid, 2005).
Studies have shown there is a high correlation between levels of schooling and levels of economic development (Oxaal, 1997). Nevertheless, despite the association that exists between the variables, the issue of causality is still inconclusive. Pundits have not concretized whether or not income growth causes educational expansion or vice versa. According to Oxaal, ‘human capital theory’ asserts that “education creates skills which facilitate higher levels of productivity among those who possess them in comparison with those who do not” (Oxaal, 1997). From the ‘human capital theory’ education is a worthwhile expenditure as it creates capacity and skills which are needed to transform the productive space of a company, society or country.
Gibbison and Murthy (2003) in analyzing issues of irregular attendance in Jamaican primary school argue that a superior educated population is more productive, “with greater productivity leading to higher rates of economic growth” (p.119).
The benefits of education are not limited to the techniques of analyses and formal knowledge acquired on the environment or on socio-psychological issues but it includes health-seeking behaviour, national poverty alleviation, crime reductions and greater citizenry participation in the political process. From Gibbison and Murthy’s findings, “In 1990 the major reason for school absence was economic for the 2 lowest quintiles, accounting for 44 to 74% of school absence” (p.127). This finding highlights the disadvantaged position of the poor to attain or access secondary and by extension tertiary level education. This leads to an understanding of the poor as to why tertiary level education is mostly foregone. It is due to the cost of attendance, and the issue that many of them would not have completed secondary school. Hence, they are not able to access this level of education because of issues of attendance that was brought about from affordability.
A critical component that is held against the poor in access formal education is affordability. From not having the financial resources to expend on basic necessities, the poor are even less likely to improve their human capital without financial assistance from institutions. An important determinant of educational participation in all contemporary society is money to which the poor are unable to find. Hence, with the increasing cost of education beyond the secondary level, the poor are marginalized and left on the outskirts of the tertiary level education structure. They, on the other hand, if are given loans and other income support schemes from organizations; they are able to compete with the children of middle-class families. According to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee, “Students from low income families are less likely to participate in higher education and the lower the income, the more unlikely the progression to higher education (p.168).
There is no doubt that the issue of poverty affect access to ‘good’ quality and tertiary education, and so any form of poverty reduction must address the human capital. The human resource is the most invaluable resource that a country or an institution has. “In the long run, one of the most effective ways of breaking the cycle of chronic poverty is investing in people. Improving poor’s access to high quality health and education services is a linchpin of any anti-poverty strategy” says Inter-American Development Bank (1998, p.17).
Population statistics and studies show that one of the demographic characteristics of people who are living in poverty is large family size (Demographic Statistics, 2004; Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2000; Census, 2001; Lanjouw and Ravallion, 1995; Buhmann, et al., 1988). In an article titled ‘Poverty and household size’, Lanjouw and Ravallion (1995) argue that there is substantial evidence to show that a strong negative association exists between household size and consumption per person in developing countries. This postulation highlights the how it is that household size is probabilistically low in relation to access to post-secondary education. From Lanjouw and Ravallion work (on Pakistan data), the poor who are predominantly from large household size in developing countries will not be able to spend needed financial resources on education despite its offerings because a large proportion of their income (i.e. consumption) must be spent on food, water, cooking utensils, firewood (i.e. fuel), clothing and housing. A part of Lanjouw and Ravallion’s work spoke to the association that exist in poor household, which is that they tend to have larger families.
Buhmann, et al (1988), by means of cross-country information from a Luxembourg Income Study data base on 10 developed countries, and Coulter, et al (1992), using the United Kingdom Family Expenditure Survey data, both find associative relationship between inequality and poverty estimates within the context of household size and consumption. A study conducted by Meenakshi and Ray (2000) on 68,102 households in rural India, concurs with the findings of previous studies that an inverse relationship exists between household size and consumption. With the robustness of household size of the poor and the degree of material deprivation, they are then less likely to access secondary and more so post-secondary education. This is primarily due to incapacitation and not ability or intellectual capacity of the people. It, therefore, can be construed from studies that poverty may be caused from household size, which the influences access to post-secondary education.
From the studies presented herein, embedded with the discourse of poverty is deprivation of financial and material resources which are generally handed down to the children. Within the poor household, it is likely that the household head and spouse are of a low education, and this may be one of the conditions that will influence the children not recognizing the importance of transformational function of education unless the parent(s) is/are going to emphasis this to the children.
One of the components of poverty is high rates of unemployment and so it is highly probabilistic that the poor will reside within a particular geo-political zone due to financial constraints. The poor are more likely to live in low income areas, slums, dilapidated building, within poor socio-economic surroundings, and in violent prone areas (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2000, p. 3 - 5). From the perspective of studies forwarded in this paper, the researcher is theorizing that there is a strong negative association between access to tertiary level education and poverty controlled for sex, age, area of residence, household size, and educational level of parents.