In this blogpost I have tried to establish that in the present world order, the formal education system can be considered a social construction of economic significance and is legitimized by the state. Thus, Social Acceptance, Economic Significance and State Legitimacy can be assumed to the three pillars of the education system. In developing this perspective, the critical role of the (education) system in management of socio-economic transformations by the state has been discussed. Implications of political economy traditions on education system is briefly touched upon. In the end, based on two pillars of education system namely ‘Social Acceptance’ and ‘Economic Significance’ an attempt to classify the education systems is made. Based on these classifications broad policy considerations is also presented.
Place of Education - the Intersection of Social and Economic Affairs of a Society
In general, the education system is entrusted to produce educated citizens. In addition to this, the implicit role of education is to prepare the society to face the challenges of future changes. In doing so, it is assumed that the (education) system will contribute to make the world a much better place to live.
In fact, it is observed that in long run, the appraisal of education system eventually gets attributed to its contribution in making the world a better place to live for the society at large.
The societal understanding of the notion of a ‘better place to live’ is rooted in social consciousness of the society as (i) a general understanding for social well-being and (ii) general economic prosperity of the society. Morals of social well-being is manifested through social values. These social values insist on adherence to normativism like (say for instance) idealisms of social-justice or that of equality. Individual and collective actions in a society are expected to be directed by social values (at times even this may mean inhibition of aspirations to excel for an individual or a group). Interests of economic prosperity are vested on principles of maximization of wealth through commercial means by encouraging aspirations of entrepreneurial pursuits and on principles of redistributive justice immaculate with prevailing social values.
The acceptability and success of an education system lies in its ability to make surroundings a better place to live in a holistic manner. Therefore, at a benchmarked level of economic prosperity and a benchmarked state of social well-being, the education system functions as an entity, which is expected to work as a tool for maximisation of both of these aspects. The role of education system is to intervene on assurance of social well-being, to facilitate on economic activities and to foster an intellectual support system for holding meritorious consultations on policy optimization for social good and economic good to benefit society in long run.
Education - a Catalyst for State to bring Socio-Economic Transformation
Quite often, it is observed that the economic activities intend to take place with disruptive dynamism making socio-economic landscape turbulent and making society suddenly face with altogether changed environment. In such a situation, it is not easy for the society to respond in tandem with seamless agility. The society has the obligation to remain inclusive and accommodative in character for harmony and for stability. And, at the same time in response to economic activities, the society has obligation to articulate a social change to transit from existing state to next state with soft hands and with an inclusive approach.
This transition is not only a reactive response to the sudden economic activities but it is also a part of larger strategic transformation in line with the ethos of progressive cultural sentients of readjusting the society with circumstances to reach to the next state. The socio-political leadership holds the responsibility to ensure that this new state is the best destination reached by choosing the most suitable options and with best utilization of the available resources while moving from previous state keeping in view of futuristic vision.
It is widely believed that agility of society to re-align itself in accordance with changing economic compulsions is critical for regional/national prosperity and for social solidarity. The entity as large and as diverse as a society usually finds it difficult to conduct consultative collective action for managing the changes to social structure and social order in response to initiatives lead by economic activities. Therefore, the society entrusts the enforcing agency, which is the state. State works through a politico-institutional process to accomplish the process of change management for the society. In the process the state is expected to do a balancing act by regulating economic activities to ensure optimal economic benefits to society and by managing social transformation in an acceptable manner.
Intellectual capabilities of advanced education systems develop a very close understanding of the dynamics of upcoming changes to socio-economic landscape. Academia of such an education system drill down to minutest level to assess the possibilities with different permutation and combination of available choices. In association with industry, government and social groups, the academia is capable to preparing the blueprint of challenges of change management with possible risks and corresponding mitigation plans. With such a well-prepared intellectual support system at disposal the socio-political leadership is very well equipped with precise understanding of existing ground realities and upcoming change-management options in view of long-term transformation plan for a promised vision to the society. Progressive and matured polity pre-empts expected changes about to be experienced by the society and encourages political discourse on possible options with socio-cultural leadership and society at large through representative groups within civil society. Such a discourse is expected to result in broad consensus about preference of making choices on future prospects and associated procedural, structural, legal or commercial changes in socio-economic space.
Once a broad consensus on preferred options and modus operandi of change management is developed. The socio-political leadership insists state machinery to execute the change management. In the process, through the state control, the education system is also firmed-up to make suitable changes to prepare for upcoming socio-economic requirements related to intellectual activities and to skill availability needs.
In practice, largely, the change management is not this smooth. In most cases, neither the governments are designed to be so much community focussed to build bottom-up political consensuses on transformative issues before acting on them nor are communities (sub-communities) structured to collaboratively cooperate on such issues pertaining to socio-economic change management. The strength of the civil society to make their representatives (who are empowered to run the government) abide with the social obligation for consensus orientation lies in the ability of the educated class to nurture a social platform for sensible, meritocratic and collaborative intellectual discourse on issues concerning the society.
Education system - a Formal Entity Legitimized by the State
Education could be considered as comprising of (i) ability to understand sensibly (अनुभूति) and (ii) ability to express (अभिव्यक्ति). Thus, it may be possible for a person to get educated through many different ways. However, in today’s world order configured as nation-states, it is only the state legitimized education that is recognized as (formal) education. The onus to legitimize the education has led to development of formal education system to function under control of the government.
Governing bodies (functionaries) of the state enforce collective action through laws and through regulations. The functionaries of the state usually function through policy driven mechanisms under institutional framework. Therefore, the education system is operated through legitimate and structured institutions and are controlled through regulatory policies.
The policies governing education system are expected to do justice to social obligations and to economic expectations from the education system. The point to note here is that state authority on education hinges on (a) social acceptability and (b) economic significance of educational services provisioned. When state approved education fails to hold on any of these two aspects, the (education) system starts to lose its credibility both within and outside the territory of the state.
In view of the above discussions, it may be considered that the positioning of education system within a society is attributable to following three aspects (which, we may call pillars of education system as shown in Figure - 1):-
Social Acceptance
Economic Significance
State Legitimacy
Figure 1: Pillars of an Education System
Let us attempt to elaborate on these three pillars:-
Social Acceptance – Social acceptance of formal education is based on following inherent consensus within the society that:-
Education is a sense of awareness, an experience of understanding and a means of expression for a human being.
Education is pride of individual existence and of collective existence as a social being.
Education shapes individual personalities and guides social consciousness.
Education supports society by giving a platform for intellectual development and peaceful ways of conflict resolution.
Education helps to organize thoughts in a systematic way to understand the social dynamics from diverse contextual perspectives.
Education helps in letting the society sail through the challenges of changing times.
There exists an in-built socio-cultural sentiment within the society to embrace change in such a way that the world becomes a better place to live.
Education helps creating an eco-system for interaction among government, business and society to work for public welfare.
Education system consisting of centralized centres of studies governed by state managed institutional framework broadly churn out genuine talents with potential to perform in different walks of life through a largely a just and fair mechanism.
Education helps in developing an understanding about the society and address social issues in accordance with socio-culturally accepted norms in a collaborative way.
Formal education helps knowledge creation, knowledge enhancement and knowledge dissemination for raising the level of social intellectual capability of the society.
Education facilitates individuals to comprehend learnings (formal and informal) in much broader perspective, develop and test one’s own ideas and allows opportunity to contribute to universal body of knowledge.
Economic Significance – Economic significance of formal education is based on its ability to produce human resources for industries with a general understanding that:-
Industrial and Commercial world needs human resource for economic activities.
Education develops credible skills and reliable intellectual framework for running and enhancing economic activities.
Education makes a backbone for industrial research and development for economic development prospects.
Education develops eco-system for management of economic activities by the state in collaboration of civil society.
State Legitimacy – State legitimacy of formal education is based on authentication of educational institutions as legitimate entities being supervised by the state with following assurances: -
State understands educational needs for socio-economic development.
State configures standards and formulates policies governing formal education.
State ensures fair practice in provisioning of educational services by authorized educational institutions.
State effectively monitors and controls formal education for socio-cultural and for economic benefits.
State provisions ways for educational pursuits to expand, collaborate and grow beyond its territorial boundaries.
In a nutshell, the education system is a social construction of economic significance legitimized by the state.
Common Discussion Points on Education Policy
Functioning of state is usually influenced by politics. When the prevailing socio-political consensus insists on attaching much more value to economic development and assumes rest all other aspect of human development will follow as a natural successor to economic prosperity, the education system gets inclined to give priority to preparation of a workforce (human resource) and its orientation tilts towards providing intellectual support for a greater economic value addition. On the other hand, when socio-political consensus built-up prefers to put community at the centre and insists on attaching more value to holistic development of human intellectual capabilities and assumes economic development will follow as a natural successor to social development, the education system intends to fulfil its obligation to support society with efficient management of knowledge targeted at holistic societal development.
Source of funding of education is also a matter of discussion amongst politico-economists (political economic experts). In brief, the debate is about the classification of education as a public good or a private good (a commodity). Public goods are understood be best case for public funding (by state) and private goods make best case for private funding.
A non-excludable and non-subtractable entity is termed as a public good. A non-excludable entity means that it is (practically) not possible to exclude people to get benefitted from that entity. A non-subtractable entity means that consuming some part of this entity (practically) does not alter the amount of the entity available for the use by others.
The example of a public good could a national defence of a country. This is an entity, which fulfils both non-excludability and non-subtractable. Every citizen of the country gets same military deterrent against foreign invasion and hence deterrence from foreign invasion for a selected citizen(s) cannot be excluded with respect to rest of the citizens. Clearly, it is non-excludable. Similarly, an individual getting assured with safety from foreign invasion due to military deterrence (so to say consuming safety benefits of military deterrence from national defence) does not diminish the worth or value of assurance of safety as observed by other citizens. It is non-subtractable. Thus national defence of a country could be an example of a public good.
An excludable and subtractable entity is termed as a private good. The example of private good could be a packet of bread. (say) If I purchase and place a packet of bread for my personal consumption in my room, it gets excluded from (rightful) access by others. Clearly, it is excludable. Similarly, if I eat some loafs of bread from the packet of bread I purchased, I will be left with lesser numbers of loafs of the bread in the packet for my future consumption (or for sharing with other persons). It is subtractable. Thus, a packet of bread could be an example of a private good.
When it comes to education, it can be interpreted as being a public good or being a private good based on subjective meanings and on different contexts. For example, benefits of living in sophistication of an educated society are non-excludable (to the members of the society) but availability of quality educational environment to a group of students selected (from the society) to study at a prestigious institute is excludable. Similarly, availing the benefits from intellectual association in an educated society by an individual is non-subtractable. Others (in the society) will remain equally privileged to avail the same benefits as this individual even after she/he has availed her/his part. But, the group of students selected to study at a prestigious institute will exclude other aspirants in the society and become subtractable (as there are only limited seats available for admission to the institute not all the aspirants can be selected). Thus, education can be interpreted both a public good and a private good depending upon context or depending upon the issue in question.
So, in general, education could be considered either as a public good or as a private good by policy makers based on other considerations relevant to political economical scenario. In Making Up Our Mind: What School Choice is Really About (University of Chicago Press, 2019), Sigal R. Ben-Porath and Michael C. Johanek write that education is a private good, a public good, and a positional good. A positional good is a good (or a service) that people value because of their limited supply, and because they convey a high relative standing within society.
For an educationist, this debate has limited meaning as these are more related to means of funding education (through public means or private means) in a society and not to the achievements of the ends through design and implementation of quality education system for the society. Also, in reference to the above discussions in this blog, the state should be allowed to optimize the social acceptability and economic significance with any financial model fitting well with political aspirations on economic issues.
Education Policy - A Perspective for Consideration
In view of the above discussions, let us try to attempt some policy considerations for an education system. But before that let us try to classify education systems based on two of the three pillars of education system, we have identified during our discussions so far. One way to broadly classify education systems is illustrated in Figure-2.
Figure 2: Classification of Education System for Policy Considerations
State decides to apply policies on education system. So state may be able to view other two pillars to do its job. Therefore, let us limit our comparison to following two pillars of an Education System:-
Social Acceptance
Economic Significance
Using the plot as shown in the Figure – 2 with Economic Significance of the education system is able to produce in Y – Axis and Social Acceptance of the education system is able to garner in X – Axis, we can arrive at following broad classifications of Education Systems:-
High Economic Significance and High Social Acceptance – We will call such a category of education system as Efficient Education System.
High Economic Significance and Low Social Acceptance - We will call such a category of education system as Economy Centric Education System.
Low Economic Significance and High Social Acceptance – We will call such a category of education system as Society Centric Education System.
Low Economic Significance and Low Social Acceptance – We will call such a category of education system as Inefficient Education System.
Based on these broad categorizations, let us try to possible policy considerations:-
Efficient Education System – Such a category of education system would be characterized with:-
Matured Educational Institutions
Leadership Position in Research and Consulting
Critical Contributor to Industrial Development
Insightful Intellectual Interventions on Socio-Cultural Issues of Civil Society
Strong affiliations with other Prestigious Organizations across the globe and prominent persons from different faculties.
Possible Policy Considerations could be to promote:-
Strategy for global leadership in the field of education
Long term policy perspective (say with two decades in view)
Equality in access to education (basic and higher education)
Greater autonomy to educational institutions with an intent to ensure free and fair running of institution in sensible way
Excellence in intellectual capabilities and intellectual capital
Coherent and synchronized efforts in collaboration with Government, Industry, Academia, Activists, Civil Society Representatives and Citizens for larger social benefits
Collaboration with educational institutions with different approach and different philosophy towards education
Broadening the base of education system by exploration of ways to bring informal education within ambit of formal education system.
Economy Centric Education System – Such a category of education system would be characterized with:-
Functional Educational Institutions with aspirations to excel
Average quality and moderate quality and quantity of Research / Consulting / Entrepreneurship development activities
Ability to support regular and routine Industrial Activities
No significant contribution on Socio-Cultural Issues of Civil Society
Limited collaborations with amongst educational organizations falling within a same geographical region.
Possible Policy Considerations could be to promote:-
Three-fold strategy - (i) inter-disciplinary cohesion of intellectual pursuits to address prevalent issues before the society (ii) broadening the base for intellectual activities with perspective of knowledge management in society and (iii) strive for excellence in academic and social sector research, strategic R&D (Research and Development) and in consulting for industry
Medium term policy perspective (say with one decade in view)
Focus on doing catching-up with prestigious institutions in teaching, in research activities and in quality of education
Equality in access to basic education and develop efficient mechanism to ensure higher education to willing and capable students
Limited autonomy to institutions to balance flexibility to expand with central control to keep institutes moving in right direction
Building social consensus on benefits of education in understanding and resolution of socio-economic issues
Better synchronization with government and society for role of education as an enabler for broad socio-economic prosperity
Exploration of ways to collaborate with informal education system.
Society Centric Education System – Such a category of education system would be characterized with:-
Traditional and Conservative Educational Institutions
Moderate quality of Academic Research in a limited field of studies
Lack of Professional Capabilities to support Industrial Development
Contribution on Socio-Cultural Issues of Civil Society
Limited but Effective Collaborations for Community Centric Activities / Basic Knowledge Management / Political Advocacy for Social Issues.
Possible Policy Considerations could be to promote:-
Three-fold strategy - (i) skill based human resource development for industry employable workforce (ii) promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship and (iii) strive for association in strategic R&D (Research and Development) and in consulting for Industry
Medium term policy perspective (say with one decade in view)
Focus on doing catching-up with prestigious institutions in academic research and in quality of education
Equality in access to basic education and develop efficient mechanism to ensure higher education to willing and capable students
Adequate autonomy to institutions to facilitate business value creation by application of knowledge captured and knowledge enhanced by society on different fields
Association of educational institutions with business and industry in pursuit of human resource development
Better synchronization with government, society and industry for role of education as an enabler for broad socio-economic prosperity
Attempt to formalize and to enhance skill development carried out informal ways.
Inefficient Education System – Such a category of education system would be characterized with:-
Lack of well-developed Educational Institutions
Lagging far behind in Academic Research
Lack of capability to render support for Economic activities
No contribution on Socio-Cultural Issues of Civil Society
Lack of any meaningful collaborations amongst educational institutions.
Possible Policy Considerations could be to promote:-
Three-fold strategy - (i) Strengthening of academic institutions (ii) Interventions for social acceptance of education as means for broader social intellectual development and (iii) strive for development of human resources for industry
Short term policy perspective (say with 5 years in view)
Collaboration with some good institutions for getting mentorship on developing structure and process for co-ordinated education system
Access to education to as larger a population as possible
Centralized monitoring and control of institutions for standardization and for coordinated approach to institution development
Association of educational institutions with other organizations for synergy of efforts for building institutional backbone
Building social consensus on benefits of education in supporting socio-economic development to mobilize citizen-pull politically for better educational services
Leverage informal education systems for suitable enhancements to make them compatible with formal education system.
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