The colossal scale of poverty is a danger not only for a particular state but also for the world’s economic development. It is the root cause of many other global problems, which complicates their solution. At the same time, it is a result of several factors acting at a worldwide level. This paper aims to reflect the element of education in eliminating global poverty and the role of poverty in hindering education.
Education is the force that moves forward the economy of any country. According to the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (2019), more than 60 million children from low-income countries lack primary education. There is a direct correlation between literacy level and poverty (Giddens et al., 2019). About 25 million children in Pakistan are uneducated, with only 85% of girls from low-income families being out of schooling (Oxfam, 2019). Pakistan is a vivid example of an emerging country unable to provide education to its people.
Developing countries offer hard manual jobs to workers as poor people lacking education do not demand a high salary and appropriate working conditions. Almost 150 million children worldwide are engaged in child labor; one in four children’s lives was ruined by a dangerous job (UNICEF, 2017). Garment factories in Bangladesh, for instance, are known for hiring children for less than one dollar a day (United States Department of Labor, 2018). Skilled, educated employees are aware of their rights and can offer their talents to benefit the country’s economy.
Overpopulation is more characteristic of poor areas than of developed countries. According to Giddens et al. (2019), educated people are prone to have fewer children. The fertility rate of developing countries has decreased from 6.3 to 4.6 children per woman lately compared to1.7 in the United States (United Nations, 2020). Niger, the poorest country globally, has the highest birth level: almost seven children per woman (United Nations, 2020). The situation is aggravated by the government’s inability to provide reproductive healthcare, trapping low-income countries in a vicious cycle.
The main danger of dividing the world into zones of prosperity is that the link between poverty and other global threats is strengthening. Free and available public education is a country’s key to success. The chasm between rich and emerging countries cannot be bridged by relying on the natural course of events, without coordinated efforts at all levels, from local to global, starting with education.
References
Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R. P., & Carr, D. (2019). Essentials of sociology. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (2019). Education in the Developing World. The Human Journey.
Oxfam International. (2019). The power of education to fight inequality.
UNICEF. (2017). Child labor. Web.
United Nations. (2020). World fertility and family planning 2020. Web.
United States Department of Labor. (2018). Findings on the worst forms of child labor – Bangladesh.