Introduction
In the contemporary society, education has turn out to be an immense instrument in skirmishing illiteracy and poverty. It has also helped inculcate good moral values and instill a positive attitude and behavior. This focus tries to explicate how misuse in funding can be able to menace the survival of education in to our systems. During the evolution period of man, inferiority and primitivism were forces to reckon with but as time matured the philosophy of man was on track to intelligence. It’s this contribution that makes us recognize the value of education more so in the modern society. Since not all regions are well endowed with resources to initiate economic development, a deficit is not an exceptional experience and consequently a call for a financial support a rises. However, our main endeavor is to look at how the misuse of these funds may lead to a decline in the education sector. This is exhibited through the following ways:
Goal congruency
This refers to matching the funds already allocated with the right activity. The government may be able to have numerous differing educational objectives. If funds are not used for the precise project then the ambition achieved will be incongruent. There will be no basis for carrying out a project that yields a return that the stakeholders are irreconcilable with. This can gravely spoil the donor relationship and imperil future funding into the project. It’s important that extraordinary procedures are taken to guarantee proper planning in order to achieve the desired educational objectives.
Embezzlement
This refers to using educational funds to satisfy own personal interest or to subjectively settle the scores for a group. This problem is so rampant in countries where corruption has become a national disaster, the government systems become platforms for perpetrating this vices supported by skewed judiciary.
Embezzlement of education funds contribute to the following:
- Poor donor relationship. Donors become skeptical about the government dealings, the systems become questionable. When this happens the donors might withdraw their funding or either reduce. This will have dire consequences on the citizens who perhaps are not able to finance themselves.
- Poor educational standards. The money that is meant to go to the bright but needy students does not reach them, this in effect means that they will not be able to continue with learning and may not perform to the required standard. Teachers and other stakeholders may also not be able to get their considerations as usual. They will have little confidence and trust in the government activities and may decide to down their tools, go on strikes and demonstrations. This scenario is so common in the African context.
- Brain drain. This is a process where by highly trained professionals look for greener pastures in other countries. These professional may include doctors, teachers, accountants, engineers and etc. if a government for example is not able to account for education funding, it’s highly likely that it may not be able to look into the welfare of the teaching professionals, pay their dues in time, and give them promotion as appropriately as possible. Teachers can begin looking for greener pastures in other countries. This can negatively impact on a government. For a country to grow it requires the services of these professionals who have the acumen and quench for prosperity. Brain drain is a common problem especially in the third world nations where professionals feel that their financial considerations may not be domestically met and therefore looks for international avenues.
Conclusion
Misuse of funds is a common problem in the global world. Proper financial policies should be put in place to ensure that funds are properly accounted for in order to provide an assurance to the donors that the funds are correctly used. If this is not urgently done then education standards will continue to erode.