The Benefits of Increasing investment on Education

Importance of Increased Percentage GDP Allocation on Education
Public education has increasingly become necessary for all communities across the globe. Different governments in the world have increased their budgetary allocations on public education. Although the private sector has equally invested in schools and colleges, it has not entirely taken over the role of government in the provision of free or affordable education. The American government allocates about 5% of its GDP on education (Borman & Hewes, 2012). Similarly, most other government has allocated a significantly lower fraction of their GDP on education. The low percentage of allocation to public education threatens the numerous benefits that communities are likely to obtain through affordable education. The following study identifies the benefits that society stands to gain by making education accessible to many people and how an increase in the GDP allocation will enhance access to education. Therefore, an increase in the current GDP allocations to the public education will potentially increase the accessibility of education to many and hence open up communities to the benefits of education.
A country is set to benefit both socially and economically by investing heavily in its educational sector. Firstly, a proper and accessible educational system will create a constant follow of the skilled workforce within the economy that is necessary to drive the economy and hence contributes to a high GDP. Secondly, the accessibility creates a safe and secure community since it engages youth who would have otherwise been left to drug addiction and crime (Groot & van, 2010). Thirdly, increased accessibility helps more people to gain access to meaningful employment and increases the country’s tax base. Moreover, it reduces the mortality rate in the community. Given the benefits of increased accessibility of education, the government should strive to promote this concept through proper funding and investment by raising the current allocation from the GDP allocation.
An increase in the percentage of GDP allocation on public education will facilitate the development of schools and colleges in the community. The global population has increased at an alarming rate in the recent past. Therefore, the increased population has placed significant pressure on the existing educational facilities. While the GDP allocations on education in many countries have not changed or even reduced in some cases, the demand for education has significantly increased because of the increasing population and the growing need for quality knowledge (White, 2015). Presently, the allocations on education in the United States are insignificant in developing additional educational facilities to accommodate the growing populations. Most developing countries are still grappling with the inadequacy of schools and colleges particularly among the rural population. Although some people have opted to seek education in other countries, the larger section of the population cannot afford such privileges and will remain uneducated. Therefore, increased allocation on education will facilitate the development of more public schools and colleges thereby improving the access (Levin et al., 2007).
Secondly, an increase in the percentage GDP on education will increase the remunerations of teachers and college tutors to public schools and colleges. The main impediment to education has been the lack of adequate teachers and tutors in public schools and institutions of higher learning. The inadequacy is largely caused by lack of interest among the general public in taking up courses that will make them teachers because the compensation for their services is low. Consequently, public institutions of learning have suffered a significant shortage of teachers and instructors. Moreover, the public education sector has witnessed endless industrial actions in the recent pasty in demand for better pay and better working conditions (Borman & Hewes, 2012). Such factors have served to undermine the supply of teachers and instructors in the education sector in the recent past. Therefore, an increase in allocation from a country’s GDP will help facilitate the pay for teachers and college tutors and equally create the conducive working environment. Consequently, this will attract more people to enter this noble profession and hence increase accessibility of education to many people in the community. The quality of education will be improved eventually.
Lastly, an increase in the GDP allocation for public education will help in subsidizing the cost of education in the community. The cost of education both at elementary and higher education stages has greatly increased beyond the rich of many people. The main factor that hinders people from accessing quality education is lack of money to facilitate such education. Consequently, Majority of the poor people in the community largely rely on scholarships to be able to access education (Baum & Schwartz, 2013). However, this scholarship can only be provided to few people leaving the majority of the people without access to proper education. An increase in the national budgetary allocation on education will subsidize this education and make it affordable to all.
The opponents of increased national budgetary allocation to education argue that such an increase will not guarantee increased enrolment of people in educational systems since a combination of several factors leads people to drop out of schools and colleges (Borman & Hewes, 2012). However, the argument does not take into consideration the fact that those frustrations in the efforts to access education lead to the other factors that contribute to dropouts and low enrolments such as drug abuse. Therefore, this opposing argument is in itself a fallacy.
Overall, an increase in GDP will facilitate the development of more institutions of learning, increase remunerations for educators and subsidize the cost of education. This contribution will make education accessible to all people in the community and hence the community will be able to rip the benefits of education both in the short term and in the long run.


References
Baum, S., & Schwartz, S. (2013). Is Postsecondary Education Affordable? International Higher Education, (70), 11-25.
Borman, G. & Hewes G. (2012). The Long-term Effects and Cost-effectiveness of Success for All. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 24(2), 243-266.
Groot, W. and van D. (2010). The Effects of Education on Crime. Applied Economics, 42(3), 279 -289.
Levin M., et al., (2007). The Costs and Benefits of an Excellent Education for All of America’s Children. Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education at Teachers College. New York, NY: Columbia University
White, G. (2015). Better Schools, Better Economies. The Atlantic. Retrieved Oct. 24, 2017, www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/12/fixing-public-schools-for-a-better-economy/419526/