Assessing the Impact of Educational Status on Poverty Alleviation in Khyber Paktunkhwa, Pakistan
(ProQuest: denotes formulae omitted.)IntroductionFormal education system has an important role in the building of economy and overall social development strategy of any country. The global impact of formal education on postindustrial society has been so extensive that it can be argued that mass education leads social revolution and expedite the process of modernization (Parsons, 1971) Education serves as a tool for the individual's psycho social and socio economic development and educated individuals can lead their nations to the beacon of development (Kant, 1971) Education and schooling are instrumental in creating social reforms on the global level (Dewey, 2009).However, the people of third world counties have no access to education and still they follow their traditional thinking to reforms socio economic institutions. The low level of education in third world countries has significant influence on the life style of the local inhabitants and they are unable to develop their socio economic condition. Similarly, the condition of education sector in Pakistan is very miserable. As a result of low education ratio poverty has been increasing in Pakistan. More than 40% people in Pakistan are leaving under the poverty line. Resultantly, they are unable to afford quality education for their children. In addition, the government's negligence is frustrating the situation further. The primary education completion rate in Pakistan given by UNESCO (2012) is 33.8 for females and 47% for males, which shows that people in the 6th populous country of the world are unable to get the basic education (Mehbub ul Haq Human Development Center Report, 2012).The education ration can be increased by providing free education to the people and it can also be reduced the poverty level. Particularly, investment in formal education is considered a key to an increase the overall income of the population and hence to reduce the poverty (Arif and Iqbal, 2009) Education offers many benefits for both individual and societies. The Center for Research in Chronic Poverty (2008) highlights the importance of level of education that, "formal education is strongly associated with the decreased possibility of chronic poverty.The idea behind the selection of my research topic was to highlight the problem of poverty, which is a growing social problem, with reference to its alleviation through reliable sustainable means of. Education as we know is a well known developmental approach applied globally, but ironically, not in Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Education sector shows a devastating state of affairs in terms of access, quality and quantity. We have committed on the forum of EFA in 1990 and then in 2000 to enhance the literacy ratio to 100% completion rate of primary education and 86% in secondary education in this year of 2015, but failed to do so.Keeping into account the above facts for different attempts on part of the scholars, the present study was designed to know into the relationship between educational status and poverty alleviation in KP, Pakistan. This study is focused on the education importance and its role in the alleviation of poverty and also on the leaving standard of the people.Literature ReviewEducation has got importance especially in term of development on the global level. Various research studies indicate that low level of education increased poverty, slavery, crimes, underdevelopment, communal riots, societal disharmony, lack of coordination, disintegration, economic setback in a human society John, 1975; Kant. 1971; Dewey, 2009) Poverty can be reduced by effective education. Education is considered one of important capital and play pivotal role in development. The knowledge based economy is the product of education process to generate human capital. The promotion of human capital is essential for the utilization of changed economy in the age of globalization Ozga, Seddon, Popkewitz, 2006)