Education drives prosperity, progress

Education has a direct link with a country’s prosperity. Our large population must be leveraged to advantage. All countries with huge populations have made excellent use of this resource to drive economic growth and improve the standard of living. This was done mainly by achieving high literacy rates.

Singapore is a good example of how education can transform a country. Although it has very few natural resources, Singapore has a very high GDP, all because of education. Education drives progress. Education drives intellectual capacity building, which drives the ability to know right from wrong, which results in overall better governance. Education drives innovation, values, the ability to see the future and solution-based thinking, which drive economic growth.

Studies have shown that an increase of 20 to 30 per cent in literacy produces a gain of 8 to 16 per cent gain in GDP. The true benefits of education and its impact on productivity and economic growth must be understood and harnessed to take the country to glorious heights of development, progress and prosperity.