The effects of quality education on sustainability in developing countries is studied in this chapter. Different categories of developing countries include: high developed developing countries, low developed developing countries but have huge resources, and simply low developed developing countries. This chapter concentrates on low developed developing countries because their people badly need to develop. Essential issues in these countries are summarized and the main problems of achieving quality education are given. The negative effects of low-quality education on sustainability are introduced. Some solutions and recommendations are proposed and the positive effects of quality education on sustainability in low developed developing countries are illustrated.
Top2. Main Problems For Achieving Quality Education In Developing Countries
To discuss the main problems for achieving quality education in developing countries, a differentiation between the high developed developing countries like Malaysia, the low developed developing countries with huge resources like Kuwait, and low developed developing countries like Somalia has to be taken into consideration. In this work concentration will be on low developed developing countries.
The main ten problems are as follows:
Memorizing Instead of Critically Thinking
This is the most crucial problem in many low developed developing countries like Somalia. It is the easiest way for the teachers to teach and for the students to learn. Stressing critical thinking is very tiring for the students and much more tiring for the teachers. In mathematics for example many teachers are just writing the theorem and its proof on the board and the students copy and memorize both, while the recommended way is to write the theorem and its assumptions on the board then asking the students to help in proving the theorem while seated or better on the board. In this case the students will start to learn how to think critically and even enjoy it with the time (Krantz, 1993).
Cheating
Due to severe social problems in several low developed developing countries, cheating is tolerated and will not be punished. Some of the reasons are the extremely unfair system of distribution of wealth among all people in those countries, the high percentage of very poor people, the high percentage of uneducated parents, and the hard-working children of poor and/or uneducated parents.
Many students, parents, and some teachers tolerate and even encourage cheating ignoring the very basic self-explanatory values and principles of fairness, honesty, and integrity. Some well-educated fair teachers tell their students that they are not cheating the teachers but their own class mates. Very critical issue is that in several low developed developing countries some teachers do not give appropriate punishment to the cheating students.
This topic is either neglected completely in some schools or partially in other schools. With the modern hardware and software, it is extremely essential to apply those hardware and software very intensively. Due to the lack of financial and technical support this usage is very hard to achieve. Consequently, after the students finish the high schools, the situation at the university level is catastrophic. It costs the teachers huge time and effort to make the students learn, understand, and be firm about this issue. In some cases, the teachers have to start from the scratch with enormous dedication.
This problem now at present is absolutely important and has to be solved fast and comprehensively.
Several low developed developing countries do not have enough financial resources and not enough experts in this field.
The governments and nongovernmental association are somehow helpless as the investment in this field is very limited on one hand and on the other hand enough professional people are not available (Albirini, 2004).