The impact of education liberalisation

Long gone are days when schools, colleges and universities were a rare spectacle in any given locality. Some decades ago, students attending primary and secondary school would walk for extremely long distances to get to schools. Very few dreamt of seeing the gate of a university, leave alone the inside. In East Africa, it was Makerere University that was the only object of envy for all that yearned to have the golden university education. Qualifying to join the then few institutions of learning was next to impossible. Even the staunchest optimists doubted their chances of making it to campus. Nowadays, education institutions have mushroomed. Every village, local town and city has a web of schools. Almost every region has a university, something that was unheard off. The expansion of education institutions and facilities followed the UN resolution that called for liberalisation of education. Governments were not to remain the sole providers of education. Private investors were allowed to initiate education institutions that met the prescribed standards of learning and human resource development.Now, the world is almost being suffocated by education institutions. Liberalisation of education has both positively and negatively impinged on the education and economic sector. On the positive side, the proliferation of education institutions has led to expansion of access to learning in the populous world. As many students as are available can get a place to drink from the fountain of knowledge. Opportunities for graduates have significantly expanded as expansion in education institutions has continued calling for more professional human resources, which has partially solved the sweeping worldwide unemployment problem.More qualified human resources are also being relayed into the labour market which is a big boost to the different economic sectors. On the other hand, liberalisation of education has led to uncontrolled expansion and establishment of education institutions which has greatly compromised the quality of education in some quarters where commercial interests have overridden the principles of education. The admission criteria in some colleges and universities have continued deteriorating drastically as the scramble for students and income has continued spiralling. Many institutions have now directed attention to profit and trampled on quality. As if that is not enough, management of many education institutions is now based on the ‘cost benefit analysis model per se, resulting in entrepreneurial mindsets rather than educational prudence. Many policies in the affected institutions have been geared towards garnering sacks of cash in bank accounts rather than spearheading quality provision of education. The future success of education lies in the hands of governments and other related policy formulators. Strict supervision and inspection of education institutions and subsequent penalties on those that do not comply is the way out. znyamosi@yahoo.com