| Abstract: | The preparation for the World Conference on Education for All at the beginning of 1990 once again showed clearly the importance of education for development in the countries of the Third World. This article explores the systemic place of education in the process of development. With the help of factor analysis it treats the following individual questions: Is education, or basic education, an independent factor? Are the many development indicators determined by general factors? Is basic education one of these factors? An analysis is made of development indicators from 1960 to 1984 drawn from World Bank reports on 38 sub-Saharan African countries. Two sets of economic, demographic and educational data have been examined: the first relates to the year 1984 (or nearest available); the second contains two years, adding an earlier set from the nearest available date to 1960. The analysis of the later set reveals five factors: general modernization, population growth, economic development, pupil-teacher ratio, and food supply to the general population. Education is not an independent factor in this list. Using the data sets from both years, seven factors are revealed. After diagonal rotation these are: basic education, degree of urbanization, pupil-teacher ratio, average standard of living attained, economic growth, service sector, food production per head, population growth, and employment in modern sectors. |
