LECTURE 4

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

INTRODUCTION
The objective of this unit is to discuss the issue of education and
employment. We will look at the two concepts, education and employment.
We will then discuss employment in educational institutions and then look at
the issue of output of educational establishment.
3.0 CONTENT:
3.1 MEANING OF EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT.
You have been taught various definitions of education before now. What we
will do is to present some practical definitions of education. Fafunwa (1974:17) defines education as “the
aggregate of al the processes by which a
child or young adult develops the abilities, attitudes and other forms of
behaviour which are of positive value to the society in which he lives”.
Ogbonnaya in Onwuka (ed) (2000) defined it as the process through which
the physical, intellectual, social, emotional and moral abilities of the
individual are developed to enable him contribute positively to the
development of his society. These definitions of education show that
education is supposed to develop in the recipients, the skills and abilities that
will enable them to make a successful living within a particular society.
Many people will define employment as job or work one does to earn a
living. But employment means ones regular trade or profession. Education is
basic to employment. Educational institutions equip individuals with skills.
Competences and attitudes that will enable them earn a living. Arinze in
Bosah and Eneasator (ed) (1996:133) remarked that ‘a situation where many
graduates from our educational system cannot fix themselves up into any
gainful employment shows that the educational system has not done what it
purports to do, and should therefore be reorganized.
3.2 EMPLOYMENT IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
The first point to note here is that educational institutions employ a very large
labour force. Educational institutions employ teachers of various categories –
Teachers Grade II Certificate holders, Holders of the Nigerian Certificate in
Education (NCE), and B.A, B.Sc degrees from various disciplines.
Educational institutions also employ supportive staff such as Educational
Administrators, Executive Staff, Clerks, Messengers, Accounting or Finance
Officers, Porters etc. Education is the largest single employer of labour in
Nigeria. It employs more people than the civil service. For instance, Abia,
Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Delta, Edo and Rivers state each
has more than 5000 Post Primary School teachers. Each of these States has
also more than 8000 Primary School Teachers.
Education also takes a very large percentage of Recurrent Government
Expenditures. In some States, it is up to 40%. Most of these expenditures are
incurred through payment of workers salaries and allowances. Education is a
general labour –intensive industry and an important one. In Nigeria,
education is largely in the public sector since the various State Governments
have taken control of Post Primary Schools in the country. The Federal
Government has taken control of Primary Schools throughout the country.
Government expenditures on education are thus determined by its social
programmes. Eze (1983:53) stated that “the Keynesian economics has it that
in case of unemployment cause by lack of effective demand, government expenditures on social services
has multiplier effects which will generally
increase employment depending on leakages.
The importance of education as an employer of labour has been further
enhanced by government’s expansion of educational services in all parts of
the country. Educational institutions have expanded within the past ten years.
We now have the Unity Schools in all States of the Federation. We now have
many more Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education spread
throughout the country.
3.3 OUTPUT OF EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENT
In this section, we will consider three phenomena in the Nigerian
Employment Market. The first is the high level of employment among some
categories of products of educational institutions. The second is the shortage
of certain kinds of labour. Thirdly, is that although there is high level of
unemployment, this is not uniform throughout the country. In some part of
the country like Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Delta
and Edo, the level of unemployment is quite high. In others like Bayelsa,
Sokoto, Taraba, Katsina, Kogi and Adamawa, there is a general shortage of
labour of all categories. The question at this juncture is; How do we as
experts in economics of education, explain this phenomena from the point of
view of the educational system of the country. A second reason for the large measure of
unemployment amongst primary
and secondary school holders is because of the content of our educational
curricular. Unfortunately, most primary and secondary schools are yet to reorientate
themselves for vocational and technical education. Even with the
new National Policy on Education, most students in our secondary schools
have not embraced technical and vocation education. This is because of the
wrong orientation of students towards technical and vocational education.
Most students are not interested in technical and vocational education which
is job – oriented.
We must state at this juncture that unemployment is already being observed
with respect to graduates of Colleges of Education, Polytechnics and
Universities. This is particularly with Arts and Social Science Graduates and
not with Science and Science-related discipline, Graduates of Igbo Language,
Yoruba, Hausa, History, Archaeology, Dramatic Arts, Music, French,
philosophy, Religion, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology and Political
Science find it difficult to secure employment.
Another characteristic of the Nigerian unemployment situation is that
although there is a large measure of unemployment, there is scarcity of
skilled labour. This fact is supported by Eze (1983) who attributed this to the
fault of the country’s educational system which does not emphasize
vocational and technical skills. This is why mechanics, electricians, masons,
stenographers, welders etc are in short supply.

Employers of labour in Kenya tend to be tied to government policies which

generally favour the employment of people of state of origin. It is no secret
that there still exists in the country ethnic and state considerations and
sentiments which tend to militate against employment based on merit and the
need of the employers. It is sad to note that most state governments of the
federation openly and privately pursue this as a policy. Most applicants in
some states of the country do not like to seek employment outside their home
states. The reason is because of the attitude of employers of labour towards
them. Also, many job seekers feel that they are more secure in their home
states.

4.0 CONCLUSION
In this unit, we have seen that the nature of unemployment in Nigeria stems
from lack of proper skill, expansion in educational institutions, faculty
curricular and faculty orientation unemployment in the country is
particularly high with secondary school graduates although the phenomena is
spreading fast among graduates of tertiary institutions. The lack of uniformity
in the spread of unemployment among the products of our educational system
is due to the fact that employers of labour tend to be tied with government
policies.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit, the meaning of education and employment were briefly defined
and explained. The nature of employment in our educational institutions was
discussed after which the issue of unemployment was comprehensively
discussed.

COST ANALYSIS IN EDUCATION

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Cost analysis is an indispensable tool in modern educational management,
and has become more essential today than ever before. An educational or
political leader, who promises universal Primary or Secondary education at a
given date without first checking the cost implications, may end up in serious
trouble. This unit therefore examines various issues related to cost analysis
in education, with emphasis on meaning, types and rationale.
3.0 CONTENT
3.1 THE CONCEPT OF COST IN EDUCATION
Cost in education can be conceptualized from two-related perspectives –
direct and indirect. The direct costs include the cost of all items purchased or
used for the educational system. From your own experience, you should
have realized that a lot of resources (human and materials) are used in the
educational system for the production of an educated person. The total value
of these resources constitutes the direct cost of education. Nwadiani (2000)
is in support of this position, when he noted that the cost in education reflect
the real resources (material, human and time) used up in the production of
educated individuals, as estimated in monetary terms. The direct costs are
sometimes referred to as real costs.
But direct costs are only one side of the equation on cost in education. There
is another side, called indirect costs. Remember that the investments made in
education could have been used to invest in other sectors of the economy.
This means that the cost of education could also be expressed in terms of
forgone alternative opportunities in the use of resources. This type indirect
cost to education is sometimes called opportunity cost. Given the above
explanations therefore, the cost of education could be defined in terms of real
cost and opportunity cost, expressed in the following equation.
Cost of Education = Expenditure + Opportunity Costs
3.2 TYPES OF COSTS IN EDUCATION
This section identifies and examines various types of costs in education.
Indeed, there are a variety of ways in which costs in education can be
classified. Pandit (1981) has however suggested that no matter the pattern of
classification, three main types of education costs exist namely:
Institutional Cost,
Private Cost, and
Social Cost
We shall adopt this pattern as our basis for discussion. The various types are
diagrammatically summarized below.

1. Private Costs: This is sometimes referred to as household cost. This

cost component comprises the money which the family, household or any
private body expends on education, as well as the opportunity cost. It
should be noted that many households are generally responsible for such
things as students tuition fees, students’ clothing, feeding, books and
stationery, transport fares to school, as well as the income the students
forgo in the course of their education. The income forgone to the student
is in terms of student’s time and other earnings he had forgone by being
in school. The student should have been gainfully employed in the
production of goods, and services, instead of being in school. Although
statistics and data are not readily available on private cost of education,
oral evidence shows that many households expend a large part of their
resources on education. However, as education becomes more
universalized, it is hoped that private cost of education will decline.
2. Institutional Cost: This category of cost has two main components,
namely: Capital cost and Recurrent costs. Capital costs are associated
with durable educational inputs particularly, land, site, utilities, buildings,
furniture and equipment, which render services for not less than one year.
In determining the cost of these capital inputs, depreciations are usually
made on the original cost of each item. This is because the value of most
capital goods never remains the same. They depreciate over the years
(for example, buildings). So, the costs are adjusted for repairs, additions
and depreciations.
Recurrent costs, on the other hand, incorporate expenses on such nondurable
items as salaries and allowance, stationeries, consumables, repairs
and maintenance, water and electricity bills, etc.
It should be noted that recurrent cost items, particularly salaries and
allowances, consume a large proportion of total educational expenses.
For example, Aghenta (1991) in Nwadiani (2000) show that in Ceylon,
94% of recurrent expenditures go to teachers’ salaries alone, while in
Morocco, it is as high as 95%.
3. Social Cost: This is usually estimated through appropriate
adjustments in private and institutional costs. Social cost is often
regarded as the total cost of education to the entire society. The
implication is that both institutional and private costs are regarded as social cost, except that the costs
of scholarship and tuition are removed
from institutional and private costs, respectively.
3.3 RATIONALE FOR COST ANALYSIS IN EDUCATION
It is not for nothing that cost analysis is carried out in education. The
following reasons therefore justify the introduction of cost analysis in
education. The following reasons therefore justify the introduction of costanalysis
in education.
1. Costing and Testing the Economic Feasibility of Educational
Plans: Indeed, Coombs and Hallak (1972) recognizes this reason for cost
analysis as the primary one. Many countries usually set unrealistic and
unrealizable plan targets without proper costing. Effective cost-analysis will
ensure that plans are matched with available resources.
2. Costing Educational Reforms: It is common to see some countries
embark on major educational reforms, without first considering the cost
implications. This has happened in Nigeria with the case of the U.P.E. of
1976, and the U.B.E scheme of 1999 where no meaningful cost analysis
interms of teacher demand and supply, pupils’ enrolment, buildings,
equipment and facilities, etc, was carried out. This accounted for the various
lapses experienced in the implementation of these programme. Cost analysis
could have given the direction of implementation.
3 Encouraging Efficiency in the Utilization of Resources: Education
is competing for resources with other sectors of the economy. Efficiency
criteria demands that investments should only be made in areas where there
are minimum wastages. Cost analysis is an indispensable tool in this
direction, because it ensures that factors that can lead to wastages are
identified and eliminated.
4. Adapting Innovations to Education: Today, there are numerous
4.0
technological innovations which could be adopted to education (for example,
computer and multi-media facilities). Taking advantage of such innovations
is often difficult. In all events, cost considerations could help in reaching
decisions to alter the existing practices and adapt or adopt the innovations.
CONCLUSION
Although cost analysis is an indisputable tool in modern educational
management, it has no special magic operation to remedy faulty conditions: it
can only contribute importantly to getting more and better education from
whatever resources are available

SUMMARY
In this unit, our focus has been on cost in education as regards the meaning of
cost in education, types of costs in education and rationale for cost analysis in
education. The keen competition among the various economic sectors
suggest that educational administrators should pay more attention to cost
analysis to ensure that resources available for education are judiciously
utilized.