The role of education in economic development: the example of Zambia

The key to the development of the African countries lies in the modernisation of agriculture and the stabilisation of the rural population. Education has a very important role to play in the development of the rural areas. In Zambia the first Four Year Development Plan (1966-1970) and the first comprehensive manpower Report, taken together, provide an interesting study of the reaction of the country to the complex problem of development and the part which education has to play in it. A scrutiny of the plan shows that the Zambian Government has accepted the fundamental importance of developing the rural areas and has rightly placed the emphasis of the education programme on secondary, technical and higher education and the expansion of these in rural areas.