Education, Macroeconomic Adjustment and the Role of Government

Abstract

Government intervention in Sudan has been pronounced in agriculture sector in form of agricultural development projects (ADP). The aim was to up left the rural poor above poverty line. After so many years of money disbursements the ADP has failed to switch the intended groups of population to high return activities or even sufficient access to productive assets. Now the objectives of such projects are being illusionary and macroeconomic policy success only as “an enabling environment”. A Thesis Submitted to the Sudan University for Science and Technology in Fulfilment for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Recently, there has been much interest in analyzing the impact of macroeconomic adjustment on the education sector. But, considerable uncertainty remains about the impact of macroeconomic adjustment in the demand and supply of education. Most analysis of the impact of adjustment on the education sector relying on the macroeconomic indicators. At the meso level – in the case of social infrastructure – we have found that bringing school to every village is not ended to it self, there are more lying on government than public spending or the share of total expenditure devoted to the sector. The institutional and cultural factors are vital in determining the kind of government intervention needed to the expansion path and long term development. Also liberalization policies are blindly understood, and the policymakers ignoring concepts such as benefits costs analysis, cost – effectiveness and the trade -off between the hostel and constructing new schools. All this things has its implication in the process of development