Browsing by Author "Beni, Alphonsus"

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    The effects of formal education on poverty reduction in Ghana: the case of Jirapa District.
    (KNUST, 2018-05) Beni, Alphonsus
    There was a paucity of empirical evidence on the effects of formal education on poverty reduction in Ghana, particularly in the Jirapa District of the Upper West Region. This study used the case study design to investigate the extent to which formal education had an effect on poverty reduction among rural households in the Jirapa District. A multi-stage sampling methods were used to select a sample of 701 heads of households who provided data for the study. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, focus group discussions and non-participant observation. The data were analyzed using percentages and frequency charts, chi-square tests and multivariate binary logistic regression and cross tabulations to explore relationships between poverty and relevant variables in the context of social Darwinism and structural theories using SPSS version 22 software. The results reveal that the causes of poverty in the study area include geographically difficult environment, lack of formal education and governmental policies. The findings of the study raises provocative, startling and challenging conclusions that, the causes of poverty in the study area is endemic in that the people are trapped in a geographically difficult environment which affects their income negatively and creates a vicious cycle of poverty. The findings of the study further show that formal education reduces levels of poverty through educational empowerment that results in human capital formation, skills training and employment generation. The study established a statistically significant relationship between formal education and income, dwelling unit and nutrition. The theories have also been found to hold based on the revealed results. The study shows that the formally educated have greater chances of being part of the social fabric as well as being active participants in the governance of their locality, the district and country. Thus, formal education consolidates the individual‘s position as being a nonpoor entity. On the bases of these findings, it is recommended that education at secondary level should be freely accessible to all in the country.