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© The Author(s) 2020
A. Masinire, A. P. Ndofirepi (eds.), Rurality, Social Justice and Education in Sub-Saharan Africa Volume I, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57277-8_3
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The Link Between Education and Social
through which social upward mobility is achieved. Those who have been privileged to access higher education up to university level are in an advantaged position. But unlike their urban counterparts, rural students are at a disadvantage. They experience the scarcity of teaching materials such as books, poor or no technology (which includes Wi-Fi) and a short- age of classrooms. These and many other challenges affect the educational performance of rural learners, resulting in only a small number of stu- dents who qualify for higher education. Such situations hinder the social upward mobility of rural students, since education has become the pre- requisite of employment and a better life (Shavit and Blossfeld 1993).
The rural/urban dichotomy is at the epicentre of the discussion in this chapter. This duality is predicated on the understanding that while higher education opens the gates for social upward mobility, urban dwellers have better opportunities to access education facilities in general, and higher education facilities in particular, compared to their rural counterparts.
Therefore, rurality is an important variable in interpreting and under- standing social inequalities across the African continent. In fact, other countries outside Africa face the same predicament of constantly trying to reduce the gap between the urban/rural divide.
In the past, enrolment at education institutions was low because many people were poor and could not afford both basic and higher education.
The situation was worse in many rural areas (Torche 2013). This has changed somewhat, but the playing field between urban and rural set- tings remains uneven. This trend continues even after the students have graduated. For example, South Africa has an uncontrollably high number of unemployed graduates. Here, too, graduates from rural areas have even less chances to find employment due to their location. Graduate unem- ployment is a global problem as the college graduates of Europe and Asia are faced with the same predicament (Mok 2013). However, this does not alter the fact that African graduate students in general, and rural gradu- ates in particular, are the worst affected.
Globally, it is common practice among employers to ask for the aca- demic qualifications of potential employees before deciding who will be offered a job. The assumption is that someone with a higher education qualification is well positioned to be a better asset to the company com- pared to someone who either has basic education or no education at all.
Once employed, people are able to earn a decent salary and better their material and financial conditions, thereby improving their social status.
This paves the way for social upward mobility. If most of those who have academic qualifications come from urban areas, as is usually the case, they are in an advantaged position compared to those who come from rural areas and therefore have less or no education at all. This is one example where the link between higher education and social upward mobility as well as the link between rural and urban becomes evident.
Therefore, any analysis of social upward mobility which ignores these binaries as an analytical tool is bound to be deficient at best and irrelevant at worst.
Those who have little or no education are either left unemployed or do menial jobs just to be able to put bread on the table. They normally live from hand to mouth with fewer prospects to elevate their social status or move up the social ladder. Therefore, they cannot even invest for the future or manage to buy all the basic items that they need in the present.
Unlike those who are educated, have better jobs and earn better salaries, their social status either remains stagnant or is significantly lowered.
Consequently, they have a low self-esteem. Therefore, education becomes a contributing factor towards social upward mobility. In the same vein, lack or the absence of education limits one’s chances to elevate one’s social standing. Within this trajectory, since rural communities generally have fewer opportunities (including both basic and higher education opportu- nities) compared to their urban counterparts, the latter are better posi- tioned to move up the social ladder quicker than the former. This distinction is due in part to the availability of financial and material resources in the case of urban dwellers or lack thereof in the case of rural inhabitants (Shavit and Blossfeld 1993).
This is the broader context within which the present chapter is crafted.
In it, we argue that there is correlation between access to education, espe- cially higher education, and social upward mobility. We also advance the argument that rural and urban inhabitants are not on a par in terms of benefitting from what education has to offer. Against this backdrop, we draw examples from different African countries and discuss some theo- retical perspectives which demonstrate how education contributes to social upward mobility. In our discussion we also draw parallels between rural and urban dwellers regarding their prospects for accessing education.
Using this comparison, we argue that education plays a critical role in improving people’s social status. But we also go further to argue that those who live in urban areas are in a more advantaged position com- pared to those who reside in rural areas. To illustrate our discussion in this regard, we cite examples from the colonial and apartheid contexts.
We aver that this notion of upward social mobility or social stratification was first determined by race (Seekings 2003; Mngomezulu 2010), but when it came to the black population, both the educational level and geographical location (urban or rural) played a contributing role in locat- ing black people on the social hierarchy. In other African countries such as Rwanda, we argue that ethnicity compounded this problem as colonial administrators used ethnicity when providing educational facilities and thus predetermined who would move up the social ladder (Ndikumana 2006). After expounding these arguments, we proffer some ideas on the way forward in terms of dealing with some of the issues raised in the chapter.