Abstract:
This study examined the social and spill-over benefits as motivating factors to investment in formal education in
selected countries in Africa. The paper had three objectives, namely) to profile the key statistics of formal
schooling; ii) examine the formal education and iii) link national goals of education with expectations in Ghana,
Kenya and Rwanda. The major contention of the paper is that investment in education is not a matter of random
choice but rather an imperative led by the fact that education holds returns and externalities to the largest society.
Authors reviewed theory of human capital, local and international publications on social and spill over benefits
of education focusing on Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda. The analysis of government policies and other publications
from these three African nations have shown that education is considered as a key sector in these developing
nations. Nevertheless, the researchers found out that mostly only primary and secondary education are
distinctively accorded considerable public financial resources which might be associated with the countries
limited financial ability, competitive needs, national and global trends. However, the fact that Ghana, Kenya and
Rwanda strive to become democratic, self-reliant and middle income nations by conquering long terms set
visions in which caliber manpower, welfare, self-employment, reduced social inequalities, increase in average
income, knowledge based society, ICT driven and sustainable economy are key characteristics; it is imperative to
invest substantially in TVET and higher education. It is also recommended that Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda put
in place strong institutions that objectively, effectively and rationally ensure the efficient use of all available
resources towards maximum educational outputs (265 words).
