ABSTRACT
The growing interest and participation of economists in educational planning is one of the most encouraging recent developments in the field of education, and has attracted the attention of other disciplines to the problems of educational development. More people now insist on an inter-disciplinary approach to these problems as the most valid method for dealing with such a vast and complex field. 1 Only a few years ago, educators began to bring together educational administrators and economists and other specialists. True, the educators’ primary concern was to ensure more internal and external funds for education. Nevertheless, the rapprochement has certainly broken the ice for the educational sector; education is now widely accepted as a prerequisite for general development programmes and as a major factor contributing to economic growth. It has also made the educators both in advanced and developing countries aware of the need to reappraise the general and specific goals and methods of education. However, educators have not yet realized the importance of a better understanding of economic theories and their application to educational problems. For their part the economists have not properly taken account of a long history of pedagogical research and practice; sometimes they have ignored the cultural and social role of education.
