Colonial education and post-colonial governance in the Congo and Indonesia

Education affects long-term social and economic development through at least three major channels. ¹ First, education positively affects public health. Educated people possess a better understanding of the importance of hygiene, a more accurate knowledge of risks of disease and preventive measures, and tend to have better access to sources of medical knowledge. Studies have found a negative correlation between educational attainment and, for instance, infant and maternal mortality rates, the use of contraceptives, and fertility rates. Healthy people tend to be more productive, and the health effects of education tend to accumulate as they are transmitted between generations, a transmission in which maternal education plays a key role (Banarjee and Duflo 2011: 41–70; Klasen 2002; Lloyd et al. 2000; Mokyr 2002: 163–217).