Discuss the functions of Education

1 Cultural transmission
The process of cultural transmission is not easy. Sometimes society places alt of demands on the schools. Furthermore, we should note that in the process of cultural transmission schools compete with other transmission agencies such as the peer groups, the church, radio, cinema, and television. Some of these agencies can command a more powerful influence on the pupils than the schools.
Education preserves the society’s dominant culture and passes it on through schools from generation to generation. This is done through the instrumental culture comprising of the skills, facts and procedures as well as expressive culture consisting of the values, norms, concepts and images of the approved behaviour. Schools are organised to familiarise children with their cultural heritage such as the symbols, national traditions and the reliable knowledge

2 Socialisation Function of Education
The education system socialises students to become members of the society so as to play meaningful roles in the complex network of independent positions. It shapes the values and the attitudes to the needs of the contemporary society. It offers the young people with the opportunity of intellectual, emotional and social growth. It leads towards tolerant and humanitarian attitudes thus producing the citizens who are obedient and conform to the society’s norms. They will accept the roles and status the society will confer upon them when they have completed their schooling.

3 The Innovative Function of Education
Education is the source of new ideas and knowledge. It initiates the technical and artistic social changes. Education is an instrument for effecting economic change by training experts of different fields. It is also used in effecting the technological change as well as the change of ideas. It also effects personality change.
The modern society must change if it wishes to survive and education is expected to supply the innovators and to ensure any such change takes place smoothly.

4 Political Function of Education
Education is used to politicize future citizens and foster national integration through the inculcation of the common culture. It does this through political socialization which refers to the transmission of values, beliefs and ideas with regard to the generation, distribution and exercise of power in a given society.
Education provides political leaders at all levels of the democratic society and preserving the existing government by ensuring loyalty to it. Education is a basic prerequisite for effective political participation. It is also instrumental in instituting social and political stability in a complex multi-group society. Governments rely on education to teach the students to be loyal and active citizens.


5 The Economic Function of Education
Education provides all levels labour force with the quantity and the quality of educated manpower required under the current technical conditions. By training the future labour force, education enhances manpower planning and in fostering social mobility. Education is expected to supply adequate manpower to different sectors of the economy. It furthermore must furnish human resource for the future needs of the economy.

6 The Selective and Allocative function of education
The education system is a key institution which is used to sort out the most able of the whole population. In the modern society, education acts a filtering apparatus which selects and directs people to different areas of specialisation as well as levels of operation. Whenever education as an institution is able to perform this function well, then the society is able to make full use of the sum total of intellectual qualities, talents and abilities of people.The school system, through its formally established mode of tests, examinations and reports fixes children into categories. They are thus labelled as either bright or slow learners, under-academic achievers or non-achievers. This labelling has an eventual effect of categorising pupils into professions, jobs or trades.
The school is perceived as being responsible for creating the identity and destiny of groups’ people and then directing them into a certain social construction which is either narrow or broad. It will also place them into rewarding opportunities in life.

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sharon kalunda answered the question on April 11, 2019 at 13:59