Providing higher education to students who are coming from rural areas is a challenging issue. It has been suggested that government should subsidize their university education. While the proposal has a number of positive sides, it has its own drawbacks too. In this essay, I will examine both the advantages and disadvantages of the proposal and then I will give my opinion.
There are a number of reasons why the suggestion has been made to provide a subsidized higher education to country side students. The first argument is that if governments give these students access to subsidized tertiary education, the number of university students from rural areas will increase significantly. This is due to the fact that a good number of rural students cannot get into tertiary education because they do not have sufficient funding. A good illustration of this is that as a student from rural area, I was able to get my university degree because my government provided me a tuition fee scholarship. Another point is that if we produce more university graduates by providing easier access to higher education for rural area students, our economy will be benefitted from that.
On the other hand, there are a number of drawbacks to providing subsidized tertiary education to rural area students. The first one is that this will disadvantage the urban area students. Second one is that government has more important areas such as health and these areas need more funding. Therefore, tax payer's money will be better spent in those areas. For example, government hospitals in Bangladesh cannot accommodate half of their patients and most of the remaining patients do not get any treatment.
While there are strong arguments on both sides of the case, my personal belief is that the policy should vary for the government of each country based on their economic conditions. I suggest that richer countries should subsidize the higher education for rural area students whereas developing countries should prioritize health sector over subsidized higher education for rural students.
There are a number of reasons why the suggestion has been made to provide a subsidized higher education to country side students. The first argument is that if governments give these students access to subsidized tertiary education, the number of university students from rural areas will increase significantly. This is due to the fact that a good number of rural students cannot get into tertiary education because they do not have sufficient funding. A good illustration of this is that as a student from rural area, I was able to get my university degree because my government provided me a tuition fee scholarship. Another point is that if we produce more university graduates by providing easier access to higher education for rural area students, our economy will be benefitted from that.
On the other hand, there are a number of drawbacks to providing subsidized tertiary education to rural area students. The first one is that this will disadvantage the urban area students. Second one is that government has more important areas such as health and these areas need more funding. Therefore, tax payer's money will be better spent in those areas. For example, government hospitals in Bangladesh cannot accommodate half of their patients and most of the remaining patients do not get any treatment.
While there are strong arguments on both sides of the case, my personal belief is that the policy should vary for the government of each country based on their economic conditions. I suggest that richer countries should subsidize the higher education for rural area students whereas developing countries should prioritize health sector over subsidized higher education for rural students.