Education is highly significant to the economy of a country. However, access to education is challenged by two major factors. The factors include time and money.  For this reason, most governments across the world have implemented free education policy.  In the United States, the free education in public schools covers all the expenses.

Free education

Free education in the public schools helps as many people as possible to
access education. This means that more people re able to graduate from the primary level of education in high school and eventually to higher levels of education. With free education, students from low-income families can access education.

This helps to increase the number of people who are skilled in working in the public and private institutions. According to economists Schultz (1960 and Dimension (1962), The increase in the number of people accessing education in a nation helps to increase the human capital. This leads to an increase in the output of a country which is one factor that leads to economic growth.

According to a study done by Dimension in the year 1985, The 13 percent growth rate experienced in the U.S between the years of 1929 to 1982 can be attributed to the increase in the level education attained. This was caused by the availability of free education which enabled more people to gain access to the education.

Free public education also helps to increase the number of people who can produce goods and services. This increases the income of the people leading to a stronger economy. Additionally, education helps to differentiate people following their respective strengths and talents.

Some of the most brilliant people driving the tech world were able to identify their passion and intelligence in technology due to the exposure they got through education. Other top athletes in the world were identified due to the school system.

Therefore, the free education increases the chances of more people who have certain talents to be identified. These are the people who end up being very instrumental in driving the economy of the world.According to major national development organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Governments should invest more in the human capital through education is a major way to fight poverty and improve the economic standards of a nation.

Across the globe, countries with higher enrollment rates experience a faster growth rate.Therefore, it is fundamental for the government to invest in the human capital as they invest in other sectors of the economy.The Quality of the workforce is also an important factor in economic growth. Therefore, factors such as corruption, low wages, poor quality of education and such affect the economic growth. Thereby, it is important for a government to ensure that as it improves the accessibility of education, It should also improve the quality of education.

The benefits of the free education are apparent to many stakeholders in the education sector. For this reason, major universities in the world are introducing free courses. Most of these courses are being offered online. Some of the institutions such as Harvard and Johns Hopkins are using outlets such as edX and Coursera to offer free online courses. This is in a bid to reach out to more people in the world.