Urban-Rural Disparities in Achievement at the Basic Education Level: The Plight of the Rural Child in a Developing Country

Abstract

This paper is just a sample template for the prospective authors of IISTE Over the decades, the concepts of Academic achievement provides a generally accepted indicator for measuring the performance or efficiency of any education system. To this effect, most developing nations including Nigeria conduct national assessment of learning achievement at the basic education level periodically to monitor the efficiency of their educational systems. Evidence from such assessments from five South –Eastern states of Nigeria indicates glaring urban-rural disparities which tilt against the rural child in all the areas of learning achievement. This paper therefore examined these disparities in the context of the underlying factors to portray the plight of the rural child in a developing nation who is educationally disadvantaged. The paper argued that this phenomenon which is a reflection of the neglect or marginalization of our rural communities and schools will, if unmitigated, have adverse effects on the development of rural communities in these nations. It thus underscored the necessity for an urgent and well-articulated pro-rural development strategy that will include a well-funded Rural Education Programme in developing nations.

Keywords: urban-rural disparity, environment, field theory, rural area, monitoring of learning achievement, social exclusion, economic exclusion, disparity analysis