Analysis of Learning Needs for Rural Development: Some Basic Issues

One of the major problems being faced by developing countries throughout the world is concerned with the eradication of poverty, disease and backwardness from their rural areas. The task of transforming and modernizing rural societies is no doubt very difficult and complex, but at the same time a very urgent one, and should be given high priority in the overall plans and programmes of national development. This is because a much larger percentage of population in developing countries lives in rural areas compared to that in the developed countries. In some developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia, the rural population constitutes more than 75 percent of the total population. Furthermore, of the population in developing countries considered to be in either absolute or relative poverty, more than 80 percent are estimated to live in rural areas. There are many other socio-economic and political factors that generate a pressing need for urgent action towards rural upliftment