The Capability Approach and Education

144
capabilities, e.g., working, being literate, healthy, being employed, being a part of a 
community , and being respected (Sen
1999
; Nussbaum
2011
). Therefore, the CA 
proposes that social, political, and economic resources and arrangements should be 
evaluated and constructed according to the capabilities people have to achieve valu-
able functionings in life (Sen
1985
 ,
1999
). 
Education is viewed as a crucial component of the CA. Sen ( 
1999
 ) and Nussbaum 
( 
2011
) identify education as central to the development of all human capabilities. 
Sen ( 
1999
) suggests that education could be viewed as a basic capability that con-
tributes to the enhancement of functionings critical to the well-being and quality of 
life of individuals. Critical to this understanding is the idea that education, as a 
capability, provides individuals with the agency to be an active participant in the 
planning and conducting of one’s life (Sen
1999
 ). Agency, therefore, is viewed as a 
form of empowerment that enables individuals to pursue goals based on decisions 
they value to take ownership of their own lives. An essential component of this argu-
ment is that quality and equity in education lead to the enhancement of capabilities 
of individuals to enable them to make decisions that positively infl uence their per-
sonal, social, and professional lives which in turn leads to the enhancement of their 
overall well-being and development. Therefore, the CA provides a theoretical per-
spective for education by identifying larger economic, social, and political condi-
tions that infl uence opportunities for education in society (Lynch and Baker
2005
; 
Walker and Unterhalter
2007
 ). 
Several researchers in the last decade have also embraced the CA as espousing 
the appropriate principles to inform the purpose of education in societies. Saito 
( 
2003
 ) contends that education expands opportunities for children and suggests that 
there is a strong positive relationship between the CA and education. Others (e.g., 
Walker
2005
; Terzi  
2005
; Walker and Unterhalter
2007
) have looked at the implica-
tions of CA in education through a social justice perspective to assess educational 
quality and equity in terms of educational advantages, disadvantages, access, race, 
gender, disabilities, and marginalization in societies. Unterhalter ( 
2003
 ) and 
Nussbaum ( 
2011
 ), in particular, have specifi cally argued in support of CA as a 
means to ensure gender equity in education. Similarly, Wilson-Strydom ( 
2011
) has 
applied the CA to support equal access to university education in South Africa. 
Lanzi ( 
2007
 ) builds on the existing arguments for the CA as a social justice approach 
to education by stating that the CA views education as an empowerment process. 
According to Lanzi, the CA states that the value of education is not defi ned by its 
ability to build human capital alone – i.e., fi nding a job or creating employment – 
but also by its contribution to the enhancement of skills and competencies that pro-
mote life-skills and life-options for all individuals in the society. 
The proponents of the CA have applied the perspective to support several aspects 
of education based on the common understanding that quality and equity in educa-
tion are instrumental to the development of valuable functionings required for the 
enhancement of well-being and development. Similar to the EGNH initiative, the 
CA positions education within a larger vision rooted in the concept of well-being, 
development, and justice. The relationship between CA and education, like the 
Pema Tshomo
mattschuelka@gmail.com

145
relationship between GNH and education, is grounded in the understanding that 
education has an enormous potential to transform society and achieve larger eco-
nomic, social, and political goals. However, unlike the EGNH initiative, which 
focuses mainly on the infusion of GNH values and principles through school cur-
riculum and pedagogy , the application of CA in education emphasizes the need to 
promote the right conditions (i.e., social, economic, political, and educational) for 
quality and equity in education. The CA argues that educational quality and equity 
is a core component of the enhancement of valued functionings that contribute to 
increased well-being in society. In this respect, the CA offers EGNH a powerful lens 
to extend its focus to include issues related to quality and equity in education in 
addition to its primary focus of the promotion of GNH values and principles. 
Before the evaluation of the relevance of the CA to the EGNH initiative, it is 
important to distinguish that the defi nition of happiness in the context of GNH is 
quite different from its perception in the CA. Sen ( 
1985
,  
2011
 ) contends that happi-
ness is an inadequate measure of well-being and development since he interprets 
happiness in the utilitarian tradition, which focuses on happiness as a mental state 
that ignores other important aspects of well-being. However, happiness in the con-
text of GNH is not related to mental states but one that focuses on sustainable living 
to promote human fl ourishing and well-being as the means to an enriched life 
(Karma Ura et al.
2012b
 ). Therefore, in GNH, the concept of happiness in used 
simultaneously with well-being (e.g., see Karma Ura and Karma Galay
2004
; 
Karma Ura et al.
2012b
 ; MoE
2012b
 ) to emphasis the synonymous relationship 
between the two concepts. It is this defi nition of happiness that is fundamental to 
GNH, and subsequently to the understanding of the EGNH initiative and its rela-
tionship with the CA. Moreover, it is important to emphasize that the CA is not 
presented as an alternative to EGNH but as a framework that complements Bhutan’s 
efforts to educate for GNH.

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