For the interface, you could stick with the average literacy rate. It depends on how much info you think the user needs. I think I suggested being able to select a province to see more details about it in another thread. This would be good to show as detailed info.

As for the actual literacy of people or sub groups, the more detail you have, the more accurately you can simulate what's going on. So more is better as long as you can program it and adds to the enjoyability of the game.

For the interface, you could stick with the average literacy rate. It depends on how much info you think the user needs. I think I suggested being able to select a province to see more details about it in another thread. This would be good to show as detailed info.

As for the actual literacy of people or sub groups, the more detail you have, the more accurately you can simulate what's going on. So more is better as long as you can program it and adds to the enjoyability of the game.

The problem is not in programming it (or at least it's a minor one), but in the representation (interface). The problem is in how to make it not confusing to the player, not cluttered on the screen, etc.

OK, assuming 4 levels of education (illiterate, elementary, high school, university), how about this:

- each group tracks separately members with these levels of education (4 variables)

- when turn end (time passes) a portion of population within a group dies of old age (proportional to each education level) and new ones take thier place with an education level of illiterate (or elementary if you have schools - children are taught how to read & write)

- population from a group can join "students" group (it's like changing a job) where they will upgrade their education level, all who reach max education level are automatically kicked out from students to unemplyed group (from where they can seek new job)

Now, how to convey this information to the player?

I have attached the screen listing population inside a province:

- the first icon is their place of job (like factory)

- the second icon is the symbol of sociual group (labourers, unemplyed, teachers, students), the background color indicates the province (in this case the green province)

- next is the number of people and the name of the group

- next is education bar (which can be made of up to 4 "bars"), red means illiterare, then yellow for elementary and so on.

What you think?

(note I'm still open to a completely different solution)

I would give the provinces names as well and show that as the caption of that screen. You can also make it smaller and show it in an empty (sea) area of the map, if there's a small amount of information.

The presentation of the groups looks pretty good to me.

See it as service and eventually as economic system, this way it is more or less a standard demand and supply scenario.

I have job migration covered (even have a prototype :D). I look for ideas how to handle education (not how teachers are employed since that can be done just like other jobs).

This way, a qualified teacher (College) could move abroad and temporarily fill in local needs (land a temporary job as a miner assuming there's no room for a teacher and mining is in dire needs of hands).

I will probably not simulate emigration outside the country (only immigration). It's not in the scope of the game (I mwould need to simulate an external world), plus, as a dictator you can simply close borders and don't let your high educated population leak out :D

The better your degree, the more versatile you get, but also the more volatile (meaning having people with high degrees alone will lead to 3rd sector servicing migration and leave the 1st sector pretty much unattended).

Bit more "votaile" is interesting. Maybe people who are educated are more likely to change jobs or migrate to other provinces.

The presentation of the groups looks pretty good to me.

OK, let's say, there is this 4 levels of education system with this colourful bar.

How to handle teachning exactly? Assuming you have schools and teachers and these work at a certain efficiency/capacity (ignore for now how it's calculated). How it affects the education levels of the population?

Does it affect new born population only? Or maybe adult population need to go to "students" group and then graduate somehow? Or both?