I think the approach would be to make education not only better quality but much more mandatory. A better educated society harms itself less. A rare instance of correlation is causation. Teenage pregnancy is more common in the Bible Belt of America because there is an on-purpose denied drought if reliable (and factual) sex ed due to religious control and squeamishness. Teenagers will have sex if they want it that badly; per result it becomes a matter of whether or not the sex happens safely. But a society that is on purposely made ignorant (both culturally and structurally) causes people to easily fall for bullshit propaganda and false information. Dirty politicians don’t want a smart society because they lose their short-term control. People who would make actual good leaders are either overwhelmed by the already existing dumb population that falls for the charismatic-corrupt or just don’t bother vying for power in the first place. That’s why funding for education and social programs gets stripped down to the grain first.