MODULE VI

People Development Policies

Submitted by:

Diaz, Bianca P.

Discaya, Louisse E.

Ferrer, Jenielyn E.

Lagunilla, Carmela P.

Mata, Lonnah Claire B.

Pinguiaman, Michelle

From:

BS Accountancy 2-1

Submitted to:

Mrs. Sherry Joyce V. Nuestro

Page |1
 MODULE VI

People Development Policies

Instructional Objectives

After studying this module, you should be able to:

1. Discuss the importance of investing in human resources;

2. Identify the strategies for developing people;
3. Identify the major human resource problems;
4. Discuss the different approaches to education;
5. Identify the factors that bar educational reforms; and
6. Barriers to industrialization.

Instructions for Using the Module

This is a self-instructional module. Before you begin with this module, take the
pre-test found in the next page. This is to find out what you already know about
people development policies. Write down your answer on a separate sheet.

Check your answers against the correct answer key located at the end of
Module Six. If you got a score of 75 percent and above, you have satisfactory
knowledge about the topic. If your score is below 75, proceed in reading this module.

Page |2
 PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT POLICIES

Introduction:

The process of development involves the interaction of money, materials,

machines, and people. Out of such factor combinations, roads and bridges are
constructed, houses and buildings are built, crops and animals are raised, schools
and hospitals are erected, and other social and economic infrastructures are formed.
Said resources of development provide considerable influence in the attainment of
desirable but realistic level of growth in the economy. However, there are countries
and they are many that have been gifted with very rich natural resources. And yet
until now they have been remained poor and underdeveloped. The reasons are they
have no sufficient money and modern technology to explore and develop their idle
rich natural resources.

On the other hand, there are few countries that are endowed with very limited
natural resources and that they were deficient in capital. But they were able to
transform their poor economies into prosperity and abundance. Good examples are
Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and Israel. These countries are now very progressive –
far more prosperous than most other countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Why are these countries successful despite their natural shortage comings? The only
answer is the people.

The human resource is still the most important factor in economic

development, and money, machines, and materials are useless.

The key therefore to economic development is the suitable improvement of

the skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and institutions of the people. This can be
done through the long process of education and training. It is a kind of education
which rationalizes attitudes and values towards economic development within the
framework of local condition and needs. It should not be an imported western brand
of education. It should not be one that develops students to adore foreign heroes,
traditions, and product.

Page |3
Investment in People

The economic growth of rich countries like that of the United States and those
Western Europe has not been due only to physical and financial capital but also
human capital. In fact, the latter has greater influence on the economic success of
the aforementioned countries. They have good scientists, business managers, public
administrators, educators, workers, employees and farmers. They are efficient
because they have the right knowledge and skills. However, aside from these
positive qualities, the more important factor is their attitude and values which are
conducive to economic development. For instance, there is a less corruption,
favoritism, tardiness, and other negative work attitudes. In Japan, employees and
workers love their jobs. As much as possible, they do not like to take their vacations.
All these good qualities in people are the products of proper education, and these
have become a part of their culture.

Miseducation and Wrong Values

Many times it has been said that a nation is as good as its people. If the
people are great, then their country is also great. If the people are lazy and corrupt,
then their country is weak and unstable. It has been observed that the people in the
less developed countries do not have the right kind education and training. This
means that their knowledge and skills are not applicable to the needs of their
economy. Therefore, these are not functional. For example, there are not enough
competent managers and skilled technicians. In the Philippines, there is oversupply
of college graduates in business administration, but only very few are really qualified.
Their only option, if they are lucky, is to accept a job which is not within their
academic background. Or else, they joined the great hods of unemployed
professional.

However, aside from misplaced education, the more serious defect is the
wrong attitudes and values of young people. They prefer white collar – jobs or
prestigious college degrees. They have a natural dislike for courses like poultry,
piggery, fishery, agronomy or forestry. And yet there is a demand for such training or
specialization. Young people always cast a social stigma on such “low-class” courses.

Page |4
The Right Kind of Education

The resources of less developed countries are scarce. Needless to say, such
resources should be used wisely in pursuing the development objectives of any
developing country. Education constitutes the biggest expenditure in the national
budgets of the said countries except for the dictatorial ones. If the huge expenditure
is used for wrong education, then it is a great waste of scarce resources. Educated
people who cannot find suitable jobs are not efficiently productive. They do not
contribute to the national income, and they pose a threat to political stability.

Investment in people should therefore means spending enough money for the
right education. It is a kind of education which accelerates economic development
one that improves the quality of life of the great masses. Moreover, the kind of
education that vigorously stresses the development of human, social and cultural
values was essential elements which make a nation great.

Strategies for Developing People

Developing economies have two basic problems: one is shortage of technical

and skilled manpower, and the other is the surplus labor in all sectors of the economy
especially in agriculture. For instance, veterinarians and farm technicians are not
enough to serve the needs of rural areas. Computers and factory management
experts are inadequate in supply in relation to the needs of developing economy. And
yet there are millions of unemployed because their skills or trainings have no place in
their own country. Just to struggle for existence, many of them take any odds jobs. In
the Philippines, it is not surprise to see many individuals sell all sort of goods in the
street and inside buses. These are symptoms of unemployment problems. Said two
basic problems have been the focus of the strategy for human resource development.
Hence, the objectives are to develop the right skills and to provide productive
employment for the surplus labor.

W.A. Harbinson, a known resource development expert, stated the objective

of manpower analysis:

1) To identify the main critical shortages of skilled manpower in every sector

of the economy, and analyze the reasons for such shortages;

Page |5
 2) To identify the surpluses, for the both skilled and unskilled labor, and to
analyze the reason for such surpluses; and

3) To set forward targets for woman resource development based on realistic

expectations of growth.

The success or accuracy of manpower analysis is based on the wise

judgment planners and on the availability of sufficient and reliable statistics. In most
less developed countries, complete and accurate statistics are not always available.
For these reason, it has become difficult to calculate exactly the number of people
who are needed in every job at some future time. However, despite such short
comings, the purpose of manpower analysis is to provide an objective picture of the
major human resource problem of the economy. Once the manpower problem have
been identified and analyzed, an appropriate strategy must develop to solve such
problems. Such strategy should contain the following essential components:

1) Building appropriate incentives

2) Effective training of employed force

3) Rational development of formal education.

Manpower Problems in the Developing Countries

The lack of job opportunities in the rural areas, have forced the rural poor to
move into the cities to look for jobs. This influx of people has increased further the
number of unemployed in the cities. Such problem is more severe and widespread in
agricultural countries where most of the people are seasonal farm workers. They
have something to work only during planting and harvesting seasons. Thus, most of
the time, they are jobless. And so they go to the cities to look for jobs. This kind of
problem is most rampant in Latin America. Most of the vast agricultural lands for the
region are haciendas and large corporate plantation. These employ thousand
seasonal farm workers, necessary skill, the small manufacturing sector of their
economy cannot possibly absorb all the unemployed people since the region is
agricultural economy. Then the right solution should come from the agriculture. What
is needed in Latin America is a sincere land reform program. The tiller of the soil
should be given land of their own. Through this way they do not only help themselves
but also the whole economy.

Page |6
 Major Human Resource Problems

W.A. Harbinson mentioned the major human resource problem in the

developing counties, such as:

1. Rapid growth of population;

2. Increasing unemployment in the modern sectors of the economy and

widespread underemployment in the traditional agriculture;

3. Shortage of persons with critical skills and knowledge which are necessary
for effective national development;

4. Insufficient and underdeveloped organizations and institution for mobilizing

human effort;

5. Lack of incentives for individuals to engage in productive activities which

are vitally important national development; and

6. People are suffering generally from undernourishment.

Approaches to education

The investment of resources should be accompanied by the application of

new technical knowledge. This should be introduced to the masses if only few
privileged group can acquire the highest standard education and training, this has
very little effect on the social and economic condition of the whole nation. Instead, it
only creates uneducated elite who are devoid of social awareness – and their
education and training may not be relevant to the real basic needs of the economy.
Education, therefore, should be democratic, aside from its being vocational and
technical. Each should be made available to the poor masses.

Not a few of existing school programs of the less developed countries have
been copied from the great tradition of European culture and tradition. This is
theoretical, humanistic, autocratic which aspire only for individual excellence rather
than mass education. Former colonial administrator brought with them such brand of
education. Education has been a passport to fame and wealth. Thus, technical and
vocational education has been despised by many young people, together with their
parents. By and large, people are ashamed to do manual work, especially in public.

Page |7
To them it is a short social stigma. And yet in the United States, even the rich
American performs manual labor. Unfortunately, many developing countries adopt
the same direction. As a result, millions of school drop outs in the elementary level
have learned nothing which is practical and relevant to their personal needs and their
communities.

Most of the school drop outs live in the rural areas or agricultural communities.
What they learned from their elementary education is useless. For instance,
theoretical knowledge of history or literature has no economic meaning to the drop
outs. They cannot use such knowledge to earn their living. Actually, what they freely
needs are skills which will help them make a living right after they leave permanently.

Based on Hindu tradition, education was principally the privileged of the

highest social class – the Brahmans. However, as the merchants and noblemen
acquired wealth, they do demanded more education for themselves and their children.
Among the latter Buddhists, they took in boys in their monasteries for religious
instructions, and training in reading, writing, and other subject. In some cases, such
monasteries function like ordinary school for boys. In the case of Islam, it was
introduced in South Asia from the outside. Based on its bible, the Koran, it is a
religious duty to educate the young.

Spain and Portugal, two Catholic Imperialists powers, were the earliest
colonial intruders in South Asia. Their main missions were economic exploitations
and conversion of the pagans to Christianity.

What should therefore be the proper approach to education in the developing

countries? Thomas Balogh in his article "Education must Come Down to Earth,"
proposed the following:

It must transform primitive agriculture.

It must be integrated into the community life to avoid the emergence of

artificial and power-hungry elite who imitate the lifestyles of their former colonial
masters.

It must provide technical and administrative inputs of developing the country.

Rural education should be given first priority because of the important of agriculture
for the welfare of the masses.

Elementary Education

Page |8
 School dropouts in developing countries have recorded very high proportions,
especially in the elementary level. In the Philippines, out of 100 pupils, only 60
finished grade 6. And those who enter high school, only seventy percent finish the
secondary education. Several years ago, the mortality rate was even much higher. In
the Latin America, 60 out of 100 pupils who entered the private school dropped out
before finishing their primary education. In some part of the region, the dropout ratio
is reaching out to seventy percent.

Many school curricula of the less developed countries have been patterned
after the Western model. Such model prepares the student for high school education,
and the high school students for college and university education. Thus, literature,
history, arithmetic, and other cultural subjects have been stressed. This curricula are
relevant only in the Western countries were school dropouts are negligible. Therefore,
educate their children for higher education. The young required to read and write as
a matter of policy. The Philippines which was under the Spanish rule for more than
350 years absorbed must colonial influence and exploitation. A system of Spanish
education was planted from the elementary down to college level. Some of the oldest
religious schools exist like Letran College, Sta. Isabel College, and University of
Santo Thomas.

Colonial Education

During the 50 years of America rule in the Philippines, an American brand of

education for Filipinos was established. Its fundamental objective was to Americanize
the tastes and values of the Filipinos. In the case of the Dutch who colonized
Indonesia, their record on education was poor. After the end of their rule, only very
few Indonesian finished a university degree. In the region, Ceylon, which was a
colony of Portugal and then England, obtained a comparatively higher education
during its colonial times.

However, it was different in the case of India, also a former colony of England.
It receives a very little education from the English colonial officials. It was the Catholic
and Protestant missionaries were introduced Western Education to India. The
English colonial government gave very little assistance on India Education, and very
often the education of the Indian population. It was only during the later years of
English colonial rule that the English civilization as taught to the upper class of the

Page |9
Indian society. The famous Mohandas Gandhi was one of them. He studied law in
England. But he used his education for the good of his people and country.

Shortcomings of Colonial Education

When the former colonies obtained their political independence, their most
severe shortcoming was the ignorance of the population, except the Philippines and
Ceylon. Literacy rate was low, particularly in India, Indonesia and Pakistan. As a
colonial inheritance, training of teacher especially in the primary level was neglected.
The low social status of teachers and their low salaries hampered the recruitment of
good teachers. This is also stifled the interest in improving the qualification of
teachers. Up to this time this is still true.

During the pre-colonial era, pupils were required to memorize textbooks.

Teaching has become dogmatic and authoritarian. It does not simulate critical
attitude from the students and education outside schools. Such legacy has been
carried over into the universities. As a result many students are good in memory work
but poor in reasoning ability.

Another colonial inheritance is the negative attitude of the educated

throughout South Asia towards manual labor. Prof. Myrdal noted that they tend to
regard their education as a badge for not soiling their hands. Such attitude is not
conducive to development. Myrdal further mentioned that the South Asia people are
not only inadequately educated but also they are being miseducated on huge scale.

High School Curricula Evaluated

High school education in most South Asia countries is below standard. The
rapid expansion of secondary schooling in said region has further deteriorated the
standard of education. The Indian Secretary Education Committee evaluated the
secondary schooling in the region:

Existing curriculum is narrowly conceived.

It is bookish and theoretical.

It is overcrowded without providing rich and significant contents.

P a g e | 10
 It makes insufficient provision for practical and other kinds of activities
developing the whole personality.

It does not cater to the various needs and capacities of the students.

It is dominated too much by examinations.

It does not include technical and vocational subjects which are necessary for
training students to take part in the industrial and economic development of the
country.

Factors that Bar Educational Reforms

Since post-war there have been efforts to orient teaching to practical life, to
impart useful skills, and to give more emphasis to practical, technical, and vocational
training. But still many of the secondary schools have not changed their curricula.
They stick to the elite-type of upper class education spawned by former colonial
administrators. Such attitude and practice in retaining the general, academic. And or
literacy characters of high school education have been influenced by several factors:

- High school students are being prepared for college and university and not
for vocational or technical jobs.

- Teachers who can handle technical or vocational subjects are scarce. They
would rather work in the government or private industries where salaries are high.

- Laboratories and special teaching aids in teaching science, and technical or

vocational subjects are very expensive.

- The weight of traditions which despise manual work has been heavy. The
educated ones who own and manage the schools feel a lower social status if their
institutions are merely technical or vocational schools.

College Education Criticized

P a g e | 11
 It has been noted that the educational system in South Asia has not been
responsive to the socio-economic needs of their particular economists. The
prestigious diplomas have been preferred to the technical and vocational courses.
And yet there is a shortage of trained personnel.

Despite the tremendous investments in buildings, libraries, laboratories and

equipments, the standard of education in general is still very low. This has been
further deteriorated by the rapid increase in college population. In the same manner,
the quality of college universities or university teachers is considered poor. The good
ones went abroad or to industrial and business sectors where economic rewards are
much higher.

Colleges and Universities continue to produce an oversupply of generalists.

These have been trained in humanities, law, social, sciences, and the academic
natural sciences. Clearly, such trainings do not fit the requirements of the economy.
Specialists and technicians are in demand but no business graduates who do not
even know how to prepare and conduct feasibility studies or draft of a business letter.

Like in high school education, owners of colleges and universities are

reluctant to change the structures of education because of the very high cost of
technical education. Higher education is also a kind of investment. Thus, it is
unrealistic not to consider the economic interest of the owner of colleges and
universities. It is more profitable for them to increase student population in the arts of
law where the marginal costs per student is much lower. Besides, the more
prestigious degrees are very attractive to the young people and their parents.

Education in the Philippines

Our earliest formal education was planted by the Spanish colonial

administrators. They liked our ancestors to be able to read and write in order to
understand better the religion which was taught to them and to facilitate their
conversation to Christianity. Catholic schools were established. However, only
children of the local elite were able to study.

During the American rule which lasted for 50 years, mass education was
encouraged. Teachers arrived from the United States to spread knowledge to the
Filipinos. They talked about democracy, government and science. However, not a

P a g e | 12
few Filipino nationalists, like Recto and his followers, claimed that the Americans had
taught us love America-its people, traditions, values, heroes, and products. At any
rate, for people who have been suffering from poverty and unemployment, any other
country which can offer them economic security is better than their own country,
Patriotism has its own limits.

US Brand Of Education

Our educational system is a Western brand of education. The curricula and

textbooks are substantially taken from the United States. Many school administrators
and top professors were trained in the United States. Naturally, they tend to
transplant the U.S. style of education to Filipino students because they believed such
kind of education is better. However, in more ways than one they overlook the social
and economic conditions in their own country. For instance they forget that most
children who enrolled in Grade I do not finish college. They have been many
dropouts all the way from elementary to college levels. Under this situation, there is
no need to prepare the pupils for high school and college education like that in the
United States.

A more practical and relevant alternative is to provide the students necessary

skills. So that once leave the elementary or high school they become productive. Dr.
Salvador Lopez, former UP President, said that, Teaching English is wasteful and
futile in a country where only a minority go on to high school and college. He further
stated that the most school children have no need for English for the rest of their lives
after leaving school.

Poor Teaching Quality

Based on the findings of the Educators Congress held in Baguio City in 1993,
Teacher education programs have only attracted the bottom third of high school
graduates who can barely communicate in both English and Filipino. It was different
in the 1950's when the best and the brightest student liked to be a Teacher.

At present, those who took teacher training programs came from the lower
brackets of high school classes who scored 40-60 percent in the NCEE examination.
About 75 percents of the teachers flunked earlier the Professional Board Examination

P a g e | 13
for teachers. Former Undersecretary Armand Fabella said that lack of adequate
trained-teachers has forced those without qualifications to teach subjects outside
their areas of competence.

President Fidel Ramos stressed in the said Baguio conference the need for
10, 000 new engineers, 5,000 graduate of science and technology and 5,000 new
agricultures to achieve our target for a newly- industrialized country status.
Considering our poor teaching quality, we can only expect mediocre engineers,
agriculturists and technicians. The president also emphasized the need for graduate
who are proficient in English. Record shows that there has been a great deterioration
in our communication skills in English.

How Standard of Education

It has been claimed that Education many years ago was much better. They
could articulate their ideas better. In fact some Grade 6 students could become
school teachers.

At present, 46 percent of students who finished Grade 6 in public elementary

schools cannot read an write in any language known in the country. At least 33
percent of more than 30,000 public elementary schools in the Philippines are
operating under substandard conditions. This means school buildings, classrooms,
school sites, educational materials, equipments and teachers are below standards. In
1980, one third of all elementary schools had no classroom and facilities for Grade 5
and Grade 6.

A study was conducted to test the quality of education graduates. There were
given examination for Grade 6. Many of them failed. They are not capable of solving
fourth year mathematics problem. Fr. Bienvenido Nebres of the Loyola Heights of
Studies complained about professors who cannot handle fraction. The PNC research
center revealed that those who take up bachelor degree in elementary education
have the lowest IQ and mental ability followed by BSE students.

Such poor state of our education is a product of many factors. The

government resources which have been allocated to education are not enough to
produce the desirable standard of education. Salaries of teachers are very low. This
drives away the good ones. Those who remain in the teaching profession are

P a g e | 14
exploited. For them to survive, they are force to engage in sidelines. Obviously, their
main concentration is how to exist – and not how to teach.

On the other part of the students their poor performance is related to their
poverty. Undernourished students can't think well, in addition their one-room
dwellings and dirty surroundings are not conducive to studying their lessons. Many
college students are not really serious in their studies. They always say that it is
always whom you know that counts. All these and other causes of our deteriorating
educational system are the products of our economic, social and political institution
and values. To improve our educational system, there is a need first to reform the
aforementioned institution and values.

World Bank Interference Opposed

The current reorientation of the Philippine education which is funded by the

World Bank is to fit the manpower requirements of the economy. A paper presented
by the PNC Research Center opposed the transformation of education to fit the
needs and requirements of corporate employers. The paper claimed such education
results in the development of manual dexterity taking an upper hand over the ability
to think.

Nationalist educators have accused the World Bank of manipulating our

educational system for the benefits of multinational corporations. The latter need
cheap, skilled manpower for their vast network of business operations in the country.
This may be another form of neocolonialism. It is an explanation of our economy and
manpower resources. Since the World Bank is funded mostly by the big industrialist
countries which have the giant multinational corporations, Filipino nationalists
observe the logical connections. In short such countries are using the World Bank as
a tool for their business interest in the Philippines.

Basically there is nothing wrong with fitting the educational system with the
needs of the economy. These would mean more employment and income, and it
would foster the development of the whole country. However, real economy
development is one whose fruits go to the citizens of the country—specially to the
orientation only make the foreign businessmen richer at the expense of our economy
and people, then this is exploitation, pure and simple.

P a g e | 15
 Education is People Development

The concept of education is total development of the people. It is not only to

produce skilled workers but also to make them creative and socially—oriented. Our
country needs good citizens—people with proper attitude and values, people who are
capable of transforming available scarce resources into economic abundance for the
benefits of all members of society.

Nations have become prosperous because of its people. People who possess
sincere interest in the welfare of their country and fellowmen are the best tools of
development. Precisely, these are the kind of people that our educational system
should created, not only workers and technicians for the projects and factories of the
foreigners.

No country can claim real economic success if its wealth and income do not
belong to its citizens. These are the plights of many countries in South and Central
America. Behind the facade of splendor and affluence is extreme poverty of the
masses. The few rich are the multinational capitalist and the local elite. the resources
of the reign should have been given to the people, who should have been taught on
how to use resources for their submissive factory workers and hardworking farm
laborers of the multinational corporations.

Health and Education

The performance of students in schools depends much on their health.

Children who are suffering from undernourishment or malnutrition experience mental
and physical shortcomings. Their ability to read, write, compute, think and reason is
impaired. Most likely these are the children join the more than 40 percent dropout
before finishing Grade 6. The main reason for their poor health is of course poverty,
an economic situation which is closely linked with low income due to low agricultural
productivity and underemployment.

In the same manner, adults with poor health are not efficient in their works.
Thus, their productivity is reduced. For example, sickly employees are likely to incur
more absences or tardiness. In addition, they are not capable of working hard and
long. Since most people work in agriculture in the less developed countries, evidently

P a g e | 16
the poor health of the farmers affects adversely agricultural productivity – and
consequently income and consumption. Thus, poverty sinks even deeper.

The Poor Patronize Quack Doctors

Based on the research of Professor Mydal, for hundred years, the progress of
medical care and health facilities in the modern sense in South Asia have been slow.
During the colonial administration, only the European colonials and the local elite
received Western medical care. People relied on their traditional medicine combined
with native herbs and spiritual cure. Up to this time, many still got to quack doctors
for treatment. This is a widespread practice among the poor in the rural areas where
there are no doctors. More often than not, because of extreme poverty people have
no alternative except to see the quack doctors. It is true that government doctors give
free consultations. But medicines are not free and these are very expensive.

Nonetheless, new medical discoveries have greatly improved public health in

areas like cholera, malaria, and small pox. But in the field of nutrition, sanitation, and
hygiene, reforms are needed. Mydal suggested that there should be an increase in
the supply of properly trained medical personnel, equipment, clinics, and should
hospitals. He further proposed that South Asian governments should pursue a more
vigorous health policy and to undertake more intensive research.

There are about 40,000 children all over the world who die every day because
of lack of proper nutrition and care. Most of these children live in the poorest regions
of the world, such as in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. This is a tremendous and
unnecessary waste of human resources.

Human Values in the Dark

There have been spectacular leap in science and technology. Discoveries

and inventions have been fantastic. All these phenomenal changes have taken place
in a modern industrial society. And yet human values have not changed favorably. In
fact, they are deteriorating in many modern societies. For instance, crimes,
immorality, racial discriminations, labor exploitations and the like are increasing in
great proportions. All these problems are reflections of our human values-decaying
human values.

P a g e | 17
 Thorstein Veblen mentioned the survival of barbaric values in modern
industrial society through the predatory activities of money-makers. Hw said that
beneath the modern trappings of Western capitalism lies its characteristics which are
similar to those of barbarian societies. He also ridiculed the lavish expenditures of the
upper social class as a sign of success. Likewise, J. Martin Klotsche, Chancellor
Emeritus of the University of Wisconsin, said in his 1976 commencement address:

Thus, while we are the most educated in the world, yet we appear
incompetent to deal with many of the major problems that are immediately at hand.
Technologically we have moved at the terrifying speed of supersonic plane but in our
social behavior we are still moving at the slow pace of the oxcart, our technological
competencies of greater importance.

Rich People Destroy Themselves

Evidently, the improvement of the human character has not kept abreast with
the fast advances in science and technology for the past 2,000 years. For instance, it
is hard to believe that the richest countries in the world have the highest rates of
suicides. Denmark, with one of the most advanced social welfare programs and the
highest standard of living in the world, has the highest self-destruction in the Western
world. Sweden, another advanced social welfare state, is next to Denmark. United
States also tops the suicide list. Those who commit self-destruction belong to the
middle and upper social classes. What are the reasons for such suicides? The list
includes too much money, too much alcohol, too many possessions, too many drugs,
and not enough love and concern by parents.

It is inherent for people to seek happiness and success. However, many

make the mistakes of equating happiness and success with money and material
possessions. The young are given money and cars by their rich parents instead of
love. So they become deprived and frustrated. Adults who failed to attain material
success become hopeless and desperate. Consequently, they commit suicide. Such
people nurture the wrong values. They only love themselves and are obsessed with
tangible wealth.

P a g e | 18
 Education, Values, and Development

Education, values, and development are interdependent. The right values are
learned through education. Better and faster development can be attained through
the right values. Thus, the key to development is proper education. Through
education values like patriotism, honesty, cooperation, thrift, industry and other
positive virtues can be infused into the character of the people. Education is not only
a classroom affair. It also includes the good examples of parents, religious and
government officials. In other words, the whole society-not only the schools-
becomes an instrument of education for the people, especially the youth who are the
future of the country.

People with proper values can perform many difficult tasks-including miracles.
As the song goes, they can reach the unreachable stars and dream the impossible
dream. In reality, this is not at all exaggeration. The world has many success stories
and depicting the struggles of poor people against insurmountable odds. And in the
end they won the battles against poverty and injustice. Hence, they become
prosperous, including their own countries. Examples are the Rochdale pioneers of
England, the peoples of Israel, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Jordan and Iceland.

P a g e | 19