People Development Policies

Prepared by : Berham A. Dahim and Jocelyn Mabitad

Learning Objectives:
1. To understand the importance in human resources;
2. To identify the strategies for developing people;
3. To identify the major human resource problems;
4. To discuss the different approaches to Education

The process of development involves the interactions of money, materials, machines, and people.
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.

The human resource is still the most important factor in economic development. Money, machines,
and materials are useless if these are not properly used and allocated.

The key therefore to real economic development is the suitable improvement of the skills, knowledge,
attitude, 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 conditions 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 products.

Investments in People

The economic growth of rich countries like that of Western Europe has not been due only to physical
and financial capital but also due to 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 less corruption,
favouritism, tardiness, and other negative work attitudes.

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. It has been observed that the peoples in the less developed countries do not have the
right kind of education and training. This means their knowledge and skills are not applicable to the needs of
their country. Therefore, these are not functional.

Aside from misplaced education, the more serious defect is the wrong attitude 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.”

The right kind of education

The resources of the less developed countries are scarce.

Education constitutes the biggest expenditure in the national budgets. If the huge expenditure is used
for the 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 mean spending enough money for the right education; 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 are the essential elements which make a nation great.

Strategies for Developing People

Developing economies have two basic problems: one is the shortage of technical and skilled
manpower, and the other is the surplus labour in all sectors of the economy, especially in agriculture.

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 labour.

Objectives of manpower analysis

Countries vary in their human resource needs and problems. There is therefore a need among
government planners and top political leaders to evaluate carefully their particular human resource situation.
Such process is called “manpower analysis.” Frederick Harbison, a known resource development expert,
stated the objectives of manpower analysis:

1.To identify the main critical shortages of skilled manpower in every major sector of the economy,
and to analyse the reasons for such shortages;
2.To identify the surpluses, both skilled and unskilled labour, and to analyse the reasons for such
surpluses; and
3.To set forward targets for human resource development based on realistic expectations of growth.

The success or accuracy of manpower analysis is based on wise judgement of the planners on the
availability of sufficient and reliable statistics.

The purpose of manpower analysis is to provide an objective picture of the human resource problems
of the economy. Once the manpower problems have been identified and analyse, an appropriate strategy
must be developed to solve such problems. Such strategy should contain the following essential
components: -Building appropriate incentives -Effective training of employed labour force -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 unflux 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.

Major human resource problems

Harbison mentioned the major human resource problems in the developing countries, 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 institutions for mobilizing human effort;
5.Lack of incentives for individuals to engage in productive activities which are vitally important
for 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.

Education, therefore, should be democratic, aside from its being vocational and technical. It should be
made available to the poor masses.

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. To them it is a social stigma. Most of the school dropouts 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 dropouts. What they really need
are skills which help them make a living right after they leave permanently their school. The school program
should be designed towards this direction – and not blindly imitate the prestigious school curricula of the
United States or Europe.

South Asian School System

Unfavourable values and institutions hamper the development of the less developed countries in South
Asia. Evidently, education plays a vital role in improving the attitudes and values of people.

The problem of restructuring the South Asian school system is a big task. It involves the elimination if
miseducation, and the large-scale waste of educational resources. Colonial education is not the right kind of
education for the education for the region. And yet, not a few less developed countries in the region cling to
it. For instance, schools in the region use Western textbooks which have a little relevance to the economic
needs of the students and to national development.

Religion and Education

Religious institutions played a very dominant role in education.

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 too demanded more education
for themselves and their children.

Buddhists, they took in boys in their monasteries for religious instruction, and training in reading,
writing, and other subjects.

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.

Thomas Balogh in his article “Education Must Come Down to Earth.” Proposed the following:
1. It must transform primitive agriculture.
2. It must be integrated into the community life to avoid the emergence of na artificial and power –
hungry elite who imitate the lifestyle of their former colonial masters.
3. It must provide technical and administrative inputs of developing the country. Rural education
should be given first priority of the importance of agriculture for the welfare of the masses.

Elementary Education

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 70 percent finish the secondary education.

Many school curricula of the less developed countries have been patterned after the Western model.
Such model prepares the students for high school education. Thus, literature, history, arithmetic, and other
cultural subjects have been stressed. These curricula are relevant only in the Western countries where school
dropouts are negligible. They therefore educate their children for higher education. The young were required
to read and write as a matter of policy.

Colonial Education

During the 50 years of American rule in the Philippines, an American brand of education fir Filipinos
was established. Its fundamental objectives was to Americanize the tastes and values of the Filipinos.

Dutch who colonized Indonesia, their record on education was very poor. After the end of their rule,
only very few Indonesians finished a university degree.

India, also a former colony of England, received very little education from the English colonial
officials. It was Catholic and Protestant missionaries who introduced Western education to India.

The famous Mohandas Gandhi was once 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 if teachers, 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. Another colonial inheritance is the negative attitude of the educated throughout
South Asia towards manual labour. Prof. Myrdal noted they tend to regard their education as a badge for not
soiling their hands.

Mydral further mentioned that the South Asian people are not only inadequately educated but also
they are being miseducated in huge scale