Educational planning and human resource ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Educational planning and human resource development
In Malawi, formerly Nyasaland, there is no need for a high-level
manpower survey. It is possible to know everyone in this category by
his first name, because in 1965, there were only forty-five of them. Every
year Malawi can send about twenty-five or thirty students to foreign
universities, but there are some 720governmentjobs open for university
graduates and thirty jobs open to Malawi citizens in international agencies
of the United Nations family. It is possible, therefore, for a Malawi
citizen to be educated abroad at public expense and spend the rest of his
life working for international agencies. In fact, it is possible for at least
thirty Malawi citizens to take this course. Now, are you going to allow
complete freedom of choice to such students sent abroad at public expense,
on the theory that anything that is good for the individual is good
for the country, or are you going to take steps in order to remedy such a
critical situation?
Admittedly, the case of Malawi is extreme but similar situations.
though less accentuated, arise in other countries. We know, for example,
that there is a net export of doctors, scientists and engineers from the
Latin American continent to the highly developed countries. Given the
urgent needs of Latin America for high-level manpower, is this freedom
of choice a good thing? This is a question which every country and every
planner must answer individually, but it is not a question that can be
avoided.
The essence of strategy building is thus the making of choices in the
six critical problem areas described above, and it is difficult to make
these choices so wisely as to strike the proper balance between priorities
and so promote the social and political, as well as the economic, goals of
the country.
Let us now consider, on the basis of what has been said above, the
manpower needs of an imaginary country and the ways and means by
which these needs can be met.
Meeting the needs and demand for education:
a model
It is convenient to take an imaginary country as a model, you since can
express yourself freely without insulting any particular country and still
reveal a few truths of practical relevance to a number of countries.
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