Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century

Figure 2.4 The prevalence of the concept ‘human resource development’
Despite the different levels of development, the emphasis on ‘human resource
development’ is consistently high in education policy and curriculum.
GDP (per capita) US$
Human resource development
(sub-category 1d)
Very High High Moderate Low Very Low NA
Prevalence
Very High High Moderate Low Absent
Source: World Bank. 2016. GDP per capita (current US$).
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD (Accessed 28 September 2017).
In most countries (with the exceptions of Japan, Indonesia and Thailand), ‘human
resource development’ also carries a very high or high weightage (see Appendix
II-1). By comparison, other concepts relating to the economic dimension of
sustainable development, such as ‘limits to growth’ and ‘green economy,’ are
either completely absent or receive a low weightage across most countries. The
environmental dimension of sustainable development rates a fair mention, but
‘climate change’ carries little or no weightage in the majority of the countries
(see Appendix II-2; Figure 2.3). 12 As sub-regional synthesis chapters note,
a strong emphasis on human resource development for achieving national
competitiveness is evident irrespective of the level of economic development (see
Figure 2.4). This emphasis on preparing children for competitive participation in
the globalized economy is also manifested in the emphasis placed on skills seen
as essential for this purpose, as discussed in Trend 3.
12 Most countries give a high weightage to ‘environmental sustainability’ or ‘conservation’.
While five countries (Japan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Lao PDR and Malaysia) give a moderate
weightage and five countries (Iran, Bangladesh, Cambodia and the Philippines) give a
low weightage to ‘environmental sustainability’, all these countries except Cambodia and
Malaysia give a high weightage to ‘conservation’. Conversely, Korea, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and
Indonesia give a low or no weightage to ‘conservation’ but a high weightage to ‘environmental
sustainability’. These two concepts thus need to be looked at together to understand the
emphasis each country places on the environmental dimension of sustainable development.
The only countries that do not give a high weightage to either are Cambodia and Malaysia.
Rethinking Schooling for the 21 st Century:
The State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia
49