The strategy is to estimate the demand for skills, and to try to train at least as many
people as are required to meet the demand for places with different levels of
education.
However, even when there is a high proportion of high school and university
graduates, there seems to be a lack of technically skilled people (workers, technicians, agricultural assistants, nurses, teachers, competent secretaries and supervisors)
or professionals such as engineers, scientists, agronomists and doctors. Both apprenticeship facilities and in-service training are required.
Estimating the demand for skills is not easy; this will give a minimum number to
be trained should production go on as expected. However, as soon as the market
situation changes (often seasonally, or depending on overseas markets and fashion),
some trained people might still find themselves unemployed, or there is a still further
demand for such training in another field. One solution would be to train people to be
multi-disciplinary or slightly versatile.
People go for courses where they expect higher salaries, but whatever expectations potential employees might have, the employers will try to use the lowest
qualifications suitable for the job. It is also possible that employers would recruit
secondary school graduates for jobs as sales clerks instead of primary school
graduates, simply because the economy so dictates.
The tendency to go to higher qualifications for a particular job resides partly on
the lack of thinking skills displayed by those coming out of the modern education
system. Fifty years ago, the photocopying machine was barely available. There was
no internet. Any student trying to write an essay would first consult encyclopedias,
then take some notes (normally too lazy, or it is too tedious to copy verbatim) on the
essay subject. With those notes in hand, the student would then sift through the
ideas to write a presentable essay. This process, did force the student to think about
the essay title, among providing other skills. Today, the internet – making information available at a mouse click – has killed such possibilities. Employers believe,
rightly or wrongly, that those students with higher qualifications have better thinking
skills.
It is therefore important to keep track of thinking skills or data interpretation as an
important component of the education system, in particular if there is an emphasis
towards ICT development in the country.
1.2.5 Energy and Power
In physics, it is learnt that energy is related to power through the time the latter is
available. In the real world, these two topic subjects are so close that it is difficult to
separate them. Most materials useable as fuel on a large scale are useable to produce
power, while other forms of power such as electricity, are useable for heat production. Primitive fuels such as dung and brushwood are not plentiful enough to be used
on a large scale. However, for national development, power is vital for both industry
and transport. In industry, electricity dominates, while transport relies more on
1.2 Examples of Infrastructure
11
people as are required to meet the demand for places with different levels of
education.
However, even when there is a high proportion of high school and university
graduates, there seems to be a lack of technically skilled people (workers, technicians, agricultural assistants, nurses, teachers, competent secretaries and supervisors)
or professionals such as engineers, scientists, agronomists and doctors. Both apprenticeship facilities and in-service training are required.
Estimating the demand for skills is not easy; this will give a minimum number to
be trained should production go on as expected. However, as soon as the market
situation changes (often seasonally, or depending on overseas markets and fashion),
some trained people might still find themselves unemployed, or there is a still further
demand for such training in another field. One solution would be to train people to be
multi-disciplinary or slightly versatile.
People go for courses where they expect higher salaries, but whatever expectations potential employees might have, the employers will try to use the lowest
qualifications suitable for the job. It is also possible that employers would recruit
secondary school graduates for jobs as sales clerks instead of primary school
graduates, simply because the economy so dictates.
The tendency to go to higher qualifications for a particular job resides partly on
the lack of thinking skills displayed by those coming out of the modern education
system. Fifty years ago, the photocopying machine was barely available. There was
no internet. Any student trying to write an essay would first consult encyclopedias,
then take some notes (normally too lazy, or it is too tedious to copy verbatim) on the
essay subject. With those notes in hand, the student would then sift through the
ideas to write a presentable essay. This process, did force the student to think about
the essay title, among providing other skills. Today, the internet – making information available at a mouse click – has killed such possibilities. Employers believe,
rightly or wrongly, that those students with higher qualifications have better thinking
skills.
It is therefore important to keep track of thinking skills or data interpretation as an
important component of the education system, in particular if there is an emphasis
towards ICT development in the country.
1.2.5 Energy and Power
In physics, it is learnt that energy is related to power through the time the latter is
available. In the real world, these two topic subjects are so close that it is difficult to
separate them. Most materials useable as fuel on a large scale are useable to produce
power, while other forms of power such as electricity, are useable for heat production. Primitive fuels such as dung and brushwood are not plentiful enough to be used
on a large scale. However, for national development, power is vital for both industry
and transport. In industry, electricity dominates, while transport relies more on
1.2 Examples of Infrastructure
11