TUESDAY’S Human Resource Development Strategy debate in Parliament has assumed a great and continuing importance, in light of the commentaries on the economy raised by the two top credit rating agencies, for we have always argued that our best resource is human capital.
Education has been used by policymakers to raise the social mobility potential of people, and it is clear that the progress made by our nation, especially since Independence, has been fuelled to a very large extent by the homegrown intellectual and educational talent judiciously applied in the cause of national development.
The establishment of a campus of the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, and the subsequent addition of faculties of law and medicine, has enhanced the capacity of our society to produce citizens equipped with skills which their parents never had.
This development has been furthered by the Community College and the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic and the courses offered there, which contain a similarly high academic content but which in some cases, are geared more toward the vocational qualifications which are so necessary in a world in which the scientific and vocational aspects of our existence have taken greater priority in our lives.
The importance of the debate also resides in the reality that forward looking planning is absolutely necessary because of the time frame in which new facilities such as schools, trade colleges and other vocational training institutions move from conceptualization to reality.
We feel that the debate is also timely because as this country continues to reshape aspects of its economy into a international services sector new areas of skilled training and human resource development must be quickly undertaken.
In times past, we trained doctors and lawyers and social scientists, but today, we also need engineers trained in all aspects of the telecommunications technology.
They must also be familiar with web design and the repair of computers if we are going to enhance the productivity of the same doctors and lawyers and other professionals who have come to rely on the technology. Equally, studies and qualifications in gerontology would appear to be useful areas likely to be in demand in the future. The improved health facilities and medical services mean that our people are living to ripe old age and we must produce trained practitioners.
The creation and development of the cultural industries also mean that we have to train more people in the support services and the trades and professions ancillary to these undertakings.
It is for these reasons, among others, that we support the debate on the resolution so that Government’s plans and programmes can be subjected to parliamentary scrutiny before implementation.
A relevant question must as usual be the cost, and it is in this context that plain speaking will be necessary, because the country needs always to upgrade and develop its human capital, without once forgetting that the taxpayer always picks up the bill.