Human Resource Development

The development of every nation is vital and for development to be successively achieved it requires the development of human beings and education is used as the instrument to bring about this development especially in countries that are less developed. This was need for most African countries that attained independence in the post colonial period. Therefore, this essay endeavors to look at what led to the need for human resource development in Zambia in the mid 1960s and will highlight the perceptions of human resource development in this period and the strategies used in the exercise and then will give conclusion. Firstly the essay will define the key terms such as strategies, resource, and development.

The concept strategy refers to a plan of action designed or intended to achieve a particular goal or long term aim (Hornby, 2000).

The concept resource refers to anything that is of value to human beings such as money, materials, people and other substances that useful. It is important to note that human beings are the most important among all the resources in the sense that they have the ability to change other resources into something of value.

Todaro and Smith (2003:51) defines development as “a multidimensional process involving major changes in social structures, popular attitudes, and national institutions, as well as acceleration of economic growth, the reduction of inequality, and the eradication of poverty”. ”. In other words development refers to be the process for enlarging the people choices which primarily reflect the desire to lead a long and health life, acquire basic knowledge and access to resources that are essential for an improved standard of living.

It is important to note that most countries in Africa were not ready or prepared for independence and Zambia is one of the countries that were in this state and its facilities for education were limited in supply. This was due to the fact that education to a large extent was neglected or cut off from the main sources of Zambia’s wealth such as the revenue coming from the copper and opportunities for apprenticeship, on job training and other educational activities to develop manpower in the country were hindered due to racial discrimination and this increased dependency syndrome (Mwanakatwe, 1974).This resulted into a situation where Zambia was found to be in a state where it was less prepared for independence as it lacked manpower.

For example at independence Zambia was coming from the period of the federation were experts from other countries were in control or heading most of the departments or positions in all the areas of work of life. The achievement of independence in the country meant that there was a shift of governments and this created vacancies in almost all the positions of the governments and other sectors and this created the need for human resource development (Carmody, 2004).                                In other words the skilled manpower in sectors or fields such as commerce, politics, industries, administration and agricultural were forced to go back to their countries and this affected the country in the sense that it created a shortage of manpower. For example, at independence Zambia needed approximately four thousand and fifteen thousand skilled and well educated manpower that will be able to replace the foreign workers who had left the country and occupy the positions in the government (Mwanakatwe, 1974).

There was also the need for human resource development in the country because there was an increase in the number of unskilled labour and these were seeking paid emplyment.This was a challenge in the sense that it was difficult to bring about national development in the country because they were few or shortage of people with relevant skills such as managerial, technological and financial skills to enhance developmental activities (Kelly, 1999).This was partly due to the fact that the most of the people did not have access to technology and this was a constraint to national development. Also economic development was also dependent on the skills or manpower of the people in less developed countries.

There was also inadequate infrastructure necessary to develop human resource or manpower in the country. This was due to the fact that education was not given a priority prior to independence and there was a need to construct more primary schools, secondary school and a university in order to develop human resource. This created the need for human resource development in Zambia. The geographical location of schools was also another problem that led to the need for human resource development and there was a need for the expansion of schools throughout the country in order to increase manpower(Carmody,2004).

Also when UNIP government came into power was also faced with a challenge which at the time was inadequate or insufficient financial resources that were needed for the provision of the desired social services such schools, clinics, hospital, supply of skilled and educated manpower which was to promote and enhance the rapid economic development (MOE, 1992).                              It is a well known fact that at independence in Zambia there was only 100 graduates and 1000 school levers which was not enough to drive the economy. There was also an urgent need for development of manpower so as to decolonize and Zambianize the civil society in the country. Independence and nationhood mean little if the reins of government are not taken up by the local people (UNESCO, 1961).This was to be addressed by the government if the country was to develop politically and economically.

Over dependency on foreign experts also led to the need for human resource development in Zambia. This was because the experts who came to work in Zambia in various fields such as education, health, administration and agriculture demanded a lot of money and it was expensive for the government to meet their needs due to lack of financial resources. So there was a need to train and empower local people with skills that will be able to bridge the gap in the nation and to replace the outgoing professionals.Carmody (2004) adds that it was important as it enabled them to overcome the extreme dependency on expatriate manpower at most levels of skilled employment in Government and in the private sector. There was also rapid population, increased unemployment in formal wage sectors, absence of entrepreneurs and self made citizens, lack of qualified teachers and those who seemed to have some potential in the education sector each teacher was required to have two classes in a day and this made teaching more complicated and quality of education was compromised.

 Gender disparities in education was among the reasons why there was a need for human resource development as most girls and women were neglected as people who could contribute positively to national development (Mwanakatwe, 1974).In other words the education system prior to independence was one that favored men than women and girls in the society because females were considered to be slaves and there was a need to remove this mentality and empower both men and women.

Therefore human resource development in the 1960s was perceived as a powerful instrument that will be able to equip and empower people in the Zambia with different and relevant skills and knowledge that are necessary for socio economic development. These skills included the managerial, technological and administrative skills that will be able to facilitate economic development. It was considered to be the best way of addressing the challenges that were affecting development in the country and education was taken as the key to bring about the human resource development. This is because before education in Zambia was considered to be the education for the elite or upper class or the whites. This means that education which was given the Africans was somewhat inferior to the one given to the whites. This enabled the Europeans to get white collar jobs that were better than the jobs the Africans got. This perception was changed in the 1960s through the introduction of higher education services in order to develop human resource. Human resource development was perceived to be a powerful tool and relevant which led to the development of human capital theory movement to enhance economic growth and that there was a need for the government to invest in education. Kelly (1999) explains that education had to be geared towards the manpower required for the economic growth of society, human beings were to be made productive and education was considered as the vital instrument for gearing development towards the economic needs of society.

Therefore the strategies were employed or used in this exercise of achieving human resource development in Zambia. For example the government provided several secondary and primary schools throughout the country in order to meet the desired needs of society. Within the few years after independence 100 secondary schools were opened  and approximately 54,000 students were enrolled and this was important as it provided the teacher that were needed for the rapid growing primary school system(Mwanakatwe,1974).They also constructed and opened the university of Zambia in 1966 which will be able respond to high productivity in the country. This was to be achieved through the schools at the university such as education, humanities, law, medicine, agriculture, mining industry and the extramural department which was established within the same years. There was also an introduction of the technical and vocational skills such as TEVETA which was relevant to provide the much needed skills in the country and more girl child education were also introduced to enable females acquire basic learning.

In conclusion, human resource development during the 1960s played an important role in Zambia and it was achieved through education system. It enabled the state to focus on the areas that will be able to develop the country through empowering the local people to replace the foreign experts. Zambia has now progressed towards self reliance in material wealth and human skills. This means that the country has greatly improved in the sense that the citizens are now pre dominating in the civil service and parastatal organization and there is now an increase in the primary and secondary schools as well as the number of teachers and students who are graduating at the University of Zambia. The economy has also greatly improved or substantially diversified and the country is able to produce much than what it used to import. Therefore dependency on foreign experts has been reduced due to human resource development in the country.

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