38 - The Needs of Industry

Abstract

This chapter presents details of a workshop focusing on the subject of needs of industry. A workshop was held in Bangalore, India to explore the specific needs which industry has for the education and training of its future manpower and to place those needs in the context of general education. It was highlighted that emphasis on higher education and technical training had provided many Third World countries with the required manpower with skills in engineering and management. However the bulk of the manpower needed by industry came from the formal secondary school system. The dilemma in India is twofold and it is no doubt the same in many developing countries. First, for every 100 children enrolled at primary level, over 90 drop out of the system before they reach the age of 17 and it is these drop-outs who are the recruits to industry. Secondly, the formal system is still based on the British educational system, which is inappropriate to developing countries at the end of the twentieth century. The problem centers on the needs for manufacturing and operational skills which are not provided by the formal system.