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ON THE RECORD

Literacy Has a Clear Effect on Skill and Productivity Level

In what way are we different from the East and South East Asian countries? I believe our farmers and work hard and long hours. But there b a big difference. Moat of our people working in the Adds and nctories are illiterate, their productivity is much lower not only by international standard but also by the sran-dard of the East and South East Asian countries.

by Shah AMS Kibria
I am often asked to com pare the economic performance of the different countries of the Asia Pacific region Our own performance fu»« been so poor that such an effort la not a very pleasant exercise. A long list of failures characterise our performance What are the factors respon Bible for such a dismal record? Obviously, a tot of things went wrong. Absence ol political stability is often mentioned as an important reason for our lacklustre performance Whlle polttlcal stability la certainly very important, tn my view it Is equally important to have stable economic policies Uncertainty about economic policies paralyzes the en trepreneur* lx>ng and medium term decisions and even short term decisions for investment is not possible If the Investors are not confident about the rules of the game What aaaur ance Is there that these will not be changed in the nuddk of the game? There are. of course, other key factors such as resource endowment, phys leal Infrastructure, bsmking and financial system, availabtl ity of managerial and technical manpower etc. Needless to say. a national consensus about the direction of economic development is a pre-requisite for growth. Indeed the stability of economic policies that I was referring to is not possible tn the absence of a consensus in the society.
1 have had the privilege to observe at close range the phenomenal progress achieved by the East and South Aslan countries. Their economic performance tn the last 20 years has been so rapid that it has aroused not only the Interest but also the envy of countries tn other parts of the world. During the last forty
years the NIEs of East Asia achieved an average growth of 6 per cent while the South East Asian countries registered an average growth rate ol 3 per cent. Against this, the South Aslan countries had an average growth rate of only 1 5 per cent Unfortunately Bangladesh had an even lower growth rate — only 0 3 per cent These differing rates of progress have meant, for example, that al the end of the IWHOs. per capita income in the Republic of Ko rea was seven times higher as compared with those prevail ing in 1950s. It must be a matter of profound disappoint ment for us that during these long four decades Bangladesh gained in per capita Income only by 60 per cent!
I have tried to analyze the reasons for our poor perfor mance In what way arc we dlf ferent from the East and South East Aslan countries? Arc we not hard working enough? I believe our farmers and labourers work hard and tong hours. Of course there is a big difference. Most of our people working in the fields and fac lories are illiterate whereas the farmers and workers In these other countries are liter ate. The productivity of our work force is much tower nol only by International standard
but also by the standard of the East and South East Asian countries As a result Ihe hard work put in by our workers yields poor result Naturally their Income Is tow
Let ui took at the literacy situation in Bangladesh today Literacy has clearly an effect on the level of skill and pro ducttvlty I am here referring essentially to primary educa
precise projections from UNESCO for 1990 were: India
47 per cent. Bangladesh 59 per cent and Pakistan 60 per cent. In other words, tn spite of an early start in modern education. on average, over half the adult populations of Bangladesh India and Pakistan are still unable to read or write more than 40 years after Inde pendence from colonial rule. It
tton but a higher percentage of boys and girls with high school education should also be taken Into account. A sub-regional comparison of literacy figures reveals a grim picture. Since 1960 the Asian NIEs and ASEAN four countries reduced their average adult illiteracy rates from a range of 37 to 40 per cent to 9 per cent for the NIEs and 14 per cent for the ASEAN four countries. The lit eracy performance of Bangla desh. India and Pakistan over the last 30-year period stands in stark contrast. Their illiteracy rates averaged 75 per cent In I960, and remain at an average of 55 per cent. The
Is a matter not only of regret but shame that in the Asia-Pacific region It 1s only In South Asia where the absolute number of adult illiterates In creased over the past three decades. China brought down Its Illiteracy rate from 70 to 26 per cent during the 30 years, with 75 million reduction In absolute numbers. Indonesia also managed a decrease of 5 million during Its 30 per cent drop, down lo 20 per cent illiteracy by 1990 The figures on female adult Illiteracy In Bangladesh as well as India and Pakistan are no less distress Ing In these three countries, female illiteracy still averages
a» high a» 77 per cent By < ontrast. female Illiteracy rates have been reduced to the range of 12 to 15 per cent In the Republic of Korea. Thal land and the Philippines and to about 34 per cent tn In donesia and Malaysia
Development economists today accept the bask premise that education Is the most Im portant element of the social Infra structure Many studies have shown the very high re turns of public Investment In primary education Except for Srl Lanka. public spending in education in South Asia has generally lagged behind Even the Inadequate expenditure is distorted Higher education, ■"•ely for the children of the elite, claims the lion's share The NIEs have steadily in creased their outlay on human resources development Including R and D activities In Ko rea. for example. Investment In education between 1966 and 1975 averaged 9 per cent of GNP or a third of the in vestment In physical capital The significance of the above analysis should not be difficult to grasp There seems to be a striking connection between education and growth Illitcr acy and economic stagnation arc almost inseparable A large pool of educated, skilled and
trained labour force make. Ml the dtflerefMT in productlvtty One often hears talk about work ethies but one can easily Bee that It to not ethics but ed ucglton and training which mal the difference Rafa tfeely tow wages and high pro ductlviCy are the twin founds ’-tons on which Japan and East Asia and now South East Asia have made their dramatic progress
Illiteracy, specially female illiteracy. also adversely affects other programmes Including the family planning pro grammes The success ac hicvcd by the East and South East Aslan counties tn reduc ing their population growth rates can be attributed to the high literacy rates — specially among women — In those countries We should look around and try to take lessons from others and determine afresh our priorities Our land ia one of the best to the world and yet per acre productivity to tow Industrial wages are tow and yet cost of production to high because of tow labour productivity We have one of the oldest and largest family planning programmes but our success to far too modest to take any satisfaction I am con vlnced that we must address the problem of our backward ness and economic stagnation al the root. The quality of human resources must be upgraded. as quickly as possible, in order the escape the victoua circle of poverty, low produc tlvity. high population growth rate and consequent economic stagnation
The author. a former Foreign Secretary of I Bangladesh who until recently served at the Executive Secretary of ESCAP, will be now writing a regular weekly column for this paper as a guest columnist.