Abstract
M. Ed. (Educational Management)
The purpose and object of this study was to evaluate the role of education
and planning with regard to Third World development in general, and a few
Third World development problems in particular, with special reference to
Qwaqwa. Research has indicated that the national plans of developing countries
reflect the importance attached to education. The belief in an almost
automatic relationship between education and development resulted in large
sums allocated to the formal educational systems, both in budgets and in
investment programmes. Two decades from the early optimistic years the world
faces a crisis of educational expectations. There is increasing criticism of
existing policies and systems and new solutions are being sought.
Educational planning has been severely criticised for failing to anticipate
and give warning about such damaging trends as the escalating costs of educational
provision, the inefficient functioning of school systems, the growing
number of educated unemployed and the failure of schools to reduce inequalities in national societies.
This study is mainly descriptive. Available literature and statistics were
used to describe the educational problems in the Third World and to indicate
the linkages between the educational problems and a few broader development
problems. Ancillary to this general framework an evaluation was made of
education and planning in Qwaqwa. The description and evaluation of the
educational and planning problems in Qwaqwa was mainly based on information
obtained from the Research Institute for Education Planning, University of
the Orange Free State and statistics obtained through research in Qwaqwa.
The same unsatisfactory results of development efforts experienced elsewhere
in the Third World are also experienced in the less developed areas (national
states) of Southern Africa. An analysis of data indicated that Qwaqwa is
confronted with similar educational and planning problems as most other
developing regions. The conclusion was reached that in the past educational
planning was defined too narrowly.
The important point, however, is that development is a multidimensional
process. Experience has shown that education must be planned as an integrated
whole and relevant to the needs of the developing countries...