A.I.D. policy paper : basic education and technical training

Efforts to raise the levels of basic education and to relate technical training systems more effectively to productive employment are essential to the Agency"s development strategies focused on: the fuller application of science and technology in development programs; reliance on market mechanisms and the private sector to stimulate economic development; strengthening of institutions that are key to the development process; and reinforcement of the efforts of local leaders to address their own development problems and to improve the administration and management of local resources. Accordingly, increasing the efficiency and improving the distribution of basis education and skills training (i.e., schooling for children aged 6-14, vocational education and functional skills training for adolescents and self-employed adults, and technical skills training for wage employment) are among the priorities of A.I.D."s assistance programs. While A.I.D. policy is to focus first on problems of resource utilization and internal efficiency, this focus is expected to lead over time to improved access and more broadly based distribution of educational opportunities. (Author abstract, from PN-ABP-767)