Singapore Experience – Education : Indian Priorities

Singapore is today widely regarded as a knowledge economy.
Government has played a key role in HRD.
Public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP has risen from
2.8 % in 1980 to 4.1 % in 1995.
The salient features of Singapore’s experience in education & training
include….
1. Government played the lead role in the development of education &
training in Singapore.
2. The Government worked very closely with the private sector to ensure
that its education & training system met the industry needs. Employer’s
representatives sat on the policy making bodies of education & training
institutions. Industry advisory committees comprising industry
representatives were set up to ensure that courses were relevant and p
to date.
3. Singapore developed new initiatives in industrial training outside the
formal education & training system to provide the skilled manpower
required for industrialization.
4. The manpower development initiatives were later integrated into the
formal system when the technical education systems were developed.
5. Another key aspect of Singapore’s HRD policy was close collaboration
with foreign Governments & Macs in the development of industrial
training. Institute of technical education & Singapore productivity and
standards board have extensive progammes to upgrade the skills of the
existing workforce. The government also invited experienced & well
qualified overseas personnel to supplement its limited pool of domestic
human resources.
6. Assistance was provided to help these foreign staff settle into
Singapore. Singapore also studied the experience of industrialized
countries like Japan, German & Switzerland, identified their best
practices and used to help develop its education and training system.

Education : Indian Priorities
The Government should ensure the following to support its initiatives in
making the States 100 % literate.
The prime minister’s council on trade & industry has set the following
goals to be achieved by 2015.
In order to finance education schemes, states could consider some of the
options
Few considerations that the states should keep in mind while formulating
the strategies.