Social and economic upheaval and, especially, various forms of conflict, often lead to the exodus of well-trained people to foreign countries. Sarajevo University, for example, is suffering a severe shortage of teachers.52 While the war may have started the exodus of teachers following the deaths of lecturers and students, many academics have emigrated recently because they could see no future for themselves.53 The effect of this brain-drain is much worse in poorer countries such as Rwanda.54
52 Out of a teaching staff of 1,400, 500 have left and only a few visiting professors have come. In the faculty of law, there are only six professors, out of an original 42. Student numbers have dropped from a pre-war 23.000 to just 6,000, THES, 21.6.95.
53 THES, 21.6.95.
54 See Case Study II: Rwanda.
The schooling system is also affected, as in the case of Palestine where as a result of shortages many teachers lack formal degree qualifications. In-service training is said to be minimal in private and UNRWA schools and virtually non-existent in Civil Administration schools. European Community-sponsored training courses have reached only a fraction of the teaching force.55
55
TES, 12.11.93.
Resources of the educational workforce are also wasted because professionals transfer to the private sector or other parts of the economy. While English teachers are highly in demand in secondary schools in Sarajevo, many are enticed to work as interpreters for foreign agencies owing to the fact that they can scarcely survive economically.56 Political and economic changes can also lead to changing educational needs as in the case of East European countries where skills in English and business management are urgently required. Various measures could be implemented to relieve this problem, as outlined below.
56
As a result, only 12 out of the city's 36 primary schools now boast an English teacher, while the 25 secondary schools share just seven teachers, some of whom work peripatetically. Of these 21 stale-sector teachers, only one third are formally qualified to teach English. What is remarkable is that there are any teachers left at all in state schools since they work for just £3 a month in a society where the minimum expenditure per person per month is roughly £250. Like other state employees, teachers must depend for their livelihood on humanitarian aid or relatives who do salaried work. Some teachers stay with the stale system because of a strong sense of duty and goodwill towards their students. Guardian Education. 6.6.95.
6.1 Use of Additional Human Resources
In emergency situations it is possible to draw upon the expertise and willing co-operation of a number of groups, though this must be approached with caution, since the re-introduction of formerly marginalised people (exiles, refugees, those generally subjected to ethnic, religious, political or other forces of discrimination) could cause as many problems as it is intended to solve. Groups who might be called upon to strengthen the teaching force include:
· retired teachers· students, e.g. undergraduates in Bosnia whose own studies were interrupted by the war,57 and foreign students who volunteer their services for a limited period of time
· foreign advisers and consultants58
· exiled people59
· people from the community such as church leaders and parents
57Guardian Education. 6.6.95.58 South African educationists concerned with the reconstruction of South Africa's "system of education and training have been visiting the UK, USA, Germany, Singapore and Taiwan. Currently, they are experimenting with the dual apprenticeship system from Germany. South Africa has also devised a National Qualifications Framework [NQF] which combines academic and vocational education. There is a strong recognition that education will play a fundamental role in helping South Africa to re-establish itself in the international business community (I. Finlay and V. Martin, 'Some Old Cliches, New Challenges', TES, 2.6.95).
59 The Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Culture in Rwanda, Dr Joseph Nsengimana, stressed the government's wish to have 71 professors return before the beginning of the new academic year in December ('Professors to return to Rwanda', IOM News. July/August 1995). In the case of South Africa, the London-based Africa Educational Trust and the International University Exchange Fund in Geneva have succeeded in helping to produce a highly educated and competent group of people who are currently making a significant contribution to the political, economic, and cultural development of South Africa and its transition process (D. Jobbins. 'Award scheme proves a triumph.', THES, 17.11.95.
In the case of foreign advisers or visiting academics and other professionals care must be taken to ensure that people of high calibre are involved. In the new Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany much resentment has been caused by the presence of visiting professors and others from Western Germany - some of whom have sought to further their own careers through active involvement at levels they could not have operated at in the West.
6.2 Development of New Management Strategies to Strengthen and Advance Capacity-Building Among Teachers
The provision of adequately trained teachers in post-conflict situations is important because they contribute significantly to the long-term development of the education system. Agencies should prioritise this as an urgent area of funding. For instance, one of the Middle East's oldest western-style universities, the American University of Beirut (AUB), has launched an appeal for $38 million to arrest the decline of its facilities and teaching in the war-torn Lebanese capital. Lebanon's crippling inflation has led to a major 'brain drain' of AUB academics to lucrative jobs in the new institutions of the oil-rich Gulf states, where they can command salaries up to five times higher. AUB's faculty has been further weakened by the departure of virtually all of its non-Arab staff, frightened away by the risk of assassination or kidnap. The exodus of non-Arabs began in earnest in 1984 following the murder of the then president of AUB Dr Malcolm Kerr. The biggest proportion of the $38 million will be used to provide funds to "attract and retain employees".60 UNDHA, as well as other agencies, consolidates efforts to strengthen the capacity of governments in the sector of humanitarian assistance, co-ordination and information management.
60
THES., 29.4.89.
Similarly in South Africa attention is being paid by various NGOs to advancing a more progressive management culture, as well as constructing efficient management structures.61
61
Richard Fehnel. Ford Foundation. 'Education Policy and Management and the Road to Restructuring: A Comparative Analysis' in Restructuring South African Education in the 1990s. HSRC, Vol. 1, 1993.
In Bosnia-Herzegovina a team from the University of Pittsburgh has been concentrating on helping teachers and administrators to nurture the intellectual development of children while addressing their war-related stress and trauma. During 1995, the Institute for International Studies in Education (USE), together with both UNICEF and the Bosnian government, conducted a seminar series which introduced 'innovative teaching/learning strategies that [fostered] active and student-centered classrooms with the intention of relieving the teachers' and children's stress and psychological trauma due to the war'.62 In addition, with the possibility of a peaceful settlement appearing more likely, they began to concentrate on education for reconstruction by 'focusing on developing the national organisational capacity in educational planning'.63 This culminated in a seminar devoted to educational planning which took place in Zenica.
62
John Yeager and Michel Rakotomanana, 'Initiating a Program in Educational Policy and Planning in a Nation in Crisis: the Case of Bosnia-Herzegovina', paper presented at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society, Williamsburg, VA (March 6-10, 1996).
63 John Yeager and Michel Rakotomanana, loc. cit.
6.3 Inter-University Teacher Training Programmes for Capacity Building
The emerging 'brain-drain' to Western Europe and North America in many countries 'which experience social upheaval and political instability or a slow rate of economic growth, jeopardises a human-centered sustainable development especially in Sub-Saharan countries. UNESCO, in collaboration with other Western European universities such as Utrecht University, has formed UNITWIN Programmes in order to:
· develop linking arrangements such as programmes of co-operation between institutions in both Europe and southern Africa· develop centres of excellence of specialised post-graduate studies to advance research
· establish UNESCO chairs within this UNITWIN network that would serve as cores of the centres of excellence
The University of Utrecht has developed a link with the Faculdade Veterinaria of the Universidade Eduardo Mondlano in Maputo, Mozambique, and the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Zimbabwe. The co-operation not only helped with new fundamental research for the development of part of their respective economies, but also stimulated regional co-operation. Inter-university and teacher training college programmes in which partnership helps to rebuild strong
