Public Sector Human Resources Development

A major concern in Sri Lanka is the low level of awareness of HRD benefits. This calls for policies to promote the dynamism of HRD through awareness creation and taking measures to overcome the constraints.

Investment in human resources development, if followed with effective utilisation, should increase in GNP at national level on sustained basis. The HRD policies should strive to keep the process in the desired direction.

There is a synergistic process between investment in human resources development and improvement of quality of life. This synergistic process could be hampered by detrimental developments such as pollution and constraints against participation and empowerment. HRD policies should be identified to promote this synergistic process by minimising detrimental developments and by overcoming constraints.

Improvements in nutrition and health, and most importantly in education and training are required to increase productivity. Effective uses of human resources have the twin aims of eliciting the initial investment for HRD. Achieving this may be obstructed by structural adjustments, growth of the population, changes in the composition and/or deterioration of demand for goods and services.

Identification of appropriate HRD policies are required to overcome these problems.

A need prevails to identify policies for institution building to generate the process of inter-sectoral and inter-agency co-ordination as well as the strengthening of interrelationships between HRD activities within among sectors. Policies have to be identified for information and data collection to monitor and evaluate HRD policies and programmes.

For implementation of above discussed issues there is a government statutory body established through a Parliament act called National Human Resources Development Council. Since inception this government body has not been attached to a suitable ministry. So, the only public institution specifically established for HRD activities is lagging behind.

In other countries all over the world, institute that specifically caters for HRD functions under ministry of policy planning under the purview of prime minister or president of the particular country.

But in Sri Lanka, it has been devalued and keeps in an unparallel ministry. Therefore the President has to pay attention to put this vital government body (National Human Resources Development Council) to the correct path for the betterment of the country.

E.W. Wijethunga, SLAS - Retired