Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Preface by Xanana Gusmao
- Preface by Carlos Belo
- Preface by José Ramos Horta
- Preface by Asian Development Bank
- PART I Introduction
- PART II Managing the Macroeconomy
- PART III International Economic Relations
- PART IV Agriculture and the Rural Economy
- PART V Institutions
- PART VI Banking and Finance
- PART VII Social Policy
- 15 Poverty, Equity and Living Standards in East Timor: Challenges for the New Nation
- 16 Social Policy Issues in East Timor: Education and Health
- PART VIII Lessons from International Experience
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
16 - Social Policy Issues in East Timor: Education and Health
from PART VII - Social Policy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Preface by Xanana Gusmao
- Preface by Carlos Belo
- Preface by José Ramos Horta
- Preface by Asian Development Bank
- PART I Introduction
- PART II Managing the Macroeconomy
- PART III International Economic Relations
- PART IV Agriculture and the Rural Economy
- PART V Institutions
- PART VI Banking and Finance
- PART VII Social Policy
- 15 Poverty, Equity and Living Standards in East Timor: Challenges for the New Nation
- 16 Social Policy Issues in East Timor: Education and Health
- PART VIII Lessons from International Experience
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Summary
HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
There are obvious connections between economic growth and human development: ‘On the one hand, economic growth provides the resources to permit sustained improvements in human development. On the other, improvements in the quality of the labour force are an important contributor to economic growth’ (Ranis et al. 2000: 197). The connections between human development and economic growth are not, however, automatic, and their strength depends on a large range of factors – including, on the government side, the appropriateness of the economic policy setting and the proportion of GNP devoted to priority social expenditure and, on the household side, the amount of income households allocate to human development at a given income level. Happily, there are important synergies in human resources development, and many points of mutual reinforcement between governmental and private actions: the personal benefits derived from human resources development programs lead to individual actions that promote further such development (Jones 1992).
THE SITUATION IN EAST TIMOR BEFORE AND AFTER 1999
Educational development in East Timor was very restricted under Portuguese rule. During the period of Indonesian rule, primary schools had been opened in almost every village by about 1985, and the proportion of young people spending time in school increased greatly. However, the increase was not enough to enable East Timor to catch up with the other provinces of Indonesia. Moreover, educational enrolment ratios remained lower for the children of East Timorese than for those of people moving to the province as government officials, with the army or as traders. Illiteracy rates remained extremely high, particularly at ages over 40 and among women. In 1990, in households whose head was born in East Timor, illiteracy fell below 50 per cent only in the 15-24-year age group (Jones 2000: 48).
A table from the 1995 Intercensal Survey (Table 16.1) shows educational attainment by age and sex in 1995 among persons living in households whose head had been born in East Timor.
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- Chapter
- Information
- East TimorDevelopment Challenges for the World's Newest Nation, pp. 256 - 272Publisher: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak InstitutePrint publication year: 2001