ABSTRACT
Insofar as manpower policy has been concerned solely with the supply of skills for the modern sector, it has left out of account four-fifths of the human resources of East Africa. This is excusable if employment policy is regarded as a matter only for economists and planners. But the Ministry of Education and other educative agencies cannot pursue an intelligent policy for the huge mass of young people who are not required for paid employment in mines, factories, and offices without some clear vision of the role they are expected to play in society. While in one sense, education is a good in itself, and therefore autonomous, nevertheless it draws its resources from the productive economy and must in some sense, serve its needs. About half of total educational expenditure in East African countries is absorbed by primary education: educational policy cannot escape a responsibility for seeing that these funds are not wasted.
