Govt to create human resource development plan

The government will compile a medium-term plan for the development of human resources after hearing complaints from National Assembly members that Laos is facing a labour shortage in priority development areas.
Addressing the National Assembly last week, Minister of Education and Sports, Mrs Sengdeuane Lachanthaboun, said the National Committee on Human Resource Development would be responsible for creating this plan.
The committee consists of representatives from various ministries and organisations. These officials will work together to write the plan and implement it between 2020 and 2025, she said.

Mrs Sengdeuane said the committee would assign different ministries and organisations to be in charge of some pivotal activities.
The Personnel Department of the Party Central Committee will be in charge of training people insocialist ideology so they maintain their trust in the leadership of the Party.
The Ministry of Home Affairs will be in charge of the training and administration of government officials. This ministry will also be responsible for budget development.
The Ministry of Education and Sports will be responsible for the quality of education while the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism will take care of job creation and shaping lifestyle values.
Mrs Sengdeuane said the problems inherent in supplying skilled labour to prioritised areas of development had its roots in the values held by parents, who did not want their children to work as farmers.
The National Assembly  statement requested the government to take more action is securing and suppling a skilled workforce to priority areas of development.
The statement said Laos has a serious shortage of agricultural specialists, nurses and teachers and aserted that more people with these qualifications are needed in rural communities.
Although Laos is an agriculture-based country, the supply of agricultural specialists is very limited, National Assembly member Dr Leeber Leebouapao told the legislative body.
He said Laos must provide more agricultural specialists so they can advise farmers on better crop-growing methods.
Other Assembly members said Laos did not really have a shortage of teachers. The problem is that there are more teachers in large towns than in rural areas, so the government needs to take steps to regulate this situation.
Another issue highlighted by Assembly members is that there are a large number of volunteer teachers working in rural areas, who need to be recruited as civil servants.
To address the teacher shortage in rural areas, Mrs Sengdeuane said local authorities should help by providing living quarters for teachers assigned to work in rural com-munities.

By Ekaphone Phouthonesy
(Latest Update June 15, 2019)