Lack of skilled manpower in rural areas

Individuals may experience difficulties in getting and keeping jobs; they attribute these difficulties to a lack of preparation for interviews and on-the-job relations. City government employees lack accounting, record-keeping and proposal-writing skills. Some residents feel that the effectiveness of volunteer fire departments is weakened by their minimal experience in modern fire-fighting methods. Teachers do not have curricula which would allow them to effectively teach practical skills in school. In some rural communities there may be no-one who knows how to drive an automobile, or use farm machinery; and neither the vehicles nor the training to use them are available. Illiteracy is widespread. Those young people who do acquire technical or commercial skills find no channels to put their skills into use and move to the city. Even in agriculture, although traditional skills may be very well developed, contemporary methods are largely unheard of and unsought; outdated agricultural technology is complicated by other technical factors, such as lack of organized land schemes and the inability to control pests. Continuance of traditional construction practices often means that road and bridge building is inhibited by minimal technological knowledge, and houses and pathways are in need of constant repair. Few medical skills are available to deal with emergency situations or hygiene problems. Poor understanding of poultry raising and animal husbandry, and inadequate techniques of animal care, result in problems of health as well as in offensive odours and dirty paths. Other common characteristics of deficiency are an absence of vocational teachers; no opportunity to better income through a second trade; inadequate drainage systems with no alternative techniques or practical examples to follow; unavailability of trained health workers resulting in insufficient community health services; women economically hindered by lack of technical skills.