The concepts of ‘brain gain’ and ‘brain circulation’ remain unclear

Apr 05, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
In my previous letter, I stated that if Ms. Lowden’s observations that Government is allocating significant resources to the education sector are correct, then the Government must be commended for its efforts.
So, I was perplexed that in her response she arrived at the conclusion that I was making the assumption that Government’s “efforts to develop the people should be grinded to a halt.” That is so off the mark that I’m not sure Ms. Lowden took the time to read my scribe.

Nonetheless, I still believe that Government should continue to invest more in our human resources. However, I also believe that for the country to benefit from such investments there has to be a comprehensive strategy to tackle the problem of migration of our highly skilled population.
Ms. Lowden raised the concepts of “brain gain” and “brain circulation” but failed to extrapolate and show how Guyana has benefited from such conceptualizations. Moreover, she argues that nothing is wrong with the exodus of our skilled population, despite significant Government investment, because there is the windfall of this fuzzy concept of “brain circulation.”

Is quantification of this concept even possible at this moment? Maybe Ms. Lowden has developed a methodology and has done diligent research and can provide us with answers. I await the results of any such investigation.
The reality of the situation is that we need to start talking strategies about retention and attraction of those who are thinking of leaving and those who have already left.
Clinton Urling