M. Ed. (Educational Management) / The purpose and object of this study was to evaluate the role of education and planning with regard to Third World development in general, and a few Third World development problems in particular, with special reference to Qwaqwa. Research has indicated that the national plans of developing countries reflect the importance attached to education. The belief in an almost automatic relationship between education and development resulted in large sums allocated to the formal educational systems, both in budgets and in investment programmes. Two decades from the early optimistic years the world faces a crisis of educational expectations. There is increasing criticism of existing policies and systems and new solutions are being sought. Educational planning has been severely criticised for failing to anticipate and give warning about such damaging trends as the escalating costs of educational provision, the inefficient functioning of school systems, the growing number of educated unemployed and the failure of schools to reduce inequalities in national societies. This study is mainly descriptive. Available literature and statistics were used to describe the educational problems in the Third World and to indicate the linkages between the educational problems and a few broader development problems. Ancillary to this general framework an evaluation was made of education and planning in Qwaqwa. The description and evaluation of the educational and planning problems in Qwaqwa was mainly based on information obtained from the Research Institute for Education Planning, University of the Orange Free State and statistics obtained through research in Qwaqwa. The same unsatisfactory results of development efforts experienced elsewhere in the Third World are also experienced in the less developed areas (national states) of Southern Africa. An analysis of data indicated that Qwaqwa is confronted with similar educational and planning problems as most other developing regions. The conclusion was reached that in the past educational planning was defined too narrowly. The important point, however, is that development is a multidimensional process. Experience has shown that education must be planned as an integrated whole and relevant to the needs of the developing countries...