Dhaka, July 17 (IANS) Bangladesh cannot achieve its goal of becoming an upper-middle-income , investment-driven economy while keeping education sector out of the national development strategy, a report has detailed citing various analysts.
Recently, Bangladesh’s Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon said that around 70 lakh students are currently enrolled in nearly 25,000 Qawmi madrasas in the country. Furthermore, around 14 lakh students study in more than 9,000 Alia madrasas, while significant number of children study in Ebtedayi institutions, implying that a significant portion of Bangladesh’s future workforce is being shaped through the madrasa education system, a report in Dhaka’s ‘Daily Sun’ mentioned.
Analysts have raised questions on whether these students are being adequately prepared for a future in which Bangladesh wants to transform itself into an industrial, technology-driven, and service-oriented economy. Bangladesh government has aimed to make the country a regional hub for manufacturing, technology, and services by reducing its reliance on the readymade garment sector and attracting investments in electronics, pharmaceuticals, information technology, logistics, agro-processing, and other high-value industries.
According to the report in Daily Sun, analysts have said that these ambitious plans are not enough to attract foreign investments as investors want to see whether the country has enough skilled engineers, technicians, programmers, electricians, machine operators, quality control professionals, and digitally competent workers. They also analyse soft skills like communication, teamwork, problem-solving ability, and adaptability to new technologies before investing in any country.
ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon told the leading Bangladeshi daily that there is still no comprehensive national policy for creating market-oriented skills in Qawmi madrasas. Max Tunon, Country Director of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Bangladesh said that the principal challenge in Bangladesh is not simply training more people but making the education system as per labour market demands.
“According to analysts, Bangladesh cannot achieve its ambition of becoming an upper-middle-income, investment-driven economy while leaving one of its largest education sectors outside the national development strategy. The country needs an education system in which a madrasa graduate can confidently pursue careers in factories, software companies, banks, hospitals, government institutions, or engineering firms,” the Daily Sun report detailed.
Earlier in June, a report claimed that Bangladesh’s graduate unemployment rate is reported to be three times higher, at 13.5 per cent in 2024, than the overall rate of unemployment. Youth unemployment (age 15-29 years) is about 10 per cent, more than double the overall unemployment rate at under five per cent.
More alarming is that about 30 per cent of youth are categorised as not in education, employment, or training (NEET), according to an article in Dhaka-based ‘The Daily Star’.
Jobless economic growth is much more an economic policy problem than an education and training problem. About a dozen major projects on skill development and employment creation have been undertaken in Bangladesh in the last two decades, some of which were funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank.
These projects have expanded training opportunities and contributed to building the institutional support structure. Yet, complaints of mismatch and volume of graduate unemployment have not abated. Rough estimates based on Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data indicate that 22 lakh youth enter the job market every year, but any kind of new jobs available are only about 14 lakh, leaving more than a third of new job-seekers unemployed, the report states
–IANS
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