Employment scenario: The double-edged sword

Depending on which side of the argument one is on, Bangladesh's able-bodied employment ranges from 20 million to 40.2 million and that's taking into context part-time work. On the other side of the equation, there are countless man-hours put in by those who are perhaps too early for the job market, but whether these jobs qualify as full time equivalent is also questionable. Job creation would stick out like a sore thumb as the answer but life and times have moved on.

Few people are interested in the farm labour jobs in the ever enticing life of the cities. From construction works to development projects, day-labourers are paid more in the urban areas. So, the figures of only 6 million trained or developed skill workforce available for some 18 million jobs raises eyebrows. This is where beyond the traditional education system, technical and vocational skills are in great demand and short supply. For years, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has been supporting Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) for the government's wing but until TVET is included as a whole to the education system, it will remain a sort of stepsister to mainstream education. At a recent discussion it was pointed out that TVET profile needs to be raised a few notches where, while not quite competing with white collar jobs, they are as likely to attract job aspirants. Apparently, the apprenticeship project that was taken up with such enthusiasm by a number of targeted and branded entities to provide a sound base for TVET education hasn't produced the desired outcome in terms of attracting a regular flow of personnel. Specialists have also suggested a form of minimum wage to provide vocational skills with the decency of identity required. The fact that there are no set wages or fee rules for vocational skills leave open the concept of haggling, not to mention the emergence of young people with megaphones announcing their ability to fix fast stoves and such and the inevitable posters everywhere announcing TV and other electronics repair facilities.

The process of selecting students for technical rather than white collar skills has to begin from schools with educated and trained teaching staff taking the call in conjunction with guardians to steer the young minds in the right direction. The choices between sciences, arts, liberal arts and vocational skills added to primary and secondary schooling as well as the madrasha system can produce rounded individuals instead of hopelessly skewed ones. As the service sector, especially the larger electronics retailers, continues to develop backward store linkages for minor and major repairs, the demand for proper TVE skills is rising and with time, the smaller locality-based repair shops might well become part of the backward linkage chain. Such initiatives strengthen job security and with continuous upgrading of skills through certification improve skill-sets.

Until now, the broad target of the TVET programme has been to train skilled workforce in place of unskilled workers that are currently seeing employment abroad. The fact that demand for skilled workforce continues to be in place even in developed countries is suggestive of opportunities that are simply waiting to be garnered. A similar style of training is required to develop the management skills that we still see swinging the wrong way through expatriate employment for some of the more basic jobs, especially in the readymade garment sector. The BGMEA has set up a Fashion Training Institute and provide training to the base level workforce but it has neither the capability nor the resource to provide the added training to the hopelessly outdated secondary and higher secondary schooling that it has currently on offer. The recent debacle in Dhaka University admission tests signifies as much; the basics are atrociously addressed. The future is all about human capital development that will not come about unless education is geared towards productive learning.

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