The tendency of the youth of the country to lean towards higher education is not doing much good for making a living at the end of the day. For this, they have to seek alternative education.
Planning Minister MA Mannan made the remarks while addressing a webinar titled, 'Sectoral Action Plan for Youth Budgeting' as the chief guest on Thursday.
He said that in this ever-changing world young people need to quickly become familiar with new skills. Expressing his optimism about the youth of the country, he said the government of Bangladesh will stand by the youth in any need.
“We need to ensure a decent working environment in all workplaces. Only then will the various problems of the youth of Bangladesh be alleviated,” he added.
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The webinar was presided over by Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh Farah Kabir and hosted by Professor of Economics at Dhaka University (DU) and Research Director of SANEM Dr Saima Haque Bidisha.
In his introductory remarks, Professor at Department of Economics at DU and Executive Director of SANEM Dr Selim Raihan highlighted the importance of youth in Bangladesh's economy and called for proper use of existing demographic dividends.
"Not only should the government, but also the parents of the youth actively help their children in learning and acquiring skills," he said.
Referring to the troubles of the youth in the current context, Farah Kabir said there is a great need for coordination among government agencies in the fields of education and employment. At this time, the government has to come forward with quick investment to create skilled manpower. There is no need to make everyone a medical engineer. Young people also need to be entrepreneurs.
Joint Secretary of the Department of Technical and Madrasa Education Borhanul Haque said it is possible to provide quick employment among the youth through the expansion of technical education.
Besides, technical education is being included in the madrasa education activities, which will spread job-oriented skills among the marginalized people of the country, he added.
Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Social Welfare Yasmin Akhtar, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Zahirul Islam, Manager of ActionAid Bangladesh (Young People) Nazmul Ahsan, and Operations Manager of BRAC Skill Development Program Debangshu Kumar Ghosh also spoke among others at the webinar.
The speakers of the program discussed the major problems of the present young generation from different angles and ways to address them. They highlighted how the Corona pandemic has become a major obstacle to youth employment. Their discussion highlighted how unemployment is on the rise due to a lack of coordination between the education system and the workplace.
