Socio-economists, at different times have pointed out to a significant aspect in our national paradigm- the shortage of skilled workers. They have also mentioned that Bangladesh’s garment industry needs to move up the value chain and be recognized as a branded products manufacturer. This would then enable them to remain competitive in the evolving global market.
Observers have also pointed out that Bangladesh has been enjoying the advantage of price competitiveness but has been unable to break the glass ceiling of fashion design due to absence of their own international brands and up-market quality. Comparably, India has been able to break this barrier. Indian garment products on a regular basis, now features in designer displays in Milan, Italy, Paris, France and in New York, USA.
Attention has also been drawn to working conditions in RMG factories where our apparel workers sometimes suffer from lack of compliance with regard to workplace safety and the number of hours they have to work per week as compared to Cambodia and India. In many RMG units, workers also do not have pension schemes that are necessary to instill confidence in the work force. This may turn out to be a significant drawback after Bangladesh moves out of the existing EBA system under which they get duty-free and quota-free access for their exports to the European Union. This change will take place after our graduation from LDC status becomes official. Economists have also pointed out that lack of Free Trade Agreements between Bangladesh and other countries are also hampering growth. Presence of such FTA, it has been suggested, would help to generate incentive and constructive policy regimes.
Nevertheless, at this juncture, one needs to remember that Bangladesh has an edge over other countries through our demographic dividend. This factor could help us to achieve technological and sociological transformations through our more than 110 million citizens, under the age of 30 years.
The world, according to sociologists, is passing through a silent revolution. Automation, development of artificial intelligence, advances in computer power and technology are driving this change. Those with hard skills are also able to start their own business as micro-entrepreneurs in the domain of e-commerce and innovation that goes beyond the realm of linear and one-dimensional patterns.
In Bangladesh, this silent transformation is already being felt in manufacturing and some other business sectors associated with digitalization and technical education. To survive in a globalized and competitive world, young people in Bangladesh are also now focusing on business processing through computing languages.
We need to remember at this
juncture that Bangladesh,
a developing country, is on
the way to becoming a
middle-income country
These elements have led many involved with creating skill to direct their attention to the need for improving the quality of technical education, pertaining particularly not only to marketing and management of scant financial sources but also to fostering the principle of innovation within students at the University level. It is being underlined that institutions of learning need to initiate pedagogical discussions and experiment with diverse effective methods of learning.
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This, it is anticipated, would help to prepare students to be self-employed particularly in areas that are associated with electrical or computer engineering and digital technology.
Such a course of action would enable our educational institutions to produce employees who would be a boon for their employers. Their variety of soft skills would enable them to emerge as leaders within the paradigm. This would also enlarge the matrix of opportunity through the creation of cross-sectional partners.
We need to remember at this juncture that Bangladesh, a developing country, is on the way to becoming a middle-income country. This change would also mean creation of an adequate pool of technical resources that would enable us to keep pace with the global market and also be able to contribute towards the development of the country. Such action would of course require practical training as well as theoretical education.
One needs to acknowledge here the important role that BRAC has played in this regard within this crucial framework. They have been associated with the Apprentice Project of the ILO and UNICEF and have assisted in the providing of technical training to nearly 40,000 students in the last three years. This is helping to create a platform on which a future employment potential infrastructure may be built.
However, this process has also generated a subtle sociological problem. It relates to women who have received such technical training. They face a sociological challenge when they start seeking management positions instead of jobs as trained workers within the matrix of industrial functionality. They also expect their employers to provide them with greater security and better financial provisions.
Unfortunately, sometimes employers seem to be unable to comprehend the multi-dimensional aspects of this issue. They need to remember that developed countries on the other hand have used this technological enhancement among women by appointing several of them as CEOs of important organizations and institutions. Such encouragement through high level appointments has been able to create confidence building and has also become examples of gender empowerment and equality.
No discussion on enhancing the latent potential of our demographic dividend would be complete without reference to the important task of learning foreign languages. This is an important key for opening up new dimensions.
We have nearly 9.3 million expatriate workers from Bangladesh working in South East Asia, the Far East, the Middle East, in the European Union, in North Africa and also in North America. Most of them have learnt to speak some foreign language- Arabic, French, Italian, English, Malaysian, Korean or Chinese. However, few of them are able to read the language they are speaking. That is generally true in the case of those working in Korea, Malaysia or in the Middle East.
This is however not the case with expatriate workers from Sri Lanka, India or the Philippines. Consequently, expatriate workers from these countries do not have difficulty in finding work higher up in the ladder in junior management positions.
Both our government as well as the private sector needs to address this language deficit factor more effectively. That will be an important step in the right direction.
(Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador is an analyst specialized in foreign affairs, right to
information and good governance, can be reached at <muhammadzamir0@gmail.com>)
