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Published: 12:37 AM, 15 December 2019

https://dailyasianage.com/news/209477/education-to-develop-creativity--and-analysing-ability

Education to develop creativity and analysing ability M S Siddiqui

Human resources are the most vital resources. In our country, the supply of human resources does not meet the demands of the market. Every year, at least 2 million new young citizens are joining the labor market.

At present 60 percent of our population is of working age and 35 percent of it consists of the youth but only 1.07 percent of this 35 percent has had skills development. However, theoretically, even this 1.07 percent is not skilled enough.

Bangladesh enterprises cover up these skill gaps with foreigners in management, production, marketing, research and development (R&D). Ready-made garment (RMG) industry started its journey in 1978 and 41 years later, we are still heavily dependent on imported skills at the management level.

The whole education sector has failed to take this problem seriously. Around 13 percent of the country's garments factories have employed foreign experts in the top posts who remit over USD 5 billion from Bangladesh every year.

It is well known that technical education, vocational education and skills training regarded as the three pillars of skills development. Bangladeshi workers seek jobs abroad without proper training and skills. These individuals do not receive the same levels of education and training.

They are denied their deserved wages. Those who complete tertiary education need a different form of training compared to those who enter the job market after completing lower level education. They are also lacking knowledge of the physical, emotional and social development apart from technical education.

There are many vocational training institutions in private sector and under different departments of some ministries of the government. There are some exception institutions under management of NGOs like MATWS and UCEP. Trainees of these two institutions are better placed in the job of home and abroad but the quality of training at government is questionable.

We could not fulfill this demand through market-relevant technical education and skills development. We require improved technology in order to alleviate the quality of our management and technical education.

The education policy or strategy should have databases of demand of manpower, worker profiles, and skills anticipation plans with development of market and technology. It should include special

focus on inclusiveness, in terms of people with disabilities, regional disparities, ethnic minorities, gender etc., and geographic disparities in respect of availability of job and respective manpower.

Our present general and technical education is not sufficient to meet the demand of job and the nation will need more highly trained people. The skills gap will widen in the future with the industry adopting newer technology, robotics and more automation. Bangladesh should focus on establishing a national skills development policy to meet the challenge.

One of the most neglected sectors is the polytechnic institutes offering vocational and diploma courses. Investment in infrastructure is required so that polytechnic institutes, vocational training centres and skills centres can accommodate individuals from all strata of society. These polytechnic institutes do not have the required number of teachers educated in updated technology and the curriculum is very old and usually not meeting present day's requirements.

As for example, the global market has acute shortage of skilled staffs in the healthcare industry, nursing, is increasing in demand, especially in countries with an ageing population. More workers will be needed in this industry in some regions, where the population growth is negative. Since we have a shortage of nurses, we are unable to fill these gaps both in our country and in other countries.

We are facing another limitation in education system. The public Universities are encouraging students to be BCS officer, private Universities are encouraging students to be executive at multinational companies and Madrasha institutions focusing on punishment and remuneration after death.

Bangladeshi curriculum is not at per with 21st-century skills such as innovative skills, creative skills, creative thinking, decision-making, problem-solving, collaborative skills, self-management skills, and global citizenship skills. All these are not required in every trade; they can be divided into sub-skills or tertiary skills.

In near future, on the basis of policy of the government, jobs continue to be generated by the manufacturing sector, such as Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Export Processing Zones (EPZs), Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), micro-enterprises, self-employment in both formal and informal, and the agricultural sector in terms of agro-based trading and manufacturing to meet up the demand of both rural and urban markets.

In terms of investments in general, technical education and training, we must take into account automation, robotics and our demographic dividend. It can be synchronized by maximizing the potential of our human resources. The curriculum of the general education may be re-designed to incorporate technical education according to demand of the market. There is no alternative to skills training when it comes to utilising new technologies in skills development.

Courses should be designed in a way that connects classrooms with industries and offer courses like industrial relations, labour management, occupational health and safety.

For example, RMG sector employ foreign workers are mainly in product development carried out in the R&D (Research and Development) department. That indicates that the other job positions would be occupied by the domestic workforce if they were nurtured well by different universities focusing on the demand of the garments industry.

At present, out of 126 universities (46 public and 80 private) there are two universities in the country-BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT) and Bangladesh University of Textiles (BUTEX) are educating manpower for the garments and textiles industry specifically. In other universities, there are some degrees such as textile and industrial engineering that trying to fulfil the demands of the sector. But these institutions are not aware that RMG is about to face challenges from automation and competition, and the industry is not ready.

A large number of young people, including government officers are sent to overseas Universities and Institutions for higher education and training, which is very expensive. The Investments in education sector should be advanced technology for the development of the technical education sector to meet the demands of the market. We should have such institutions in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh unfortunately blocked the way of setting up branches of overseas University with too much regulation as policy makers think that overseas Universities will sell certificate in Bangladesh but surprisingly, policy makers are sending their children to those Universities in other countries. The education sector should be open for overseas investment.

We need to generate a good number of quality graduates with expertise on the garments and textiles industry. Producing high skilled workers for the RMG industry will also contribute to the economy by reducing the amount of foreign remittance that leaves the country.

Fortunately, there are some donor agencies in collaboration with buyers in west are promoting some skill development courses and training programs. The IFC's (International Finance Corporation) PaCT (Partnership for Cleaner Textile) to address high water, energy, and chemical use; ILO's Better Work programme emphasising on working conditions; Palladium International's Sudokkho to produce skilled workers; BSR's (Business for Social Responsibility) health project; Alborg University's Master's degree in Risk and Safety Management.

The local institutions should have more courses offered in leading private universities that are directly linked with the garments industry. Bangladesh should follow these agency and setup similar training institutions.

The focus should on general education with some technical courses and advanced technical education. All the educational institution should update their curriculum to include technical education and each of those must have placement or career counselling services. In that way, students can remain updated about the job market and the type of skills they should build. The curriculum should be updated every now and then with change of technology and market demand.

The basic foundation of our children are very weak due to poor standard of primary education. This sector lacking proper curriculum, infrastructure and teaching staffs. The salary of teachers is very poor and unable to attract meritorious and dedicated persons. Teacher are performing duties for salary but not taking as profession due to many limitations and environment in the society.

There are many countries such as Canada where the salary of teachers of school, college and University is similar. Those who take up the noble profession of teaching choose the institution according to their interest to teach among School, College or University. We should give top priority to the primary education.

The teachers are not properly paid and regularly trained. The teaching staffs should be updated of advancement of technology and ever changing demand of the job market. The teachers should in regular training and sharing experience with industries and market. Bangladesh needs higher education of teacher than higher education of government official of education ministry.

The success of examination is dependent on memorizing note or text book. Educational system is hardly focusing on development of creativity and analysing ability. We need a rapid reform in mind-set of teachers and methods of examinations.

The entrepreneurs should express their demand to the educational and vocational institutions. There is a gap of Industries - academia relationship despite the fact that the new generation Universities in private sector are established and managed by business entrepreneurs.

These entrepreneurs often express dissatisfaction of quality of job applicants but they have no initiative to give quality education to their students. None of us are committed to our profession and responsible for gap between demand and supply of skilled manpower. The writer is a legal economist. Email: mssiddiqui2035@gmail.com