Fifty per cent of students of the country will be brought under vocational and technical education to address the lack of skilled manpower and ensure demographic dividend in coming days, said Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury, the deputy minister for education, yesterday. He also put emphasis on expanding nursing education faster than general education so that the country could face crises like the Covid-19. “We need skilled manpower rather than general graduates. The general graduation is not of international standard which would have enabled students to get jobs in foreign countries,” said Chowdhury. So the number of general graduates should be limited and quality should be ensured, he said. The budget has to be prepared keeping in mind the reality of Bangladesh’s current economic status, life and livelihoods, he added. There are currently 50.67 million young people aged between 18-35 years, comprising a third of the population. Of them, 73 per cent live in rural areas. Chowdhury was addressing a webinar styled “Youth Perspective on Covid-19 Crisis in Bangladesh: Reflection on National Budget 2020-21” jointly organised by The Daily Star and ActionAid Bangladesh. The health sector’s infrastructure is very weak and the government gave priority to it in the proposed budget, said Atiur Rahman, former governor of Bangladesh Bank. There are inefficiencies in budget utilisation of the health sector and it should be addressed for the health sector’s development, he said. Regarding a budgetary allocationfor small and medium enterprises, Rahman, also a professor of the Department of Development Studies at the University of Dhaka, said this was the scope to provide low-cost working capital to the youth. He also suggested creating a credit guarantee fund so that youth entrepreneurs could get bank loans without a mortgage. Though budgetary allocations are being made for youth development, there is no monitoring on how the allocations were being spent, said Nahim Razzaq, a lawmaker and member of the parliamentary standing committee on the foreign affairs ministry. Digital communication is currently the new norm but the budget proposed increasing supplementary duty on internet use which went against the government’s digital agenda, said Razzaq. “Some of the young lawmakers spoke on this issue in parliament and also contacted both the telecom minister and ICT state minister and they are also aligned with us,” he said, hoping that the proposal would be withdrawn. Selim Raihan, executive director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling, suggested considering employment generation initiatives in the budget focusing on the young population. The government increased allocation for health sector in the budget and there is scope to increase the budget for the health service system, said Raihan, also a professor of the Department of Economics at the University of Dhaka. About the ongoing situation he said the pandemic showed the importance of nursing profession and there was a requirement of quality nursing services. Sarah Kamal, national president of Junior Chamber International, said Bangladesh should focus on vocational training for youth as well as professional trainings on marketing, agriculture etc. She also emphasised involvement of youths in sports to keep them away from drug addiction and reduce frustration. Kishwar Hashemee, chief executive officer and co-founder of Kludio, saw language as a barrier to youth working remotely during the Covid-19 outbreak. For this reason, youths who live in rural areas cannot work in freelancing, he said. He said due to the pandemic of Covid-19, a number of start-ups were in trouble and some were about to shut down. Ismat Jerin Khan, a director of SME Foundation, said the challenge for the start-ups was to keep afloat amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. “We need to help these start-ups and should not let them die,” she said. About challenges faced by start-ups, she said banks do not provide loans to new entrepreneurs because they were unable to fulfil their criteria, especially that involving mortgage. She further suggested involving the research sector with the private sector keeping sufficient allocations in the budget for utilising talents and knowledge of Bangladeshi youth. Ananya Raihan, executive chairperson of Dnet and CEO of Infolady Social Enterprise, said budgetary allocations could not be utilised properly for institutional weaknesses. Munir Hasan, head of Youth Programme at Prothom Alo, said the digital divide was coming as an upcoming threat for the nation and Covid-19 was pushing it further. “Young people of the villages, such as students, cannot attend online classes because of either technical or affordability issues,” said Hasan, requesting the government to put emphasis on it. He also suggested ensuring internet hotspots in villages to ensure internet access for the youth. He said technical and vocational education was yet to gain popularity in Bangladesh and the government should give importance to it. Addressing as chair of the webinar, Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh, emphasised changing the mindset of the middle class on the education system. She urged the government to incorporate sufficient initiatives in the budget to address needs of the youth. “The youth are in uncertainty due to Covid-19 as they are frustrated over their future,” she said, adding “We have to utilise the talent and innovation of the youth.” Muhammad Zahidul Islam, senior business correspondent of The Daily Star, moderated the webinar while Nazmul Ahsan, manager-young people from ActionAid Bangladesh, gave a presentation. Monower Mostafa, general secretary of ‘Democratic Budget Movement; Zaiba Tahyya, founder of Female Empowerment Movement (FEM); Ejaj Ahmad, founder and president of Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center, and grassroots activists of Activista Bangladesh Jannatul Mawa, Jesmin Akter Jui and Md Alimuzzaman also addressed the webinar.
