Dismal Job Market: Who Gets The Blame? -II

Fear,greed,hunger,aspiration
Set off human's journey for exploration.
Denying access to education
Only dwarfs a nation.

A recent study done by a government-run think-tank revealed that 66% of the graduates remained unemployed. In addition, findings also disclosed that business graduates got a job much quicker than graduates of other disciplines.¹ The study complemented a World Bank Study in 2019 that found 46% of the National University graduates remained unemployed after their graduation. ¹

I was taken aback by the ensuing debate on the press.No holds barred criticism directed towards the tertiary level education system. “Why are there so many colleges and Universities?”,”Why don’t they introduce industry-oriented courses?”,”Do we really need science courses at colleges under National University?”,”Do these graduates have the required skill to get a job?” and all kinds of unjust criticism heaped towards the new job entrants just to make them crestfallen.

The crucial point we are missing here is that it is the policy,vital for functioning and governance of these educational institutions ,that has to be subject of criticism instead of the institutions.Who are responsible for making policies?

Voilà, now we are getting somewhere. Our policymakers created a some kind of anarchist political environment in learning centers where learning atmosphere is utterly lacking. Often political interests reign over educational objectives.

Late Prof Humayun Azad vented his anger on the learning environment at the campus.In an essay titled "Jatike Ekhoni Sthir Korte Hobe: Amader Bishwabidyaloyer Dorker Achhe Ki Na?(Decide Now: Do We Really Need University?)" wrote back in 1991 after witnessing a gunbattle at Dhaka University: "From school to University, we would like to see books, blooming of knowledge. University is a grooming ground, not an arms depot. And only learners will stay here, there is no place for gunners. We have to decide now: Do we really need any school, college or university? If we do really need them, then they have to be run accordingly. Otherwise, we may destroy them and engage in our suitable savage acts."²

While our policymakers' children get decent education at elite schools and abroad, children of peasants, workers and middle class suffered a lot from violent political practices introduced by the political parties they represent. In addition, many policymakers become trustees of private universities, where the violent and anarchist politics is absent but students and teachers cannot engage in democratic practice of voicing their concerns.

No less offensive is the comment that public spending on such tertiary education is a waste. Education empowers a human being. It is the mean that helps the have-nots to climb up the social ladders. Aspirations, dream,ambitions, greed,fear,hunger,envy ---these are the things that drive a human being forward. These things also distinguish it from other creatures. If human lacked any of these things, then wheel might not have been discovered, America might not have been discovered, people might not have gone to moon.

People have every right to get education. I don’t see any wrong too many honors and masters degree roam in the society.Benefits of education perpetuate from one generation to another generation, from one society to another. It is good use of public money instead of spending on cantonments and unproductive sectors like raising too many salaried personnel(civilian as well as combat) in the defense sector. In the absence of accountability, such spending on defense only perpetuates corruption,instability in public universities and colleges and deterioration in governance.

When it comes to job creation, again finger is pointed to policymakers, who are supposed to make and implement better policies to address the unemployment issue.

Back in 2019,I wrote this piece in the wake of another study. I cannot help sharing bits of it again:

Truth is there is no vibrant and free private sector, where ups and downs reflect rules of free market. Question remains on how one can blame performance and skill set of an employee in this crony infested and politically aligned private sector.

Drawing lessons from our RMG industry offers some objective explanation. When it all started back in late 70s, bureaucrats and people closer to power corridor managed to grab the permit to set up factories. RMG buyers from Hong Kong and South Korea trained the initial work force made them ready to deliver the desired product. This in-house training program prepared the skilled workforce. None back then envisaged that our RMG industry would reach such stage. Obviously we need more specialized institution to churn out more knowledgeable employee to deal with the challenges when the industry is on a firm footing.

When the industrial revolution was unfolding, European countries did not target job market and churned out market desired workers. Rather back then those countries produced finest quality of mathematicians and innovative minds. Instead of job market soothsaying , we need to take cue from those periods.

Look what happened to the Indian IT sector. New rules by the American government and trade war between US and China made a heavy dent in Indian IT job market. It does not mean that those who got fired do not have the skill . Rather, they fall victim of a bad patch in Indian IT industry.

At the moment, we are pursuing an educational policy that is parallel to feeding a cub semi prepared food by a carnivore. There is always someone to crack the problem for a student. Omnipresence of these coaches seriously hampers the learning process of a student. A student does not stumble upon a problem more often and solves the problem by himself. The result is we are getting dependent generations who have no confidence in themselves. Appalling state of innovation, lack of quality books, lack of pioneer in every field are tell-tale sign.

Repository of knowledge, book, that helps a learner in his/her formative years is not easy to find. Libraries, where a learner gets a chance to find them, are drying up. Government and private donations that sustain them are rare.

Journalist Samanth Subramanian once wrote a feature about the public libraries in the state of Tamil Nadu, one of the Indian states that produces super IT professionals and scientists. Central and local government allocated special funds to the libraries scattered across the state, according to him. The fund used to buy various genres of books and magazines, including foreign ones, to quench the thirst of the bibliophiles. Thanks to government patronage, these institutional buyers help flourish local publication industry and dawn a breed of readers.

Meanwhile, to instill special kind of technical knowledge, we need technical schools and teachers' training college. We failed miserably to groom our future teachers. Stat furnished by BANBEIS on the number of technical institution is pretty disappointing. I find the SSC and HSC vocational training institute number pretty erroneous. However, number of Technical School, Graphic Art Institute, Textile Institute, Survey Institute, Agricultural Training Institute,Marine Institute and Medical Training Institute stands pretty much same in 2015 and 2017. There have been slight increase in the number of Polytechnic Institute and Technical Training Center.

Similarly, we need to recruit good teachers for these technical schools. If we are really serious , the number of institutions and teachers should have gone up.

Quality text books also lack here. Unfortunately, we do not have enough good educational content writers or academic to write legible and good text books that explain things to a learner crystal clear. Another hint that our education system is really poor.

Instead of going after the indirect reasons, we should focus on the right target in order to get good citizens and world class workforce. Quality education is not a privilege to few but a right for all that holds the key to augment the threshold quality of a typical learner. Attaining that goal obfuscates the need to do research on such trivial issues on our labor force and spares the fund for more pressing one. ³

Notes And References:

1 “66% National University Graduates Are Unemployed”,Dhaka Tribune, September 11,2021 Link here

2 Protikreashilotar Dirgho Chhayar Niche(Under The Long Shadow of Reactionary Forces) by Humayun Azad,Agami Prokashoni,(Second Edition),2005.

3 “Dismal Job Market: Who Gets The Blame”,Rezaul Hoque,December 10,2019,https://hoquestake.blogspot.com Link here