Undoubtedly, with the process of globalisation and development of capitalism, a new horizon has been initiated in mounting trade and commerce throughout the world. Under capitalism, people are free to work at jobs of their own choice, to try to sell their products or services at whatever prices they wish, and to select from among various products and services for the best value. But the problem arises when the capitalists started to turn everything-- education, for example, as product.
Though the primary objective of education is to enlighten the individual, at the same time we can not ignore the importance of education for getting a good job in the globalised world. Following this system, commercialisation of education has become widespread in Bangladesh. Capitalists see education mere a product for maximising their profit where Bangladesh, with a population of 160 million, is a prospective market. To them, students who just have passed their higher secondary examination-- are the main target. The students who obtain university degrees like MBA, MSc, MSS or MA with a good CGPA, and at the cost of huge time and money find themselves jobless because of excess supply in the labour market. The number of higher educated job seekers is very high whereas the number of job available for them is very limited.
A recent study by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies depicts that the unemployment rate is higher among the highly educated people whereas this rate is very low among uneducated or half-educated people. The report states that 10.31 per cent of post graduates are not engaged in any income generating activities whereas the figure is only 2.82 per cent amongst the people who do not have any formal education. This report further reveals that the amount of unemployment is lowest among the people who have vocational or technical education. None of them have been found unemployment.
It is a clear indication that there is a huge mismatch in the demand-supply equilibrium of labour market. The demand for technical educated people is higher but the supply is limited in this field. Most of the cases, the automobile repairing shops in Dholaikhal, Bangla Motor or other places in the city are manned by scratchy, uneducated and unskilled workers. This sector demands skilled and technical educated workforce.
Investment is high for higher education, and probably that is the reason why students who completed their higher education, demand a high salary. But in reality jobs with high salary are very limited. This results in structural unemployment-a form of unemployment where, at a given wage, the quantity of labour supplied exceeds the quantity of labour demanded, because there is a fundamental mismatch between the number of people who want to work and the number of jobs that are available. These educated people can not engage themselves with the production process like farming, fishing, automobile mechanic or similar activities because of social barriers where these labour intensive jobs are considered as ignominious to them.
In order to come out of this discomforting situation, the government should revisit policy regarding higher education. Rather than producing certified unemployed, skilled human capital should be produced. Technical or vocational education system should be encouraged to meet the demand for potential labour.
The writer is a graduate researcher, Department of Development Studies, DU. [email protected]
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