Ideally, the state of employment in a country should give the feel of its economic pulse. This is because, employment means production but in countries like Bangladesh this may not be the case. The notion that the government has a responsibility for bringing down unemployment in order to prove its efficiency in fiscal management, recruitments are made when, in fact, there is no room for accommodation of more staff members. Unemployment is, however, not always an indication of economic stagnation. So many factors such as demographic patterns, automation of production units and fresh investments or the lack of it determine how a country's economy fares in a given time. In Bangladesh, the economy has suffered a slower growth over the past few months. A report in this newspaper has cited the political confrontation as a reason for this. Consequently, government recruitment has remained stalled, the report concludes.
Sure enough, there has been some delay in announcing the schedule for the 34th Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) written examinations. Given the backlog in higher education at several highest seats of learning, including the National University (NU), passing-out periods for different batches of students are delayed by three to four years. Such students hardly get enough time for preparation for competitive examinations at the national level for government jobs because of the 30-year age bar on candidates. They definitely have a genuine ground for complaining against the system that does take away academic years from them and leave hardly any time for them to sit for competitive examinations such as the BCS. The education minister has taken an initiative to remove the backlog in education at the lower levels of education. If the process continues, its positive impact will be felt on the higher level of education as well because they are closely related. Now, the higher education should be made a target for clearing the session jam. If all concerned are serious about gradually reducing the session jam, the task can be done within a target period.
As for the government responsibility for providing the educated youths with jobs according to their qualifications, there is no hard and fast obligation although no government ever wants to see its productive hands remaining idle. And government jobs are not all in the bargain. Many private jobs are more paying and a segment of highly qualified ambitious young men and women never cares about government service. So, the need is to reshape education in formats that are equal to the challenges of the time. But this is not enough unless the country provides policy support for growth of business and industry. Thus here lies another challenge of setting up industries, procuring or mastering appropriate technology and inviting investment - foreign or local. In short, opportunities have to be created for young and aspiring people to give their best for productive purposes. In cases where a surplus of highly educated and skilled manpower exists, the best way is to allow the willing ones to go abroad with jobs. It is good to hear that the authorities are in favour of sending doctors and engineers to countries where there is a demand for them. Exploration of all such avenues has the answer to the unemployment issue.
When employment comes to a halt
FE Team | Published: February 02, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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