An estimated $6.0 billion, an amount equivalent to 40 per cent of the annual remittance income of the country, is, reportedly, spent on foreign skilled hands employed in mills and factories and other establishments, a discussion meeting, organised in Dhaka on the occasion of the 'National Productivity Day', was told early this week.
The publication of this piece of information in newspapers coincided with an FE report on the government move to set up a Human Resource Development (HRD) division under the control of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
The primary reason behind a large sum of money being taken out of the country by foreign workers is the shortage of skilled hands in a number of domestic establishments, industrial or otherwise, and information technology (IT) sector. The number of foreign workers is unofficially estimated at 200,000 and most of them, allegedly, do not have any work-permit. However, the number of authorised foreign workers in the country, according to the estimate of the official agency concerned, is not that big.
Unfortunately, none has made any serious attempt to know the actual or near-actual number of foreigners engaged in Bangladesh industries and other establishments.
The shortage of skilled or technical hands in the country emanates from the fact that a very small percentage of students choose technical education while pursuing their career.
The chief of the country's apex trade body, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), told the discussion meeting that against the advertisement of one single post of management personnel, applications in thousands flood offices, but the response for a technical post is very feeble.
A few statistics would tell how difficult the situation is in Bangladesh as far as technical education is concerned. When 60 to 70 per cent of students take up technical education to pursue their career in developed countries, in Bangladesh, the rate is only 10 per cent.
It would be, probably, improper to think that students are deliberately avoiding technical education. There is no denying that, at times, students take decisions going by the trend and their parents and guardians on most occasions fail to guide them properly in the matters of choosing the line of their education.
The most important aspect of the issue here is that there exists a large gap between the trades in which technical education is imparted to students of the relevant educational institutions and the technical manpower need of various domestic industrial and other establishments.
It is not that difficult to find out the areas where foreign workers have been employed because of the non-availability of local workers with identical skills. Equally important is the proper assessment of the need of different skill-based manpower in local establishments, industrial or otherwise.
Here, the proposed HRD Division of the government, if and when implemented, could play a very important role. It can make assessment of the trade-wise need of technical manpower prior to designing a need-based manpower development plan.
There are a good number of technical and specialised educational institutions operating in the country. But most of these institutions impart low-grade technical education. The demand for such technical hands is negligible both at home and abroad. Â
On the part of the government there is emphasis on skill development. It has already formed the national skill development council (NSDC), headed by the Prime Minister. The government has also approved national skill development policy, taken measures for implementing six skill development projects and constituted a dozen industrial skill councils. Besides, agencies under, at least, 23 ministries/ divisions, have been providing skill development training at a substantial cost.
However, all these initiatives would bear no fruit if there is inertia, a factor that has been seriously affecting the overall output in government offices. More importantly, all concerned do need to have a clear idea about the requirement of technical manpower in different areas in markets both at home and in the overseas. There should be no reason to waste resources and efforts to produce technical hands such as masons, carpenters, plumbers etc. Target should be to create hands trained in mid- and upper-technology.
The private sector does need to play a proactive role in creating technical manpower they need most. For instance, most of foreign technical hands are reportedly working in the apparel sector. The trade body concerned can engage resources and trainers to groom such skilled hands locally and help save draining of valuable foreign exchange out of the country. In fact, it should be joint efforts of both private and public sectors to fill the gap of technical manpower in the country.
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Developing skills in demand
Shamsul Huq Zahid | Published: October 05, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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