Curriculum must change: Joy

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son and IT adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy believes educational curriculum must change to allow for an environment in which entrepreneurship can flourish. Speaking at an event titled ‘Policy Café’ at the Radison Blu Hotel in the city on Thursday, the IT expert said Bangladesh needed a change in its attitude towards entrepreneurship. The discussion for the day was on ‘Young entrepreneurs: the engine for growth’. ‘Our curriculum is stuck here because our parents don’t think very highly of businessmen and entrepreneurs,’ Joy told the participants. ‘But we need to change this. This is the reality in our country. I’ve faced it too. When we go to college, our parents want to know what we plan to do in life - doctor or engineer?’ Joy said. ‘If you tell them you want to do business, become an entrepreneur, they will get mad. America and the other countries are very different,’ he said. ‘They see entrepreneurship as very important work. That is how their industries have grown. Over there, nobody gets out of college thinking they will be in a job all their lives. Everybody has a dream of owning their own company.’ He called on the audience to change this culture. ‘In Bangladesh we still don’t think business schools are important. In this we’re lagging behind,’ he said. Here entrepreneurs have to do a lot of paperwork, whereas in developed countries it is really simple. Financing is also a problem here. You, the entrepreneurs and businessmen are the engine for growth. Economies become strong because of internal demand. We have that in Bangladesh,’ said adding ‘When we invest on the domestic consumer market we will no longer be dependent on anybody else,’ according to bdnews24.com.