Government role needed in skill training
Thursday, 28 August 2008
IN the era of market economy and free enterprise, the government's role can be argued to have shrunk, conceptually. Nonetheless, there are areas where the government is expected to play a bigger or predominant role to increase productivity for faster economic growth. Skill development to enhance employment prospects is such an area. A skilled person can be self-employed or get employment with various industries to contribute to economic growth.
The existing opportunities for skill or vocational training provided by the small number of government polytechnics are limited and inadequate compared to the requirement. A rapid expansion of such training facilities and programmes is a must to meet the growing demand. The expansion of skill training activities, done with a vision, would yield multiple benefits to the government and the country.
The government could conduct market surveys to know the growing demand for skilled personnel in the domestic and the international labour markets. Accordingly, it can set up the needed training facilities. No doubt this will call for investments from the government. But the investment would promote higher economic growth and productivity. The government can also recover the invested money by requiring obliging the recipients of the training to pay back in instalments.
Mahbubur Rahman
Pahartali, Chittagong
The existing opportunities for skill or vocational training provided by the small number of government polytechnics are limited and inadequate compared to the requirement. A rapid expansion of such training facilities and programmes is a must to meet the growing demand. The expansion of skill training activities, done with a vision, would yield multiple benefits to the government and the country.
The government could conduct market surveys to know the growing demand for skilled personnel in the domestic and the international labour markets. Accordingly, it can set up the needed training facilities. No doubt this will call for investments from the government. But the investment would promote higher economic growth and productivity. The government can also recover the invested money by requiring obliging the recipients of the training to pay back in instalments.
Mahbubur Rahman
Pahartali, Chittagong