Need for skill development

In this world, survival and day-to-day income become impossible for a huge number of educated people. In developing country like Bangladesh only education and pass marks sometimes cannot bring daily bread to many families.  Skill is a vital driving force beside knowledge and innovation for social development and economic growth in any country of the world. To respond o challenges and to grab opportunities a combination of education and skills is very important. In Bangladesh different initiatives have been taken for children's primary and secondary education but not for enhancing employment- linked skills under orchestrated programmes. Underprivileged children and youths in Bangladesh need the rights, opportunities and environment to improve the quality of their life so that they can have a positive future.
Bangladesh has an immense opportunity in terms of its huge army of labour. Its potential to turn the population into a highly educated and skilled force is also recognised. To ensure better employment opportunities at home and abroad, the government has of late initiated different projects for the labour force. To develop a flexible, responsive and market-oriented training system, the country chalked out a plan titled Bangladesh: Skill Vision 2016 report inducting eighteen visions. This aims at forming strategies and framework for people and institutions. The National Skills Development Policy is a major milestone in the country's history approved by the government, which will focus on flexible, market-oriented training system.
Every year workers are going abroad for income generation and they are bringing huge remittances for us. But many of them lack proper skills and proper training. On going abroad they face many challenges. From the airport the struggle begins while finding their seats in the plane to filling up immigration forms. So basic training should be started from the beginning. Secto- wise skill development training should be given based on the preferences of people. Income generation is the goal of the underprivileged children and youth. So training should start from the primary level. Beside education, there should be option for training which children will select while studying in school. The country's future lies on the development of children, each and every child. Development workers, private sector and the government should work together to establish skill-based training facilities for underprivileged group from the beginning.
 The writer is a researcher
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