Quality education and skills development, key to prosperity

Students of primary and secondary grades began the new year 2015 with sheer happiness on their faces on getting free new textbooks in their hands. The programme initiated by the government since 2010 is surely laudable and this year alone more than 4.44 crore students from class-1 to class-IX are receiving over 32.63 crore copies of free textbooks. Surely, this will help the country to reach the MDG targets of ensuring universal primary school enrolment and gender parity in primary and secondary levels, but many wonder whether happiness will remain on their faces once they graduate from primary, secondary and higher secondary schools. Will they have the right skills and ability to compete in the job market or able to graduate from poverty with the kind of education they are getting? A recent DPE (Directorate of Primary Education) internal report shows that around 70 percent of children are unable to read or write properly, or perform basic mathematical calculations even after five years at primary school and most of those who graduate from primary schools do not acquire the nationally defined basic competence.  In the recent past, a serious concern was raised that the quality and curriculum of our primary, secondary and higher secondary studies do not effectively serve the goals of human development and poverty eradication.
Lack of qualified teachers and poor school facilities in terms of the number of schools, classrooms, libraries and playgrounds are responsible for poor quality education at these levels. The traditional and dominant way of teaching in most schools tends to focus on memorising facts instead of developing analytical, practical or vocational skills. Therefore, mere access to free primary schooling for poor children is not sufficient to ensure that they will do well enough to be able to compete successfully in today's competitive market. As such, serious attention needs to be given to the quality of mass primary schooling to enable them to break out of the cycle of poverty. We need to focus on improving the quality of education, the kind of education related to our life and life struggle which makes poor children acquire necessary life skills so that they grow up with a truly global outlook. Vocational skills development together with basic education is one of the main preconditions for economic and social development. It should be noted that training in specific skills is more effective when trainees have strong literacy and problem solving skills. The basic primary and secondary schools can only provide this foundation for the poor if it is of good quality.
It is not only the quality of our education system but also the curriculum that does not effectively serve the goals of human development and poverty eradication. There is a lack of adequate communication and collaboration between the government, academia and industry. For instance, while business has changed drastically in the past 20 years, the curriculum in educational institutions, specially at university level,  remains the same as it was a couple of decades ago. And as such, our traditional education systems are not producing quality or skilled persons for modern industry. Industry insiders say that besides poor infrastructure, lack of land, acute shortage of power and gas for new industries, finding the right people and getting them to work productively are the biggest problem of Bangladesh today. What is needed is a strategy of three Es - education, employability and employment. Therefore, we need to design our education system in a way so that it can cater children's diverse needs and provide additional support outside academic classes. Integration of school education within the economic activities of the country is very essential. We need to develop a school curriculum that will help an individual acquire knowledge and at the same time prepare him/her to find a job. We have to develop a link between our education system and the job market by combining the education curriculum with vocational based training courses.
Many studies also show that quality of the schools attended by the poor is so appalling that the parents often remove their children from what they correctly see as dead-end or 'sink schools'. Also in rural areas many parents are reluctant to send their children to schools because of higher opportunity cost, firstly, by the savings in households expenses per month by not sending a child to the school and secondly, by increasing the household income per month by withdrawing a child from school and engaging him/her into work. So in order to unlock the wider benefits of education so that it can play its full part in helping the country achieve poverty eradication, education needs to be of good quality so that children actually learn. It has to stress the preparation of all children to achieve at school, and empower them by heightening their awareness of their rights and responsibilities, their abilities, and enhance their self-confidence to enable them to improve their lives. Quality education is not only important in reducing poverty but also a key to wealth creation and can promote a country from one economic bracket to the next and skills are the key way in which education reduces poverty.
Economists have, for a very long time, stressed that education has a significant role to play in poverty reduction in various ways. A positive link between an income based poverty concept and education can be found in the process of economic growth. Undoubtedly, Bangladesh has certainly made many moves into the right directions. And if we analyse our last ten years' performance of the economy, we will see that despite all odds, we are maintaining a healthy 6 per cent plus growth. But one needs to understand that economic growth alone is not always enough to achieve higher levels of human development unless one invests in education, health and social protection. Bangladesh spends only 2% of its GNP on education whereas an average income country spends about 3.2% and high-income countries spend 6% on education. A study reveals that one year of schooling can increase a person's earnings by 10%; each additional year of schooling can lift average annual GDP by 0.37%. When education is broadly shared and reaches the poor, women and marginalised groups, it holds out the prospect that economic growth will be broadly shared.
At present our employment structure is characterised by the predominance of the low-productivity; low-wage and around 80% of the total labour force are employed in the informal sector. It is known to all that people with informal jobs are usually very poor.  Informal employment is insecure, poorly paid and has no social security which in turn cannot contribute much to poverty reduction. Different studies also show that around 2.2 million people enter the job market annually, while nearly 1 million get jobs and rest remains unemployed or under-employed. If this people can be trained-up in the skill development programme, they will be able to get jobs either in the country or abroad. The poorest and most socially vulnerable segments of population are usually excluded from economic life because they lack the necessary qualifications and skills. Therefore, expanding access to education alone is not enough, while mainstream education is crucial and essential, targeted programmes are very much needed, teaching appropriate vocational subjects with the objectives of job creation and poverty reduction can only be realised through applicable education which empowers the products of the education system with skills and competence to become self employed. The leaders, and society in general must understand, the miracles of development lies in the development of youthful minds and souls with knowledge and skills. Quality education along with skills is the only permanent solution that we can give to the poor so that they can help themselves climb out of poverty.
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