Recasting education policy for development

With globalisation, a new horizon has been opened up in increasing trade and commerce throughout the world. During this time, people are free to work in jobs of their own choice,   try to sell their products or services at whatever prices they wish, and select from among various products and service-providers for the best value. But the problem arises when the capitalists started to turn everything (education, for example) into a saleable product.
Though the primary objective of education is to enlighten the individual's mind, we cannot ignore its importance in getting a good job in modern globalised world. Following this, commercialisation of education has become widespread in Bangladesh. Education is now being seen as mere a product for maximising profit in a country like Bangladesh with a population of 160 million. The country has turned out to be a prospective market for capitalists. To them, students who have just passed their higher secondary education are the main consumers. When these students complete their higher education (MBA, MSc, MSS or MA) with a handsome CGPA at a huge cost, they find themselves jobless because of excess supply in the labour market. The number of higher educated job-seekers is very high at a time when the number of jobs available for them is very limited.
A recent study by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, found that the unemployment rate is higher among the highly educated people whereas this rate is very low among uneducated or half-educated people. This report stated that 10.31 per cent of Master degree holders are not engaged in any income-generating activities whereas the figure is only 2.82 per cent among the people who do not have any formal education. This report also said the extent  of unemployment is lowest among the people who have vocational or technical education. None of them has been found unemployed.
It is a clear indication that there is a huge mismatch in the demand-supply equilibrium of labour market in Bangladesh. The demand for technically educated people is higher but the supply is very limited in this field. In most of the cases, the motorcar repairing shops in DholaiKhal, Bangla Motor or other places are run by unskilled workers without having any formal education. They cannot diagnose the problem properly. On the contrary, the demand for skilled workers is very high in this field.
For higher education, investment is very high and probably that is the reason why students who completed their higher education demand high salaries. But in reality, these kinds of salaried jobs are very limited. As a result, structural unemployment (a form of unemployment where, at a given wage, the quantity of labour supplied exceeds the quantity of labour demanded because there is a fundamental mismatch between the number of people who want to work and the number of jobs that are available) is very high in higher educated level. These people cannot engage themselves in the production processes like farming, fishing, rickshaw/van pulling, motor garaging or similar activities because of social barriers where these low-salaried jobs are considered as ignominious to them.
This is high time we realistically design our career planning. The government should update policies regarding higher education to discover possible alternatives for improving the situation. Rather than producing the certified unemployed, skilled human capital should be produced. Technical or vocational education system should be encouraged to meet the demand for potential workers.
Bangladesh is blessed with vast manpower but these human resources could be a great fillip to the country's faster development if they are made skilled. Needed is a well-thought-out national policy on human resource development and its proper implementation at the earliest possible time.
Another study said the country could earn several billions more if it could export skilled and semi-skilled manpower abroad. We need skills to raise productivity in mills and factories both at home and abroad.    
The writer is a graduate researcher, the Department of Development Studies, the University of Dhaka. [email protected]