The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will lend US$350 million to Bangladesh to help public and private institutions scale up skills training for 1.25 million (12.5 lakh) young workers so they are well-equipped to find jobs and meet the changing needs of today's labour market, reports BSS.
The credit will support the government's $1.07 billion "Skills for Employment Investment Programme". Besides ADB, different development partners will provide $400 million, Switzerland government $30 million and private sector $90 million while the government would channel $200 million from its own resources.
The programme will support skills training in 15 priority sectors including garments and textiles, leather, construction, light engineering, information technology, and shipbuilding. A major target of the programme is to boost job placement to around 70 per cent, from about 40 per cent now.
ADB loans for the programme will be made in three tranches as part of a seven-year financing facility. The first $100 million tranche of the facility is expected to be signed in the coming weeks with the second expected in mid-2016 and the third in mid-2018, an ADB press release said Monday.
The first tranche will target 40,000 women and disadvantaged people, including those with disabilities. It will also support 32 public training institutions under three ministries, nine industry associations, microcredit organisation Palli-Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), and Bangladesh Bank Small and Medium Enterprise Department.
By 2015, the programme aims to help set up a National Human Resource Development Fund to scale up skills training. The programme will also support the government's plan to establish a new ministry or authority for skills development.
Two-thirds of the Bangladesh workforce had only minimum education and only 4.0 per cent has received any kind of training. Moreover, the skills development system can only meet about 20 per cent of training needs, meaning many youth cannot find good jobs, underemployment is rife, and wages remain low. Women, in particular, suffer from a lack of skill training.
ADB estimates that Bangladesh would have 78 million workers by 2025. However, the country will only be able to take advantage of this demographic shift if it makes urgent investments in higher-quality schooling and at least a fourfold increase in skills training. The government's National Skills Development Council has been working to promote skills since 2011 as part of its vision of achieving middle-income status by 2021.
Commenting on the skill development programme, ADB's director for South Asia Department Sungsup Ra said this programme would bring together the public sector and the private sector to provide vocational and technical skills, which employers require.
As a result, he said, more and better-paid jobs would be available that would ultimately help Bangladesh shift its economy to a higher level.
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