The British Empire expanded dramatically during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth 1 and Queen Victoria. The feudal system of royal patronage was at its peak at the time. Ordinary Britons were by and large serfs and peasants. Education was the preserve of a privileged few. There were not enough trained, educated or competent people to administer what became an enormous undertaking - the British Empire where, it is said, the sun never set! The so-called blue-blooded were by default the ones who took state responsibility. They were sent to far-flung reaches of the globe to run the British Empire. This they did successfully for many centuries.
The industrial revolution changed society more than we realise. Wealth began to be distributed right across society and with it came economic and political power. Democracy, a concept almost a thousand years old in Britain, began to take real shape. More and more ordinary Britons got access to education and qualifications. This change coincided with or perhaps hastened the decline of the Empire and with it the power and exclusive domains of the privileged few. More and more ordinary Britons became eligible and indeed were appointed to positions of authority previously reserved for the aristocracy. This was a slow process. The process was hastened by the First World War and almost completed by the time the Second World War was over. Remnants of the old system persisted but were practically eliminated by the sixties. By this time a strong workforce of educated and competent Britons replaced aristocrats in virtually the entire state machinery. Britain today is a strong country with a robust economy. The foundation of today's success was, however, laid by the aristocracy of yesteryear.
Bangladesh today faces a challenge very similar to that which Great Britain faced when it first set its sights beyond its own shores, albeit for completely different reasons.
Bangladesh has defied all prognostications of terminal birth defects and an imminent demise. On the contrary, it has grown at an enviable rate since its painful inception. Turbulent times have done very little to hold back a country and a people determined to survive and indeed thrive in an unfriendly environment and a hostile climate. Even nature conspires to mortally wound a poor nation that refuses to kneel down and be vanquished! Virtual bankruptcy and an unsympathetic world held back Bangladesh's capability to adequately develop its vast manpower resources. Due to resource constraints, policy makers aimed for the lowest common denominator - basic education for the masses. As a result, the absolutely essential component of economic success, a large and growing pool of tertiary educated technocrats, did not materialise.
The 'education - economic growth - opportunities - resource generation - better education - greater economic growth' cycle never took off. It is clearly a chicken and egg situation where something has to come first. In the absence of adequate natural resources, education must come first - but where will the resources to educate come from? There are not enough educated and trained people to achieve this. Because there are not enough resources to improve and educate more people, successive governments have tried to jump-start this process but with limited success - mainly because of narrow political considerations. Singapore, a poor fishing village until the sixties, broke this cycle and kick-started itself through sustained and focused leadership whose only consideration was the development of the city state. They proved that this can be achieved if there is sincerity, focus and leadership. Bangladesh today faces a serious shortage of skilled manpower. We make do with illiterate or semi-literate workers without realising, or worse - perhaps even accepting, that people without the right education cannot give the productivity necessary for sustained economic growth. Improved productivity translates into greater competitiveness and higher economic growth. This could be the beginning of the cycle! At management levels, this problem is even more acute. There are hordes of graduates from universities of every description, the standards of some of which are questionable. Most such graduates are of poor standard by any level of international measure. This is most unfortunate as the world economy of today is unhindered by man-made borders. One has to compete with the rest of the world - not only in products but also in services. No organisation can offer a globally competitive product if its technology and its people are not of global standards. That is why today Bangladesh is flooded with expatriates, many substandard by global reckoning, in management and administrative areas. The cycle of human resource poverty is a vicious one. Each turn of the wheel makes it worse and it will eventually collapse onto itself unless something is done - and done now - to redress the situation. Those who have the onerous task of running the country must reverse this debilitating cycle by allocating significant resources to education on a nationwide level. The highest priority should be for tertiary education. This initiative will certainly put a brake on our decline but to break through the barrier, the tipping point, sustained investment in educating the human capital of the country at a standard comparable to the rest of the world, must continue. Education must be a non-political issue. All parties must be in consensus that this is necessary.
What is important for us is that we cannot accept this state of affairs as it will ultimately starve and suffocate us, slowly and almost unfeelingly like the anecdotal frog in boiling water. Fixing the problem may take a decade or more.
Let us stop hiring mediocre expatriates for basic management positions. This only blocks opportunities for our own workforce. It is demoralising and demotivating and has a profound effect on the potential workforce. A feeling of despair and frustration seeps down to the grassroots whence future managers emerge.
Let us stop looking for what we do not have. Let us, instead, look at what we have. We do have a small and promising group of young men and women who are smart, articulate and impressive. Let them take the reins of our businesses. They may not have all the qualifications and experience that one may ideally seek, but they will in the long run be better for one's business than the short-tenure short-horizon expatriate. Admittedly, this may not be possible in all cases but in most cases it will work if one is prepared to take a risk on one's compatriots. Because of the great economic divide in this country, the chances are that the men and women may be from privileged well-off families - in a sense our own little aristocracy.
This scheme would allow us the breathing space that we need to develop our meritocracy and gear ourselves up to rise to the challenges of the 2020's. In all probability, the world will be unrecognisable by then and if we are not ready with contemporary knowledge and technology, we shall be bob helplessly and endlessly like flotsam from a wreck in a turbulent ocean. Time and tide wait for none. The time is now.
It is a proven fact that people usually rise to challenges. They should be given the chance, even if they are not the ideal candidates. One may have the occasional disappointment but on balance we and the country will be better off.
The writer is a Chartered Accountant from England & Wales and is the Chief Executive of a
pharmaceutical company.
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