BSS, Dhaka :
Speakers at a seminar Thursday said the country needs more skilled manpower to ensure better access to both the local and international job markets.
Demand of skilled work forces has significantly increased at local and overseas job markets and the initiative has to be taken to create efficient manpower, they told the seminar titled ‘Innovation: Industrialization and Employment’ at IDEB Bhaban here.
Planning Secretary Bhuiyan Safiqul Islam, Director General of Directorate of Technical Education Md Shahjahan Miah, teachers and engineers, among others addressed the seminar.
Project Director of Skill and Training Enhancement Project (STEP) Golam Md Zahirul Alam presented the keynote paper.
The speakers said vocational and technical education should be expanded to create skilled people to expedite economic progress in the country.
Rate of technical and vocational education is still less compared to different developed countries, they said adding both government and private initiative are needed to enhance the number of students at technical level.
Zahirul Alam said around 0.5 million work forces are going every year and at present near about 7 million people are employed in various countries. Of the exported manpower, 55 percent are less skilled while 40 percent are skilled, he added.
In Bangladesh less than 10 percent of the total students are in technical education, he said adding 65 percent students of Singapore are in technical education.
