THE human resource development in Bangladesh slipped five points down to 104 in 2016 from 99 in the previous year as per Global Human Capital Report published by World Economic Forum on Thursday. What the report made clear is that we are moving backward in this vital area despite spending huge budgetary resources in education and other skill development programmes. We believe that the nation must spend much more to properly educate the population and train them in high productivity skill and professionalism, but what the report says is that the government is failing to ensure proper use of the available resources when manifold corruption and misuse of fund at all levels are detracting vital projects in the field. It appears that the government’s claims of huge progress in education and manpower development are highly misleading and it is not acceptable at all. The report has covered 124 countries, which altogether account for 98 percent of the world’s Gross Domestic Products. Such report annually quantifies how the countries are developing their manpower and deploying the human capital to achieve higher socio-economic development. It evaluates the levels of education, skills and employment available to people in five distinct age groups from younger generation to up to 65 years of age. What is noticeable from the report is that the country witnessed significant drop in enrolment at primary level and quality of education in the age group of 15-24 where the rank slipped to 99 from previous 91. In the age group of 25-54 the decline is sharper as the rank came down to 122 from previous 111. It appears that when Bangladesh lost the vital points some other countries have shown better performance pulling down our rank at global level and this is where our leadership is showing their total failure and ineptness when other countries are making progress. In our view there should be an objective review of the situation and immediate remedial steps must be in place to put the trend upward. Out of five countries of South Asia dealt in the report Sri Lanka and Bhutan are ahead of Bangladesh while India, Nepal and Pakistan are lagging behind on an average. What is noticeable is that the decline in Bangladesh’s rank was mainly due to poor performances in educational outcomes with low levels of skill diversity among their university graduates. India and Pakistan are also suffering with Bangladesh from insufficient educational enrolment and poor-quality primary education. We know human resource development is a strenuous effort to be made in many fronts at a time to attain the holistic results. The government must have the clear target and commitment to attain it. We can’t go backward when other nations are moving ahead.
