ILO report circulated recently showed about 41 percent youths in Bangladesh from 15 to 24 years of age are not in education, employment and training (NEET). Bangladesh stands third at the lower end of 21 Asia Pacific countries surveyed for this purpose. They are part of the labour market but they have been left out due to lack of effective initiative resulting from ineptness of the leadership and bureaucracy.
Reports in national media on Wednesday said that it is a worldwide trend with a third of over 1.8 billion young people in the world not involved in education, training and employment. The share of our young unemployed is 78 percent. They are vital part of the society but languishing behind. ILO warns this section of the population if continues to be deprived of education and training to get into jobs may become ultimately perverted to crimes and drugs bringing greater threat to social peace.
Such ineffectiveness of Bangladeshi youths is a matter of deep concern to all. Bangladesh’s quest for maximum job creation for young people seems to be at high risks as the disclosure pointed out and we must do much more in this respect beyond the government’s tall talks about phenomenal progress in the field of the country’s youth development. Rising unemployment of the youths and government claims must be supportive by facts.
The ILO report made an eye opening disclosure at a time when we must take the issue more seriously to bring the NEET people within the class rooms and in the fold of skill based training. Absence of quality education and a skilled labour force is the main cause of our youth unemployment. A World Bank report in 2013 similarly warned of the consequences of leaving the huge section of our youths to suffer from illiteracy, poverty, and resultant unemployment. It said if unemployment rises, use of drugs and crime rate will too. The situation must be tackled before its impact becomes tremendous threat to socio-economic life.
Bangladesh is working to achieve the UN set Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but we believe the gap is still too much as the ILO disclosure suggests. Reducing growing youth unemployment rate and illiteracy by 2020 are two clearly set goals for the country’s socio-economic development and any setback may derail us from the target.
We must say the government must stop waste of resources on political projects, unchecked corruption and mismanagement while there must be noticeable improvement on quality of governance. These are vital issues to make more resources behind activities to cut illiteracy and train young people to drastically reduce unemployment. Outsiders may tell us but we must do it ourselves.
Reports in national media on Wednesday said that it is a worldwide trend with a third of over 1.8 billion young people in the world not involved in education, training and employment. The share of our young unemployed is 78 percent. They are vital part of the society but languishing behind. ILO warns this section of the population if continues to be deprived of education and training to get into jobs may become ultimately perverted to crimes and drugs bringing greater threat to social peace.
Such ineffectiveness of Bangladeshi youths is a matter of deep concern to all. Bangladesh’s quest for maximum job creation for young people seems to be at high risks as the disclosure pointed out and we must do much more in this respect beyond the government’s tall talks about phenomenal progress in the field of the country’s youth development. Rising unemployment of the youths and government claims must be supportive by facts.
The ILO report made an eye opening disclosure at a time when we must take the issue more seriously to bring the NEET people within the class rooms and in the fold of skill based training. Absence of quality education and a skilled labour force is the main cause of our youth unemployment. A World Bank report in 2013 similarly warned of the consequences of leaving the huge section of our youths to suffer from illiteracy, poverty, and resultant unemployment. It said if unemployment rises, use of drugs and crime rate will too. The situation must be tackled before its impact becomes tremendous threat to socio-economic life.
Bangladesh is working to achieve the UN set Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but we believe the gap is still too much as the ILO disclosure suggests. Reducing growing youth unemployment rate and illiteracy by 2020 are two clearly set goals for the country’s socio-economic development and any setback may derail us from the target.
We must say the government must stop waste of resources on political projects, unchecked corruption and mismanagement while there must be noticeable improvement on quality of governance. These are vital issues to make more resources behind activities to cut illiteracy and train young people to drastically reduce unemployment. Outsiders may tell us but we must do it ourselves.
