In this era of renewable energy and electric vehicles, the industry demands human resources to have built-in renewable expertise and agile competencies. In the global transition we are living through, time is of the essence and we must fundamentally rethink how we approach professional skill sets.
It has been evident since the preceding decade that a static university degree no longer guarantees stable and scalable employment. Today’s graduates must build the tenacity to overcome the rigidity of traditional, rote-based learning.
While their core foundational knowledge should remain consistent, they must be highly adaptable to market shocks and possess the capacity to constantly relearn and recalibrate their core competencies.
In order for Bangladesh to truly grow and create a competitive edge in an adversely unforgiving global economy, our graduates need the drive to continuously renew their skills in accordance with shifting global standards.
Failing to instill this mindset shall only mean that we are running at full speed into a trap of mass skill obstruction, rendering our much-touted demographic dividend functionally useless.
Our tertiary education system proudly rolls out graduates who are theoretically sound (perhaps!) but practically handicapped. Expecting a century old rigid curriculum to meet the dynamic industrial aspirations is an exercise in futility.
The comfort zone of remaining merely credential factories needs immediate and radical revitalization. An employable future-ready workforce is what we are after.
Being open and firm enough to critically assess their own limitations as well as make adjustments to improve further should be their core discipline for individual and career growth.
This burning concern also brings us directly to the obligations of the private sector.
Businesses can no longer afford the luxury to be passive consumers of human capital; they must become active architects of it.
We cannot leave the welfare or the development of employees to mere “corporate goodwill.” It must be institutionalized.
Corporates need to develop robust learning and development (L&D) centres with far greater outreach, moving beyond the superficial, box-ticking weekend training sessions we often see today.
These L&D centres need to be strategically-designed so that businesses can intentionally build and upskill upcoming entrants in the job market in direct accordance with their evolving operational needs.
Training in isolation is not enough. The learning centres should serve as active and constructive platforms for cross-sector collaboration, creating a more rewarding tomorrow.
The “fairy term” of industry-academia collaboration should also step up the game instead of remaining an honourable mention in corporate seminars.
Genuine collaboration drives should be accelerated that are not limited to recruitment drives but capitalized upon to actively pursue realistic research initiatives as well.
Comprehensive research involving both the merit of academicians and seasoned executives will allow us to reach more conclusive, battle-tested findings. This will bring us closer to knowing accurately what our core workplace problems are.
In place of forcefully feeding upon the Western case studies that come nowhere near our socio-economic realities, localized research will help us design strategic, data-driven measures for creating a more employable and resilient workforce.
Neither the corporate sector nor the universities can substantiate the intended systemic shift in isolation. The state machinery has a binding obligation to act as the primary facilitator, yet it remains the weakest link in the chain.
With the new government in charge, the Ministry of Labour and Employment needs to urgently shift its focus toward this renewed aspect of human capital development. It should be brought under mandatory reforms and transformed from its current state of being bureaucratic and largely reactive.
A revitalized labour bureau should be supporting and incentivizing companies that invest heavily in renewable and collaborative L&D ecosystems.
It should close the gap between university grants commission and corporate chambers of commerce, ensuring that modern labour policies go beyond minimum wage debates to include a continuous skill regeneration as a fundamental worker right.
When a worker’s skills are allowed to stagnate, their bargaining power drops, making them highly vulnerable to exploitation and the toxic politics of the “workplace mafia.” Therefore, skill renewal should matter as an unavoidable workplace equity factor.
If Bangladesh is to navigate the incoming technological shifts and protect its employees from becoming obsolete in their own backyards, we must institutionalize the culture of renewable expertise.
We need synchronization in our efforts where academia updates the software of the mind, corporations provide the hardware of practical application, and a revitalized labour ministry ensures the entire ecosystem runs with accountability and foresight.
Only then can we rebuild our human capital framework and transform our workforce into truly renewable assets.
Nafis Ehsas Chowdhury works at Summit Communications Limited.