The government has taken up development projects aimed at reducing unemployment and making youths self-employed in the country.
"We have taken various realistic projects to train youths with the goal of making them self-employed and also engaging them in jobs," Youth and Sports Secretary Mesbah Uddin told BSS on Tuesday.
He said the government has imparted training to 67 lakh youths on various income generation trades since 2009 to make them skilled and self-employed.
"Training programs are a continuous process for youth development. The youth development department is imparting training on a total of 83 trades across the country," Mesbah said.
He said 23 lakh trained youths out of 67 lakh have engaged themselves in self-employment so far.
According to the ministry, the government has taken an initiative to build Sheikh Jamal Youth Training and Recreation Centre at every upazila to have the training program reach the grassroots level.
It said a project, 'Economic Acceleration and Resilience for NEET (EARN)', was adopted with World Bank finance to create employment opportunities for NEET youth population.
Under the project, the government will provide training to 20 lakh youths in five years, said the youth and sports secretary.
The youth development department will impart skills development training to the NEET youths, of whom about 50 percent are female, he said, adding the training program will be extended up to the union levels.
Besides, the third phase of the IMPACT project has been adopted with the aim of making everyone a partner in building a better Bangladesh, Mesbah said.
Under the previous two phases of the project, some 31,000 eco-friendly biogas plants were set up across the country as the project will install 64,000 biogas plants in every district during the period, he added.
Sheikh Hasina Youth Development Institute at Savar achieved unprecedented progress in terms of its quality and various youth development activities.
Within a few days, activities related to national and international youth gatherings, youth exchanges, international seminars and symposiums on youth issues will be introduced at this institute.
The institute will also provide PhD, MPhil, MS and diploma degrees on various subjects and will become a centre of excellence for youths.
Besides, construction work of Sheikh Russell Mini Stadium is progressing fast in every upazila of the country. Of those, construction of 125 stadiums has been completed while the building of 186 stadiums is underway in the current financial year.
Apart from this, work on preparing DPP for construction of 173 more stadiums is going on.
Bangabandhu National Stadium is also going through its modernization and renovation at a cost of about Tk100 crore.
