Tribal people lag behind in skills

Only 2.63% of the country’s indigenous and tribal people (ITP) are skilled workers, according to a survey. It said informal employment among the ITPs stands at 89.84% compared to national rural average of 87.5% while skills level of the employed indigenous population is extremely poor. The survey titled “Skill and Employment Baseline Assessment of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Bangladesh” was carried out by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) with the support of the International Labour Organization. The finding of the survey, which was conducted over 10,000 indigenous people, of which 2,000 were drawn from the hills and the rest from the plains. It said only 2.63% of the indigenous population can be considered skilled workers while over 80% have either no or very limited levels of skills training. However, unemployment is higher among tertiary graduates (2.04%) compared to those with no education (0.11%) indicating an inverse relationship between unemployment with education, the report finds. ITP working age population accounts for 71.15% of total population compared to the national rural figure of 61% with almost equal distribution in hilly and plain areas as well as by gender, it added. Very broad range of cognitive and practical skills is very negligible. This pattern is more pronounced for the ITP female workforce, the survey states. “It is an important survey that provides a wealth of detailed, accurate and up-to-date data on the lives and employment of indigenous and tribal people,” said Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Secretary Naba Bikram Kishore Tripura at the survey report launching in Dhaka yesterday. “It (the survey) will provide a foundation for the government’s future development actions in these areas,” Tripura said. Gagan Rajbhandari, deputy director of ILO Bangladesh said: “The skills and employability of indigenous men and women in Bangladesh urgently needs to be enhanced.” “Providing skills that link to decent work is an important step which will help lift many out of poverty.” Charge d’ Affaires of the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh Siroco Messerli said: “Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s (SDC) interest in ITPs is from a poverty perspective.” SDC’s interest was to understand how the ITPs fared, compared to the national average, in terms of socio-economic indicators such as education, consumption, water, etc as well to explore whether skills development is an appropriate tool for intervention with this group, said Messerli. The survey recommended undertaking active labour market policies and programs for ITPs to enhance skill and to engage them in productive jobs. It also suggested that such programs should include job creation, supporting the unemployed and the underemployed through micro-enterprise development, linking training with the labour market, and helping match jobs with job seekers. The overall objective of the proposed study is to assess the socio-economic conditions, skills and employment situations of indigenous and tribal peoples in Bangladesh and develop recommendations for related interventions and programmes.