Masud Al Mahdi Apu, a mass communication and journalism graduate from Dhaka University, has been preparing himself for a government job since 2017, but in vain. Now, after multiple entrance test attempts, his frustration is only growing further.
Barkat Ullah, a business administration student from Government Bangla College, was looking for a job for the last five years. After five failed years, he finally migrated to the United Arab Emirates in search of a livelihood.
The cases of Apu and Barkat are not isolated ones; rather, they represent the frustration and anger of thousands of graduates who remain jobless because of an absence of decent opportunities. Education in Bangladesh no longer guarantees good jobs despite the country’s economic growth.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Bangladesh was ranked second out of 28 countries in 2018 for having the highest level of the educated unemployment rate, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). The Covid-19 pandemic further worsened the unemployment crisis.
The ILO, in the “World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2021” report published in June last year, said Bangladesh’s unemployment rate increased by 1.1% to 5.3% in 2020, compared to 4.2% of 2019.
In Bangladesh, there is no roadmap for the education system that can be followed to turn youth into skilled manpower and make them skillful in switching into the job market properly, experts have said.
They suggested that the government engage with universities and industries to bridge the gap and create skilled manpower every year as per demand.
Gap between job market and education
The latest Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) labour force survey says the country's overall unemployment rate jumped to 5.3% in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, the long-term unemployment rate in Bangladesh is much higher. For example, the unemployment rate for one year or more is 15.2%.
According to BBS data, the educated unemployment rate is also three times higher than the number of illiterate people in Bangladesh. Again, based on the level of education, the unemployment rate is higher among the highly educated.
The unemployment rate of higher secondary graduates is almost four times higher than that of secondary graduates and three times higher among university graduates.
According to Dhaka University Professor Emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury, one of the main reasons behind the rise in the unemployment rate every year is the lack of coordination between the job market and the education system.
Education Minister Dipu Moni also said that although almost all the ministries were working to create skilled manpower, there was no coordinated initiative to figure out the exact demand.
However, she has asked the universities to take steps to tackle high unemployment and find new ways.
She also urged all the stakeholders to accept their responsibility to resolve this problem. Initiatives should be taken at individual and national levels and individuals can think of becoming independent entrepreneurs and create job opportunities for others as well, she added.
According to the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) annual report of 2020, there are about 4.7 million students studying at undergraduate and postgraduate level in 50 public and 107 private universities around the country, except madrasahs and technical institutes.
But an analysis of the country's job market shows that those subjects with high demand have less manpower while subjects with less demand have higher supply in Bangladesh.
According to UGC data, 42.11% of students are studying in arts and humanities, 25.20% in social sciences, 19.81% in commerce, 19.81% in science, 7.82% in engineering and technical, 1.66% in education, 0.95% in agriculture, 0.78% in biology, 0.23% in law, 0.17% in medicine, 0.06% in fine art, 0.02% in pharmacy, and 0.63% for diploma certificates and others.
Former UGC chairman Prof Nazrul Islam said: “Although universities and colleges have the highest number of students in the humanities and social sciences, the opportunities are relatively few for specialized work in the job market.”
However, he said, the demand for science and commerce in the job market was high but supply of candidates was low.
Moreover, there are undergraduate and postgraduate courses being offered in the universities and colleges that have not been able to create any specific field in the job market, according to Prof Islam.
Pandemic turned job market volatile
Analysis of data of the last few years shows that an average of 1.8 million new people are entering the job market every year. Almost half of them are highly educated.
Under the Eighth Five Year Plan, the government wants to create an average of more than 2.2 million new jobs in the next five years.
But the Covid-19 pandemic has already turned the global labour market volatile and made it somewhat tough to achieve the goal.
Dhaka University’s Business Studies Faculty Dean Prof Abdul Moin said only higher education curriculum should not be blamed as the cause of unemployment.
“The challenges and obstacles to their employment should be removed. The necessary technical knowledge and skills should also be imparted to students,” he said.
Countries, educational institutions and training centres need to work together as well to eliminate unemployment and stop the inclusion of foreigners in the country's job market, he added.
