Despite an ever-climbing literacy rate, the educated unemployment rate is unprecedented. To the point where, in the Asia-Pacific region, Bangladesh was ranked second out of 28 countries in 2018 for having the highest level of it. The problem, expectedly, has been further worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic.
But, the reason behind such high educated unemployment rates is quite clear: There is a visible gap between the current job market and the quality of education being provided, which is an expected result of the lack of coordination between the job market and our education system.
And even though assurances have been made that all relevant ministries are heavily invested in creating skilled manpower, there is still a lack of any coordinated initiatives to figure out the kind of degrees, skills, and specializations that the current job market demands.
This is not how a nation with ambitions such as ours can be expected to progress.
Clearly the first step would be to introduce some much needed coordination between the two arenas mentioned above. This means that our education institutes, especially our universities, need to address the current imbalance in preferred subjects and required skills within the job market.
Of course, the administration also has a major part to play in addressing the issue of educated unemployment. The government has, in the past, expressed desire to create an average of more than 2.2 million new jobs in the next five years; it’s high time that desire was converted to visible action.
Unemployment has been a constant spectre that has haunted our nation throughout the trajectory of its progress, and it is nothing short of a shame that even our most educated find themselves succumbing to it. To address this issue with the severity it requires, concerted efforts from all stakeholders is imperative.
