The call for Bangladesh’s youth to pursue skill development with national interests in mind is both timely and necessary.
As the country faces a rapidly changing global economy, technological disruption, and an increasingly competitive international labour market, young people cannot afford to remain confined to conventional career paths.
Their skills must, therefore, be relevant to emerging industries, changing market demands, and the broader needs of the economy.
However, the responsibility for building a productive, skilled, and socially conscious youth population cannot rest on young people alone.
If the state expects the youth to work for the national interest, then the nation and the state must reciprocate by creating an environment in which young people can actually realize their potential.
As the minister rightly pointed out, training people for existing jobs is insufficient; Bangladesh must also create new employment opportunities and expand the market itself.
This requires coherent industrial policies, investment in emerging sectors, easier access to finance for entrepreneurs, stronger infrastructure, and an education and training system that responds to actual market needs.
Most importantly, skills development must lead somewhere; it is unfair to repeatedly urge young people to become more employable when decent employment remains scarce, wages fail to reflect skills, and opportunities are concentrated in a limited number of sectors.
A skilled generation without adequate avenues to apply those skills represents not only individual frustration but also a significant loss of national potential.
The example of policy support that helped lay the foundations of Bangladesh’s garment industry demonstrates what can happen when human capital development is matched with appropriate state intervention.
Our youth should certainly recognize their responsibility to the country, but the country must also recognize its responsibility to them.
Bangladesh’s young people are among its most valuable drivers. If we expect them to build the nation, we must give them the tools, opportunities, and institutional support to do so.
