Rashida spoke to me quite candidly when I met her on the plane. She said she is studying medicine because her parents wished so. She has no intention to be a physician after graduation. She wanted to study graphic design and start her own freelance career. But that didn’t happen because she failed to convince her father.
Mridul is preparing for the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) exams. The only thing he aims for is to get a government job. He says that’s the only “secure” job in Bangladesh. It has both status and power. Private sector jobs are unstable and his father keeps on saying businesses have become uncertain after Covid. Two of his cousins suffered mental breakdowns after they were laid off from banks last year. Their families are now in debt. So even if he has to sit for BCS three years in a row, he is willing to invest that time.
Proma is a single mother. She got married right after secondary education. Two years later, her husband remarried in Qatar. She moved to her parents’ place with her one-year-old son. She enrolled in a training program to learn tailoring. She said she didn’t study much but she wants to start her boutique business that will enable her to help her son and build his future. But her father wants her to go back to her husband’s home. There is still so much taboo for women to earn. “When will it change?” she asks.
Our society is abound with such similar patterns of stories about struggling youths. Oftentimes, they suffer the same woe of not being heard. Their aspirations are brushed aside and they are pushed to study subjects they have no interest in. Often fearing harsh social norms and stigma, our girls are prevented from learning skills and do business based on those skills.
Therefore, let this International Youth Day remind us to acknowledge that if we want our youth to take care of the future for us in a positive direction for employment, decent work, and entrepreneurship, we have to make sure they are equipped with 21st century life skills first, even before they acquire technical skills and knowledge to move ahead in life.
Skills one: How to use information to understand aspirations
In today’s world, where access to free information on skills training through free and subsidized courses is abundant, it is important for youths to understand how they should navigate to get the “right” information.
Many girls like Rashida end up studying something they dislike, because their parents fail to realize their true aspirations. But how do you understand your true aspiration?
Eight out of 10 youths that I have spoken to are confused about their aspirations, their own skills gaps, and career pathways. Not that this is something unusual.
However, learning how to use this free information can be overwhelming. Often, courses are catchy, so one would end up signing up for them. But data from LinkedIn shows that e-learning has 10-20% higher dropout rates than in-person training. So being able to use all this “free” information out there from an early age is necessary.
One easy way to search for information about the type of skills one needs for the jobs one wants for the future is to look at job descriptions that companies post. Young boys and girls can look into the job descriptions and think which skills they need to develop.
There are, however, very basic soft skills, such as making quality presentations and communicating effectively, that youths should acquire. There are plenty of courses available online, though general education in Bangladesh does not usually provide these courses. Learning these skills from as early as the first year in university will equip them better for future careers.
Skill two: Training the mind to be resilient
While parents are bogged down with specific career pathways for their children, as Mridul has experienced, the world of employment is changing fast. A 16-year-old teenager of today is most likely to do 20 different jobs in their lifetime, while we switched a few and our parents probably did only one job in their entire life.
Parents tend to think their understanding of their child’s future is the best. But they are under the wrong impression. We may not even know what a 16-year-old teenager will do 20 years from now, or if that job exists at all at present.
In addition to the usual factors, situations or crises like the Covid pandemic, wars, or most importantly, climate change will precipitate the change, shifting the nature of lucrative jobs.
As such, youths have to be mentally ready for such sudden or rapid shifts, while needing to acquire new skills that will help keep them relevant for the changed job market.
Skills three: Supporting entrepreneurial creativity
While it is definitely a positive move to increase investments and entrepreneurships in Bangladesh, are women and girls being equally motivated to start their own business?
Nine out of 10 young women told me that they have difficulty starting their own business because their family doesn’t support them, like Proma described. They also face challenges in banks as women entrepreneurs to receive loans. This is also true for young men.
Often, they lack required papers to submit to banks. Those who submit all the relevant papers now face loan officers who are sceptical about giving loans to very young people.
Unless youths are trusted to be creative in their businesses and take risks at an early age, how will the number of jobs grow?
Therefore, a supportive environment for creative young entrepreneurs is a prerequisite. We must have increased support from institutions to give them enough confidence to take risks.
Acquiring these skills first will better enable our youths to plan their career paths. It, however, lies with the government and other institutions to create opportunities for them, to experiment, encourage, and ultimately inspire them to do so.
The International Youth Day brings us that occasion to celebrate the infinite potential of our youths, and at the same time remind us of the urgency to stand by them while they take strides towards the future.
Tasmiah T Rahman is an Associate Director at BRAC, leading the Skills Developing Program for Bangladesh. Her views in this article do not reflect that of her workplace.
