Techniques applied to accomplish a particular job may be defined as a skill, the possession of which is the mark of a professional. An example being a practising surgeon. In him, advanced medical knowledge is coupled with a pair of dexterous hands. He also has the ability to pass on knowledge and experience to others. Unfortunately, skills are in short supply in Bangladesh. A contributing factor is brain (and brawn) drain. The accumulation and enhancement of productive skills is essential for a nation to move up. Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore are highly competitive having achieved high levels of living standards with little or no resource endowments.
Skills are composed of education, training and experience, in that order. Bear in mind that health is the fount of all three. If longevity is a proxy, the health of Bangladeshis' has improved remarkably recently. But it is under serious threat from a rise in pollution - surface, air and water. A lot of ink has been spilled about the noxious gases spewed by brick kilns. Sadly, quality health care is out of reach of ordinary citizens. A way to mitigate this deficiency is large-scale government interventions in public health.
The government should go all-out for raising general awareness about the importance of good habits (cleanliness for example) and child & maternal health. I say this because there is an acute scarcity of easily accessible resources. A lax attitude and illiteracy are also to blame for littering and other unhygienic practices, that go unrectified.
Bangladesh is saddled with six streams of education: English medium, Bangla & English streams of the national curriculum, two streams of Madrasah curriculum and post-SSC polytechnics. This splintered system weakens social cohesion. This will puzzle a foreign observer, say a South Korean or a Finn. Bangladesh should study and select the best bits of the education systems of the four advanced Asian countries mentioned above. If not immediately, the six streams need to be welded together into one within a determinable future. There will possibly be stiff resistance to well-meaning educational reform.
Some observers in the West are calling to emphasise skill over education. Because higher order skills require good education, this line of reasoning is flawed. It is true that tertiary education is not necessary for people bent on entering the trades (welding, plumbing, machining etc.). On completion of SSC students should be able to select technical/vocational education that leads to decent jobs. Qualified tradesmen have the option of self-employment or going abroad. Note however, that social stigma is attached to blue-collar jobs, rich countries included. 'Technical education is for other people's children' - parents tend to think.
Enter job classification. Young Bangladeshis lack clear-cut guidelines as to the professions or vocations to follow or the pathways that lead toward achieving one's desired vocation. In other words, there is no government publication on the occupations and the qualifications needed to enter those streams. An initiative to fill this gap has to be undertaken by the Ministry of Labour with inputs from government and trade and professional bodies. Among others, the Occupational Information Network (O*Net) is an excellent resource.
Training comes from two fronts - classroom and on-the-job. Operating a lathe machine or architectural drawing can be learned in classroom settings and honed on the job. Apprenticeship schemes extant in Austria, Germany and Switzerland are highly effective when it comes to training 16- to 19-year-olds in the trades. Apprentices divide their time equally between theoretical studies and hands-on training. At the end the students are employment-ready and many are snapped up by large companies.
However, this system has a long lineage (think guilds). A troika of employers' organisations, companies and the government work in tandem. Very few countries have been able to ape this system. Singapore is an exception, Slovakia is taking German help.
With regard to engineering, medicine and accounting our professional bodies should step up to the plate by offering continuous education, ideally with the help of like bodies in the region. Professionals in marketing, procurement, logistics and supply chain should think of establishing their own bodies by taking a page out of Bangladesh Society for Human Resources Management (BSHRM), a body of human resource (HR) professionals. Because of a failing by our secondary schools, English proficiency should be a part of career development programmes for younger employees.
Raihan Amin is a Part-time Faculty, United International University