Quoting the findings of the 15th report of the Education Watch, the Financial Express reported on December 25, 2016 that "42 per cent of the recipients waste skills training". What this report (titled "Literacy, skills, Lifelong Learning - SDG in Bangladesh: Where are we?") has found out is not something new. In 2015, an ADB tracer study on the graduates of the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) found that 46 per cent of them do not get jobs. Similar reports from other agencies on the skills system are also available showing somewhat similar results.
It is generally accepted that skills training is important for both economic growth and job creation but it is usually more expensive than the general education. If employment (including self-employment) is considered as one of the main yardsticks of success in the technical skills training, such a high percentage of unutilized skills output constitutes a huge wastage of resources and human efforts.
This high percentage of unemployment among the skilled graduates seems paradoxical. A recent report by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) projected that there will be likely shortage of more than four million skilled workers in various sectors of the Bangladesh economy by 2021 - RMG sector alone will require 1.5 million skilled workers. It is apparent that such skills shortages are driven by the steady gross domestic product (GDP) growth of more than 6.5 per cent per annum on average over the past several years and the double digit growth per annum in the manufacturing sector. Last year, GDP grew by 7.1 per cent beating the previous years' records.
While the rapidly growing economy is facing skill shortages, a huge number of young people are looking for jobs. For example, about 1.8 million to 2.0 million persons, mostly unskilled, are entering the labour market every year adding to the backlog of already unemployed.
Thus, on one hand, the employers complain about shortage of skilled workers. On the other hand, a large proportion of the trained graduates is unable to find suitable jobs not to mention the large number of young and untrained job seekers. This creates a big skills mismatch in the labour market.
Why such a skills mismatch? Some key factors are:
First, employers do not have much engagement in the formal training system. The implication is that skills on demand (including the newly emerging skills) may not be taught in those formal training institutes. There is hardly any well-established and credible mechanism within this formal training system to know about the skills on demand (and to what extent) and to follow up with the employers on the job placement of the passed out graduates.   Â
Second, there is not much reliable information or statistics available on what types of skills are in demand and in what quantity for the present time and for the future in the various sectors and sub-sectors in the economy. The policymakers and administrators admit this deficiency and are trying to address it but finding the right type of information proves difficult.
Third, one of the major weaknesses in the formal training system is the quality of teachers and the relevance and usefulness of the training delivered by them. A welder or an electrician or an auto mechanics from the formal training system may find it very difficult to get a job in the industry which requires such skilled persons. The employers are reluctant to hire such institutionally-trained persons even though they need skilled workers. The reason is low credibility of such training among the employers who generally have negative perception or totally unaware about the quality and relevance of the institutional training. Most of the institutes do not have a mechanism to engage with the industries and update or revise curricula or training methods in line with the changing technological or production methods. Â
Fourth, currently 23 Ministries (and sometimes more than one departments under each of these Ministries) are engaged in skills training. Even a larger number of private sector institutes, including NGOs, are engaged in skills training. Currently 248 institutes in the public sector and 3,766 institutes in the private sector are providing training of one kind or another with an enrollment capacity of 177,527 and 512,136 respectively (estimates from 2014). Lack of effective monitoring and oversight of the performance of this huge number of institutions is a major weakness resulting in proliferation of skills training which do not necessarily lead to productive use of skills as the above Education Watch report has pointed out.
Fifth, there are no proper arrangements for preparing the young people for the world of work and to allow a smooth "school to work transition". Sometimes the newly-skilled graduates (mainly from the public sector institutions) have high expectations (such as wages or salaries) which the employers are not willing to offer. So, it is important to bridge this gap by career counseling and guidance, job matching and job placement, and providing accurate information to the young job seekers on the state of labour market. More importantly, right type of trainees should be selected who are motivated enough to take up the jobs in demand,              Â
Despite the above systemic weaknesses, several good examples of successful skills training can be found in the country. For example, percentage of graduates in these well-performing institutes who found jobs is as high as 95 per cent. This has contributed to improved income and livelihoods of many trainees from the poorer and underprivileged families. The industries are benefiting from the readily available skilled workers which they desperately need. Most of these successful institutions are operated by reputed NGOs, private sector industries, and some government institutions with good leadership.
It follows from the above that the important thing is to adopt strategies to multiply these success stories on a sustainable basis at national level. Â
The good news is that efforts are underway on a large scale to improve the performance of the formal system to meet the emerging needs of a rapidly growing economy. Government has adopted a progressive and comprehensive national skills development policy 2011 (adopted in January 2012) and embarked on a major reform of the TVET system to make it demand-driven, flexible and equity-based in terms of access. Several external donors are supporting the government initiatives. The current donors include: International Labour Organization (ILO), European Union, World Bank, ADB, Swiss Development Cooperation, UK Aid, German Aid (GIZ), and similar others. Â
Through these, the government and policymakers hope to bridge the current divide between the training institutions and the employers. Twelve industry skills councils, led by the employers, are contributing to formulation of the curricula and providing information on the skills requirements. A comprehensive training of teachers is being implemented. Curricula and the assessment and certification system are being updated. Efforts are underway to develop skills database that should provide accurate information on the job market.
Though sounds impressive, the success of these initiatives, to a great extent, should be measured by progress in minimising or eliminating the huge wastage mentioned at the beginning of this article.
The writer is a former senior ILO official and now a freelance consultant.
He can be reached through babul.khan54@gmail.com
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