"World Youth Skills Day 2018"

Youth Talk, a new initiative of Star Youth, The Daily Star, which is a dialogue programme focusing on the development of the young generation of Bangladesh, discussed issues concerning the youth of Bangladesh and how this major sector of skilled population is being evaluated in the job market in its first episode.

The first episode featured Ejaj Ahmad, Founder and President, Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC); Farzana Kashfi, Development Activist; and Snehal V Soneji, Chief Technical Adviser, Project-Skills 21, International Labour Organisation, and was hosted by Tanjim Ferdous from The Daily Star. The discussion session was held with regards to the World Youth Skills Day, celebrated every 15th of July.

Ejaj Ahmad drew attention to issues such as reforming the education system of the country to deliver a youth population far more skilled enough to adapt to the current job market. He also stated that, youth unemployment is a major concern and with increasing automation advancement, the scarcity in job opportunities might even increase. As a result, it is mandatory for the education system to equip the youth with problem solving and critical thinking skills to evade unemployment.  

Farzana Kashfi shed light on how people's perception regarding technical and vocational education and training needs to take a shift. She identified that improving the quality of the training institutes and increasing job placement rate can help. Also, she suggested carrying out major-scale campaigns jointly organised by the government and the development partners, aiming to draw females into taking up vocational training.

Snehal V Soneji pointed out that although there are about 8,000 institutes providing vocational training to the mass, the key issue lies in the linkage between the kind of training provided to the kind demanded by employers. "The private sector (can play) a big role to predict what kind of skills are going to be required in five years," Snehal V Soneji expressed.

To watch the full discussion and know more opinions of these experts on World Youth Skills Day 2018 in the context of Bangladesh, readers can scan visit the following link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBLYh0F12Bs