Prothom Alo :
More than two-thirds of Bangladesh’s population is young. Considering the demographic dividend, we are far ahead. Around 20,00,000 youths are entering the labour market every year. Employment was one of the main demands of the July movement. What is your government’s plan for youth employment?
Mahdi Amin: We can capitalise on the demographic dividend when we empower young people regardless of gender or demographics, and when we can develop them as honest, skilled, and competent individuals. A government priority is to create synergy between industries and academia and facilitate the private sector. Efforts are underway to integrate vocational education into mainstream education. There are efforts to make the next generation of young people skilled at their work. We have many public infrastructures that are not fully functional, and some unused facilities such as various BSCICs, economic zones, EPZs, and high-tech parks, and we plan to link them locally to create employment through industry and trade expansion.
Expatriates' welfare and overseas welfare ministry was established during the tenure of Khaleda Zia. Only the BNP has a tradition of implementing separate schemes and welfare initiatives for expatriates. Our goal is to ensure language education for individuals going to different countries systematically. Additionally, the qualifications or skills they possess should be aligned with the workforce demand of the foreign countries.
On a national level, we need to significantly increase labour migration. From a country like Bangladesh with a vast population, only about 10,00,000 people go overseas for work annually. We aim to raise this number to 20,00,000 per year. We wish to include the necessary technical and language training in our education system. Hence, along with Bengali and English, we prioritise third-language learning, for instance, Arabic for the Middle Eastern labour market, and also French, Italian, or German for Europe. Regional languages like Japanese, Chinese, or Korean are essential for Asia.
We want to establish language learning opportunities from Bangladesh for all the countries where we have employment opportunities. Over 50 per cent of our population is female, but they comprise less than 10 per cent of those going abroad. By creating policies that prepare them as skilled workers, women can become a significant part of this outgoing workforce. Our nurses, with proper training, and if we promote many as caregivers, can match the demand for foreign jobs. Aligning our educational system with job demands and embassies helping with demand and supply, many employment opportunities for women will open abroad.
