Bridge the skills gap to end joblessness, President tells academics

President Abdul Hamid on Friday stressed on the need for identifying and bridging the skills gap by revamping the education system to help end youth unemployment in Bangladesh.  

"We need to identify the skills gap and redesign the higher education system rapidly to remain competitive, innovative and efficient at the global stage," he said.

He made these remarks while delivering his speech at the inaugural ceremony of the two-day long International Conference on 4th Industrial Revolution and Beyond (IC4RB).

Education Ministry and University Grants Commission (UGC) organised the conference marking the Golden Jubilee of Independence and Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth centenary.

"Unemployment rate among the graduates in Bangladesh is high that indicates skills mismatch. Foreigners are dominating our job market, especially in the technical and managerial levels, corporate firms, and multi-national companies. This trend leads to substantial remittance outflow from Bangladesh," the President said.

He hoped that necessary suggestions and recommendations would come out of the discussions of the experts at the conference "to help our universities take necessary steps for producing skilled manpower to meet the demands of the local and global job markets".

He also emphasised on the adaptation to the changes of the 4th industrial revolution to make it happen.

"Although we are doing increasingly better in agriculture, automation, software development, freelancing and many other sectors, we have to put more emphasis on our university rankings in the international context," he said.

A large number of scholars, students and 4IR stakeholders from home and abroad are participating in the conference, where three Noble Laureates and many international experts are scheduled to deliver their keynote speeches as well.

Along with the conference, two other events are taking place -- ‘Mujib 100 Idea Contest’ and ‘Mujib 100 Industrial Exhibit’.

Education minister Dipu Moni, Deputy Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury and Chairman of the UGC also spoke in the programme.