Unemployed graduates
Alongside their regular curriculum more technical and professional courses should be
incorporated in the learning
Shaikhul Akbar
As population of a society soars the supply for a desired job becomes scarce and considerably competitive too. The nation currently bears around 20 lakh unemployed youths. The crisis seems to be more critical among the graduates. Dropouts during secondary or higher secondary levels barely have a choice or ambition and thus they enroll into any kind of labors. But graduates develop such a prestige that they become a bit choosy and fall victim to a vicious curse.
Graduate unemployment in the country is increasing alarmingly. And unlike many other significant issues this circumstance is not being properly addressed. But for a developing country with fewer resources such as us human resource is a tool to flourish with and restrain poverty we all know that. But how meticulously are we putting it to use?
Every year thousands of graduates pour into the job market. Most of them lack the appropriate skills required for employment opportunities available to them. Imagine a fellow from a lower middle class family who was admitted into a public university after a tedious and unyielding hurdle thought he would start earning right after graduation and contribute to the family now faces the scenario where the subject he has studied has rarely any field in the country. They do not even qualify for any entry level jobs for these subjects are broadly excused in the requirements of any private job circular. Eventually they are bound to opt for some professional degrees, yet again causing them a costly penalty. It implies that their previous academic achievements were completely futile.
This devastating situation is indeed the result of lack of a devised planning in our education system. It points to an impromptu scheme without any deliberation of how far reaching consequences it may have on the future generations. The think tanks are like lets see how things turn out. They need to be sincerer about the youth and their prospect. Their apathetic negligence is sabotaging the future of the nation. Unemployed graduates sitting on the shelf and striving for years to get a job. They have to rely entirely on their families since we do not have any unemployment allowance scheme in Bangladesh. Endless backlash from family, friends and overall surroundings drag them to the bottom of self-esteem. The frustration and depression become so intense they lose faith in themselves and sometimes commit the ineffable.
Graduates of business and technology based subjects have quite promising prospect in the country right now. Whereas the national university and the public universities are hosting some disciplines such as Geography, Government and Politics, History, Anthropology that basically has no practical use in the country right now nor do they have any relevant career options in the job market. I do not suggest that these disciplines specializing in researches in their relevant fields are entirely redundant but the ratio of how many students are admitted in these disciplines each year and how many of them actually go into research is a fact to be considered.
Nevertheless, they are admitting hundreds of students in such vain disciplines and most of them are untended with an orientation that your only escape is BCS and other government jobs. So after graduation forget what you have accomplished so far and start memorizing worthless gibberish. BCS and a few other government jobs where graduates from any discipline can apply are marathons that can hardly facilitate a tiny portion of the predicament. If 4 long years of studying a specialized subject can bring no apparent output and ultimately they have to learn the locations of headquarters of some organizations why are we wasting a good deal of our budget on these programs! Should we not focus on what is more demanding in our existing job market and prepare the young minds according to those requirements?
It is insane that the universities are discharging countless graduates who barely has any future in their relevant fields. If there is no prospect for fellows from these disciplines, then why waste the pivotal years of their life? Why so nonchalantly cripple their future!
These fellows fail to fix a particular aim and foolishly waste time seeking something they are not properly equipped with. Eventually frustration caves in. Whereas had these talents been equipped with a bunch of practical skills and properly guided to something much more worthwhile they could have filled the gaps and contributed to the economy substantially.
The system must be foolproof and empirical because apparently it determines how their achievements will be evaluated in the future. Alongside their regular curriculum more technical and professional courses should be incorporated in the learning endeavor so that the graduates can match some generic job requirements and make a turnabout may they fail to go for research in their individual fields. So that if needed to deviate from their path they also acquire some technical skills to compete with others in achieving an entry level job.
The writer is a freelancer
