How to bridge the education and employment gap?

Educators need to integrate employability skills into courses and work more closely with employers to complement academic learning while society and policy makers need to ensure they have right data to make decisions and stimulate economy and foster job creation

Bangladesh has officially become a lower middle income country. And that of course is great news. However in or to flourish even further, open of the things the country needs is a huge skilled workforce. And for that to happen education must be harmonised with employability. With the ever increasing population there can be hardly be an argument regarding the purpose of education in Bangladesh. There is no doubt that good citizenship, personal growth and developing value systems are vitally important. Yet it is clear that for the most part, education will be about employability here. Of course philosophers and thinkers are important for any society, but they too need to be employed like the wage labourers and the talented and the less able.
There exist two contrasting views on the employment scenario in this country. The employers cry hoarse about non-availability of talent in the market and we hear about a huge number of youth who are unable to find a well-paid job several years after completing their degrees.
There is a whole generation enrol in schools waiting for teachers to show up in classrooms and do the job they were hired to do. Researchers are wondering how they are going to make their meagre grants deliver global impact, while students in higher education are wondering whether their degrees earned in Bangladeshi universities are worth much after all. Especially after the damning research by the TIB exposed how corruption is all pervasive in the real of higher education in the private sector.
There are shortages everywhere—teachers, researchers, laboratories. However, while the investment in classrooms and schools is great, it is time to release learning from the classrooms only. Learning should go to the student and must extend way beyond the walls of a classroom. There should be efforts towards building open libraries, letting village school buildings become community learning centres after school time with open access to solar-powered connected computers. Creativity and research attitudes must be encouraged from the very beginning.  Unfortunately our education sector is bound by regulations all the way from nursery to higher education. Capacity is restricted because of the binding constraints of impractical and often contrary regulations. Universities cannot hire faculty from abroad despite shortages.
It seems there is lack of proper planning, appropriate guidelines, and corrective measures while sanctioning new institutions and disciplines. Thus a large number of institutions are being established taking only profit into consideration and with little emphasis on quality of education. Many government institutions have become battlegrounds for political rivalry resulting in poor governance leading to poor quality of education. Most of the technical education institutions including the better known ones are understaffed and lack in qualified, competent and suitable faculty members. The institutions mostly follow the traditional method of teaching giving little thought to the fact that information nowadays is readily available on the net and thus students would not get interested unless they get something extra by attending classes. It is more of content delivery than knowledge delivery. The assignments given quite often are routine and do not involve any research or innovation. It is a great challenge to motivate and attract students to serious learning. Moreover, the evaluation system has not been made robust enough to find out the knowledge level of the students. The philosophy of the semester system and the continuous evaluation process are not being understood by the students and also by the faculty members. Thus they are applied in a routine manner and the students concentrate only on grades and not on learning.
If we take a look at the whole education system starting from the elementary level we find that the problems lie at every stage of our education system. At the school level we find that the present day syllabus does not stress simple and subtle concepts, but involves tiresome details. Most entrance tests for admission to better known institutions emphasise speed and memory and not calm and collected thinking. When students join undergraduate programmes, they are more exhausted than excited; they show confidence, but not capacity, they show familiarity, but not understanding. Too much of pressure in the last few years in school makes them feel that they have achieved the goal in life after securing admission in a good institution through highly competitive admission tests. Thus when they come out of universities or even professional technical institutions, many of them do not have adequate knowledge to implement projects or carry out research independently. It is a fact that the employers look for ready-made professionals who can directly be asked to do a specific job whereas educational institutions are better suited for providing training of minds and not training for jobs. Since job requirements are continuously changing it is quite difficult to produce tailor-made professionals unless there is regular and structured interaction between academia and industries.
Academics say the key is to offer pre-vocational courses in Class IX and X itself. As of now only a few high schools impart vocational education. It can be either an add-on or an alternative to work education and students be encouraged to take up vocational education at the higher secondary level. According to the industry, training and skill development is critical for providing decent employment opportunities to the growing youth population and the curriculum has to be evolved in consultation with and active involvement of the industries which require the manpower. Often vocational education is even dismissed as a good educational option. The reason is that there are many institutes offering a certificate which is not recognised and is of no value. Only when there is proper recognition for the various courses will there be better acceptance from the industry and thereby among students who will be willing to take up subsequent qualifications to update their knowledge
Thus an all out effort is needed to produce readily- employable technical or professional manpower in the country. The improvement of infrastructure, redesign of curricula, improvement of teaching-learning methods and attracting well qualified teachers are only a few steps that can be initiated by individual institutions. The main challenge is to create an academic environment and education system that promote and ensure learning. However, there are many external and societal factors that need to be addressed. The process is quite challenging, but not impossible to achieve with honest effort
Unfortunately youth unemployment and underemployment have reached critical levels and are expected to continue to rise. Yet, as said earlier, many employers cannot find enough people with the skills they need to grow their business. There exists an urgent need to forge stronger links between academia and business, education and skills, theory and practice, supply and demand to fight the employability crisis. For many young people, education is not providing the skills they need to gain the employment they aspire to. Many job aspirants lack the technical and professional skills demanded by the changing job market. This disconnect is impacting a range of stakeholders - young adults, employees, employers, educators and policy makers - the greatest impact being for the young people.
Many faculty members are not flexible in their approach to teaching. Maybe, there is a disconnection between what is taught and what the employers need. Also, changes in the society have brought a sea of difference in the attitude and approach of students.  Obsession with digital technology and social networking does not leave them with much time or inclination for studies. They cannot concentrate, do deep study and think well and constructively. Universities and educational institutions have been unable to update their syllabi in tune with the high speed changes that are taking place particularly in the world of technology. Hence, the students churned out are not equipped to meet the current industry requirements and often companies have to incur additional expenses (time and monetary) to train new hires. One of the approaches to tackle the problem of lacking job readiness is partnerships between the industry and academia. It is high time now for the education system needs to reboot itself and joint initiatives by the industry and academia will play an important part in plugging the talent gap in the years to come. Training individuals for the jobs of the future and allowing them to visualize what it possible today will not only make a difference in their lives but will enrich our communities now and for the future.
In such an environment of high interaction, the existence of any business/economy is dependent upon not only the optimal utilisation of current available resources, but also on innovation and communication. However, there is often a gap between what college students learn in theory and what is actually practiced in industry. This further attracts cost when industries conduct training programs internally to make their fresh talent employable. Industries also struggle to maintain bottom-lines in a competitive environment and this ‘gap’ further creates a dent on profitability. There is an opportunity here. Those involved in college recruitment can help address this tension by facilitating the relationship and by providing a basic framework for understanding why difficulties occur when trying to collaborate between different value sets as in industry and academia. Both the employers and higher education involve knowledge creation, dissemination and learning. Those involved in college recruitment can serve as a bridge to help industry and academia become collegially networked institutions
The youth need to make informed choices about further education, based on realities of the labour market and must aim to obtain the education skills and experience employers expect. Employers need to compete to attract the most talented individuals with leadership potential. They should attract, develop and retain talent for all job roles, not just future leadership. Educators need to integrate employability skills into courses and work more closely with employers to complement academic learning while society and policy makers need to ensure they have right data to make decisions and stimulate economy and foster job creation and also ensure young people have skills employers expect and link education to business.

The writer is Assistant Editor of The Independent and can be contacted at: [email protected]

How to bridge the education and employment gap?

Educators need to integrate employability skills into courses and work more closely with employers to complement academic learning while society and policy makers need to ensure they have right data to make decisions and stimulate economy and foster job creation

Bangladesh has officially become a lower middle income country. And that of course is great news. However in or to flourish even further, open of the things the country needs is a huge skilled workforce. And for that to happen education must be harmonised with employability. With the ever increasing population there can be hardly be an argument regarding the purpose of education in Bangladesh. There is no doubt that good citizenship, personal growth and developing value systems are vitally important. Yet it is clear that for the most part, education will be about employability here. Of course philosophers and thinkers are important for any society, but they too need to be employed like the wage labourers and the talented and the less able. There exist two contrasting views on the employment scenario in this country. The employers cry hoarse about non-availability of talent in the market and we hear about a huge number of youth who are unable to find a well-paid job several years after completing their degrees. There is a whole generation enrol in schools waiting for teachers to show up in classrooms and do the job they were hired to do. Researchers are wondering how they are going to make their meagre grants deliver global impact, while students in higher education are wondering whether their degrees earned in Bangladeshi universities are worth much after all. Especially after the damning research by the TIB exposed how corruption is all pervasive in the real of higher education in the private sector. There are shortages everywhereteachers, researchers, laboratories. However, while the investment in classrooms and schools is great, it is time to release learning from the classrooms only. Learning should go to the student and must extend way beyond the walls of a classroom. There should be efforts towards building open libraries, letting village school buildings become community learning centres after school time with open access to solar-powered connected computers. Creativity and research attitudes must be encouraged from the very beginning. Unfortunately our education sector is bound by regulations all the way from nursery to higher education. Capacity is restricted because of the binding constraints of impractical and often contrary regulations. Universities cannot hire faculty from abroad despite shortages. It seems there is lack of proper planning, appropriate guidelines, and corrective measures while sanctioning new institutions and disciplines. Thus a large number of institutions are being established taking only profit into consideration and with little emphasis on quality of education. Many government institutions have become battlegrounds for political rivalry resulting in poor governance leading to poor quality of education. Most of the technical education institutions including the better known ones are understaffed and lack in qualified, competent and suitable faculty members. The institutions mostly follow the traditional method of teaching giving little thought to the fact that information nowadays is readily available on the net and thus students would not get interested unless they get something extra by attending classes. It is more of content delivery than knowledge delivery. The assignments given quite often are routine and do not involve any research or innovation. It is a great challenge to motivate and attract students to serious learning. Moreover, the evaluation system has not been made robust enough to find out the knowledge level of the students. The philosophy of the semester system and the continuous evaluation process are not being understood by the students and also by the faculty members. Thus they are applied in a routine manner and the students concentrate only on grades and not on learning. If we take a look at the whole education system starting from the elementary level we find that the problems lie at every stage of our education system. At the school level we find that the present day syllabus does not stress simple and subtle concepts, but involves tiresome details. Most entrance tests for admission to better known institutions emphasise speed and memory and not calm and collected thinking. When students join undergraduate programmes, they are more exhausted than excited; they show confidence, but not capacity, they show familiarity, but not understanding. Too much of pressure in the last few years in school makes them feel that they have achieved the goal in life after securing admission in a good institution through highly competitive admission tests. Thus when they come out of universities or even professional technical institutions, many of them do not have adequate knowledge to implement projects or carry out research independently. It is a fact that the employers look for ready-made professionals who can directly be asked to do a specific job whereas educational institutions are better suited for providing training of minds and not training for jobs. Since job requirements are continuously changing it is quite difficult to produce tailor-made professionals unless there is regular and structured interaction between academia and industries. Academics say the key is to offer pre-vocational courses in Class IX and X itself. As of now only a few high schools impart vocational education. It can be either an add-on or an alternative to work education and students be encouraged to take up vocational education at the higher secondary level. According to the industry, training and skill development is critical for providing decent employment opportunities to the growing youth population and the curriculum has to be evolved in consultation with and active involvement of the industries which require the manpower. Often vocational education is even dismissed as a good educational option. The reason is that there are many institutes offering a certificate which is not recognised and is of no value. Only when there is proper recognition for the various courses will there be better acceptance from the industry and thereby among students who will be willing to take up subsequent qualifications to update their knowledge Thus an all out effort is needed to produce readily- employable technical or professional manpower in the country. The improvement of infrastructure, redesign of curricula, improvement of teaching-learning methods and attracting well qualified teachers are only a few steps that can be initiated by individual institutions. The main challenge is to create an academic environment and education system that promote and ensure learning. However, there are many external and societal factors that need to be addressed. The process is quite challenging, but not impossible to achieve with honest effort Unfortunately youth unemployment and underemployment have reached critical levels and are expected to continue to rise. Yet, as said earlier, many employers cannot find enough people with the skills they need to grow their business. There exists an urgent need to forge stronger links between academia and business, education and skills, theory and practice, supply and demand to fight the employability crisis. For many young people, education is not providing the skills they need to gain the employment they aspire to. Many job aspirants lack the technical and professional skills demanded by the changing job market. This disconnect is impacting a range of stakeholders - young adults, employees, employers, educators and policy makers - the greatest impact being for the young people. Many faculty members are not flexible in their approach to teaching. Maybe, there is a disconnection between what is taught and what the employers need. Also, changes in the society have brought a sea of difference in the attitude and approach of students. Obsession with digital technology and social networking does not leave them with much time or inclination for studies. They cannot concentrate, do deep study and think well and constructively. Universities and educational institutions have been unable to update their syllabi in tune with the high speed changes that are taking place particularly in the world of technology. Hence, the students churned out are not equipped to meet the current industry requirements and often companies have to incur additional expenses (time and monetary) to train new hires. One of the approaches to tackle the problem of lacking job readiness is partnerships between the industry and academia. It is high time now for the education system needs to reboot itself and joint initiatives by the industry and academia will play an important part in plugging the talent gap in the years to come. Training individuals for the jobs of the future and allowing them to visualize what it possible today will not only make a difference in their lives but will enrich our communities now and for the future. In such an environment of high interaction, the existence of any business/economy is dependent upon not only the optimal utilisation of current available resources, but also on innovation and communication. However, there is often a gap between what college students learn in theory and what is actually practiced in industry. This further attracts cost when industries conduct training programs internally to make their fresh talent employable. Industries also struggle to maintain bottom-lines in a competitive environment and this gap further creates a dent on profitability. There is an opportunity here. Those involved in college recruitment can help address this tension by facilitating the relationship and by providing a basic framework for understanding why difficulties occur when trying to collaborate between different value sets as in industry and academia. Both the employers and higher education involve knowledge creation, dissemination and learning. Those involved in college recruitment can serve as a bridge to help industry and academia become collegially networked institutions The youth need to make informed choices about further education, based on realities of the labour market and must aim to obtain the education skills and experience employers expect. Employers need to compete to attract the most talented individuals with leadership potential. They should attract, develop and retain talent for all job roles, not just future leadership. Educators need to integrate employability skills into courses and work more closely with employers to complement academic learning while society and policy makers need to ensure they have right data to make decisions and stimulate economy and foster job creation and also ensure young people have skills employers expect and link education to business. The writer is Assistant Editor of The Independent and can be contacted at: [email protected]