Skills Development: Vocational Education
in the Islamic Countries
70
“Polytechnic institutes, technical schools and colleges, TTCs and other twenty to twenty-five
organizations are trying to develop the skills of young people in Bangladesh. If we could develop
the skill of our 16 million population, then the real poverty will be removed. People will be able
to get out of the poverty line by employment or other income sources (skill will ensure this)”.
(P6)
Gaining immediate Job: Skilled workers have a higher chance to get job in the workplace.
Industries are searching for skilled people to get maximum profit from the employee. Skilled
people do not require minimum training and therefore, they can perform better in industries
compared to unskilled people. This fact is emphasized by the participants:
“When he (unskilled worker) gets employment in an industry, he can’t perform his assigned
job at his workplace from the very first moment……. He can understand the job, he can
calculate the theoretical part, but he can’t do the practical work. By our skills training
program, students can learn by watching and hands on practice and perform well in
industrial level”. (P8)
Skilled students are not searching for the job, rather jobs search them.” (P1)
Remittance: Each year a significant number of people (both skilled and unskilled) from
Bangladesh migrate to many other countries in the world seeking jobs. The demand for skilled
workers is high in foreign countries. Therefore, skilled workers are paid highly compared to
unskilled workers. Therefore, they will be able to send higher remittance to Bangladesh
compared to unskilled manpower.
“The has sent semi-skilled,
unskilled, and skilled manpower to 166 countries. I think the foreign currency we earn by
sending manpower in 166 countries is one of the pillars of Bangladesh’s economy. …. We
get 4 or 5 times less remittance by sending semi-skilled workers in comparison to the
remittance we receive by sending skilled workers aboard. If we could train semi-skilled
and (unskilled) workers, he/she would also be able to earn 4 to 5 times more than he
earnings before. So, the main mandate of our Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and
Overseas Employment is to develop skills of our workforces and help them to migrate”.
(P3)
Socio-economic status: By gaining skills, graduates will be able to earn money through
employment and/or to migrate to another country which in returnwill provide themnecessary
income. This way, their families will alsogain direct or indirect benefits from skill training. Thus,
there is a close relationship among gaining skills, employment, and improving socio-economic
status. The participants in this study have also highlighted this issue:
“Graduates from TVET sector contribute to the development of their families’ economic
and social status”. (P1)
“I worked as a regional inspector in 2015. At that time, I visited many technical institutes.
Especially when I visited Keranigonj, it looked very good tome …. A student trained in VET
and employed in the country (or becoming migrant by dint of his technical skills) could
earn a handsome amount of money within few days. As a result he/she tends to help
his/her family within a short period of time, which is not possible if the student would
have opted for general education. For this reason, the enrolment to technical education
in Keranigonj is higher in number than general education”. (P10)