Bangladesh and the World Bank yesterday signed a $300 million financing agreement to equip about 900,000 economically disengaged rural youths with skills and alternative education needed for employment and entrepreneurship. It is worth mentioning that About 60 percent of them will be female. Reportedly, the Economic Acceleration and Resilience for NEET (EARN) project will help overcome barriers that prevent disadvantaged and vulnerable youths from gaining education and employment. It will provide skills training, alternative education, employment, and entrepreneurial support to rural youth who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET).
Though Bangladesh has achieved remarkable economic growth over the last years unemployment is still one of the major problems hindering the country's holistic development. Unemployment is inevitable in a capitalist world. There is unemployment everywhere in the world and Bangladesh is no exception.
It needs to be mentioned that employment opportunities in Bangladesh are not available comparing the number of labour force entering the job market every year. On top of that, inconsistency between job market and education system has contributed to the swelling of the number of educated unemployed.
Unemployment rate in Bangladesh increased remarkably because of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic. The global health crisis caused by Covid- 19 hit Bangladesh's economy hard and jeopardised the country's impressive achievements in poverty reduction and employment generation. Considering the situation, the government needs to encourage youths to become entrepreneurs by offering them easy loans.
The government needs to
encourage youths to become
entrepreneurs by offering
them easy loans
Entrepreneurship is indispensable for a country’s steady economic development. There is no denying that entrepreneurship does not constitute such a social security as employment in large companies does, still it can reduce the country’s growing burden of unemployment and contribute to economic growth. Hence, the government needs to adopt measures that will help people become self-employed to achieve a dignified life.
In order to encourage entrepreneurship, we must disseminate education on it. Though such education has already been incorporated in developing countries to create awareness and encourage fresh graduates to take up business as profession, such subjects or majors have not been widely covered in the various levels of education system in our country. Therefore, the authorities concerned should look into this issue with due seriousness.
The government should devise necessary schemes to promote a culture of entrepreneurship among youths. It needs no emphasising that by creating entrepreneurs we can reduce the pressure on the country’s job markets and reinforce the country’s economic growth.
However, in order to encourage more youths to take business as their profession, creating a supportive atmosphere for the freshers and budding young entrepreneurs and facilitate them with appropriate tools have become inevitable.
