President: Bridge skills gap to end joblessness

President M Abdul Hamid on Friday emphasized 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 the remarks while delivering his speech at the inaugural ceremony of the two-day International Conference on 4th Industrial Revolution and Beyond (IC4RB).

The Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission (UGC) organized the conference to mark the golden jubilee of independence and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth centenary.

"Unemployment rate among graduates in Bangladesh is high, which indicates skills mismatch. Foreigners are dominating our job market, especially at technical and managerial levels, corporate firms, and multinational companies. This trend leads to a 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 and meet the demands of local and global job markets".

He also put emphasis on adapting to the changes of the fourth industrial revolution to make it happen.

"Although we are doing increasingly well 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 stakeholders from home and abroad are participating in the conference, where three Noble laureates and many international experts are scheduled to deliver keynote speeches.

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

Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni, Deputy Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury, and chairman of the UGC also spoke at the program.