Home ›› 14 Aug 2022 ›› Front
Speakers at a citizen conference on Saturday urged the government to stop corruption and nepotism in the job sector and prioritise merit to ensure decent employment for all.
They said female employment was increasing but many of them were also getting out of the labour force in the absence of a women-friendly environment in the workplace.
The speakers came up with the remarks at the conference arranged by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) with the support of the United
Nations Democracy Fund at a hotel in the capital.
Noting that the current employment picture is not decent, they said the culture of paying bribes and lobbying in recruitments would have to stop.
The International Labour Organisation says decent work sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives as it involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for all, and better prospects for personal development and social integration.
CPD’s Research Director Khondaker Golam Moazzem told the programme around four to 4.5 crore people working in the informal sector should be brought into the formal one.
“We are talking about 15 per cent of the workforce but are not focusing on the rest who are still working in the informal sector,” he said.
Parliamentarian Shameem Haider Patwary said there had been no visible improvements in skill development in the last 10 years in the country and hence the standards of the workforce had remained the same.
“The government bodies concerned only formulate guidelines and talk about good jobs, but there has been no progress in ensuring decent employment,” he said.
Experts also stressed removing the wage gap between men and women, adding the government should pay attention to creating employment instead of GDP growth.
Lawmaker Shirin Akhter said accountability and transparency would have to be ensured in employment by establishing rule of law in the country.
“We are in the second position globally in terms of readymade garment exports, but our apparel workers are still getting poor salaries,” she said.
Speakers in another session during the conference suggested combating corruption and stopping irregularities in the education sector recruitments to ensure quality education in the country.
Apart from stopping such irregularities, appointments in the education sector would have to be ensured on the basis of merit to get qualified teachers and deliver quality education, they said.
Prof Nazmul Haq, director of the Teacher Development Institute, said the education system management is now at the hands of bureaucrats instead of teachers and the quality of education is falling due to a lack of necessary initiatives.
He said, “We are giving teachers a lot of prescriptions of what to teach instead of giving them freedom in their profession. I think ensuring quality education is possible within two to four years if teachers get more freedom.”
Educationist Rasheda K Choudhury said corruption in recruitment is hampering the education sector and it is not stopping though lots of educated people are holding high positions in different organisations.
“Moreover, educated people are illegally occupying chars and rivers and this proves that our education is not functioning in society,” she said.
Former education minister Nurul Islam Nahid said the first step in education is to enrol students in schools and the government has succeeded in that.
“But the second step is ensuring quality education, and we are lagging behind in that. We have to introduce world-class education comprising modern elements to raise the quality of education in our country.”
Nahid also said the type of education that does not match the reality should be stopped. “We have to focus on science-based and ICT education considering the current trends and demand for skills in the job market.”
The former minister noted that enrolment in technical education was only 3 per cent in the past, which had increased to 20 per cent.
“But we have to increase it more to supply skilled human resources who are fit for the current job market,” he added.
Planning Minister MA Mannan and former information minister Abul Kalam Azad also spoke at the event, among others.
