Plan to groom youth-folk as workforce

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday approved a Tk 4,300-crore project to equip over 1 million youths, women, workers and disadvantaged section of people with skills needed for the future job market.

The approval came from an Ecnec meeting held with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

She joined the meeting virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban.

Ministers, State Ministers, Planning Commission Members and Secretaries concerned attended the meeting from Sher-e-Bangla Nagar NEC conference room.

Planning Minister MA Mannan briefed reporters after the meeting.

He said eight projects -- six new and two revised projects -- were approved at the meeting involving Tk 7,589.72 crore.

Of the total project cost, Tk 5,009.72 crore will come from the government while the rest of Tk 2,580 crore will come as project assistance.

The Planning Minister said the Department of Technical Education under the Technical and Madrasah Education Division will implement the "Accelerating and Strengthening Skills for Economic Transformation (ASSET)" project with around Tk 4,300 crore by December 2026.

Of the total project cost, around Tk 1,720 crore will come from the government while the rest of around Tk 2,580 crore as project assistance from the World Bank.

Mannan said there is a lack of skills among the workforce in the country and the government has implemented various projects to overcome that.

State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam, who was present during the briefing, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has termed this project a very time-befitting one to properly utilize the demographic dividend of the country.

The ASSET project will equip more than 1 million youths and workers with skills needed for the jobs of the future.

The project will help the youth, women and disadvantaged groups, including those with disabilities, learn skills and connect them to the labour market.

The project will also help accelerate recovery from the pandemic by supporting industries to retrain their workers.

The main project operations include construction of non-residential buildings, 15 acres of land acquisition, imparting necessary training, holding seminars, conferences, procuring ICT and computer equipment, providing support to technical and stipend education and thus creating awareness on the pandemic.

The project will help modernize and build the resilience of the technical vocational education and training sector in Bangladesh.

It will further benefit the informal sector workers through expanding the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) programme.