Align budget with five-year plan for youth development
The government should align its upcoming budget with the Eighth Five-Year Plan and make special allocations to create jobs to reach its goals on youth development, speakers said at a webinar yesterday.
The Daily Star and the ActionAid Bangladesh jointly organised the programme on "Translating the Eighth Five-Year Plan into Fiscal Year Budget 2021-22: Youth Perspective."
Addressing the programme, Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said the large number of the disengaged youths, who are now lagging behind, should be given importance in the coming budget.
"There is a dual character within the youths in Bangladesh now. One section is very active, smart, productive, and the other is the large number of youths who are lagging behind," he added.
Bhattacharya also said that the fundamental elements of education would have to be improved, and the voice of the youth should be strengthened.
He went on to say that there were some policy issues in the Eighth Five-Year Plan. "The material and statistical basis of the plan is very weak for data crisis as the plan has been formulated based on old data."
"At this moment, no one can say how many youths are in our country and what part of the population they are.
We still use the amount of youth participation in the labour market, especially based on the 2015-2016 labour survey," Bhattacharya said.
There is no linkage between the plan and its implementation and allocation of funds, he added.
Bhattacharya pointed out that the target of the plan was to train people, but there was no discussion whether the person would get a job after that training, and there was no system of evaluation.
Atiur Rahman, a professor of the department of development studies at the University of Dhaka, said according to the Eighth Five-Year Plan, the youth unemployment rate would be reduced to 5 per cent from the existing 11 per cent through education and training.
"The plan has been formulated based on the survey in 2015-2016. So, the implementation of the target will be very challenging as the number of unemployed youths is very high now as the young persons who worked in the informal sector have lost their jobs."
In the budget, young entrepreneurs, especially those struggling to survive amid the pandemic, should be given financial support by forming a special fund, the former governor of the central bank said.
Besides, a large number of youths can be brought under the financial support by providing loans with a low-interest rate, and women entrepreneurs should be given tax exemption to fulfil the target of the Five-Year Plan, he said.
The government will have to give additional funds to the old and new micro-entrepreneurs as well, considering the Covid-19 pandemic, Rahman added.
Farah Kabir, the country director of ActionAid Bangladesh, said the investment had to be made keeping in mind the demand of youth.
"Secondly, if we do not invest enough in education now, then it will be very difficult to turn around the situation we will have in 10 years," she added.
Kabir also said the development in the health sector did not mean only developing infrastructure but also having adequate support staff.
Rizwan Rahman, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), said the government should have given priority to strengthening the standard of education or else the sector could be in danger in the future.
He urged the government to allocate for digitalisation in the next budget.
Rizwan said it had been stated that 81 per cent of the Plan would be achieved by the private sector. "So, the implementation of the plan will be impossible without the private sector."
Talking about the employment opportunities for the youth, he also said the allocation of Tk 10 lakh for startups was not enough money to start any business.
Md Jahangir Alam, director for administration and finance of the Department of Youth Development, said the department made a large number of youths self-reliant through training and funding and provided funds to youth entrepreneurs.
The government is trying to make the large number of unemployed youth, which is around five crore, self-dependent and self-employed as it is not possible to create jobs for all of them, he said.
Kamrul Hossain Shuvo, country coordinator of the HERproject at the Business for Social Responsibility, said that every 10 out of 12 women would lose jobs because of the automation in the garment industry.
"So, the allocation should be made in the budget so that women workers can be trained for their rehabilitation."
Kasfia Feroz, director for Girls' Rights at the Plan International Bangladesh, and Nazmul Ahsan, manager for young people at the ActionAid Bangladesh, addressed the programme.
