Editorial
Separate Ministry for Youth
Incorporate the young into the policy making process
Bangladesh, like other countries of the subcontinent has one of the youngest populations, with some 74% of its citizen falling below the age of 40. Time is long past when they could be viewed as a liability. In fact, today we must see them as our biggest assets and take steps so as to transform this huge segment of the population into an integral part of our growth process.
Indeed such were the topics of discussion in the Bangladesh Youth Leadership Centre (BYLC) by both national and international speakers to share their knowledge and expertise on precisely how to transform this vast 'unskilled' pool of labour to, a skilled pool of workers and professionals. The arguments for such transformation are very convincing, especially when one takes into cognizance the fact that a skilled worker is what the world needs today. The 21st Century with all its technological marvels, especially the expansion of ICT in our rural areas, the possibility of imparting skills training to the most deprived section of our population is well within our reach. Furthermore, skilled workers are also treated better by employers for they perform a job that is not readily available, particularly when one takes a look at the foreign labour market.
Given the fact that youth now constitute by far the majority segment of the population there is neither the policy focus nor any governmental body of sufficient stature, capacity and budget to do justice to the potential the youth offer.
We therefore propose the splitting up of the existing Youth and Sports ministry and setting up of a separate ministry for youth with a mandate to represent the youth at the highest policy making level. Our cabinet is unable to focus on the needs and aspiration of the young simply because there is no representation at the decision making and policy level.
Given what the young are doing in India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and many other countries, we must give the highest priority to the segment of our population if we really want to create prosperity for our people.
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