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Graft, politics scuttle job for youth scheme

Finds TIB

Staff Correspondent
The National Service Programme, marred by corruption and political interference, mostly failed to provide the youths with viable employment, according to the findings of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).
Though the scheme empowered the participants with training, socialisation and financial ability, it could not be viable in absence of a long-term target, TIB officials said while pre-
senting the research findings at a press conference in the city's Brae Centre Inn.
The programme was launched as a two-year pilot scheme in 2010 in two districts, Kurigram and Barguna. Gopalganj was later included in the scheme, though it was not there in the original concept of the programme.
It aimed at providing three-month training to the youths - aged between 18 and 35, and who have at least secondary education -- to employ them for two years at public and
private organisations.
Partisan selection of participants, training by unauthorised persons, paying allowance without attendance are some of the unethical practices identified in the research, said TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman.
Though the programme conceptually had great prospect, it had provoked the youths to gain monetary benefit through underhand exchange, he said.
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Inclusion of unqualified students in the scheme had caused dropouts, he added.
A total of 56,054 participants were selected for the programme at a cost of Tk 816 crore from the public treasury, though the number of participants was supposed to be around 2,000 as per the original concept of piloting, said Neena Shamsun Nahar, who prepared the research report for the anti-graft body.
In one instance, seven members of a family were selected for the programme, she added.
The programme aimed at making the unemployed youths self-reliant, but it could not achieve the goal due to lack of future plan, resulting in public frustration, said Sultana Kamal, chairperson oftheTIB.
A participant received Tk 9,000 as training allowance andTk 96,000 as work allowance; it was made mandatory for each of the participants to save Tk 48,000 during the period of two years.
The youths above the age of 15 constitute one-third of the country's total population, the report said, adding that 26 lakh of them were unemployed in 2010.
Talking to The Daily Star on October 31, Nur Mohammad, secretary to the youth and sports ministry, said that the government did not take any new project under the programme due to "some problems."