Staff Correspondent

Speakers at a roundtable yesterday said the country’s youths should be given skills training, which is required to develop their career amid future challenges.

They said the country’s existing formal education system lacks many aspects of skill development needed for the present day job scenario.

IPDC Finance and The Daily Star jointly organised the discussion on “Life Skills for Progress and Prosperity: The Youth’s Narrative” at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka.

Tasmiah T Rahman, head of programme of skills development at Brac, said that in Bangladesh, parents’ financial situation determine which school a child will go to, which is unfortunate.

Sourav Saha of Jaago Foundation’s Youth Development Programme said in their training programme they had found that youths lacked vision due to financial limitation. However, they could overcome such shortcomings through consultation, he added.

The government should look into this growing frustration among youths who have limited opportunities, he added.

Sakib bin Rashid, chief instructor of 10 Minute School, said learning process should be fun because students often show lack of concentration in apparently uninteresting subjects.

G Sumdany Don, chief inspirational officer of Don Sumdany Facilitation and Consultancy, said besides students, teachers should be provided with training as well to ensure quality learning process.

Mominul Islam, managing director and chief executive officer of IPDC Finance, said what students in Bangladesh miss is the “ability to learn.”

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