Bangladesh’s most valuable asset is its youth. However, every year, when hundreds of thousands of educated young people enter the job market from universities, they face a harsh reality. Recently, a political proposal for an ‘unemployment stipend’ for educated youth has been circulating. But is this stipend truly a sustainable and desirable solution?
The Unemployment Stipend: Financial Feasibility & Social Impact
In Bangladesh, approximately 2.2 to 2.4 million new individuals join the workforce annually (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Labour Force Survey). A large portion of them are educated. Providing a stipend to all educated unemployed would be a massive financial burden. In the proposed budget for FY 2024-25, the government’s total revenue target is around Tk 5,41,000 crore, within which education, health, and social safety nets already claim a significant share. Adding another enormous expenditure head would strain public finances.
Furthermore, there are questions about the long-term socio-psychological impact of an unemployment stipend. What message does it send to the youth? Do we aim to build them as industrious and productive citizens, or does it risk fostering a culture of dependency? The solution should be a ‘hand-up,’ not a ‘handout’ – creating income opportunities through work, not aid.
The Real Solution: A Civil Service Digital Internship Program
A practical, realistic, and positive solution to this complex unemployment problem could be launching a ‘Civil Service Digital Internship Program.’ Modeled on the UK’s Civil Service Apprenticeship scheme, this could be transformative.
Current Reality: Archaic Court Bureaucracy vs. Digital Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s civil service remains largely trapped in the colonial-era ‘Court Bureaucracy’ model. Positions designed for carrying files, taking handwritten notes, and typing – still exist but are largely irrelevant in the digital age. Meanwhile, the government’s digital transformation projects are often hindered by a lack of digitally skilled human resources.
On the other hand, government data shows that there are currently about 500,000 vacant positions across various ministries and departments. A significant portion of these posts are traditional and digitally irrelevant.
Proposed Model: Revolution Through Digital Interns
The proposal is straightforward: Instead of making permanent appointments to digitally obsolete vacant posts, use that allocated budget to launch a mass internship program.
- Scope: Opportunities in various ministries, divisions, and directorates in roles like digital content management, data entry & analysis, social media outreach, citizen service delivery monitoring, e-governance operations, and more.
- Tenure & Turnover: The internship tenure would be 1-2 years. As one intern leaves, a new one joins, ensuring a continuous flow of fresh talent and ideas.
- Financial Viability: Approximate calculations suggest that the funds saved from salaries for 500,000 irrelevant posts could finance paid internships for 1 to 1.5 million young people annually. This would act as a massive ‘Youth Stimulus Package.’
Benefits of This Program:
- Work Experience & Income for Youth: They gain hands-on learning in a real work environment, earn an income, and add valuable experience to their CVs.
- Enhanced Government Digital Capacity: Infusing young digital talent will make government offices more agile, efficient, and citizen-friendly.
- Transformed Service Delivery: Digital processes will make services faster, more transparent, and accountable.
- Creation of Informed Citizens: By seeing how the government works from the inside, young interns will develop into informed and engaged citizens.
Complementary Initiative: A National Employment Platform
Alongside the internship program, the job search process itself needs to be digitalized and centralized. Following the model of the UK’s ‘Find a Job’ platform, there is an urgent need for a government-run ‘National Employment Platform’ in Bangladesh.
All public, semi-public, private companies, NGOs, and institutions should be mandated to upload their vacancy information on this single platform. Job seekers would no longer need to scour countless websites; they could find all opportunities in one portal or app. This would bring unprecedented transparency and efficiency to the job market.
Conclusion: The Need for a High-Powered ‘Employment Taskforce’
Youth employment is not just an economic issue; it is a matter of national security and social stability. Tackling this complex and monumental challenge requires not ad-hoc or populist measures, but strategic, long-term, and implementable planning.
For this, appointing a powerful ‘Employment Adviser’ to the Prime Minister’s Office and forming a high-powered working group or taskforce, akin to China’s governance model, is essential. This body would not only plan but also ensure the rapid implementation of projects like the Civil Service Internship Program and the National Job Portal.
Our youth are not the problem; they are part of the solution. The time is now to prevent their frustration and potential waste by channeling their skills and energy into the mainstream of national development. We cannot placate unemployment by building walls of stipends; we must build bridges of employment – whose first brick could be a timely Digital Internship Revolution.