State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam has said it is time to allow young generation dream big and address any skill gaps in their career path through training in communication, cooperation and leadership.

Support and cooperation from all the stakeholders including private sectors, NGOs, development partners in the forms of knowledge, skills and technology as well as investment are needed in the employment generation and skill development of youth to utilise their full potential, he said.

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The State Minister made the remarks while addressing a policy dialogue virtually titled “Skill Development of Youth for Better Employment Opportunity” as the chief guest.

Syeda Saima Ahmed, Councillor, Ilford Town, London Borough of Redbridge and Tasmiah Rahman, Head of Strategy & Business Development, BRAC took part as the panelists at the event held on Saturday evening.

The dialogue was chaired by Tasnuva Ahmed, President, JCI Dhaka Independent and moderated by its Director Mahfuz Mishu.

Junior Chamber International, commonly referred to as JCI, is a non-profit international non-governmental organization of young people aged 18 to 40 years who are engaged and committed to creating impact in their communities.

The State Minister said the government of Bangladesh has already taken numerous initiatives to ensure maximum utilisation of youth potential through promoting their empowerment, morality, humanity and commitment to uphold the responsibilities and glory of Bangladesh.

He said there are certain challenges that they need to address together.

"We need to ensure full employment and decent work for all men and women including the youths by 2030," said the State Minister.

He said global standard education and skill development are twin key factors to this endeavour.

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The government has to strengthen its action plan to undertake more programmes with sufficient resource allocations for your development in education, health, skills, sports and culture, he mentioned.

Shahriar Alam said internships should be encouraged from both public and private sector to develop skill among youth.

He mentioned that Bangladesh is blessed with a large population of young age but the demographic dividend is going down and by 2047, a large population of the country will be of older age.

"Our duty today is to train the youth and build a strong economy during these 17 years so we can support the older population later on," he said.

Tasnuva Ahmed said there is a lack of role models in the young community. "We must build youth icons to motivate them.”

She said as employers, they often come across certified graduates with high grades and records but when they interview them, they see a lack of communication and technical skills.

"Whatever we are learning in our education system is only applicable in the classroom and doesn't have any practical implications. The question is how we are going to represent this large working age group of our country to the world.”

Tasmiah Rahman focused on how the increasing digital discrimination in the country during the pandemic is farther feeding into the educational gap between towns and villages.

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Councillor Syeda Saima Ahmed talked about creating voluntary and internship programmes by both government and non-government organizations to facilitate the skill development of youth in Bangladesh.

According to the National Youth Policy (2003), people aged between 18-35 years are facing a real crisis because of the shrinking job market.