Employment Support Service to be piloted in Bangladesh Institute of Glass and Ceramics

One of the most critical issues facing Bangladesh’s economy is the missing link between skill development and employment. Industries need skilled workers to grow and skilled graduates need employment but there are currently no services linking them. To address this gap, the ILO is supporting government and non-government partners to pilot modern employment support services in target industry sectors across Bangladesh.

Article | 29 April 2015
The first of these pilots is in the ceramics sector, a growing industry with a huge potential for employment.

The pilot will provide graduates and employers in the ceramic sector with services such as career guidance, vocational counselling, job matching, job-broking and activities like job fairs and job clubs. A volunteer group of students will support a core group of industry representatives, representatives from the Directorate of Technical Education and representatives to run the pilot.

An initial workshop was held on January 29, 2015 to plan how services will be delivered. Support was offered by all participants; representatives of the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed offered technical assistance, representatives of the ceramic industry committed to providing support, the Project Director of the World Bank-funded STEP Project expressed interest in partnering and the Director General, Directorate of Technical Education endorsed the pilot.

Linking skills to jobs is part of reforming Bangladesh’s skills development system which is currently being undertaken by the Government of Bangladesh through the National Skills Development Policy and assisted by funding from Canada through the Bangladesh Skills for Employment and Productivity Project.

See a 2-page fact sheet on the National Skills Development Policy here
See the full National Skills Development Policy (English/Bangla) here