The writer says there seems to be a lack of understanding that investment in human capital is key to economic development.

        Bangladesh's rapid development necessitates the provision of high-quality education. Despite the enormous number of young people, most firms in the nation are experiencing a shortage of trained and competent human resources. There are two aspects to the situation. First, our rapid economic expansion has not been matched by sufficient employment opportunities for the two million young people who enter the labor market each year. There are also insufficient opportunities for people who desire to work for themselves. Second, persons looking for work are unfit for the labor market. Employers do not believe they are qualified for the position. As a result, the opportunities for harnessing young potential through education, skills, and financial access are limited.

        This also relates to the level of education provided by our country's educational institutions. Several studies have found that education at all levels, from basic to university, is of poor quality. Despite recent improvements in a number of educational indices, the quality of education has not increased much. Poor math, science, and English performance, especially after secondary and upper secondary school, is particularly disheartening.

        The Covid epidemic exacerbated the problem. At schools, colleges, and universities, in-person lessons came to an end. This has been described as the most significant disturbance to pupils' learning. During the epidemic, 188 nations put a halt to face-to-face schooling. As a result, countries that are already in the midst of an education crisis may suffer a learning disaster. The shutdown of educational institutions in Bangladesh has impacted around 40 million pupils. In many respects, children have suffered an irreversible learning loss during the previous two years. Online education was offered by just a few institutions. The quality of their instruction was low for those who did. All of this is predicted to have an influence on many young people's lifetime earnings due to the numerous losses. Learning loss, experience loss, job loss, and disruption of social and professional contacts are all examples. Their mental health has also suffered as a result of their isolation and worry during this trying period.

        Adequate resources are essential to tackle the issues in our education system. Unfortunately, over the past few years, the education budget has remained stable at roughly 2% of GDP. The education sector got just 2.08 percent of GDP and 11.9 percent of the overall budget in the national budget for the fiscal year 2021-22. The budget is far less than what the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization recommends (Unesco). In its Education 2030 Framework for Action, the UN organization advocates dedicating four to six percent of GDP to education.The Bangladeshi government's Eighth Five-Year Plan (FYP) sets a goal of increasing budget allocation to 3.5 percent of GDP by 2025, four percent by 2031, and five percent by 2041. However, if resource allocation continues at its current pace, the education budget as a percentage of GDP might reach 2.15 percent in 2025, 2.26 percent in 2031, and 2.43 percent in 2041. As a result, the urgent goal in the forthcoming budget for FY2022-23 should be to break the two percent of GDP cycle for education and raise it to at least 2.5 percent. Public spending has a favorable impact on disadvantaged and low-income households. Unfortunately, in rural regions, out-of-pocket education spending is on the rise. High personal education costs may deter parents from educating their children, particularly in poor rural families. This might exacerbate the disparities between rural and urban communities.

        However, increasing funding allocation is not the only way to assist recover from the pandemic's learning loss and enhance the quality of education in Bangladesh in general. The education funding should be used effectively. Due to low investment, the assigned resource remains underutilized, and budget allocations for most sectors, including education, are reduced downwards. Often, physical infrastructure receives more attention than soft infrastructure. As a result, the authorities place less emphasis on the recruitment and training of sufficient numbers of teachers in schools.As a result, schoolteacher-to-student ratios are low. For example, in 2020, the country's teacher-to-student ratio was 1:40. A low teacher-to-student ratio, particularly at the elementary and secondary levels of education, which lay the groundwork for students' learning, contributes to poor educational quality, notably in science and mathematics. Furthermore, there is a scarcity of qualified schoolteachers. According to available statistics, the percentage share of trained instructors was 66.4 percent in 2020. Teaching is no longer regarded as a desirable career, and a shortage of qualified instructors is one of the causes for our educational system's poor quality.

        Covid has exacerbated Bangladesh's already difficult access to high-quality education. There appears to be a dearth of awareness that human capital investment is critical to economic progress. Skilled human resources have more job options, are more productive, and have a better economic situation than those who do not. They also contribute to the economies of their respective countries. As Bangladesh prepares to graduate to the Developing Countries group by 2026 and to become an upper middle-income nation by 2031, education investment is critical not just for a seamless and sustainable transition, but also for eliminating inequality among the country's inhabitants.

        The Centre for Policy Dialogue's executive director is Dr. Fahmida Khatun (CPD). The author's opinions in this article are his or her own.