Training strategy to achieve SDGs by 2030

Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed :
There are many policies for development in Bangladesh. Since independence, we have not been able to prepare a training policy for the nation. But for the nation’s interest, we conduct various public and private level courses for effective and efficient administration. All these aim to achieve the standard of our workforce. To strengthen the workforce, there is no alternative to training. Our all organizations and all government machineries are supposed to be run by a capable workforce.
To ensure our capabilities, skill development activities are very necessary. Training always plays a vital role for human resources development. In our country, we follow some guidelines for skill development but we do not have any national training policy. To make the training sector viable, a policy or guideline is mandatory. Ministry of Public Administration is here looking after the training activities of all government officials. Necessary training directives are being issued from this Ministry. There is a cell or training unit which cannot fulfil the necessary formalities of a balanced training activity. So every country needs at least a separate division for activities and necessary control. Under training department, there may be the administrative, legal, operation, planning, evolution and research wing etc. All these will be finalized by a National Training Policy.
Digitized training offloads time-consuming lower-value responsibilities from trainers, freeing them up to focus on providing higher-value personalized attention to workers. This optimizes the organization, utilizing talent where and how it’s most effective. Companies, therefore, get a greater return on their labor investment. And, being able to provide better, smarter service, they can deliver higher customer satisfaction. New business follows.A fundamental principle of the competency framework is that each job should be performed by a person who has the required competencies for that job. Once the competencies are laid down, an individual’s development can be more objectively linked to the competencies needed for the current or future jobs. Career progression and placement need to be based on matching the individual’s competencies to those required for a post.
AI-based training tools are explicitly designed to cultivate better on-the-job performance and facilitate employee development. Employees now expect support and look for companies that deliver it. Further, according to a study by HR Dive, 91 per cent of employees want training that’s personalized and relevant. This automated development roadmap permits firms to create highly targeted, accurate development plans individualized by person. The platforms then allow the employee to tap into the training and coaching knowledge library, as they wish and at their own pace. Workers can break up their training into discrete tasks. This way, notes McCann, they can “dip in and out” of their custom training program, instead of having to set aside large chunks of time to complete whole units in one sitting. The training process is far more flexible, easier to manage and less overwhelming. “Bite-sizing” training also helps knowledge retention and repeatability. An employee can repeat a training exercise or module as often as needed, again bolstering retention. Overall, AI-based training allows the company to significantly shrink a new employee’s learning curve by providing expertly curated learning. It also helps eliminate the one to three months of new-job anxiety that employees typically experience. They can feel “part of the company” sooner and perform more effectively as a result.
Bangladesh is currently suffering from an acute shortage of skilled workers and managers. The situation is deteriorating day by day as the shortage is intensifying in keeping up with the development process. Today, many firms, both local and international, are hiring foreign workers and managers to fill in the gap. The skill shortage is not only an impediment in the current situation; it will become a major deterrent in achieving further growth in the future, if not addressed appropriately and urgently. A 2019 report by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) revealed that various sectors such as ready-made garment (RMG), leather, ICT, infrastructure development, food processing, light engineering, healthcare, tourism, and ship-building industry will require several millions of skilled workers and experts by 2025. Where will this skilled workforce come from? The country’s technical education and training centres as well as higher education institutes have long failed to keep up with the demand. Given the situation, is it worth considering a “brain gain” strategy as a viable alternative?
Values of an organization are the basic determinants that govern the action of the members. Such core values permeate principally from the society, dominant religion practice. These values provide the necessary cardinal points in the moral compass for its members. Such core values have material and visible effects in the way members of an organization act, behave and operate. Values and adherence to them can be generally accepted as a barometer for organizational and efficiency. Apart from the values, organizational ethos is also very important as it determine the tradition of an organization. Another essential is professional/ income generating training for male and female. This training aims at providing earning sources for the members. For this purpose, almost all sort of technical and professional training are arranged for the members. Both male and female members are targeted for this training. For the purpose women empowerment, they are selected for various types of income generating trainings. All these trainings help them for earning and thus initiate the primary effort to eradicate unemployment problem. After the completion of the trainings, loans from bank should be sanctioned for the members so that they can start something for their own. This will pay back in two ways, bank will be gainer and people will find the financial support needed to start something. It will immensely help to reduce the unemployment problem of the country.

(The writer is former Deputy Director General, Bangladesh Ansar & VDP)