Building SMART Bangladesh: The urgent need to tackle brain drain

Liton Chandro Sarkar :

Bangladesh, a nation with massive potential and a proud heritage, is currently facing with a significant challenge: brain drain.

It has been one of the most talked-about issues in Bangladesh’s academic and professional sphere for a long time.

The future of a country depends on the proper nursing of the young generation and the evaluation of their talent.

The number of talented people leaving the country is increasing day by day, which is called brain drain.

Students with high academic achievements leave the country and never return in most cases.

As a result, our country’s brain, which is the talent of the youngsters, gets transferred to another country.

No nation has been able to move forward by denying merit. A large part of the talented young generation of our country migrated to developed countries mainly due to the country’s socio-economic situation, and insecurity in jobs and careers.

Our failure to transform the huge population of country into human resources, sexual harassment, corruption, etc., are also common reasons.

This way, the country loses its most talented, knowledgeable, skilled, and deserving citizens. Losing this promising generation, the country faces obstacles in its development and progress.

According to the UNESCO data, a total of 52,799 Bangladeshi students went abroad for study in 2023, with the highest number of 8,524 students going to the US, followed by 6,586 to the UK, 5,835 to Canada, 5,714 to Malaysia, 5,046 to Germany, 4,987 to Australia, 2,082 to Japan, 2,606 to India, 1,202 to the Koreas republic, and 1,190 to Saudi Arabia. In 2022, a total of 49,151 Bangladeshi students travelled abroad, while 44,338 students travelled abroad in 2021.
We need to address the reasons behind this brain drain.

It’s affecting all sectors and making it harder for us to achieve our vision of a Smart Bangladesh. If we recognize the seriousness of the situation and take action, we can still keep and support our skilled individuals.

In the last census report of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the total population now is 16.98 crore and one fourth of the country’s total population is in the 15-29 age group which is 27.96 percent of them.

In numbers, the country’s current youth population is 45.9 million (4 crore and 59 lakh).

These young individuals can quickly learn new things, undertake new tasks, and work more to impact the economy by improving their own lives.

A large portion of the population who are young, are vital for creating business, generating jobs, and ultimately accumulating wealth for the nation.

But it will only pay off if we invest heavily in education, healthcare and skills development to unlock the potential of these young individuals and capture the returns.

Starting from one of the most compelling factors leading to the exodus is the severe crisis of seats in universities.

Each year, 10-20 lakh students attend the HSC examination, comprising Bangla medium, English version, madrasa, and vocational polytechnic students.

Harrowingly, there is no proper accommodation, even for minimum students, in our universities.

Also, the English medium students are completely neglected due to their mismatch with the curriculum of current Bangladeshi admission exams. So, many of them opt to go abroad.

Nowadays, students, irrespective of their background, are going abroad using their merit, easy admission procedure, financial support, and transfer credits.

The shortcomings of both public and private Bangladeshi universities, the difficult job market and the lure of better prospects abroad also lead students to settle in their host countries.

This leads us to the issue of unemployment due to the lack of necessary skill sets and competence. More than 200,000 new job seekers remain jobless every year.

This forces us to face another social burden of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Civil Services (BCS) race.

Government jobs are nowadays a very lucrative job hub, so many students long after the BCS from their very early stage of education.

To cope with the BCS preparation, students do not gather the academic or technical skills or basic expertise required in other job fields.

So, a huge number of our youth remain unskilled. The meritorious students who do not want to incorporate themselves into this uncertain substandard rat race opt for better opportunities, like going abroad.

According to the UGC, currently in the country, there are 56 public universities out of which in 51 universities academic activities are ongoing.

There are also 112 private universities in the country. Our universities score poorly in global rankings.

Universities in Bangladesh have also struggled with overcrowding and expert scholar teacher lecturer shortages. Moreover, the lack of quality education at many public and private universities remains a big issue.

These institutions lack the atmosphere needed for higher education. Most of these do not have adequate research facilities and quality faculty to attract students.

Bangladesh is facing a significant challenge with brain drain, which threatens our future. The more human capital goes abroad, the more it is missing at home.

Because of both globalisation and various forms of inequality and insecurity, brain drain out of Bangladesh is inevitable. Unfortunately, brain drain issues cannot be solved overnight or in the next 5-10 years.

But if we look at how some of the other developing nations fight brain drain in more practical ways, we can definitely learn a lot about what can be applied here as well.

Many more action plans can be taken, but focusing on the more ambitious ones is fruitless until we get some of the more fundamental elements executed right. But the clock is ticking, and the time to act was yesterday, so we are already running late.

However, if we recognize the problem and take action, we can turn things around.

By fostering a culture that values and rewards talent and with government initiatives to retain skilled resources, we can create an ecosystem where our skilled individuals can thrive and contribute to our country’s growth.

Let’s work together to build a better future for Bangladesh!

(The writer is Deputy Director, Centre for Higher Studies & Research, Bangladesh University of Professionals; e-mail: [email protected].)