BRAC study reveals Skill development education helps adolescents Earn 6 times higher, reduce child marriage 62pc
DHAKA, March 2 (NsNewsWire) — Adolescent girls and boys can earn six times higher after they receive skill development education. Child marriage also tends to reduce by 62 per cent as such training boosts their awareness and self confidence.
The information was revealed today on Wednesday at a seminar titled ‘The power of apprenticeships’, highlighting the economic and social impact of skill training. Secretary to the ministry of labour Mikail Shipar attended the programme as the chief guest.
Asif Saleh, senior director, strategy, communications and empowerment, BRAC, chaired and moderated the event with Ashok Kumar Biswas, director general (additional secretary), Directorate of Technical Education, Salahuddin Kasem Khan, co-chairman, and ABM Khorshed Alam, additional secretary, National Skill Development Council, and Tahsinah Ahmed, director, Skills Development Programme, BRAC, speaking, among others.
Having stressed effective coordination between 23 ministries and 35 departments, all relevant for skill development initiatives, the labour secretary said, ‘We are trying to bring the entire programme of skill development under one umbrella. For this we have undertaken an initiative led by the honourable prime minister to form Skill Development Authority in the next 2-3 months.’
He also called on BRAC and other NGOs to work hand in hand with the government in areas including skill development and modernisation of agriculture to achieve sustainable development.
Asif Saleh focused on long-term partnerships to bring effective pace to skill development initiatives. He said, ‘We have resource constraints and so we hope that the government will come forward to take this initiative further.’
Senior research associates of BRAC Research and Evaluation Division Anindita Bhattacharjee and Rehnuma Rahman presented the excerpts from two study reports on the economic and social impact of skill development education.
The first study was carried out in 2012-2015 in seven districts namely, Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Rajshahi, Khulna, Chittagong and Sylhet. A total of 573 adolescents, of them 280 received skill development education from BRAC and the rest 293 not having any such education, took part in the study. The analysis of the data collected showed that child marriage among the girls receiving the education occurred 62 per cent less than their counterpart.
The second study, which focused on the impact of skill development education on living standard, was conducted in 15 districts namely, Dhaka, Gazipur, Tangail, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Bogra, Khulna, Chittagong, Sylhet, Comilla, Kishoreganj, Mymensingh, Sunamganj, Jhenaidah and Jessore. Of the participants in the study, 444 were doing apprenticeships while 416 did not have any such training.
The analysis of the data collected shows that while their average monthly income before training stood at Tk 166.85, it rose to Tk 2089.41 on average after six months of skill training. On the other hand, those who did not receive any such training, saw an increase in their monthly income from Tk 375 to merely Tk 1270 on average in the same time period. The analysis of the relevant data shows that those with skill training had 6 times increase in their average income than those without such training.
Moreover, tendency to save money also increased by 7.5 times among those receiving skill training. With an increased buying capacity and savings, spending for food also increased by 9 per cent among them.
BRAC senior manager Joydeep Sinha Roy briefed on the programme titled Skills Training for Advancing Resources (STAR). In his presentation he said BRAC through its STAR programme gave skill development training to 18 thousand and 900 adolescents between 2012 and 2016. Of these trainees 57 per cent are girls.
Keeping in view the ever growing number of youths entering the job market every year, BRAC will impart skill development training to five lakh adolescents from 2016 to 2020.