Published in on Sunday 12 May 2019
75% students find education budget inadequate, study reveals
‘There is a mismatch between the education system and industry requirements’
Belal Muntasir
Seventy-five percent of students think budget allocation for the country’s education sector is inadequate, finds a study.
Faculty of Business and Entrepreneurship at Daffodil International University (DIU) conducted the survey titled ‘National Budget 2019-20: Thoughts and Expectation of students’ over 165 university students in the capital.
DIU Assistant Professor Nurul Mohammad Zayed placed the study and its findings while addressing a seminar on Sunday on the forthcoming budget on DIU Dhanmondi campus.
Planning Minister MA Mannan graced the program as chief guest, while DIU Trustee Board Chairman Md Sabur Khan, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Executive Director Fahmida Khatun were present among others in the program chaired by DIU Vice-Chancellor Professor Yousuf Mahbubul Islam.
Nurul Mohammad Zayed said that they had tried to explore the expectations of students on the budget for the upcoming fiscal (FY2019-20) through the survey.
“We have found that 75.2% of the students consider the allocation for education inadequate,” he said, urging the government to increase the allocation in upcoming budget.
Zayed said the government should prioritize the nation building sector, especially research and developments.
“There is a mismatch between the education system and industry requirements,” said Fahmida Khatun.
Every year a huge number of students were graduating but not getting jobs, she pointed out, adding that industries, research organizations or other sectors in contrast were not finding eligible persons to employ.
“Sometimes the industries of the country have to hire manpower for midlevel managers, technical posts from neighboring countries,” added Fahmida.
The government should plan to mitigate the mismatch and reform education system for sustainable development, she suggested.
“If we can convert the young generation into capital, the country will develop soon,” she said.
Fahmida urged the government to increase the budget allocation for the education sector, saying that it should be 6% of the total budget, which was around 2% in FY2018-19.
Sabur Khan said the country had a huge number of young people but failed to use them in a proper way.
“It is high time to build them as right people in right way in right time,” he said, adding that if the country could use the power of the youth it could be the great one in the world.
Other findings of the study
The study says 57.1% of the students are in favor of increasing tax on tobacco, while 26.7% of the rest want it on luxury goods, 8.7% on accessories, 4.3% on non-essential goods and 3.1% on pharmaceutical ingredients.
On the other hand, 37.2% of the students want decreased tax on e-commerce, 20.5% on telecommunication, 18.6% on RMG, 14.3% on real estate and 8.7% on ride sharing services.
In the study, 62.1% students said current budget structure increased disparity in society.