A study by Underprivileged Children's Education Programme (UCEP) has found that a considerable number of girls are unaware of the prospects of technical education despite the government's efforts to prioritise this skill-based education. In a country with a population as large as ours, with the majority of citizens being young, providing jobs for them is a huge challenge. This is why it is so important to invest in technical education that will provide young people with skills that will help them get employed. There are various institutes – government and non government - offering such skills training but there seems to be a gender gap in terms of enrolment. This highlights the stereotype in society that girls are not capable of doing technical jobs such as carpentry, appliance service and repair, etc. But schools like UCEP have proved that girls can be equally adept at learning these skills and use them to work at jobs traditionally dominated by males. The survey has also found that family barriers, early marriage, long distance of such schools and general lack of acceptance from society, act as deterrents.
A BBS survey has found that women's participation in the workforce has fallen from 36 percent to 33 percent between 2010 and 2013. This could be attributed to a decline in job opportunities for women. With better vocational skills girls and women will be in a position to apply for jobs they would not have sought otherwise. The government can take initiatives to make this kind of education more popular among girls and educate parents on its merits in terms of better employment possibilities for their daughters.
Source:
http://www.thedailystar.net/editorial/technical-education-girls-788206
