Brain drain and its impact on Bangladesh’s economy

The great Bangladeshi dream is to leave Bangladesh. Be it the dreams of our students or a  burning nightmare for our country, the problem is more prominent than ever. 

By definition, the emigration of highly trained or qualified people from a particular country is called brain drain. It has been one of the most talked-about issues in Bangladesh's academic and professional sphere for a long time. 

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. 

According to BANBEIS, in 2021, around 45,000 Bangladeshi students went abroad for higher education. Fund for Peace data shows the brain drain index for Bangladesh was 7.6 in 2019, which was higher than the global average of 5.55 index points. 

A 2018 BIDS survey found that 39% of Bangladeshi youth aged 15-29 were willing to migrate abroad for work. According to the World Bank's stats for 2021, Bangladesh has a 7.00 on a scale of 10.00,  making us part of the top 20% for the indicator "Human Flight and Brain Drain.

These statistics raise a simple question: why is this happening? 

The current situation of the youth  and the 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 due to the country's socio-economic situation,  political instability, and insecurity in jobs and careers. Our failure to transform the huge population into human resources, the prevalence of terrorism, 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.

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 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.  

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 BCS race. 

'Why' or 'what' makes our intellectuals leave?

Government jobs are nowadays a very lucrative job hub, so many students long after the  Bangladesh Civil Services 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.

Also, a huge insufficiency of subject-based job opportunities and a lack of any level playing field make our country suffer tremendously. Our certificate-based education obstructs the growth of an individual as a research enthusiast, productive, visionary, and creative worker. 

In this scientific era, when many countries of the world are working for the development of science and technology, ensuring the necessary facilities to increase the various incentives of scientists, our country cannot harness the opportunities. There is no significant allocation in the creative research sector, another reason for the brain drain.

By going abroad, our youth can ensure their long-desired career in an environment free from political instability, insecurity and uncertainty in their careers, corruption, lack of transparency, a failed bureaucratic system, etc. They get great universities, companies, helpful and collaborative people, freedom of speech and work, the right assessment of their worth, and a safe and secure life for themselves and their families. Hence, why would they choose hell over heaven? Does patriotism feed or take care of you?

Sadly, these 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. 

Ahsan Pranon is a Department of Development Studies student at Dhaka University. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.