Every year half a million new workforce are added to Nepal labor market. It is an uphill task today to employ all the new entrants to existing labor-market of Nepal.
It is a problem before us as to how to face these challenges. We all that disguised employment prevails in the agricultural sector of Nepal. Unproductive workforce engaged in the agricultural sector of Nepal must be diverted towards industry, trade, tourism, education, health, energy, forest management, science, and technology.
The existing labor-force needs to be nurtured by providing them scientific and technical education in different stages of their life so that their skill-level grows with time.
A country is a legal entity which essentially incorporates population and defined geography. It is a big challenge for any country to transform its human population into a pool of human resource. The existing labor-force needs to be nurtured by providing them scientific and technical education in different stages of their life so that their skill-level grows with time.
This is how labor-force turns into human resource. The attraction of foreign employment in Nepal is all-time high because we don’t have enough employment in our domestic economy.
An estimated 4.4 million Nepalese youth are staying outside Nepal in foreign employment. The data reveals that only 1.5% of those who are in foreign employment belong to the category of the skilled human resource while 24% of them are semi-skilled.
The report published by Nepal’s Ministry of Finance shows that annual income of average Nepali is just Rs 117,455 (US$ 1034) which means that a monthly income of an average Nepali is only Rs 9787 and daily income is the paltry amount of Rs 322.
The staggering 74.5% of the total migrant Nepalese workforce is unskilled. Without creating a base for employment in the country, we can’t expect to eliminate poverty. Neither can we reduce the level of economic inequality prevailing in the country.
An estimated 28.6% of the total population of Nepal live in poverty from the yardstick of multidimensional poverty index. Human Development Index (HDI) is again at depressingly low (0.574) which indicates how bad our performance is in health, education and economic sectors.
The report published by Nepal’s Ministry of Finance shows that annual income of average Nepali is just Rs 117,455 (US$ 1034) which means that a monthly income of an average Nepali is only Rs 9787 and daily income is the paltry amount of Rs 322.
Is this PCI (per capita income) sufficient enough for Nepal to graduate into the league of ‘Developing Country’ from the current status of ‘Least-Developed Country’ in the year 2022 and finally to position itself into ‘Middle- Income Country’ in the year 2030 AD? Will dream of average Nepali to grow rich in coming decades become a reality?
The pace with which country is moving ahead, the dream of prosperity will never fructify into reality. Overhauling the entire education system of Nepal to create a wide-spread base for skill-based vocational training needs to be introduced.
Nepal is blessed with plenty of natural resources in form of rivers, forest, medicinal plants, glaciers, scenic beauty, and others all scattered around three ecological regions – Himal (mountains), Pahad (Hills) and Tarai (Plains) region. Nepal cannot make the best use of these resources in the absence of environmental education and the practice of sustainable development. No sustainable development has ever succeeded without environment-friendly technology, top-class of scientific research and highly skilled human resource.
If Nepal brings change in its education pattern by stressing on the scientific, technological, vocational and job-centric educational curriculum to produce 100% skilled human resource, then our remittances will grow 5-10 times more than what it is now.
The data released by Nepal Rashtra Bank says that total remittances which entered Nepal in the eight months of the financial year 2075/76 BS were Rs 908 billion 940 million which accounts for 26.24% of the total GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the country.
Nepal receives Rs 1200 billion as remittances in a year sent by Nepalese workforce working outside in foreign employment which includes skilled (1.5%), semi-skilled (24%) and unskilled (74.5%) workers. In terms of receiving remittances from abroad, Nepal ranks 19th country in the world and 4th in South Asia.
If Nepal brings change in its education pattern by stressing on the scientific, technological, vocational and job-centric educational curriculum to produce 100% skilled human resource, then our remittances will grow 5-10 times more than what it is now.
At the same time, our domestic economy will see tremendous growth and the PCI will rise up to somewhere between Rs 700000 – 1100000 in a year that is much more (almost 5 -10 times) than existing PCI (Rs 117,000 annually).
Further, the huge income difference (to the extent of 5-25 times more) will be noticed between the skilled and unskilled workforce. For example, if an unskilled worker in a private company of Nepal earns Rs 15000 by performing a job of cleaning then a doctor is likely to earn somewhere Rs 100,000 to 15,00,000.
An engineer in information and technology (ICT sector) or a specialist doctor working in the US may earn Rs 150,000 per month. This is just to show the difference in income between a skilled and unskilled workforce. We all know that a person’s scholarship, knowledge, skill, experience, and managerial ability affect his/her income directly.
Nepal’s population is growing with a rate of 1.35% at present. Nepal has less than 4% of the population that exceeds the age bar of 65 years. The mid-average year of Nepalese population stands at 21.6 year in which man stands at 20.7 year and women at 22.5 years.
Nepal has a maximum numbers of people in the productive age group. It is good news for the country. We must think in the direction how to convert this vast majority into skilled human resource. Unskilled workforce generates unemployment whereas skilled human resource generates employment to make positive contributions to individuals as well as a country.
Nepal education system is anything but technological. Practical and skilled-based in nature as a result of which unemployment is increasing regularly without any stop. The report of the finance ministry shows that the government of Nepal is investing less in the education sector.
In the financial year 2075/76 BS, the federal Government of Nepal until the month of Nepali month of Falgun spent just 4.76% in the category of current expenditure and o.o3% – the most minimum in the category of capital expenditure.
Nepal is struggling to hire skilled human resource in many sectors of the economy. Even educationists and academicians in Nepal are not farsighted and lack wisdom. There is no research till now in the country regarding how much-skilled labor force is required in different fields.
Federal statistics department through its data analysis says that employment rate is record level high (69.1%) in the age-group of 18- 34 years. Province Number-2 has the highest numbers of unemployed citizens (20.1%) while Province Number- 3 has the least number of unemployed persons (7%).
Nepal is desperately looking for ways to get rid of unemployment, poverty, economic inequality, diseases and low standard of life. We need to spend more under the category of capital expenditure. Educational credit system must be introduced at the university level so that those who have work experience or any other specific skills get credits (marks) in the existing courses.
We have to develop a culture to respect any work. Universal values of social justice, social security, multidimensional progress, and inclusive development must find their application at all levels. The domestic economy of Nepal needs to be strengthened so that primary, secondary and tertiary sectors thrive to create employment at different levels to absorb Nepalese workers within.
Current population growth is not a problem for Nepal. What we need to do is to convert the present population into the pool of human resource.
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