The New Nation - Internet Edition

The prime objective of human resources development (HRD) is to cultivate the potentialities in a person and to implant knowledge and skill in him/her to turn him/her into a skilled hand of production. HRD will result in poverty reduction. It will help achieve establishment of gender parity and women's empowerment The Bangladesh government has been implementing a number of projects for HRD with the technical assistance from the donors.

The government has given maximum importance to education in general and primary education in particular as well as education for women as the most important means of human resources development According to the Bangladesh Economic Review 2007, the government is pledge-bound to achieve universal primary education within 2015. To ensure this, education at primary level has been made free and the students are provided with textbooks free of cost As an incentive to women's education, stipends for girls up to class XII have been introduced. Meanwhile, girl students at primary level have reached fifty percent of the total enrolment As a part of integrating women with the mainstream of national development, the government has adopted the policy of recruiting sixty percent of primary teachers from women.

Boys and girls are also given technical and vocational training at different technical institutions and under youth development programme.

Unskilled workers are burden for the society. They hardly play any role in national development The programmes to develop human resources will hopefully create skilled hands for production leading to the growth of the GDP and poverty alleviation. HRD programmes are likely to accelerate women's empowerment and establishment of gender parity in the society.

The government initiatives alone are not enough in this regard. Enlightened and conscious sections of the society should also come forward. A two-day long workshop on "Role of Religious Leaders in Developing Human Resources" organised by Gopalganj branch of Islamic Foundation Bangladesh, called upon the imams and other religious leaders to play a role in human resources development

The speakers at the workshop also urged the imams and the religious leaders to work for establishing peace and communal harmony in the society in the light of the principles of our religion.

We express our optimism that other professional groups will come forward and participate in human resources development to the best of their ability.