ED: Upskill or perish

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the world in more ways than one. Most certainly, it has changed the nature of industry, the workplace, and the way person-to-person interaction takes place. An overarching change across all sectors has been the increased use of tech to enable the reduction of large gatherings or in-person meetings.

This means, the need for the next generation to adapt to the skills required for the upcoming changes, often called the Fourth Industrial Revolution, has been accelerated. The timeline for adaptation has shifted -- which means upskill or perish.

Innovations and technologies that will change in the world of this current century are vast: From 3D printing to the Internet of Things, from artificial intelligence and robotics to biotech, in the coming decades, industry will be transformed in ways we can scarcely imagine right now. In the past decade, Bangladesh’s economy has shown tremendous dynamism -- our export sector has been robust, though the RMG industry suffered an understandable blow this year, and our remittance earnings remain, even after the pandemic, as healthy as ever.

But we cannot take these achievements for granted, and we cannot think of them as permanent. The RMG sector, for example, is changing globally. There is a focus on sustainability, a reduction of waste, and futuristic concepts like wearable tech. Unless we keep up and adapt, and upskill our workers in new tech, we will be left behind by competing nations like Vietnam and others.

To lead this change, the youth are our best bet, as they are not yet set in their ways, and can see with new eyes. In a globalized world, we cannot afford to let old ideas hold us back. We must move forward.