ABSTRACT
The prospects of a rapid technological transformation appear rather distant, and the image of technological stagnation gets reinforced if the existing low technical capabilities of Bangladeshis are considered along with the ambivalent attitude of the government towards the development of human resources in general and technical education in particular. A study (ARTEP 1984) based on a survey of 10,919 establishments and 1,069 thousand employed workers finds that their technical specialization is quite different and of inadequate standards from the skill and specialization requirements in the organization and production processes. Unskilled personnel account for about half of total employment; generalists like clerks and messengers constitute a high 16 per cent. Even in modern production sectors, the use of generalists and unskilled manpower is found to be fairly widespread, a situation which arises from the lack of suitable skilled manpower and the pressure to provide employment to a growing pool of unskilled labour force through adopting labour intensive processes and techniques.
