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Feature

Brain-Drain…A problem in our country

Tanzina Rahman

When often I ask my friends about their future plan-what they intend to do after graduation-many of them reply that they want to go abroad and live there forever. They say this simply because they expect a better life standard there. When I am asked about my future plan, I always say that I have a plan to go abroad for higher studies but not to be settled over there. I strongly believe that I should come back to my country after completing my studies and gaining a lot of experience to work for my motherland!

Nowadays, the phenomenon of brain drain has become a big problem in our country. Most of the talented students dream to settle down in a developed foreign country. Being a student of engineering, I've realized this problem very deeply. Engineering and Technology need research works to be developed and for that a lot of funding is required. Though our universities are trying their best to provide us with the necessary instruments and equipment for research purpose, they have limitations of their own. It is almost impossible to compete with the developed countries in respect of research facilities in this modern age of improvement. So a student who is actually talented feels that he/she should move to a developed country for greater scope of study or work, greater job satisfaction and above all for a higher life standard.

There are numerous talents within us-some known, some hidden-so, we are no less talented than others. But the fact is that we can't provide them with an efficient environment to work on. Bangladesh doesn't have proper infrastructure yet in engineering or technology related fields which may enable those young and meritorious people to prove their talents.

As an engineering student, I can name some of the prospective fields like software and electronics engineering, IT, environmental and transportation engineering, biotechnology and genetic engineering, microbiology, chemical engineering and polymer science, industrial production engineering, petroleum and mineral science, urban planning, architecture and some emerging fields like remote sensing, GIS (Geographic Information System) and so on.

The problem can't be solved immediately since it is a long way to go if we want to bring a change. The government should realize that the education sector needs greater allocation of money than anything else. And most importantly, the government and private sectors should come forward to create a corruption free proper environment to enable those young and promising people to work for their country. And last but not the least, we all should feel for our motherland. We should go to foreign lands for gaining knowledge and experience and should try to utilize them for our own people…..not all of us though but still a few can take an initiative to build a better future for the next generation…. I dream-the day is not far away when Bangladesh will become a technologically developed country.

(The writer is a student of Department of Civil Engineering BUET)