What young people want a year on from July Uprising

Why are so many young people unable to access opportunities? One word dominates their responses: nepotism. Over 54 percent of the youth cite nepotism as the primary barrier to employment, followed by inadequate formal education and a mismatch between academic content and labour market demands. For many, job applications lead nowhere: 45 percent reported that they had not received a single interview invitation in the past year.

- BY Dr SELIM RAIHAN

Young people in today's Bangladesh are at a pivotal juncture. On the one hand, they are more educated, connected, and ambitious than any previous generation.

On the other hand, they face a relatively tougher reality: shrinking economic opportunities, an outdated education system, and political structures that largely exclude them. Tensions over these challenges reached a boiling point during the 2024 July uprising, when young people took to the streets in a massive wave of protests and toppled the authoritarian regime of Awami League.

About a year after that upheaval, the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM), in collaboration with ActionAid Bangladesh, launched the Youth Survey 2025. This nationally representative study, encompassing 2,000 young individuals aged 15 to 35 across all eight divisions, highlights the experiences and expectations of young people during this period of change. The results present a sobering yet hopeful picture: young people feel disillusioned, but they have not given up. They seek reform, not empty promises. Above all, they want to be heard.

Education-employment disconnect

The survey reveals a significant gap between education and employability. Only 14.5 percent of the survey respondents believe their education has adequately prepared them for the job market. A startling 30.8 percent said their education had little to no effect on their readiness for employment. This underscores a fundamental failure of the current education and training systems to adjust to the evolving needs of the economy. While nearly half of the surveyed are still in school, more than 37 percent have dropped out, citing early marriage, financial struggles, etc.