Zawaya

The future of the workforce: The implications of the baccalaureate exams and the consequences of those implications

By: Mohamed Yehdih Ould Baba Ahmed

The future shape of the workforce is based on the baccalaureate exams and their results. The repercussions are not limited merely to success or failure, but extend beyond to make the labour force bow to what does not match its preferences. This refutes the existential philosophy which stipulates that “a human, in contrast to an object, exists first, then defines himself as being a doctor, a journalist, a teacher, etc.” On this basis, we can say that these exams play a prominent role in shaping the future of the workforce. From my own point of view, this is due to two factors: The first being the nature of the educational systems adopted in most Arab countries, and the second being the strategic policies of most governments of these countries.

First: The nature of the educational systems: Most Arab countries rely in their educational systems on old curricula that aim at stuffing the memories of students with an enormous momentum of theoretical information, which strains them psychologically and does not benefit them in practice. That also makes students an easy prey to a paralysing mindset and methods of prevarication and camouflage and the like, adopted by the exams’ authors and those who correct them. In light of the adoption of this educational system, it’s necessary to realise that it constitutes a great loss for both the ones who set it and those who are its target, by wasting the funds of the former – who are in most cases states or institutions investing in education with old and worn theoretical educational curricula, while the target – presented by students and the workforce – find themselves, after succeeding or failing in these exams, faced with very theoretical information that will not help them enter the unclassified sector, if they can’t continue studies or are not admitted in the public function.

Second: Government policies. The majority of governments in the third world pursue a strategy to reduce the number of graduates, for the impact they might have on the imbalance of governmental economic policies that are already dysfunctional due to corruption, poor governance and patronage, etc. Then there is an increasing number of unemployed people, as offer exceeds demand in the labor market. And what’s even worse is the reluctance of most of these governments to allocate subsidies to these unemployed graduates, or create income-generating projects for them, in addition to the absence of vocational training centers able to attract the workforce that failed in education, in order to integrate it in the community.

Based on what was mentioned above, we can say that the future of the workforce does not depend only on the implications of baccalaureate exams. Those implications have other psychological and social consequences that influence the future of this workforce, and make it desperate and pessimistic, thus opening to it the gate of the unknown and placing it in jeopardy – even making it sink at the end in deviation and aberration and other unethical behaviors.

As a conclusion, we can say that the future of the workforce goes beyond the implications of baccalaureate exams, to the consequences of these implications.