Creating Scopes for Science Graduates in Nation Building: Some Suggestions

In recent years, the number of science graduates has noticeably increased. Nevertheless, neither the job market for them, nor the research activities are rising proportionately. This has led to larger dissatisfaction among the graduates as they get the rare opportunity to serve the nation and make the proper livelihood inside the country. Ultimately there is a forced exodus of bright minds in search of livelihood in foreign countries. Surprisingly, many of such science graduates have done significant progress in the field of study and research there. But their intense desire to serve their motherland and live happily with their families and friends has rarely been met, because they hardly get any opportunity to utilize their skills and knowledge inside Nepal even if they want to come back after study and this situation frustrates them in many instances.

From country’s prospective, it’s a huge loss for Nepal, for not being able to accommodate or welcome its own citizens to serve the nation, by utilizing their skills, knowledge and innovative outcomes. To be more precise, it is a huge economic loss to lose a highly skilled and trained human resource, on which the nation invest for two decades or more. Neither the country has been able to utilize them as semi-skilled workforce, rather than pushing them to abroad form higher education.

Government can develop petty projects to ensure jobs for science graduates, which may help the government and the graduates in many ways- engage the graduates to serve the nation, job creation and redistribution of income, help bridging the gaps in knowledge, give the workforce to modernize the country, innovations etc. How such things could happen, may be a question, so few examples are given below about how the science graduates could be used for developing the country.

There is a rampant cheating of passengers by the taxi-drivers or transportation operators or the customers by the petrol pumps or businessmen by mis-calibrating the meters or weighing machines. In such scenario, if a physicist, who is generally the expert in calibrating the instruments, is deployed in the market, as a market supervisor, who would check and verify the instruments in regular basis, would help to control the cheating. And by doing so, hundreds of jobs for physicists could be created on one hand and the cheating of customers could be minimized. Proper calibration of measurement devices and vending machines helps to curb black marketing. This will keep society in checks and balance. On the other hand, diversification of the nature of job helps physicists to enjoy his/her undertaking of jobs.

Similarly, food technologists can be used as food quality internal and external auditors. As in financial auditing, they will check if the vendor machines are properly vending the supposed amount or quantity of substances. This will help discourage the adulteration of consumables.

Likewise, if laboratories could be set up for chemists who are deployed to check and verify adulteration, quality of chemical and physical materials, etc, would help the nation and its citizens to live a quality and secure life. Same for the biologists, microbiologists, environmentalist and any science graduates.

To conclude, science graduates can be absorbed in the market if enough scopes for job is created in the country. There should be the diversification of jobs which they take. These graduates could be utilized by the society for nation building. Nevertheless government should build the proper mechanisms to finance such activities and hence sustain it.

 Mr. Suresh Poudel is a DAAD Research Scholar.