Expatriate welfare minister: Government keen to provide relevant training to migrant workers

Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam has highlighted the government's endeavor to send workers abroad with proper training and communication skills. He said so at the Brac Migration Awards 2017 program held at Brac Centre on Wednesday, terming this as a means to explore and enrich the labour market in upcoming years. The minister mentioned that although the government has opened 70 training centers throughout the country, many migrant workers have not received proper training. He urged the workers to go abroad only after undertaking relevant training and learning relevant languages of their respective working places. He also asked the recruiting agencies to promote training for the workers. In a recent development, the statistics of the ministry showed that the outflow of skilled workers has risen above 36%. However, the country is still dependent on less-skilled and semi-skilled workers. More than 55% of the outbound workers were from these categories, according to the state-run Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET). BMET Director General (DG) Selim Reza said: "We are now giving particular emphasis on skill development of the migrating people and the demand for our labour force is on the rise abroad." The DG said that they have made it compulsory for the trainees to learn English and Arabic to increase communication capacity. Besides, the training centre certificate would be considered as the international standard as the centres have received recognition from Britain in recent times. It would allow the workers to work in more than 80 countries. He said a database of skilled workers has already been initiated and host countries like Maldives, Japan, and others have expressed their eagerness to recruit more people from this database. Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Joint Secretary General Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman said the lack of education and skills is forcing Bangladeshi workers to work mostly in lower end jobs. But BAIRA has been working with the government for the last two years and once the project is completed, the working environment for the country's workers will significantly improve. He emphasized the importance of reports with proper recommendations to initiate refined approach to make migration hassle free.