Financial aid for edn consultancy firms

Mushfiqur Rahman Mohan | Published: January 08, 2021 20:20:13

The collapse of South Asian economies amid the Covid-19 has been more intense than anticipated. Bangladesh is set to plunge into its worst?ever recession because of fallouts from the pandemic. Three?quarters of all workers in Bangladesh depend on informal employment, especially in hospitality, retail trade, and transport sectors. Those sectors are most affected by the containment measures. The Covid?19 has dealt a further blow to many informal workers in the middle of the income distribution who experienced a sharp drop in earnings. Many of them lost their jobs as many businesses were facing an existential threat. Few workers were covered by social insurance or had savings or access to finance. So it's high time for Bangladesh to go for lucrative types of business or education and thus help cut the unemployment rate.
Evidently, educational consultancy is a salient business, which focuses on generating convenient pathways for Bangladeshi youngsters to further their studies or career, by attaining world-class educational standard. According to a journal, annually the number of students passing the higher secondary level is increasing more than the available seats in public or private universities providing quality education. Thus brilliant students are disheartened by the shortage of such opportunities and the unemployment. However, procedures for acquiring education abroad are fraught with tedious and intricate stages. Additionally, students interested in quality learning do not afford foreign education. This is undoubtedly leading to a knowledge gap in different areas of nation-building. Therefore, educational consultancy firms rely on both inflation and intricacy of such procedures to provide opportunities for unemployed citizens or students.
As a preferred country for pursuing both studies and career, the United Kingdom (UK) and Canada have been pre-eminent. Moreover, the necessity of ameliorating immigration procedures and requirement seems to have gotten off the list, due to Brexit and SDS policies of the UK and Canada respectively. An UK White Paper has noted that the post-Brexit visa and immigration strategy is expected to benefit Bangladeshi professionals and students. Benefits include the 12-month visa route for workers at any skill level for a temporary period to students being able to switch to the skilled workers route. As per information on Canada.co, the Study Direct Stream (SDS) programme of Canada launched by the Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), enables students to get their visas within 4-6 weeks or 20 calendar days, which traditionally required 2-3 months. The eligibility requirements include the payment of tuition fees of year one, IELTS score of 6.00 and student loan called Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC) worth CAN$10,000 from particular banks, as the catalyst for the visa process. This has been a window of opportunity for students of China, India, Morocco, Pakistan, the Philippines, Senegal and Vietnam. The country aims to welcome more than 190,000 students. Unlike the non-SDS process, the SDS process requires no proof of funds for living expenses and tuition fees.
Apart from the lenient immigration and visa policies, the fortune strength of an educational consultancy firm is important to take note of. Since past years, such firms have been sheltering and preparing students to help them in meeting legitimate eligibility criteria, for their respective choice of country. There are countless firms in Bangladesh that process applications of aspirants for study abroad, illicitly. There are a handful of companies, providing such services for 20 years, around 30 in their number, and they are abiding by foreign laws and dedicatedly providing their services for the students. So the government can provide each of such firms with a certain amount of aid. Such support will not only accelerate and improve the services but also help around 600 thousand (6 lakh) Bangladeshi nationals to pursue their career or education abroad.
The Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC) and the SDS programme are suitable for students in Bangladesh. Hence, monetary support from the government for specific educational consultancy firms will help shore up the remittance flow further and cut the unemployment rate in Bangladesh. So the government should come forward with support for the educational consultancy firms and thus help a growing number of Bangladeshi students study in Canada.
.............................................................
The writer is Managing Director of Overseas Study Counseling Ltd (OSCL), President of Bangladesh Bride Federation and Vice President of Bride Federation of Asia and Middle East.
m.mohan@osclbd.com