Bangladesh to sign MoU with Australian trainer to produce skilled manpower

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A Z M Anas
Bangladesh is pursuing an objective to train up its potential unskilled migrant workers in a bid to secure a foothold in the global labour market, desperately seeking skilled manpower.
Initially, the interim government has targeted the Australian job market and is in talks with the Technical and Further Education (TAFE), an Australian agency, to facilitate "offshore training" for the aspirant Bangladeshi job seekers, a top official said.
"We're expected to sign an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with the TAFE shortly to develop a pool of trained workers," Abdul Motin Chowdhury, secretary of the ministry of expatriate welfare and overseas employment, said.
"If we can develop offshore skill training facilitates here, Bangladeshi workers will be able to collar reasonably high-paid employment offers in Australia," he added.
Traditionally, Bangladesh has become an important hub of low-skilled migrant workers who earn less than their skilled and trained counterparts.
The current initiative is seen as part of the country's plan to compete with major skilled manpower-exporting nations such as India, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka, which are blessed with large pool of English-speaking labour forces.
If proved successful, the drive will pay significant dividend, thereby reducing Bangladesh's long reliance on the exports of unskilled labour forces who have neither vocational knowledge, nor fluency in the English language.
"How long can we send unskilled manpower overseas?" asked the top bureaucrat, insisting the new initiative could make a difference to the pattern of the country's manpower exports.
"The government will forge strategic relations with the Australian training provider. It will extend a wide range of training facilities--from English language course to catering to vocational training," he pointed out.
The secretary expressed the hope that high-skilled labours would be well-positioned to wire home more cashes than the low-skilled workers.
"It's a crucial need that Bangladesh benefits from sending trained manpower abroad," Chowdhury told the FE.
An estimated 4.0 million Bangladeshis, including the diaspora community, are living outside their homeland, sending billions of dollars in remittances.
Bangladeshi overseas class, mainly the blue-collar workers, sent home an estimated US$ 5.7 billion in remittances as of May of the outgoing fiscal (2006-07).
The remittances are considered only second to Bangladesh's merchandise exports, dwarfing other flows of external resources, notably donor aid and foreign direct investment.
A source said the Australian agency completed the Asian Development Bank-funded Vocational Training Design programme to design the scope of a multi-million dollar capacity building project in Nepal.
The TAFE is also conducting a skill development training programme in Sri Lanka, the source added.
Already, Sri Lanka and Nepal have inked separate MoUs with the Australian training body to train up the unskilled manpower of their countries, it is learnt.
Taking the examples of two South Asian nations, Bangladesh seems to have attracted to the idea of expanding high-quality skill training to its vast potential migrant working class.
TAFE is Australia's largest training provider, and is among the largest in the world.
TAFE is known to offer quality education tailored to suit the needs of recipients.
The Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, an apex body of manpower exporters, welcomed the government move to explore the new labour markets and arrange skill training for the overseas job seekers.
But it called upon the government to involve the private sector in the process of sending manpower to Australia.
"The government can't handle the issue alone … Private sector should be involved in the process," Abdul Alim, a BAIRA member, said.