The government plans to launch a countrywide registration programme in the first week of next month (March) for overseas job- seekers following the recent big rush of aspirants at the Probashi Kalyan Bhaban (PKB) in the capital, officials said.
Due to the big rush at the PKB for the last few days, the authorities have planned to launch the registration programme as early as possible, said an official of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment (EWOE).
"Though earlier we decided to enlist only female workers, we are now considering the programme for all job-seekers," the official said, wishing not to be named.
He said, registration will cover all job destination countries, not only Saudi Arabia.
Like 2013, online registration will be done through the Union Information Service Centres (UISCs) and the District Employment and Manpower Offices (DEMOs) across the country.
The government has already established a database of nearly 2.2 million foreign job-seekers. So far only a very few were sent abroad from the database.
Experts, however, consider the programme useless saying without demand from manpower-importing countries, there is no need for enlistment of prospective workers.
They said such an enlistment will only raise hopes among job-seekers for getting jobs abroad. And then middlemen will take the opportunity to exploit them, said Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) chair Tasneem Siddiqui.
As the deal between Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh was only for female workers, so why will all other job-seekers be registered?, she asked.
Following a recent agreement between Dhaka and Riyadh on manpower recruitment at zero cost, people made a mad rush to the PKB
till Thursday to enlist their names for the jobs.
The authorities of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) were forced to suspend the enlistment programme at the PKB for a temporary period.
The mad rush was attributed to a rumour that the registration process for jobs in Saudi Arabia would end on that very day.
Officers and employees of the EWOE had to come to the street with their services to deal with hundreds of jobseekers who waited in queues since early hours of the day to have their names registered.
Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding Tuesday last to recruit 12 categories of workers in the housekeeping sector.
Minimum wage for housemaid has been fixed at 800 Saudi Riyal per month (equivalent to Tk 16,564) each.
Saudi Arabia lifted a seven-year embargo this month on hiring Bangladeshis.
So far a total of 2.63 million Bangladeshis went to the oil-rich country with jobs
An estimated 1.5 million Bangladeshis are currently employed in the kingdom.
EMPHASIS ON SKILLED WORKERS: Meanwhile, secretary of the EWOE Ministry Khandakar Iftekhar Haidar urged the private manpower recruiters to work for increasing export of skilled manpower alongside the government initiatives.
He said there is no alternative but to send skilled workers abroad to earn more remittance.
The secretary said this at a public parliament debate competition on 'Manpower Export through Government Arrangement Ensuring Secured Migration', organised by the Debate for Democracy in the city on Friday.
A total of 38 Technical Training Centres (TTCs) are in operation in the country. The government has also set up such training institutes in every district and upazila, he said.
He said nearly 150,000 job-seekers will get training in these institutes. "We have also signed a deal with Australia and employed a UK-based assessor to provide international standard training to the job-seekers."
Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiron, Chairman of Debate for Democracy said although there is no notable investment in manpower export sector, its contribution to the country's economy is very high.
Mr Kiron said before sending workers abroad, the government should ensure protection and their benefits like salary structure, working conditions, health insurance etc.
The University of Fashion and Technology, run by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), reached the final round of the debate competition defeating the Prime University.
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