Japan is set to start recruitment of technical interns from Bangladesh shortly through private recruiting agencies with zero migration cost, officials said.
To this effect, the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment (MoEWOE) has recently formulated necessary guidelines on the selection of sending organisations (SOs) or recruiting agencies and technical interns (TIs).
Japan International Training Cooperation Organisation (JITCO) and MoEWOE signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) in this regard last year.
As per the guidelines, the zero migration cost policy will be strictly followed for sending TIs to Japan from Bangladesh.
SOs may collect a minimum amount of money from Tls as commissions and fees set by the ministry. Information on such commissions and fees should be explained in details to interested TIs.
The sending organisations cannot deal with any monetary transactions with Tls. Approval for sending organisations will be cancelled immediately if any sort of monetary involvement is found.
When contacted, Kazi Abed Hussain, deputy secretary (Training-1) of MoEWOE, said necessary procedure has almost been completed. "Hopefully, we will be able to start sending workers to Japan within a short time."
So far they have received some 60 applications from manpower recruiters. Those who can fulfil the criteria as per the guidelines will be selected to send workers to Japan under the deal, he added.
In this case, the authorities concerned from Bangladesh and Japan will give approval to recruiters. The interns will be employed in the construction, automobiles and caregiver sectors for four years, he mentioned.
The guidelines showed that selected TIs and sending organisations concerned will have to open separate individual account with Probashi Kallyan Bank.
The stipulated amount of money determined by the ministry as commissions and fees will be deposited by Tls in their bank accounts as debt from PKB or cash before issuing smart cards for Tls from BMET.
They will have to pay from his or her wages by instalments if they borrow money from PKB.
Besides, SOs cannot engage or appoint any subagent to collect candidates. SOs must have branch offices in Japan and employees of branch offices should know Japanese language and be capable of having extensive communication skills with supervising organisations in Japan.
Clearance from Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) is mandatory for the workers to go to Japan.
Interested TIs must have academic qualification of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) or equivalent with age limit 18-35 years. Interns also should have physical and mental fitness.
BMET will make a databank of Tls who have successfully completed Japanese language training course organised by Technical Training Centres.
Besides, the candidates who have scored minimum N5 in Japanese language and have an experience in a specified work can apply for inclusion in the databank.
The selection committee will include the candidates' details in the databank after examining all the documents submitted by them.
However, migration experts said it is a good initiative, but the authorities should be very much cautious so that fraudulent activities cannot occur in this process.
Despite fixing the zero migration cost, private manpower recruiters allegedly charged a huge amount of money from overseas jobseekers much earlier. After that the process has collapsed.
Shakirul Islam, chairman at Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP), said the process should be transparent as recruitment agencies will get involved with it.
"It should also be specified and made public how much money the interns will pay to go to Japan," he said, adding that proper monitoring system is also essential as jobseekers are often cheated by middlemen.
In case of accidents or exploitation, compensations also should be mentioned in the guidelines, he said.
Replying to a query, deputy secretary Abed Hussain said there will have no scope of exploitation as they have prepared the guidelines in such a way so that it can be an example for other countries.
He said they have scrutinised each and every issue so that no loophole exists in the rules.
At present, Japan needs huge workforce. An AFP report recently showed that Japan had 161 jobs against 100 jobseekers.
If Bangladesh can utilise the potential, a large number of technical interns could be sent to that country, insiders said.
Currently, Bangladesh is sending technical interns to Japan under another MoC signed between BMET and International Manpower Development (IM), Japan about two years back. Only state-run agencies can send TIs to Japan under this deal.
Officials said a total of 35 TIs went to Japan while 73 others are in the process of going to the East Asian country under the MoC.
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