12,938 children of migrant workers receive Tk 269.94m in nine years

More than 12,000 children of migrant workers received scholarships in the last nine years from the Wage Earners' Welfare Board (WEWB), which helped continue their (children's) education, officials said.
WEWB introduced scholarship programme for the children of migrant workers in 2012 with 49 students.
Data available with the board shows the government distributed Tk269.94 million to 12,938 children as stipends during the period from 2012 to 2020.

Fresh 1,219 students have been selected under the programme for the year 2021.
However, the WEWB operates a fund that has been set up with migrant workers' welfare fees. Workers pay Tk3,500 as a welfare fee while getting immigration clearance.
The board provides stipends to the students of PSC, JSC, SSC, and HSC levels. They get monthly Tk1,000, Tk1,500, Tk2,000, and Tk2,500 each respectively.
The students also receive Tk2,000, Tk2,500, Tk 3,500, and Tk 4,000 each for education materials per year, according to the WEWB data.
The required result varies from GPA 2.5 to GPA 5 considering grade and workers' present status.
Shoaib Ahmad Khan, director (finance and welfare) of WEWB, said they had also introduced education stipend for physically challenged children of migrant workers.
On the other hand, the qualification for receiving the scholarship for the children of deceased migrants has been fixed at GPA 2.50 to enhance their facility.
When asked, he said they were continuing publicity to bring children under the benefits of the scholarship programme.
However, migrant experts say such financial support is essential for the children as it will help cut expenditures as the majority of the migrants are low-paid workers.
They also stressed the need for more publicity campaign as many of the children remains out of reach of this financial supports.
A recent study conducted by Bangladeshi Ovibashi Mohila Sramik Association (BOMSA) shows that 44 per cent of migrant workers have one or more school and college-going children.
But only 2.0 per cent of them received stipends from the WEWB programme.
A total of 350 returnee migrant workers and backward families of current migrant workers took part in the survey which was carried out during the period between March and December 2020.
The findings show that their monthly wages range between Tk 16,000 and Tk 30,000 as the majority of them migrated as low-skill workers.
According to sector insiders, more than 10 million Bangladeshi workers are staying abroad with jobs. Most of them are working in Middle Eastern countries with low wages.
arafataradhaka@gmail.com