Country yet to be prepared for sending housemaids to KSA
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Kamrun Nahar
Bangladesh is yet to be prepared to avail the opportunity of sending female domestic workers to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) after two private recruiting agencies signed an agreement in the connection after more than two years, industry insiders said. "We have not yet started any formal procedure to recruit female domestic workers for sending them to Saudi Arabia. We will give advertisement in newspapers as soon as we start work," Ali Haider Chowdhury, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), told the FE Tuesday. He said if anyone is cheated by anyone in the meantime, BAIRA is in no way responsible as the visas for domestic workers will not be issued without authorisation by BAIRA in case of Saudi Arabia. "We are yet to sit with the expatriate welfare ministry to work out a plan on the whole process of sending house workers, specially female workers again," he said. Saudi National Recruitment Committee (SANARCOM) and BAIRA signed an agreement on April 5 to resume sending house workers in four categories. The four categories are female domestic workers, house drivers, security guards and gardeners. Female workers will be able to go free of cost while male workers will have to pay the ticket fees only. A joint committee comprising BAIRA and SANARCOM members was formed in this connection to work on the process. Saudi Arabia now recruits monthly on an average 20,000 female domestic workers from across the globe. Bangladesh had a share of about 27.82 per cent in 2005, said industry insiders. "Bangladesh again can recover the market share and increase it upto 50 per cent by training up our female workers," said Mr Chowdhury. Former BAIRA president Ghulam Mustafa said Bangladesh needs extensive training programme of at least one month and not only two weeks to prepare its female domestic workers for sending them to Saudi Arabia. "The agreement has been signed between two private recruiting associations and not with the government. We know SANARCOM is very influential in Saudi policy making and we are hopeful of the success," said Mr Mustafa. He said the training should be arranged in such a homely environment that the trainee female worker will feel like she is in a Saudi home environment. "The female workers should be taught Saudi culture, language and operation of electrical and other home appliances. They should maintain personal hygiene and be provided with the telephone numbers and names of the embassy officers for making contact in case of emergency, a telephone set and a sim card to make them able to operate it," he added. Primarily, the salary for the housemaid was fixed at 600 Rial (Tk 12000) plus free accommodation and food while the salary for driver was fixed at 800 Rial and for gardener and security guard at 600 Rial plus accommodation and food or 200 Rial cash. Earlier, the salary for housemaid was 500 Rial. "We should not bargain at this opening stage as our workers are not that much educated and skilled. We should prove ourselves fit through our performance, then we can bargain to increase the salary upto Tk 20,000," said Mr Mustafa. At present female domestic workers from the Philipines and Indonesia are in the highest demand with a payment of 1000 to 1500 Rial as they are educated and highly skilled. The three-times elected former BAIRA president said the government's present training programme for female domestic workers is not sufficient. "There should be more training institutes both in Dhaka and other areas of the country," he added. For ensuring security of the female house workers Mr Mustafa said there should be a panel of lawyers in Saudi Arabia who will fight for the Bangladeshi workers in case of any wrongdoing. "We should not simply allow our poor women to go abroad and earn money. Rather the state, the embassy and the recruiting agencies should be prepared and united in times of difficulties," he added.
Bangladesh is yet to be prepared to avail the opportunity of sending female domestic workers to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) after two private recruiting agencies signed an agreement in the connection after more than two years, industry insiders said. "We have not yet started any formal procedure to recruit female domestic workers for sending them to Saudi Arabia. We will give advertisement in newspapers as soon as we start work," Ali Haider Chowdhury, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), told the FE Tuesday. He said if anyone is cheated by anyone in the meantime, BAIRA is in no way responsible as the visas for domestic workers will not be issued without authorisation by BAIRA in case of Saudi Arabia. "We are yet to sit with the expatriate welfare ministry to work out a plan on the whole process of sending house workers, specially female workers again," he said. Saudi National Recruitment Committee (SANARCOM) and BAIRA signed an agreement on April 5 to resume sending house workers in four categories. The four categories are female domestic workers, house drivers, security guards and gardeners. Female workers will be able to go free of cost while male workers will have to pay the ticket fees only. A joint committee comprising BAIRA and SANARCOM members was formed in this connection to work on the process. Saudi Arabia now recruits monthly on an average 20,000 female domestic workers from across the globe. Bangladesh had a share of about 27.82 per cent in 2005, said industry insiders. "Bangladesh again can recover the market share and increase it upto 50 per cent by training up our female workers," said Mr Chowdhury. Former BAIRA president Ghulam Mustafa said Bangladesh needs extensive training programme of at least one month and not only two weeks to prepare its female domestic workers for sending them to Saudi Arabia. "The agreement has been signed between two private recruiting associations and not with the government. We know SANARCOM is very influential in Saudi policy making and we are hopeful of the success," said Mr Mustafa. He said the training should be arranged in such a homely environment that the trainee female worker will feel like she is in a Saudi home environment. "The female workers should be taught Saudi culture, language and operation of electrical and other home appliances. They should maintain personal hygiene and be provided with the telephone numbers and names of the embassy officers for making contact in case of emergency, a telephone set and a sim card to make them able to operate it," he added. Primarily, the salary for the housemaid was fixed at 600 Rial (Tk 12000) plus free accommodation and food while the salary for driver was fixed at 800 Rial and for gardener and security guard at 600 Rial plus accommodation and food or 200 Rial cash. Earlier, the salary for housemaid was 500 Rial. "We should not bargain at this opening stage as our workers are not that much educated and skilled. We should prove ourselves fit through our performance, then we can bargain to increase the salary upto Tk 20,000," said Mr Mustafa. At present female domestic workers from the Philipines and Indonesia are in the highest demand with a payment of 1000 to 1500 Rial as they are educated and highly skilled. The three-times elected former BAIRA president said the government's present training programme for female domestic workers is not sufficient. "There should be more training institutes both in Dhaka and other areas of the country," he added. For ensuring security of the female house workers Mr Mustafa said there should be a panel of lawyers in Saudi Arabia who will fight for the Bangladeshi workers in case of any wrongdoing. "We should not simply allow our poor women to go abroad and earn money. Rather the state, the embassy and the recruiting agencies should be prepared and united in times of difficulties," he added.