Prime Minister and our manpower export

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has hit the nail on the head. While laying the foundation stone of Bangladesh Consulate Building in Riyadh on Thursday, she said people who want to go abroad for jobs are less interested in getting training as they can obtain certificates by spending a little amount of money. But they fall in danger, become prey to torture and repression after going abroad without appropriate training.

She went on saying that many overseas jobseekers, owing to a lack of awareness and proper information, fall prey to middlemen and have to suffer in foreign prisons day after day due to their wrong decisions. The PM therefore advised the people who aspire to go abroad for jobs to take proper training first. 

We completely endorse what the prime minister has said. We believe people, in their own interest, will have to be more aware so that they do not have to go through unwelcome experiences while staying abroad. Apart from this, having proper training will also help them get good jobs and earn more.

Like the prime minister, we believe our expatriates can play an important role in this regard. They can make people aware by providing necessary information through experience sharing. At the same time, we believe, the relevant government functionaries have a vital role to play to this end.

The government needs to devise a proper policy framework to make sure that public as well as private sectors move in a planned manner and can tap in the global markets that have huge a demand for skilled manpower. There is a need for establishing more technical and vocational training centers to provide intensive training to people set to go abroad for employment.

More importantly, adequate programmes should be taken up to let people, even those in the remotest corners of the country, know about the services these institutions provide.

Besides vocational training, overseas jobseekers should be provided with basic knowledge about the culture, language and traditions of the country where they are going to be employed.  Efforts are also necessary to bring this sector under transparency and discipline so that the fraudulent agencies and dalals can be detected and brought to book.

Let us hope a comprehensive strategy from policymakers coupled with awareness at individual levels will usher in a brighter future through one of the two main pillars of foreign remittance earnings for the country -- the manpower export sector.