‘Foreigners hired at Bangladesh industries out of fashion’

The country’s industries lack skilled manpower, especially technicians, to meet the quality requirements of the modern production system, says the chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Skills Development Council (NSDC).

Still, ABM Khorshed Alam feels, in some cases the industries hire foreigners as a 'fashion', to convince the buyers that their factories have foreign manpower.

Assigned to improve skills of human resources at government and private levels, the council, headed by the prime minister, recommends course plans and curriculums for various training centres.

The NSDC CEO, however, regrets there are no adequate workshops and laboratories to run training activities.

“Our graduates are educated but not job-oriented in the practical sense. They can’t identify problems. Our engineers acquire knowledge, but are not skilled,” he said in an interview with Prothom Alo at his office in the Telecommunications Training Centre in Tejgaon in the city recently. The interview is taken by Rabiul Islam. The full text of the interview is given below:

Prothom Alo (PA): Would you please tell us what NSDC has achieved in practical terms since its inception?

Khorshed Alam (KA): The NSDC was established in 2008, but it was not functional for several years. It had no office to run its activities. An organogram of 26 people was approved in 2011. The office was set up at the Telecom Training Centre. NSDC became functional when the National Skills Development Policy was formulated in 2011. Three workshops were organised for policy dissemination. We have carried out awareness-building programmes for three years. We have conducted sector-wise research in the garments, agriculture, furniture and pharmaceutical sectors. 

We have completed a five-year action plan between 2012 and 2017. With the help of the Bangladesh Technical Education Board, a total of 160 new curriculums were drawn up.

The second action plan will be implemented in keeping with the Sustainable Development Goals-2030. We will decide on what to do, when to implement the plans, what skills will be needed in 2030 and so on. For example, robots will enter the industrial scene and so we have to create technicians to meet this challenge.

We have registered 11 industry skill councils. They are agro-food sector, ceramic, construction, furniture, ICT, informal sector, leather and leather goods, light engineering, pharmaceuticals, RMG and textiles, tourism and hospitality, and transport equipment. 

We will hold meetings with the authorities of these councils and assess what skills are required in the various sectors. Accordingly, we will recommend curriculums. We will bring about changes and modernise the existing labs. The industry skill councils will also provide predictions about the future labour market.   

PA: What are the major areas of your focus and what is perhaps missing from your focus in terms of skills development?

KA: We will set up skill standards for different sectors. As per demand of skills for different sectors including agro-food, ceramic and construction, NSDC will provide the government and private sector training centres and skill development organisations with recommendations about what type of skills are required. The industry skill councils will also inform the NSDC about the various job opportunities in their respective sectors.  

The present training is based on outdated technology. There is no link between industries and educational institutions.

All training institutions must be registered under the NSDC otherwise recognition will not be given.

We have institutional weaknesses. There were no modern curriculums and no well qualified trainers. There were no qualified assessors to really evaluate the work. There were no adequate workshops and labs to provide practical training.

PA: Our industries hire foreign consultants, technical persons and even mid-management officials. Why is this so and how can Bangladesh overcome this?

KA: It requires technical persons to run industries, but we have a shortage of technicians. Most of our industries hire foreign technicians from Sri Lanka and India. In some cases, our industries hire foreigners as a 'fashion' to convince the buyers that their factories have foreign manpower.

Over 60,000 foreigners are working in supervisor and managerial positions in our industries. We have to replace them. Our graduates are educated but not job-oriented in a practical sense. They can’t identify problems. Our engineers acquire knowledge, but are not skilled.

We will make skilled workers available in the market. We have a target to create adequate skilled manpower in five years.

PA: Most of our migrant workers are also unskilled and their income is low. What has NSDC done to create skilled workers? Have you prepared any recommendations for improvement?

KA: As per demand in the overseas job markets, we have recommended to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), a regulatory body of migrant workers, to introduce new curriculums in the training centres under them. Meanwhile, thousands of workers have been working in different countries including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Malaysia, Singapore and United Arab Emirate (UAE). As these workers have no certificates, they are not counted as skilled workers and so their wage is low. In association with the certification authorities, we will arrange to test our migrants in the destination countries and provide them with certificates accordingly. 

PA: What about female migrant workers?

KA: BMET trains female aspirant migrant workers. We have asked BMET to introduce curriculums that are followed in countries which are our competition such as Nepal and the Philippines.  

BMET has 40 training centres. Female migrants will be trained as per required of the specific countries. We will monitor the training.

PA: Today, thousands of graduates remain unemployed. Has the NSDC assessed the overall employment situation and brought any solution to the job market crisis?

KA: The word 'skills' is not included in anywhere in our education system. Only some students who drop out from primary schools are given technical training by some non-government organisations.

In 2011, a global survey was conducted in 39,641 industrial organisations in 39 countries. According to the survey, there is a high demand for technicians in the industries. There is huge shortage of skilled workers in every sector.

But thousands of graduates remain unemployed in our country due to lack of skills. We are carrying out a study to determine the scope of jobs. We have asked the industrial councils to give details of various job opportunities. After the identification of job opportunities, we will recommend that government and private training centres introduce training programmes for unemployed persons.

PA: What challenges do you face in running NSDC, even in holding regular meeting?

KA: Coordinating with different departments under various ministries is the main challenge. There are 36 departments under 23 ministries. Nobody listens to anybody. So eventually NSDC will be run under the prime minister’s office.

The last meeting was held in October of 2016. We have been in a transition period and NSDC will be changed into the National Skills Development Authority. Although the meetings have not been regular, we are working under the guidance of the executive committee. The meeting of the executive committee is held regularly. The executive committee was given the authority to advise us.

PA: What will the functions of the planned National Skills Development Authority be? What would be the status of the NSDC by then?

KA: After the enactment of the National Skills Development Authority Act, the NSDC will be dissolved. The cabinet has already approved the draft of the act. The National Skill Development Authority will function like NSDC, but under the office of the prime minister.

Rabiul Islam is a journalist. He can be reached at [email protected].