Economic Reporter :
Speakers at a webinar on Sunday stressed the need for developing technically skilled workforce to strengthen various local industries and send them to well-paid international labour markets.
Due to shortage of skilled technical manpower, many expensive machines are getting damaged in various factories and that repair cannot be done in time.
Every year a number of unskilled labourers are entering the foreign labour market but, had they been skilled, they could have earned more foreign currency, the speakers said. The experts were discussing “Management of Unskilled Manpower” at the webinar organised by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI), in the city.
FBCCI President Joshim Uddin said, “The chambers have initiated programmes to train the trainers. If required, we will hire trainers from abroad to train our domestic trainers.” Bangladesh Electrical Merchandise Manufactures Association (BEMMA) President M H Bhuyan said, to compete with China and India, there is no option but to create skilled manpower.
Director of Directorate of Technical Education, Mamun Said, since local industries do not hire certified workers, many trained workers are still jobless. “Already we have created a pool of 1,28,912 skilled workers in Bangladesh,” he said.
Currently, due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, demand for nurses has gone up. “Therefore, we can export nurses abroad and that will brighten our labour market image,” said Nadia Binte Amin, a director of the FBCCI.
When the government made a decision to print textbooks locally, the industry got bigger, drawing more sophisticated and large printing machines. But, only a few, may be 5 or 6 technicians are available in the country, to run them,” said Johirul Islam, Secretary of Bangladesh Mudran Shilpa Samity (Printing Industries Association of Bangladesh). He said because of extreme scarcity of skilled technicians, high-priced machines are being damaged.
President of Bangladesh Automobile Workshop Malik Samity, Ismail Karim, demanded recognition of automobile repair as an industry.
He said, “We don’t have any plan to create in-house skilled manpower. These skilled folks could be exported.”
Muhammad Mustafizul Haque, the CEO of FBCCI presided over the webinar.
