In the views of young volunteers; information, language and skills for fairer labor migration are major concerning issues. They also shared their experiences of interviewing the aspirant migrants in TTCs (Technical Training Center). The major areas of apprehension were expressed at IID’s Policy Forum on Fairer Labor Migration on 31st August in Gaibandha which was followed by a Hello MP session in presence of the local Member of Parliament, Ms. Mahabub Ara Begum Gini and other government officials on 2nd September.
People who are going abroad as migrants, always face difficulties as most of them come from root level and proper information related to their documents, the destination country and the rules and regulations as migrants are not passed/instructed to them. For this, volunteers who are already working on migration or their processes should guide the aspirant migrants to make them aware of relevant and required information. The volunteers in this aspect can act as an information hub between the TTCs and the government organizations.
Lack of language training and illiteracy among Bangladeshi migrants restrict their understanding of the written documents such as visa or the job contracts. So, when they go to a foreign land, language becomes a barrier for them. Proper language training should take place for the aspirant migrants in the country for at least 2-3 months.
Bangladeshi migrants mostly lack any skill training for the job they plan to pursue. Bangladesh has social stigma against vocational training. Due to this societal pressure, youths are forced to pursue higher education hence it delays them to pursue their career. Also, TTCs do not have proper infrastructure to train the aspirant migrants in some aspect. Lack of skills put the migrants in trouble at their destination country workplaces.
In the Hello MP session, the youth presented their concerning issues about migration to the local Member of Parliament, Ms. Mahabub Ara Begum Gini. During the session, she said that vocational training is essential and PDTs (Pre Departure Training) should be more than 15days, especially, for aspirant migrant. So that they don’t face any trouble as a migrant.
Ms. Mahabub Ara Begum Gini also said that the Government of Bangladesh is trying to facilitate in allocating a female dormitory for female migrants in the destination country so that they remain secured, stress free and not become subjected towards violence in their work place.
The overall discussion was a part of IID’s ‘Youth for Policy’ initiative that promotes policy and advocacy on youth, skills and employment at home and abroad .