KATHMANDU, Oct 21: The Foreign Employment Board has allocated a budget of Rs 250 million for providing free vocational training to youths.
The board has targeted to provide free vocational training to youths as skilled workers make better money than unskilled and semi-skilled workers. The number of foreign migrant workers has been increasing over the years.
According to an estimate, 71% Nepalis who are going for foreign employment are unskilled. Once in a foreign land, they have to work harder at less pay. They have to compete with skilled workers coming from other countries who find it easier to get better work and pay.
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The board is planning to provide 19 different types of training, including electronics, carpentry, garment machine operator, assistant scaffolder, house painter, cook, security, housekeeping attendant, plumber, and welder. These trainings will be of 30 days’ duration.
The board has cooperated with Balaju School of Engineering and Technology to provide free vocational training in the valley. It is a training institute functioning under the CTEVT umbrella.
“The training will start soon after initial procedures are finished. We are going to add more trainings and allocate more budget from next year to encourage youths to get vocational training and make them skilled. Vocational trainings will help them make good income and provide them with skills,” said Rajan Prasad Shrestha, acting director of the board.
The trainees have to meet certain criteria and be minimum 18 years old. For electronics, they have to pass grade ten. For plumber and welder, they have to pass grade eight. According to officials of the board, preference is given to females, dalit, janajati, those who wish to go for foreign employment, those who have returned from foreign employment, and children of those who have been involved in foreign employment.
The trainees have to submit their forms and pay Rs 2,190 before the training. After the month-long training, they need to pass basic test given by CTEVT. The trainees are provided with the certificates if they pass the test. Once they receive the certificate, their money will be refunded. The board has also made arrangement to provide free lunch to those trainees.
“Initially, the trainees need to pay Rs 2,190 but it will be refunded if they pass the test. We have made this rule because in the past there were a lot of trainees who did not take the training seriously and just came for time-pass and even couldn’t pass the basic test,” said Din Bandhu Subedi, spokesperson of the board, “This will create sense of responsibility and seriousness among them. It will directly or indirectly help them to be skilled and with the help of certificate, they could earn good amount of money in foreign countries.”
However, some foreign employment experts deny the fact that these vocational training provided by the Foreign Employment Board would be beneficial for those who wish to go for foreign employment.
Ganesh Gurung, foreign employment expert said, “Trainings provided by the board are not useful for those migrant as the job market is changing in terms of skill and our government has not done any kind of survey in different countries where people go for foreign employment. In the present context, foreign nations have different works and trainings need to be provided according to that.”
