Govt to send 10,000 workers to Malaysia free of charge

The government is working to send 10,000 Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia without charging them any recruitment costs, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury has said.

The minister said the initiative, under the government led by Tarique Rahman, aims to ensure safer and more affordable overseas employment opportunities for Bangladeshi workers.

Speaking as the chief guest at a meeting on safe migration and preventing illegal overseas travel at the Sunamganj Deputy Commissioner’s conference room on Tuesday afternoon, he said workers must receive proper training before going abroad.
“Sending people abroad is not enough. They need skills and language training to improve their employment prospects,” the minister said.
He announced plans to establish five training centres across Sunamganj’s five parliamentary constituencies, noting that the success of the initiative would depend on ensuring qualified teachers, adequate facilities and sufficient numbers of trainees.

The minister stressed the need for coordinated efforts by the government and local representatives to make the programme effective.

Prospective migrant workers should learn foreign languages according to the needs of their destination countries, including English, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, he said, adding that workers should complete their training and travel abroad only through legal channels.

The meeting was organised by the Sunamganj district administration to promote safe migration and prevent illegal overseas travel.

During the programme, Chowdhury instructed the Sylhet Range DIG and the Sunamganj Superintendent of Police to submit, within seven days, detailed information to the ministry about the accused in cases filed by families of migrants who died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean, as well as the networks allegedly involved.

He also called for stronger awareness campaigns at the district, upazila and union levels to prevent people from falling victim to brokers and attempting dangerous and illegal sea journeys.

Regular awareness programmes should be conducted at mosques, temples and other public places, he added.