KATHMANDU: The government has failed to take strict action against orientation centres issuing certificates without actually providing pre-departure counselling to outbound Nepali workers. The trend of attesting that aspirants went through a training is putting the life of Nepali migrant workers at risk besides making them unaware about job destinations.
Monitoring of such orientation centres carried out by the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) has revealed that many institutes are just selling the certificates. DoFE’s inspection in the last three months has found that 22 centres were operating against rules set by the government. As per DoFE, it is mandatory for fresh individuals to go through orientation classes before they leave for foreign employment. The two-day class that costs Rs 700 gives aspirants basic information about the destination, its religion and culture, travel procedures, traffic rules and other aspects of overseas employment.
However, it is estimated that more than 75 per cent of outbound workers do not take the training and buy the certificates instead, which has also been an easy money making business for orientation centres.
Krishna Hari Puskar, director general of DoFE said that the 22 erring centres have been restricted from operating their institutes for up to three months. “Due to legal provisions, we have to give them three opportunities for improvement before scrapping their permits,” he added.
According to Puskar, based on chances offered earlier they will also start the process of cancelling the licence of around a dozen orientation centres. Issuance of certificates without training, low presence of trainees, and lack of basic infrastructure were some the problems found during the inspections, according to Surya Koirala, director at DoFE.
In January too, after conducting surprise inspections, DoFE had suspended 30 centres for 15 days to two months. There are currently 102 registered orientation centres. On an average, more than 1,500 individuals are leaving the country for employment each day and a majority of them are fresh.
A senior official at DoFE said that it was difficult to take stringent action due to political lobbying by the owners of the centres. “Instructions from ministers, Constituent Assembly members and political party leaders to not take action or reduce the period of suspension are normal,” the official added.
Foreign Employment Regulation has given DoFE the authority to scrap the permits issued to orientation centres if they are found running the centre against the law. Even the Foreign Employment Promotion Board (FEPB) and Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Orientation Agencies are not happy with the action being taken by DoFE.
Tika Prasad Bhandari, officiating executive director of FEPB said since DoFE holds the legal right, it must scrap the permit of centres that are found guilty time and again to make other such institutes obey regulations. “Suspending the operation has become just a formality,” he said.
According to him, even though FEPB is also responsible for monitoring orientation centres, DoFE has not been cooperating with them. Quality orientation classes will also contribute in bringing down the accident and death rates in labour destinations, according to FEPB officials. Lack of knowledge of basic traffic rules that have to be taught during pre-departure counselling is also a reason of Nepali migrant workers’ death.
President of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Orientation Agencies Purna Bahadur Malla said that the government cannot treat all agencies as guilty centres. “DoFE must cancel the permit of any centre that is operating against set norms. The number of centres is also already high than what we require.”
Amid the increasing trend of issuing fake orientation certificates, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) recently, had also directed the Ministry of Labour and Employment to increase monitoring of orientation centres. - See more at: http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Foreign+migrants+lack+training&NewsID=414154#sthash.mjXefN2t.dpuf
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