Technical training and skill-development programmes for industrial workers, especially in the light-engineering sector (LES), somewhat mismatch the demand for up-scaling their abilities to modern-day needs.
Sector-insiders and industry owners say most of these short training courses barely have any impact on skilling or re-skilling workers while curricula of almost all the skill-development programmes are behind the times while the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) has been taking shape.
The government launched a decade-long Skills for Employment Investment Program (SEIP) in 2014 for skilling and up-skilling workers of 10 priority sectors that include LES.
The Finance Division in collaboration with three ministries-Expatriate Welfare, Education and Industries--the central bank, Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) and 13 industry associations has been implementing the SEIP.
Evaluating the impact of relevant trainings, Bangladesh Engineering Industry Owners Association (BEIOA) chief Mr Razzaque said, "Majority of the workers usually enrol for short courses like one-or three-month ones which, from my point of view, is not that effective."
Mentioning that the workers having three years of experience are eligible to participate in the trainings, he said, "It is not practical to expect that someone with only one month of training would master skills for modern manufacturing process."
Besides, the things taught in the technical training institutes are no more relevant to the future demand of industries that are preparing to integrate the technologies of 4IR, he said.
The estimated budget for SEIP is around Tk 37.12 billion which was funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
Under the SEIP, BEIOA has partnered with some 20 technical training centres across the country to conduct month-long 12 skill-development courses for LES labourers.
Around 17,826 workers have been trained in 40 batches in the last seven years under the initiative of whom 13,234 were placed in jobs in different foundries and workshops around the country, according to the SEIP website. Besides, Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistance Centre (BITAC), through its five regional centres in Dhaka, Chattogram, Chandpur, Khulna, and Bogura, provides different types of training to industrial workers.
Md Ashraful Islam Babu, president of Jashore chapter of BEIOA, said usually the early-stage workers of the engineering sector, having no formal education or training, learn technical know-how at foundries or mechanical workshops through practice under the supervision of experienced co-workers. These informally trained labourers work long hours to get salaries ranging from Tk 8,000 to Tk 12,000 a month, he said, adding: "The workers having formal technical education and training can get better salaries than the uncertified ones."
According to Statista.com, a Vietnamese industrial worker can earn at least $ 297 per month while the monthly wage of an Indian worker is around $ 216 which is much higher than Bangladesh's $ 93.5 per month (Tk 8,000).
Meanwhile, due to the lower salary range, many workers after getting experience to migrate abroad, especially to Middle Eastern countries, in search of better pay.
Mr Babu, also the owner of Ripon Metal Industries in Jashore Sadar, said, "It is true that many workers leave the country for better salaries as we are somewhat unable to pay higher wages as per their expertise level."
However, overcoming existing challenges, some LES companies have scaled up production for import substitution and exporting certain products like bicycle and their parts, stone and brick crushers, tube well, and some other spares of heavy machinery.
Proprietor of Enayet Engineering and Foundry located inside BSCIC Industrial Estate in Jashore Md Zahid Hossain said his company now manufacture plenty of import-substitute products like brake drums of bus and truck, clutch plate of vehicles, railway insert, the propeller of ships, jolting machine, drill machine, and lathe machine which previously used to be imported from different countries.
For example, clutch plate of vehicles manufactured at the factory costs about Tk 2,000 to Tk 2,500 for varying sizes while the imported ones cost around Tk 5,000 to Tk 7,000 depending on the source country, he said. Nonetheless, he said, local manufacturers of kitchenware, aluminium and steel products very often have to face competition from China-made cheap products despite having better quality than the imported goods.
Mentioning the complexities in accessing finance, he said: "It is not always easy to establish a factory in Bangladesh because nobody wants to approve loans to a new or SME entrepreneur. And for that reason, most of the factories were set up using own funds or loans from informal sources."
Responding to the recent government supports for LES, he said, "Big and well-known industries get easy access to finance while SMEs struggle to collect funds because of poor business profile and their lack of knowledge about scaling up industries."
Besides, talking to the FE, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation Chairman Md Mostaque Hasan said, "Currently, eight industrial parks are ready to receive investment. In the last two and a half years, industrial plots have been developed in Barguna, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Chandpur, Sirajganj, Moulvibazar, Jhalakathi, and Rajshahi."
As part of the capacity building of the entrepreneurs, BSCIC has conducted 5-day-long 'Entrepreneurship Development Training' programme which has been participated by around 30,000 people.
He also noted that the corporation has taken a project to disburse Tk 30 billion worth of collateral-free 'Bangabandhu Youth Loan' targeting around 200,000 trained unemployed youths, to a third of whom funds have been disbursed through Karmasangsthan Bank at a 9.0-per cent interest rate.
While it has been a challenge for SMEs to expand, some big companies have seen booming export of bicycles and their parts to the European market despite a shortage of skilled workers.
Director (Marketing) of Pran-RFL Group, one of the leading bicycle manufacturers for both local and international market, Kamruzzaman Kamal hoped the cash assistance at 4.0-per cent interest announced by the government would defiantly help the sector grow further and encourage new investment.
"There is a massive domestic market for bicycle of which 40 per cent is met by local producers while the rest are imported," he said, adding that the scope of import substitution in the sector is huge while demand on the global market is also sharply increasing. However, finding a skilled workforce for the export-oriented industry is a challenge, he said. "Usually, we recruit a mix of three types of labourers - unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled - which allow us organising in job training for the labourers with low skill level."
The country's LES factories, mostly concentrated in the old part of Dhaka, Chittagong, Narayanganj, Bogura, Rangpur, Jashore, Gazipur, and Narsingdi, produce around 3,815 types of machinery and spare parts, according to the Business Promotion Council (BPC).
Sector-insiders say the country mainly manufactures bicycles and its accessories, agro machinery and equipment, electric and electronic products, construction equipment, stone and brick crushers, cast-iron items, kitchenware, automobile parts, nuts and bolts, moulds and dices, home appliances, glassware, cables, fans, etc.
Besides, the light-engineering workshops also supply spare parts and provide maintenance services to the cement industry, paper mills, jute mills, textile mills, sugar mills, food-processing plants, plastic industry, printing industry, fertiliser factories, and railway, shipping, and marine transport.
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