Foreigners working in Bangladesh are sending billions of dollars as remittance every year. Annually around $5 billion remittance is going to India only, reports BBC citing Bangladeshi businessmen.
Bangladesh is losing such a huge amount due to lack of expert manpower.
Fazlul Huq, former President of Bangladesh Employers Association, said at present many foreign nationals are serving at different multi-nationals, garment or pharmaceutical companies of Bangladesh.
“Indian and Sri Lankan nationals top the list. And then comes Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea and China,” he added.
Fazlul Huq who is a readymade garment trader said, “Our country has a huge shortage of mid and top level professionals. Those coming out of the existing education system are not being able to meet the growing market demand. As a result, we are being bound to import the expert manpower.”
According to a recent research of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), an independent research organisation, foreign nationals are serving at 24 per cent readymade garment factories of the country.
“According to another CPD research conducted two years ago, of the remittance that goes to different foreign countries, around $500 crores goes to India only,” said CPD researcher Khandaker Golam Moazzem Hossain, adding that this is happening due to lack of expert professionals.
In reply to query over why the country has to depend on foreigners for professionals, as thousands of degree holders are coming out every year from different public and private universities, Fazlul Huq said, “Besides the lacking of professional expertise, lacking of expertise in language is also a barrier; especially the scarcity of experts in English language.”
“Lack of technical education is acute. The course curriculums of Bangladeshi universities do not focus on our industries. That’s why we aren’t being able to produce the kind of graduates we need,” he added.
Researcher Moazzem said the progress Bangladesh achieved in readymade garment sector is the contribution of expert labourers. The sector ignored the issue of lacking of local experts in management level.