The Bhutanese Leading the way.
With the challenges faced by the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources, with regard to the overseas employment in the past, the ministry has now added some additional rules to make it work.
The ministry will make a legally binding contract for jobseekers to sign. This is aimed at avoiding problems, like the jobseekers coming back to Bhutan after leaving their training session half way. This will also ensure that jobseekers do not squander the opportunity.
Over thousand graduates jobseekers attended the briefing on Overseas Employment Program in India by the three firms namely Bhutan International School of Hospitality and Tourism (BISHT), International Institute of Wellness Studies (IIWS) and Bes Placement Agency in the area of cooks/chefs, food and beverages, hair, beauty and spa.
Director General, Department of Employment, Sherab Tenzin said that the opportunity enables the jobseekers to enhance their skills and knowledge, gain work experience and earn a decent living. Further, being in a foreign country will provide the youth with invaluable life experiences.
He said, “If they are lacking skills then doing MBA or PhD will not help. You need skills that can serve you a lifetime. You have to start your career from the base, and you will never know where you will be in next 5 to 10 years.”
He also emphasized on how important the program is for the government. The program is to employ the youth gainfully but how gainful it is, it depends on jobseekers. He said the youth have a notion that, with training in India, they will get a chance to enjoy, go around and can come back.
“If you are with such a notion or if you are not into learning the skill that we want to provide then we want you to stay out of this program. In addition, if you think you cannot stay apart from your loved ones then stay out of this program,” he added.
He said there have been some problems in the past because the job seekers were not serious with what they are doing. “We do not want such problems this time because we are spending a lot of money. We want to spend for those who are seriously in need of jobs and who are serious of it,” he added.
He also said that, “We do not want to waste this time, government’s money, its resources and the job that is really needed for someone, there are many who really need the job.”
“This time, the ministry will make everything legally (legal contract) so that they can charge accordingly in future.” He also added that the ministry will not penalize anyone but being soft does not help and doesn’t make things work. Therefore, the ministry decided to take the tough decision to ensure nobody takes advantage.
However, he also said that in order to keep candidates away of any incidences in India, they are also going to enforce the discipline strictly. “We make the strictness deliberate because we want you to be safe and do not want people to be victim of any incidences like accident, rape and crime,” he said.
In the past, trainees often tended to make excuses to come home giving up their work mid-way. Hence, a few rules are being introduced to encourage seriousness and commitment among the participating youth.
The greatest challenge that they face is a lack of commitment from the youth in the program. At the moment the ministry pointed out the candidates want to come home with the slightest excuse or give up.
Talking about the pay scale, during the training period, they are paid a stipend as per the stipend rate of the government, which is Nu 4000 for the first month and Nu 3200 for the preceding months until the completion of the training period.
With regard to the salary package, the employers will pay a minimum of INR 10,000 per month with accommodation, meals on duty, transportation and medical insurance.
