Training on cuisine can create jobs for Bangladeshis

Setting up of cuisine training institutes in the country could open up a new avenue for huge overseas employment with high pays in the United Kingdom, as the British curry industry has a demand for 30,000 skilled cooks and kitchen staff now.
"The globally-acclaimed UK's curry industry is now facing shortage of cooks and kitchen staff. Bangladesh could easily take the opportunity if cuisine training institutes are set up,” Bajloor Rashid, president of the UK-based Bangladesh Caterers Association (BCA), told the news agency yesterday over phone from the United Kingdom.
Rashid said considering the industry's substantial contribution to the UK's economy, the British government has recently simplified the immigration rules allowing entry of foreign skilled kitchen staff to the country.
With the BCA's strong lobby, the British government has amended the occupation shortage list which paved the way for recruiting foreign kitchen staff, he said
The BCA president said the association would hold a meeting to discuss the matter with Labour and Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, who is now in the United Kingdom to attend BCA's Golden Jubilee celebration.
"I hope the minister will take necessary steps on his return home to this end," said Rashid.
Asked about the reasons behind the shortage of employees, he said post of cooks and kitchen staff have remained vacant as a good number of kitchen staff went on retirement and some others on the way to retire in the UK curry industry.
The BCA president said the association has decided to replace the vacant posts with young and energetic people but they should be properly equipped with necessary training.
There can be a state-level bilateral accord to take over the jobs in the UK's curry industry and the BCA is ready to cooperate if Bangladesh government comes forward to initiate the process of setting up cuisine training institutes through the public- private partnership.
The BCA represents some 1,200 Bangladeshi restaurants with over 5,000 active members and the industry is almost entirely operated by Bangladesh-origin entrepreneurs contributing 3.5 billion pound starling to the British economy.
The UK has become the fourth largest source of remittances to Bangladesh next to Saudi Arabia, the USA and the UAE. Some five lakh Bangladeshis living in the UK remitted more or less 1000 million US dollars to Bangladesh last fiscal year.