82 more workers head to Malaysia

Of the 172 workers that migrated from Bangladesh under a government scheme in the last two days, 30 have a minimum of secondary education. They opted to migrate due to a shortage of job opportunities in Bangladesh. Photo: Star

The second phase of recruitment for Malaysian plantation jobs under state arrangements was completed yesterday with the departure of 82 more Bangladeshi workers for Kuala Lumpur.
A total of 174 visas were issued in the second phase, which resumed after a four-month break. “All but two of the 174 job seekers have now left the country,” Zahidul Islam, assistant director of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, confirmed to The Daily Star. The two workers were unable to travel for personal reasons.

A total of 370 workers have now been recruited by the Malaysian government under the scheme. Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain is now hoping the remaining workers selected under the scheme would get to leave over the next two or three months.
Around 1.5 million aspirant wor-
kers registered online last January. Of them, 10,000 were selected and given technical training at 23 centres across the country.
The workers paid only Tk 33,178 for the posting in Malaysia, when previously the cost would be as high as Tk 2-2.8 lakh.