The plan, which was floated by a five-member technical committee formed under Joint Secretary Buddhi Bahadur Khadka, will soon be forwarded to another committee headed by Joint Secretary Binod KC for approval.[break]
“Once endorsed, the proposal would be sent to the Ministry of Finance, seeking budgetary allocation to establish and run the division,” Krishna Prasad Duwadi, under secretary at the labor ministry, told Republica.
The move to create a separate division comes at a time when 30 percent of the population are either jobless, semi-employed or are forced to take up jobs that do not match their qualification. The move also comes at a time when the government has removed transport component from the ministry and added employment component so that it can better focus on issues related to labor relations and employment.
“The proposed unit will basically focus on designing vocational training programs for people seeking employment opportunities in the country and abroad,” Duwadi said.
The government is putting emphasis on extending training as past experiences have proved that those who have taken vocational education can easily sell themselves and get better treatment at workplaces.
Currently, Vocational and Skill Development Training Center is the only training center run by the ministry, which offers vocational training courses of one week to six months to around 25,000 people per year.
“But since 95 percent of the workforce at the training center are on contract basis, it has been virtually working on ad-hoc basis and lacks long-term vision,” Duwadi said. “In this regard, we are still discussing on whether to create another such body or change its organizational structure so that it can perform its work in a more organized manner.”
But since vocational training alone cannot ensure jobs, the division will also devise ways to ensure the job market absorbs the trained hands.
“To address this issue, the division will play the role of a facilitator in arranging loans to those who have undergone training,” Duwadi said, adding: “In this regard, the division may have to coordinate with different government agencies and even donor agencies.”
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