UAE to Set Up Centres in India to Train Unskilled Manpower

Photo: flickr.com/Kamikura

ABU DHABI  (NNN-WAM) -- In an effort to control the flow of unskilled workers into the country's construction sector and bypass private recruitment agencies, the UAE will set up training centres in their home countries, the Gulf News English daily reported.

"The UAE will start by opening an office in India in early 2013 to train and rehabilitate workforce," said Saeed Abdullah, the National Productivity Improvement Programme manager at the Federal Demographic Council (FDC), adding that the ratio of unskilled labour in the construction sector amounts up to 85 per cent.

He added that the "first batch of (trained) workers will be 5,000 in the first year, 20,000 in 2014 and 50,000 in 2015."

"The UAE government seeks to decrease the number of unskilled workers in the construction sector, considered a sector which employs the highest number of unskilled workers," he said.

He said that the workers will have to bear the cost of the training estimated to be up to Dh6,000, but will no longer have to pay thousands of dirhams to recruitment agencies or private travel agents to get jobs. While India is the first country where centres will be established, both Pakistan and Bangladesh will also have these centres.

Last year, the UAE government instructed relevant labour market bodies to establish a minimum requirement for qualifications needed for some jobs, starting with the construction sector.

These qualifications have to be approved by the FDC chairman in a move that aims to allow the labour market to rely on a skilled workforce and modern technology.

The council of ministers also instructed relevant bodies to lay down a general construction index containing a number of technical criteria that ensure developing productivity in this sector, as well as decreasing the number of unskilled workers in accordance with laws that assist contracting companies in using advanced technologies in the sector.

The cabinet also instructed all relevant bodies to draw up economic plans and follow up on the UAE's workforce by approving a balanced growth pattern that is characterised by economic diversity, relying on a skilled workforce and modern technology during its productive period to attain national knowledge.

The council of ministers also instructed all bodies concerned to abide by these resolutions, and mandated the FDC to implement the resolutions in coordination with relevant bodies. -- NNN-WAM