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After passing the Alim exams (equivalent to HSC), Suhel Ahmed was hurriedly looking for a job everywhere after suddenly becoming the sole bread earner of the family.
“My family has been in a financial crisis for a while. The situation worsened after my father suddenly left us, got married again and stopped supporting us. We were having a hard time managing three meals a day,” he said.
“At that time, I shared my situation with a relative and he suggested getting enrolled at REHAB Training Institute (RTI) for a three-month course to get a job quickly. I went to White Pearl Professional Institute [which operates under RTI) at Moulvibazar Sadar and got myself admitted there for free in the Plumbing and Pipe Fittings Course.
“I completed the course between January and March of 2021 and within one month, our trainer helped me find a job. I also received Tk 10,800 honorarium from the institute over three months and that helped me a lot as well,” he said.
Suhel continued, “After that job, I got hired to work in a Department of Public Health Engineering project in Moulvibazar as a labourer. Apart from that, I also work as a mason on my own. Currently, I earn about Tk 20,000 every month from both jobs.”
“After this government project is completed, I will look for another one and continue working. I won’t be able to continue my studies since I’m supporting my family alone. But I will help my younger brother pursue higher studies,” he said beamingly.
Like Suhel, the lives of thousands of men and women are changing for the better after receiving proper schooling, which is free, at the REHAB Training Institute in Dhaka and the institutes under it around the country.
Talking to The Business Post, RTI Chairman Dr Engineer Masuda Siddique Rozy said around 80-85 per cent of their trainees get jobs easily after leaving the institute.
She said, “Our trainers help them find the jobs after their free three-month-long training courses are complete, during which the trainees also get an honorarium of Tk 10,800.”
The five trades that RTI, established in 2015, currently provides training on are electrical installation and maintenance, plumbing and pipe fittings, mason, rod binding and fabrication, and tiles and marble works.
Anyone aged 15-45 with completed education between fifth and eighth grades can apply. The institute also provides training for supervisors, project managers or senior management roles and industrial attachment.
Masuda said they have 11 institutions in different districts, including Dhaka, Narayanganj, Manikganj, Sirajganj, Magura, Rangpur, Nilphamari, and Moulvibazar.
“We monitor these institutions and send a progress report to the Labour and Employment Ministry after a three-month training programme is completed,” she added.
A shot to a better life
Another RTI graduate, Rashed Milon Rana completed the Electrical Installation and Maintenance Course at the Engineer’s Institute of Technology in Rangpur Sadar between October and December last year.
“The training helped me get a job very quickly and it has changed my life. Now, I earn nearly Tk 30,000 every month. Of that, I earn Tk 8,400 monthly by training students at a local institution and Tk 700 per day by working on my own at different buildings in my area,” he said.
“Actually, I went for the training to get a job abroad. Several people from my batch have gone abroad with better jobs and salaries. I have yet to find such opportunities but I still have hope,” said Rashed, who passed SSC exams in 2019.
RTI Chairman Masuda said they do not have specific data on how many of their graduates have gone abroad with a well-paid job since many go using personal channels. “But I think it could be at least 20-25 per cent.”
Md Shohan, another graduate, told The Business Post he completed a three-month course on tiles and marble works from October to December last year at the RTI in Dhaka.
“In January this year, thanks to a teacher of the institute, I got hired to work at the Dhaka metro rail project. I earn Tk 15,000 every month. I am very happy that I went to RTI,” he said.
“I know three more RTI graduates who are also working on this project with me,” he added.
The goals
RTI Chairman Masuda said, “Our goal is to properly train people and create skilled construction workers for the evergrowing housing industry. Afterwards, we help them find jobs as masons or subcontractors in government projects and the projects of nearly 1,000 members of REHAB (Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh).
“We train both men and women and hone their skills for the construction sectors at home and abroad both because there is a huge demand for skilled manpower.”
She added, “Bangladeshi construction workers used to get low-paid jobs compared to workers from India and Pakistan due to a lack of skills. But now, our skilled workers are going abroad and getting well-paid jobs.”
In September 2018, REHAB signed a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with the government to train workers under the Finance Ministry’s Skills for Employment Investment Program (SEIP).
By 2023, at least 21,000 workers, including the graduates since 2018, will graduate from RTI and its affiliated institutions around the country under SEIP, Masuda added. “After that, we hope to train at least 10,000 more.”
SEIP is funded by the government, Asian Development Bank, the Swiss Agency for Development
and Cooperation, several development assistance agencies and some private associations. The project aims to create some 8.5 lakh skilled workers by 2024.
Masuda said, “Being a major organisation in the country’s real estate sector, REHAB has gotten the opportunity to train construction workers. We will honour that by upgrading RTI to a higher level in future and proper the best training to the workers.”
In August 2020, REHAB and SEIP had also signed a memorandum of understanding to create 10,000 more skilled workers in the country’s construction sector.
