Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, March 31:

The free foreign employment training quotas in the Youth Self-Employment and Job Training Programme unit of the Ministry of Labour and Transport (MoLTM) are going abegging as there are not enough seekers for the same from the janajati classes.

For 150 seats allocated by the ministry for indigenous communities in the first phase of job-oriented training, only 64 seekers turned up at the National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN) for recommendations for the training being imparted by the ministry. A large number of indigenous nationalities leave Nepal for foreign employment every month. An employee at NFDIN said the number of indigenous nationalities seeking foreign employment was far below the quota provided by the

government because the applicants were not informed about the opportunity.

However, member secretary Tamla Ukyab said the foundation had informed all organisations through Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN). The government has allocated 300 seats for indigenous nationalities who are affiliated to NEFIN. The training would be held in two phases. “Though the deadline for the application for the first phase has already been terminated, the concerned unit will accept applications till the next week as the number of applicants is far less than that expected,” said Khusiyali Subba of the Planning and Research Section of NFDIN. “For the second phase, the applications are expected within the next one month,” she added. Subba said a maximum number of people has applied for the training of security guard, cook and small hotel management training.

Lots of people strive to acquire such job-oriented skills before flying to foreign countries for employment. A resident of Balikot of Kyakmi VDC of Syangja, Lal Prasad Manandhar, who came to the Valley to seek training for foreign employment said he was unaware of the opportunities provided by the government to the underprivileged groups.

“All the opportunities are being utilised by well-off families in our name, without informing the needy,” he said, urging the concerned bodies to inform each and every concerned group throughout the nation. “Lots of poor Janajati people are paying through the nose for poor quality training imparted by private institutions.”

Skill-oriented training includes plumbing, carpenter, house-wiring, house-keeping, tile fixing, erecting scaffoldings, shuttering, mushroom farming, wood-carving, plant nursery management and gardening, vegetable farming, spray painting, small hotel management, security work, and as waiter, waitress, cook, and office secretary.

The duration of training varies between four to six weeks, depending on the nature of the work.