Expat workers in Greece to receive skills training

Unemployed Bangladeshi migrants in Greece are going to have an opportunity of institutional skills training facilitated by the Bangladesh embassy there that will benefit them getting jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Bangladesh embassy in Athens recently signed a deal with Athens-based training institute IEK Delta for a "basic training programme in culinary arts", said Dr Syeda Farhana Noor Chowdhury, labour welfare counsellor at the embassy.

The initiative is first of its kind undertaken by the mission, she said.

Following this, the embassy in a circular on Wednesday called for applications from eligible Bangladeshi migrants for the enrolment.

As per the programme, Bangladeshi migrants who have valid documents but currently unemployed will get the training opportunity, reads the circular posted on the embassy's social media page.

The embassy official said the expatriates' welfare ministry will provide financial support for the training and migrants don't have to pay any fee.

The training programme will be in six batches and the first batch is expected to start in September depending on coronavirus situation, she told this newspaper over phone.

Each batch will comprise 15 individuals. The training module will be of 60 credit hours and likely to be expanded for one month, she added.

"After successful completion, each participant will get certificate," she said.

The official said the IEK Delta has its own "career office" through which it is affiliated with several popular restaurants in Greece.

So, the participants can be benefitted by the career office for their employment, she said.

Farhana said one requirement that the participants have to fulfill is they need to have basic knowledge in English or Greek language.

One module of IEK Delta says they provide basic training on skills including how to wash, cut and prepare fruits, vegetables, and salad, on cleaning and preparing fish and shell fish, and cooking rice and pasta, said the official.

So, after getting the basic training, Bangladeshi migrants might not have jobs as chef but they could be assistants at commercial kitchens, she added.

Greece is home to about 25,000 to 30,000 Bangladeshis who mainly remained employed in agriculture, tourism and readymade garment sectors, said the official.

She said many Bangladeshis also worked at commercial kitchens before the pandemic but they lacked proper training and used to have low wage.

Most restaurants in Greece remained closed amid of the pandemic. As a result, foreign workers including Bangladeshis lost their jobs, she said, without mentioning any certain number.

According to a report of UK-based The Telegraph, holidays in Greece are at risk at present, as Covid-19 cases in the popular holiday destinations continue to rise.

The number of cases in Greece is now the highest since the beginning of the pandemic. Yesterday, there were 216 cases, up from the previous high of 156 on April 21, said the report.