BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Madarsa Board, with the help of state government and Union Ministry of Minority Affairs, is gearing up to launch an economic war on Pakistan. In a novel mission, the state-aided madarsas will create a pool of skilled labourers proficient in Arabic to cater to the job requirements in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia, where a major chunk of work force comes from Pakistan.
The board, which has 4,750 madarsas affiliated to it, has tied up with the Minority Affairs Ministry under the latter’s ‘Innovative Entrepreneurship & Skill Development Programme of MANAS’ initiative.
Under the programme, certificate courses in 13 jobs—including plumbing, security services, fabric cutting (for tailoring), dress-making, computer applications, domestic light-fitting, electrical equipment repairing, electrical technician, refrigeration and air conditioning, welding technology, play center management, early childhood care and education, solar energy technician and community health—will be run. The six-month classes are likely to start by the end of this year, and will be run in one model madarsa each in the 51 districts.
“Despite being skilled enough, our workforce in the Middle East often fail to get quality jobs owing to lack in knowledge of Arabic. The tie-up will help us start job-oriented courses in 13 trades for our students proficient in Arabic. Once trained professionally, these students will not only be able to economically empower their families by fetching jobs in the Middle East, but also break the economic backbone of Pakistan by snatching jobs from their labourers now thriving in Arab nations,” said Syed Imad Uddin, MP Madarsa Board chairman.
The aspirants for the courses should have passed Class VIII, Class X and Class XI to be eligible for different courses. “There are immense opportunities in the Middle East for workers skilled in these trades, but with Indian labourers lacking proficiency in Arabic, the employers there prefer Pakistani men. Our target is to train 20,000-25,000 youngsters within next two years. Once we create a pool of labourers, we will approach the Ministry of External Affairs to push for job placements for them with the help of our embassies in Middle East countries,” said Imad Uddin.