Skilled workers training centres become money-making gold rush

Dr Muhammed Idris Bhuiyan :
Building Construction Authority of Singapore has arranged the Skills Evaluation Certificate (Knowledge) {SEC(K)} trade tests available at the Overseas Testing Centres (OTC) in seven source countries. With the wider range of trade tests, construction companies use to train and test new workers in the relevant trades according to their project requirements or manpower needs. The workers can do work in the trades that they are trained in, when they arrived in Singapore. It improves the site productivity, quality of work, and also save cost for the companies as the workers need not be re-trained on site. BCA introduced trade tests at SEC(K) since February 2000. Only those who pass both the written and practical components of the test are awarded the SEC(K) certificate. The syllabus and sample test papers for relevant trades are available at the Singapore’s offices of the OTCs.
The following procedures are
maintained for Overseas Testing:
1. Upon receipt of the Prior Approval (Pa) and two copies of Form T1 (applicant’s copy and BCA’s copy) from the Work Pass Division, Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the contractor, who is virtually the applicant is required to complete and submit both copies of Form T1and the original Pa form to the respective Singapore offices of the selected OTCs. To
register for overseas testing, the
Prior Approval (PA) is required to be valid for at least two months from the closing date for test registration
of that country.
2. The OTC will record the number of test candidates registered for test and endorse both Form T1 and
original PA form and return the Applicant’s Copy of Form T1 to the contractor (employer) .
3. The respective contractors who register their test candidates for trade tests must bring and employ all those candidates who have passed the SEC(K) tests, within 4 months
after the test date.
4. Within one week of the foreign workers’ arrival in Singapore, the employer must bring those who have passed the SEC(K) tests to Manpower Development Department of BCA for identity verification. Work Permits will only be issued to workers whose identity has been verified but unfortunately the training centre started with a view to something else that is to extract as much money as possible from the poor. It is the tangled business of
providing training, testing and recruitment in Bangladesh. The key to its metamorphosis is the fact that
supply of job opportunities is limited- even though some Singaporeans think they have been far too liberal in taking in migrant workers, while demand from jobless Bangladeshis seems insatiable. Add to the mix
incestuous business relationships, weak enforcement of regulations and cross-jurisdictional difficulties. In the meantime a highly exploitative
industry has grown up.
More crucially, the original goal of raising productivity among migrant workers is nowhere close to being realised. Public policy objectives have been hijacked for private profit.
It is a classic example of market
failure. Normally, in such situations, solutions must lie in regulatory authorities stepping in, but to date, there has been no interest shown by either the Dhaka or Singapore
Governments in tackling widespread abuse. Around $240 million is estimated to be taken out of jobless men annually to feed this monster.
Young men in Bangladesh get to their first job in Singapore, typically in the construction, process construction and marine industries. It describes how rules and regulations set by the Singapore government shape this process, but also how private parties reshape them to their own commercial benefit. This article summarised findings after making the author’s visits to about 50 training centres some more than once to speak with management and trainees. While some workers come in as unskilled general labourers, there was a gradual push by the Singapore government towards trained workers in the interest of higher productivity. In July 2011, work permits for unskilled labourers in the construction industry were phased out. Moreover, a two-tier levy rate has been implemented across all sectors, with a $100 differential between a skilled worker and an unskilled one (excepting the construction industry where the differential is $150 between a higher-skilled and basic-skilled one).
The levy rates in effect from July 1, 2013 in the three sectors where Bangladeshi workers are most often found: The first malign effect of this levy differential is that employers would want to hire only skilled workers in order to save on the levy. It does not matter whether they really need the skills or if they merely want a guy to haul screws and rivets from storage shed to site. Many workers report that their actual jobs have little to do with what they have been trained for.
The Building and Construction Authority on October 17, 2013 says in a letter that based on its 2013 survey by TWC2 an NGO, “more than 70 per cent of the relatively new construction workers were being deployed by employers in the in the directly relevant and related trades they were trained in.” This demand for skilled workers then jacks up demand for places in training centres,
For the construction industry, the Building and Construction Authority sets the skill standards. A ‘basic skilled’ worker would be one who has passed a test and obtained a Skills Evaluation Certificate, also known as SEC(K). Courses as updated on April 1, 2013 this trades are; Aluminium Window and Door, Bricklaying, Cladding Installation, Ducting Installation for ACMV, Electrical Wiring Installation, Fibrous Plasterboard Ceiling, Interior Drywall Installation, Joinery Works, Plastering, Plumbing and Pipefitting, Steel Reinforcement, Suspended Ceiling Installation (Acoustical), Thermal Insulation, Tiling, Timber Door Installation, Timber Formwork, Waterproofing, Electrical Wiring Installation, Pipe Fitting, Structural Steel Fitting, Thermal Insulation, Welding. Divided in 7 groups; India, China, Thailand, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Srialnka, Philipine. as many as 32 centers. The BCA has eight authorised test centres in Bangladesh (1).Chiu Teng Test Centre (2),ComfortDelgro-Setsco Test Centre (3).Fonda Test Centre (4).LianBeng’s (Bangladesh) Test Centre (5).Progressive Test Centre (6).Santarli’s STL Test Centre (7).Singapore Piling South Point Test Centre( 8)WellTech Construction Pte Ltd.
Apparently, these test centres also train workers for the marine sector too, though for shipyard work, the required skill standards in pipe-fitting, steel-cutting, welding, etc.
The reality however is that there are around 100 training centres that train or claim to train to BCA course requirements, of which some are Singaporean-owned. It is found that these ‘unofficial’ training centres have about 500 trainees each at any given time. It also found that a young man wanting to sign up for training at any of these centres will find that he needs to fork out Tk 50,000 to Tk 100,000 (about S$813 to S$1,626) for the course. In addition the trainee has to pay for incidentals, e.g. books and uniforms, and monthly expenses, such as accommodation around Tk 2,500 or S$41 per month and meals.
Interviews with Bangladeshi workers already in Singapore indicate that they pay around $3,000 for their courses, excluding incidentals.
Furthermore, many centres require trainees to deposit their passports with the training centre. This may seem quite unnecessary, but the likely rationale becomes clearer when the recruitment process is discussed below. To make a passport costs, a Bangladeshi anywhere from Tk 2,500 to Tk 10,000 (S$41 to S$162).
According to Bangladesh government regulation that sets a maximum fee of Tk 30,500 (S$496) for training, but no training centre abides by this rule. These costs are only the beginning. The crunch comes with the limited test slots. The BCA arranges for about 2,500 candidates to be tested each month at the eight authorised testing centres. Each official testing centre therefore would have about 300 to 400 testing slots per month. This indicates that a total of about 30,000 workers are tested each year in Bangladesh for various construction- and marine-related trades
Out of eight authorised test centres six have their own trainees. But the two have no more trainees and reported to be engaged in selling test slots (quotas). The aggregate number of trainees at the six remaining
authorised centres is estimated to
be between 5,000 and 10,000
(mid-estimate: 7,500).
In a typical month, these authorised testing centres only use about 60-70 per cent of the 2,500 testing slots available. Another way to put it is that each month about 1,500 to 1,750 of their trainees take tests. This is roughly consistent with reports from workers who came from these centres telling that they spent about three to six months on average before they got to take their tests. (With about 7,500 trainees enrolled at these authorised centres, testing 1,500 per month means an average of five months is needed to put all trainees through a test). The balance of the test slots are given or sold to the unofficial training centres. They used to be given out freely, but owners of the unofficial training centres told that the going rate is now in the region of S$800 per test slot. Not surprisingly, the cost is passed on to the trainees, who are then told to cough up the money or they
do not get to take a test and
obtain a certificate.
Some unofficial training centres send their trainees to an authorised test centre to take the tests, but other workers report that BCA testers came to their unofficial training centres to test them. This means that BCA and Government of Bangladesh is fully aware that although it has only authorised eight centres, the reality is
that many more are operating.
What is not clear is where the $800 charge originates. It could be a fee levied by BCA to cover the costs of maintaining their officials in Bangladesh and expenses related to testing. Or it could be an unofficial price set by the authorised testing
centres in order to profit from their excess testing slots or the
combination of the two.
From the reliable source it is learnt that BCA charging test fees and the test fees are capped at $730.
Limited to about 1,000 testing slots available each month on the ‘open market’ so to speak, the (approximately) eighty unofficial training centres can hardly drive a bargain. With up to 500 students per unofficial training centre, there may be tens of thousands (it is hard to put a number to it) in line for monthly test slots. There are
indications that the training centres in effect auction the test slots to their trainees; those who are prepared to pay more get earlier dates. Those who cannot pay find that they are kept waiting, for as long as a year or two as some trainees have complained.
In the recruitment stage, for the young men, passing the test is the starting bell for another round of
payments. They need to find a job in Singapore. Helpfully (or not), the same training centres, official and unofficial, also act as recruiting agents. This is typically done through an affiliated outfit fronted by a brother-in-law, friend or even an employee.
Some of the more unscrupulous unofficial training centres not only provide job placement services, but actively require that their trainees obtain jobs via themselves or their affiliated front companies. The control over the passport, mentioned above, effectively eliminates the possibility of the worker shopping around for another job placement agent. This way, the training centres can extract thousands of dollars more per worker in the name of ‘agent fee.’ n