Look: Indian minister V. Muraleedharan attends classes with workers at first upskilling centre in Dubai

V. Muraleedharan, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs inaugurated the first Upskilling and Training Centre for Indian Blue-Collar Workers in Dubai on Wednesday. Clad in traditional attire of his home state Kerala, the minister was seen sitting in the last row along with the workers attending a class on the occasion.

The visiting minister inaugurated the classes that offer basic lessons for improving workers’ knowledge in English and Arabic languages as well as computer skills in the premises of the Delhi Private school (DPS) in Jebel Ali. He was seen supervising the training in computer literacy as well.

Apart from blue-collar workers with companies, the free classes will also be provided Indian women in distress sheltered by the Indian Consulate in Dubai. Three classrooms at the DPS school have been dedicated to provide classes. Each class will accommodate up to 20 students to follow social distancing norms to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The minister interacted with the workers, and expressed his happiness to see the interest of the workers, especially female workers, to enhance their skills and increase their employability in the host country. He told the workers that the Indian government attaches great value to the contribution of the blue-collar workers to the Indian economy, by way of remittances they send as their hard-earned money. He said their hard work and role in the nation building has earned praises from the UAE leadership, who is equally committed for the welfare of the Indian workers as for all residents.

The minister conveyed to the workers that he is aware of the problems faced by them in the tough times of COVID-19, and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has instructed all states concerned to do the needful and design programmes to help workers, who are returning from abroad, including preparing database of workers to re-employ them as per their skills near to their place under the programme Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support (SWADES).

Muraleedharan also said that the Indian Ministry of External Affairs is also working closely with the National Skill Development Mission under the Skill India Programme launched by PM Modi so that all labourers go well-trained and educated to the foreign land.

Dinesh Kothari, chairman of DPS Society in UAE, praised the initiative of the Indian Consulate to bring all stakeholders together and expressed confidence that this create a model replicable for the welfare of the blue-collar workers, where academia (schools and universities) will partner with the industry, and design the courses to enhance the skills of workers.

Consul General of India in Dubai Dr Aman Puri thanked the minister for his personal interest in the concept of the upskilling and training of blue-collar workers, and also the management of the DPS School for their continued support in providing space, infrastructure and faculty for this ambitious programme. He urged all employers to come forward to be part of this mission to tackle the post-COVID challenges by upskilling of work force which is a win-win situation for both workers and employers. He also assured that the Consulate will continue to play the role of catalyst and facilitator in this endeavour, and support of all stakeholders is crucial to make this programme a grand success, and a role model for others to follow.

Earlier on Tuesday night the minister attended select members of the Indian community in Abu Dhabi and listened to the concerns raised by them including issues in getting ICA approval for the return of expats stuck back home and exemption from quarantine for vaccine recipients flying to India. Vipul, Joint Secretary (Gulf) at Ministry of External Affairs (sitting right), who is the former Consul General of India in Dubai, was also present at both the events.

The minister thanked the UAE leadership for taking exceptional care of the more than three million Indians living in this country, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and congratulate all the Indian community organisations and volunteers for their great work in helping each other and keeping the morale of the Indian community high during the pandemic. “I would also like to thank all of you for supporting the Embassy and Consulate in this task. I have heard several instances of people extending help without getting scared of COVID-19 while taking due precautions in doing so. Please accept my felicitations to all of you, as you have done a tremendous service to the humanity during this pandemic,” he said in the presence of the Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor.