Many domestic workers needed special vocational training to meet thecurrent demands of the job in big cities, according to experts.
NgoNgoc Anh, Director of the Research Centre for Gender, Family andCommunity Development, said many workers were from rural areas,unemployed and often lacked the skills to do housework or take care ofthe elderly and children.
However, she said not many careerintroduction centres had the ability to arrange training. They usuallyonly handled those who had working experience and introduced them toprospective employers.
Anh said some centres had organised short courses for middle-aged women, but achieved little because of a lack of knowhow.
Forexample, 110 labourers took a week-long vocational training course in acentre in northern Phu Tho province, but only one-third met thecentre's requirement that trainees have experience with modern machines.
TranDuc Day, head of the Hai Phong-based Industrial Career and TourismVocational Training Centre, said the need for facilities to trainprofessional domestic workers was urgent, but there were no standardcurriculum in the field.
"Many centres, including us, must bear the responsibility for devising a course and its content," he said.
"However, the effectiveness of training will be restricted until an official curriculum is launched."
Day said that as far as he knew, none of the vocational training centres in the city had courses on the subject.
TranManh Hung, head of a private job placement centre in Hanoi's TrungKinh, street said the demand for domestic helpers in Hanoi wasremarkably high. His centre supplied about 30 persons a month, but therewas always an urgent need for more.
Hung said he usually hiredstudents, graduates, retired people and middle-aged women to do the job,but there were not enough to meet demand. However, he said only a fewcould do the work smoothly and professionally.
"These peopleprefer going to work in Taiwan, Malaysia or Saudi Arabia as they canearn up to 400 USD a month and have all their insurance paid," he said.
Figuresfrom the centre show that by the end of next year, the number ofdomestic workers would be 63 percent above that of 2008 – from 157,000to 246,000. Most of them will be women. Most employers get theirdomestic workers from their acquaintances instead of asking professionalcentres. There are no checks on quality or competence.
NguyenThu Trang, from Hanoi's Tay Son street, said she was willing to pay moreto get skillful and disciplined people as she was tired of replacingdomestic workers twice a month.
"Few know how to do thehousework. It takes them at least a month to get used to my family'sdaily schedule and habits," she said.
Experts in the field saidthat an official outline of job training and specific criteria forgranting certificates would help vocational centres build identicaltraining programmes.
They agree that this should be done before the Law on Labour is launched in the near future.-VNA
NgoNgoc Anh, Director of the Research Centre for Gender, Family andCommunity Development, said many workers were from rural areas,unemployed and often lacked the skills to do housework or take care ofthe elderly and children.
However, she said not many careerintroduction centres had the ability to arrange training. They usuallyonly handled those who had working experience and introduced them toprospective employers.
Anh said some centres had organised short courses for middle-aged women, but achieved little because of a lack of knowhow.
Forexample, 110 labourers took a week-long vocational training course in acentre in northern Phu Tho province, but only one-third met thecentre's requirement that trainees have experience with modern machines.
TranDuc Day, head of the Hai Phong-based Industrial Career and TourismVocational Training Centre, said the need for facilities to trainprofessional domestic workers was urgent, but there were no standardcurriculum in the field.
"Many centres, including us, must bear the responsibility for devising a course and its content," he said.
"However, the effectiveness of training will be restricted until an official curriculum is launched."
Day said that as far as he knew, none of the vocational training centres in the city had courses on the subject.
TranManh Hung, head of a private job placement centre in Hanoi's TrungKinh, street said the demand for domestic helpers in Hanoi wasremarkably high. His centre supplied about 30 persons a month, but therewas always an urgent need for more.
Hung said he usually hiredstudents, graduates, retired people and middle-aged women to do the job,but there were not enough to meet demand. However, he said only a fewcould do the work smoothly and professionally.
"These peopleprefer going to work in Taiwan, Malaysia or Saudi Arabia as they canearn up to 400 USD a month and have all their insurance paid," he said.
Figuresfrom the centre show that by the end of next year, the number ofdomestic workers would be 63 percent above that of 2008 – from 157,000to 246,000. Most of them will be women. Most employers get theirdomestic workers from their acquaintances instead of asking professionalcentres. There are no checks on quality or competence.
NguyenThu Trang, from Hanoi's Tay Son street, said she was willing to pay moreto get skillful and disciplined people as she was tired of replacingdomestic workers twice a month.
"Few know how to do thehousework. It takes them at least a month to get used to my family'sdaily schedule and habits," she said.
Experts in the field saidthat an official outline of job training and specific criteria forgranting certificates would help vocational centres build identicaltraining programmes.
They agree that this should be done before the Law on Labour is launched in the near future.-VNA
