Mauritius minister stresses on role of K'taka govt in skilling of workforce

Bengaluru: "You have a duty to ensure that they are employed and getting the salary they deserve, the food, the lodgings that they were promised when the recruiters come here.” Mauritius Minister of Labour and Industrial Relations, Muhammad Reza Cassam Uteem, said in his keynote address on the third day of the Bengaluru Skill Summit 2025.

Speaking about the government’s role in making sure the workforce is employable was one of the main thrusts of his speech and he emphasized that a government has several responsibilities to make sure both workers and those hiring them are getting the best out of each other.

“First you have to identify the global market needs. But more than identifying, you have to anticipate it. Because there’s always a gap between training and employment.” The next thing to do, he said, was to develop training programs to match the demand. “Most educational systems, even in Mauritius and India, are highly academic, you learn in theory.

When you go to a job, they’re not interested in how much you’ve learned by heart and can produce in an exam.” He said. The jobseekers need practical training to develop skills to identify problems and solve them, he opined. Another important point he touched upon was that the workers need accreditation to work at the standard that the employers require and that the workers need to know the linguafranca to do their job well. 

Some of these points were also made by representatives of Germany who took the stage to speak about what they are doing. “What Germany is looking for is skilled professionals, and you would have to have a certificate to prove that you are skilled. And as mentioned so many times already, German language is crucial to work in Germany. 

And what German companies value is reliability. We want people to work effectively with our teams. And we want long term commitments.” Said Denise Eichhorn, the Head of Skilled Migration at the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce. The day also included several talks which focused on the issues that employers and workers are facing in regard to the gaps between what workers are able to do and what employers need.

Speakers such as Subroto Bagchi, the former chairman of Odisha Skill Development Authority, talked about his work in the government and in the private sector to explain that while there are barriers for those entering the work force, careful planning from the government is the key for the success of workers in the job market.