Online Pre-Departure Orientation Training will continue even after Covid restrictions are eased to facilitate prospective migrants

To impart prospective migrants with better skills and empower them further before they embark on their journey to work outside the country, the Ministry of External Affairs in association with Protector of Emigrants (POE) Mumbai and other POEs launched the first online Pre-Departure Orientation Training (PDOT) Programme for migrant workers on Wednesday.

Secretary (CPV & OIA) of the Ministry, Sanjay Bhattacharyya addressed the participants and emphasized the importance of PDO training for ensuring safe and legal migration.

He said PDO training would help migrant workers to know about the culture, language and regulations of the destination country to ensure their safety and security.

Prospective migrants could choose to participate either in-person or online especially those who needed to travel long distances to PDOT Centres.

Further, the programme gave the opportunity to know about the welfare measures undertaken by the Government such as Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF), Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana (PBBY), eMigrate Portal, MADAD Portal, Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendras (PBSKs) and 24x7 helplines at Indian Embassies and Consulates.

Online PDOT will continue even after Covid restrictions are eased to facilitate prospective migrants, who are not in a position to attend the training in-person, and to expand its reach.

All POEs, NSDC, State Governments, Recruiting Agents (RAs) and PDOT centres are geared to take this initiative forward so that maximum number of prospective migrants get the training before their departure.

The hybrid module organized by POE Mumbai was attended by prospective migrants, both in-person and online, and all stakeholders in the migration cycle.