SINGAPORE: Maid agents in Singapore are looking to hire more foreign domestic helpers from Sri Lanka.
From next year, the Association of Employment Agencies plans to bring in between 500 and 1,000 Sri Lankan maids a month, up from the current 100 to 200 a month.
Based on records from the Sri Lankan High Commission in Singapore, there are about 4,500 Sri Lankan maids here.
The
association said this will help to make up for the shortfall in maids
from traditional source countries, such as Indonesia and Philippines.
It
will be signing an agreement with Sri Lankan authorities and employment
agencies next month to facilitate the recruitment of maids.
The move to bring in more domestic helpers from Sri Lanka is part of efforts to improve the quality of domestic helpers here.
Most
of the Sri Lankan maids speak English and have at least 10 years of
education. About 40 per cent of them have 'A' level qualifications.
Employment
agencies here said it is important to make Singapore an attractive
destination for Sri Lankan women hoping to work as domestic helpers
overseas.
K Jayaprema, the president of the Association of
Employment Agencies said: "It's very important that when we are reviving
this new market, we don't want it to go wrong because we are focusing
on attracting quality FDWs (foreign domestic workers) to Singapore and
for that to happen, we need to have good employment terms, the welfare
of the domestic workers have to be taken care of and it must be
attractive for them to come in."
A J Razzy, director of maid
agency Cobb Douglas said: "There are some things that have changed for
example, with the scrapping of the entry test, there are many more
opportunities for agents at Sri Lanka to recruit Sri Lankan foreign
domestic workers for the Singapore market."
The association is
working with Sri Lankan authorities to spell out training requirements
for maids, and speed up the hiring process.
Sri Lanka has an extensive training programme of more than 20 days for maids.
Singapore maid agents would like the programme to focus more on aspects such as household skills and safety.
Ms Jayaprema said that the processing time for recruitment of these maids could be faster.
The
Association of Employment Agencies led a delegation of 30 maid agents
to Sri Lanka recently to renew contacts with their counterparts.
It
met with the Sri Lankan Bureau for Foreign Employment, which is the
regulatory body for overseas recruitment of workers, and the Sri Lankan
Foreign Employment Agency.
In addition, the association met over
60 Sri Lankan recruitment agencies. The last time the association
organised a visit there was in 2007.
Maid agents say Sri Lankan workers can between S$400 and S$500 a month.
Sri Lanka is the fifth biggest source of maids in Singapore after Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Myanmar.
A
recent report from the National Population and Talent Division forecast
that Singapore is going to need some 100,000 more maids by 2030.
Muniyandi
Vasanthakumari has been working as a domestic helper in Singapore for
15 years. The 45-year-old Sri Lankan is happy here and gets along well
with her employer's family.
"She reads what we want, she knows
our preference and she does it beforehand. Before I can tell her what I
need, it's already done," said her employer Komathi Anbalahan.
- CNA/xq
why no bringing in of PRC maids?