Highlighting the role the flourishing garment industry of Bangladesh can play in employing people with disabilities, experts underlined companies should employ more people with disabilities as experience shows they are as productive as any other normal employee. This the analysts said in a discussion – Contributing to Inclusive Economic Growth in the Textile Sector for Sustainable Development – in Dhaka recently, organised by German international development agency GIZ in association with the Centre for Disability in Development (CDD), and The Daily Star.
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“Employers play a crucial role when it comes to inclusion of persons with disabilities. The garment industry has great potential to employ persons with disabilities,” said Jochen Weikert, Programme Coordinator of Promotion of Social and Environmental Standards in the Industry (PSES) project of GIZ, adding, “People with disabilities can work, and they can participate in society. This message should reach all – employers, families of persons with disabilities and the persons with disabilities themselves.”
Taking part in the discussion, President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Md Siddiqur Rahman reportedly agreed that the inclusion of the persons with disabilities in the workforce is important for sustainable economic growth, while adding that it has been found that people with disabilities are productive and loyal to their owners.
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“There are 15 to 20 million people with disabilities in Bangladesh, the number being more than 10 per cent of the population,” said CDD Executive Director AHM Noman Khan, adding, “Fifteen years ago, people with disabilities were missing from all development intervention, turning them into a burden on the society. The situation has changed and their existence is now recognised.”
The CDD Executive Director further added that the Government is politically willing to work for persons with disabilities.
