State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury has said that three more marine academies will be established alongside the existing five to create skilled marine cadets.

Khalid said this at a meeting of the marine academies held at the meeting room of the Shipping Ministry in the capital on Monday.

“There are currently a total of five marine academies in the country in Barishal, Rangpur, Sylhet, Pabna and Chattogram. Among them, the marine academy in Chattogram is an old one while the rest are newly built. We’ll establish three more marine academies as per the instruction of the Prime Minister,” said Khalid.

The State Minister added that there are some challenges with the new marine academies that need to be overcome.

“Mariners earn a large amount of foreign currencies working in foreign ships. That’s why we’ve decided to set up new marine academies which will create skilled marine cadets who will in turn help the development process of Bangladesh by supplying much-needed foreign currencies,” added Khalid.

Read: Each division to get one marine academy: Hasina

A total of 359 marine cadets from the 54th batch of Bangladesh Marine Academy have got jobs in various local and foreign ships after graduating in February. Among them, many female cadets have secured jobs in American, Australian and Singaporean ships.

The State Minister also said the four newly established marine academies have received affiliations from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University.

At the meeting, discussions were held on recruiting manpower, formulating a budget, buying simulators and acquiring land for the newly established marine academies.

Md Mostafa Kamal, Secretary of the Shipping Ministry, and other senior officials of the ministry were present at the meeting.