Dhaka- Many countries worldwide have prioritised Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to produce skilled human force for the labour market and achieve economic growth. In Bangladesh, strategic and immediate actions need to be taken to popularise this sector among the young people, specially young women, to prepare them for the global market, urge experts during a workshop.

They came up with this call on 21 March, Tuesday, in a workshop on “Popularizing TVET: Role of TVET actors” organised by Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB), TVET Professional Network and Plan International Bangladesh at a conference hall of BTEB to identify a way forward for continuous strategic interventions to popularise TVET.

Dr. Md. Omar Faruque, Additional Secretary General (Director), Directorate of Technical Education, addressed the event as the Chief Guest. He said, TVET has advanced to some extent. We have skills but no recognition in many cases. Students completed secondary school level but may not be qualified. Even teachers lack the quality to build skilful resources in TVET. For the Diploma course, we must identify the gaps to remove the barriers.

He also urged to reduce the social stigma associated with TVET to avoid only less talented students coming in.

He also recommended building good quality workers so that employers look for the employees by themselves.

“There are 64 TVET schools, and 100 more are under construction. 330 more will be built. The proper certification is also progressing.”, he shared.

On behalf of the organisations, Estanul Kabir, National Consultant and Founding Member of TVET Professional Network, presented the key note paper.

In his paper, he said students of Bangladesh are achieving higher degrees, yet employable skills are observed among them. On the other hand, there are lack of proper investment in TVET. According to report of World Bank (2020-21), the current unemployment rate of Bangladesh is 3.1 percent. While among the total population of young people under the age of 15 to 29 years old, 8.9 percent is unemployed. 27.1% of young people, which is about 12.6 million, are not in education and not in training (NEET), while 89.6% of the population (11.4 million) are women. This gap is creating barriers for the youth, especially young women, to enter the global job market.

In recent times, Bangladesh and different non-government and development organisations have recognised the importance of TVET and are giving it priority. The national skill development policy has been reviewed, and technical education has been incorporated into the National Education Policy 2010. Bangladesh National Qualification Framework (BNQF) has also been approved, including TVET. The government has set a plan to enroll 30% of youth in TVET by 2030.

S M Shahjahan, Deputy Director (Course Accreditation) of Bangladesh Technical Education Board, said, Government has developed a policy to popularise TVET, prioritising to utilise the huge female population. The Government has formulated Skill Development Policy, now we have to execute it.

The event was presided by Md Ali Akbar Khan, Chairman of Bangladesh Technical Education Board. He said, due to lack of proper orientation, many youth fail to be eligible to find job overseas as qualified workers. We often select some jobs and provide training, but we are not making sure that they are actually capable of doing the work. Hence, they lag behind.

Kabita Bose, Country Director, Plan International Bangladesh, “Women get less jobs even when they are trained. We have to change our mindset to ensure improved work environment and access for women. We have to ensure more financial opportunities for them.”

Jolly Nur Haque, Director of Programme Development and Learning of Plan International Bangladesh said, Plan International Bangladesh works with and for the youth. We have to assess that if the youth lack opportunity or inspiration to contribute. We need to work together to identifies way to popularise TVET among the youth and work on it in the upcoming years.

National Consultant and Founder Member of TVET Professional Network (TPN), Selina Chowdhury said, To reconstruct the TVET again, TVET reform activity has been launched by the government. Even after so many years, many young people are not coming as inspired to develop in this sector, so there must be gaps which need to be addressed and all stakeholders should be accountable for addressing these gaps.