Govt moves to expand technical education

FT ONLINE

The government has taken an enormous project to expand technical education in the country, aiming to develop skilled human resources and thus harness its efforts to make Bangladesh a middle-income country.

The government has decided to set up 389 technical schools and colleges at upazila level and one polytechnic institute each in 23 districts to increase enrolment in technical or vocational education to 20 per cent by 2020.

It also decided to establish eight women technical colleges in eight divisional headquarters apart from setting up one Engineering Colleges in Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, and Rangpur divisions.

According to an official release, the government has planned to develop the land survey education and enhance the capability of the existing 64 technical schools and colleges across the country.

For setting up 389 technical schools and colleges at the upazila level, the Vocational and Madrassa Education (VME) Division of the Education Ministry has sent Development Project Proforma (DPP) to the Planning Commission of the Planning Ministry.

For constructing the polytechnic institutes in 23 districts, the ministry sent the DPP to the Planning Commission on December 4, 2017.

Currently, the student enrolment in the technical education is 14 per cent which was only one per cent in the recent past.

According to an official Education Ministry release, the government has already increased the number of seats in the polytechnic institutes to 57,780 from 25000.

It also established engineering colleges in Faridpur, Sylhet and Mymensingh where 540 students each year will get the scope to get technical education.

The government also took a project to establish at least one technical school and one college in all upazilas of the country gradually.

There will be a technical research and training institute, 'Bangladesh National Institute of Technical Teachers' Training and Research' (BNITTR), to ensure modern research and teachers' training facilities.

A senior official of the Education Ministry said that the government is very much sincere about flourishing technical education in the country.

Besides, under the Skills and Training Enhancement Project (STEP) 64 organisations - 47 public and 17 private - are providing short training (360 hours in six months) in 32 trades.

"Under this project, we have targeted to provide training to another 90,000 students by 2019," the ministry official said.