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Vocational Education and Training in Times of Economic Crisis pp 201–227Cite as

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Bangladesh – Systems, Curricula, and Transition Pathways

Part of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects book series (TVET,volume 24)

Abstract

TVET in Bangladesh is gaining recognition as a vital tool for economic development as the country attempts to attain middle income economy status by 2021. The government is taking several measures to improve the quality of TVET and increase the enrolment in TVET programmes. In this descriptive study we focus on the TVET system, curricula, teachers’ qualifications, current initiatives to enhance relevance of TVET, promote enrolment and female participation. Data was collected through secondary research, including study/project reports, curricula, brochures and research articles. The study was delimited to formal TVET sector including apprenticeship.

In Bangladesh, the majority of TVET programmes are provided at Diploma and Certificate levels in specialized areas through public/private/Non-Government Organisation (NGO)-run institutions. It is mainly school-based and government regulated, however industry participation in developing training standards and strengthening formal apprenticeship training are currently on the national agenda.

The curricula of Diploma and Certificate level programmes are organised subject-wise. The Diploma curriculum contains 41 % theoretical content and 59 % practical content and the curricula of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) (vocational (Voc))/Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) (Voc) Certificate courses contain approximately 46 % theoretical content and 54 % practical content, excluding an industrial attachment training period.

Incorporating and building on the school based (traditional) methods of delivering skills, a new system has recently been introduced – the National Skills Development System (NSDS). This includes a new National Technical and Vocational Qualifications Framework (NTVQF), uses a competency-based training and assessment (CBT&A) approach and includes Recognition of Prior Learning/Recognition of Current Learning (RPL/RCL). The training standards for NTVQF qualifications are made up of stand-alone units of competency.

Several initiatives are being taken by the government and donor agencies to increase the enrolment and encourage female participation and gender equity in TVET. The authors suggest studies on the performance of TVET institutions in implementing the curricula and the outcomes of these initiatives.

Keywords

  • Labour Market
  • Skill Development
  • Certificate Level
  • Vocational Skill
  • Apprenticeship Training

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Acknowledgement

The authors are very much grateful to Mr Arthur E Shears and Ms Sarah Jane Saltmarsh for their kind support by providing valuable inputs to this article and by proof reading it.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Technical and Vocational Education, Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Faruque A. Haolader & Che Kum Clement

  2. Department of Textile, Noakhali Textile Engineering College (NTEC), Noakhali, Bangladesh

    Khan Md. Foysol

Authors
  1. Faruque A. Haolader
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  2. Khan Md. Foysol
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  3. Che Kum Clement
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Correspondence to Faruque A. Haolader .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. German Research Center for Comparative Vocational Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T), University of Cologne, Köln, Germany

    Matthias Pilz

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Haolader, F.A., Foysol, K.M., Clement, C.K. (2017). Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Bangladesh – Systems, Curricula, and Transition Pathways. In: Pilz, M. (eds) Vocational Education and Training in Times of Economic Crisis. Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 24. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47856-2_11

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