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The Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC) was visited by a high-level delegation from the government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh as a part of the Phase II of the Study Tour Program on the Philippine TVET System for the Policy Makers in Bangladesh on October 8, 2014. This study tour in the country was coordinated by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the local TVET agency.
The twelve delegates were composed of:
- Mr. AS Mahmud, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Education and Team Leader
- Mr. Md Shahjahan Mian, Director General, Directorate of Technical Education
- Ms. Parveen Akhter, Director (Joint Secretary) , Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED)
- Ms. Rownaq Jahan, Joint Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD)
- Sk. Adbur Rouf, Joint Secretary, Planning Division, Ministry of Planning
- Sk. Alamgir Hossain, Director, Directorate of Technical Education
- Chowdhury Mufad Ahmed, Project Director (Joint Secretary), Skills Development Project
- Mr. Md. Abdul Hoque Talukder, Secretary (Joint Secretary), Bangladesh Technical Education Board
- Mr. Md. Aminul Islam, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Labor and Employment
- Mr. Md. Khairul Islam, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Finance
- Ms. Saima Yunus Sharmin, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Education
- Mr. Omar Md. Imrul Mohsin, Deputy Chief, Ministry of Education.
Dr. Mohammad Naim Yaakub, the CPSC Director General, with the rest of the CPSC faculty and staff, warmly welcomed the delegation. He expressed his gratefulness to TESDA for choosing CPSC as one of the stops in the study tour, and emphasized to the participants the major role that Bangladesh has played as a CPSC member country.
In his speech, he emphasized the need for a more inclusive access for TVET in Bangladesh through the improvement of TVET provision for several groups such as women and people with disabilities. He also recognized the significant improvements in TVET that have been implemented to ensure that relevant goals to improve TVET are being met, and vows to continue propagating the need for knowledge-sharing and greater participation through its roster of programs and services.
Mr. Shahjahan Mian, the Director General of the Directorate of Technical Education and representing the entire delegation, stressed the important role that CPSC plays in meeting their goal to improve the quality of TVET in the region. He also praised CPSC’s active participation in fostering greater cooperation among its member countries in terms of TVET improvement, and indicated that the relationship of the Bangladesh government and CPSC is strong and mutually beneficial.
As a part of their exposure to the organization, Dr. Naim oriented them about the recent achievements of CPSC including: (1) the launch of the online journal system and the On-Course program that aids TVET training and (2) the efficiency of program management through the years. He also included some details regarding the participation of Bangladeshi participants in the training programs, several other services offered by the organization such as APACC accreditation, which generated the group’s interest to revisit developments on the APACC accredited institutions. The DG then encouraged remaining TVET institutes in Bangladesh to apply for APACC accreditation and for accredited institutions to undertake reaccreditation.
Dr. Hazrat Hussain, CPSC Faculty Consultant, discussed the topic “Education and Projects for Sustainable Development in TVET using Green Technology” where he outlined the major initiatives explored by other organizations and CPSC in integrating sustainable development concepts and practices into the TVET programs, practices and curriculum. His presentation also featured green technology inventions that further emphasized the shift of TVET into a “green TVET”.
An open forum ensued after the presentations whereby discussions were focused on the directions of Bangladesh towards green TVET with a view of contributing to the larger need for a global environmental protection.
