Continuing its commitment to address emerging regional issues particularly on industrial revolution (IR) 4.0, the Colombo Plan Staff College organized a five-day regional program from August 25-29, 2019. It involved the participation of 25 participants from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Fiji, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In addition to the member country representatives, officials from Institute of Diploma Engineers-Bangladesh and IRPC Technological College in Thailand were in attendance, as well as former CPSC faculty members namely Dr. Hazrat Hussain from Pakistan and Dr. G. Kulanthaivel from India.
The participants during the classroom lectures.
The participants during the visit to TESDA in Taguig City.
The program also provided the participants with an opportunity to attend the 2-and-a-half days of the ADB international Skills Development Forum from August 27-29, 2019. Study tours were also arranged to enable the participants to see the different sights of Manila, in addition to the visit to the Technical Education and Skill Development Authority (TESDA) - the main TVET agency in the country.
The opening ceremony was held on August 25, 2019 and was graced by Dr. Brajesh Panth, Chief of the Education Sector Group of the Asian Development Bank. In his speech he expressed his appreciations to CPSC for bringing in all the member countries for this event. He also welcomed the participants to ADB for the sessions and hoped to further increase ADB’s presence in CPSC’s activities.
The participants during the International Skills Forum in ADB.
Themes such as the concept, stages and elements of IR 4.0; impact and challenges of IR 4.0 and the development of TVET curricula to address IR 4.0 were included in the program. A country presentation was also delivered by the representatives to appraise the attendees on the policies and initiatives that their respective governments implements with regards to IR 4.0.
The program was supervised by Dr. Ramhari Lamichhane, CPSC Director General. Engr. Abdul Ghani Rajput, the chairperson of the ICT division and CPSC faculty specialist, was assigned as the program coordinator and resource person. Mr. Sanyog Bhattarai, CPSC faculty specialist, was also designated as one of the resource persons in addition to Ms. Therese Lee, CPSC faculty specialist, who was also present for the whole duration of the program.
The participants in front of the Rizal Shrine, one of Manila’s recognizable landmarks.
