In another successful collaboration, the Colombo Plan Staff College and the Singapore Cooperation Program (SCP) was able to deliver the Regional Program on Greening TVET for Sustainable Development from December 14-18, 2020. This is a second of such collaboration between the two key partners this year and it is relevant given the present restrictions on social mobility due to the Covid-19 pandemic which has affected all nations.
The program involved a total of 35 participants not only from CPSC member countries but from other countries such as Bolivia, Cambodia, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Kiribati Latvia, Marshall Islands, Panama, Palestine, South Africa, Sudan, Suriname, Tajikistan, Togo, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Ms. Eleanor Kang from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the opening ceremony.
The five-day event was able to provide a detailed foundation on Greening TVET for sustainable development in lieu of the sustainable development goals formulated by the United Nations. Through the years, TVET has consistently reinvented itself to be a discipline that does not only actively provide technical skills to workers but also contributes to the awareness and improvement of education by generating green jobs. For that, there is a need to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes of human resources to make clean, green, healthy and prosperous environment. Considering the importance of TVET for sustainable development, the greening TVET courses are highly relevant for this period (2015-2030) and beyond.
The program was jointly supervised by Dr. Ramhari Lamichhane, Director General of CPSC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore as represented by their Deputy Director, Ms. Elaine Kang. Engr. Abdul Ghani Rajput, CPSC Faculty Specialist, coordinated the program requirements. Engr. Sanyog Bhattarai, CPSC Faculty Specialist and Dr. Joel Lee, Director of Nanyang Polytechnic School of Life and Chemical Sciences.
Screenshot of the participants
Topic tackled by the participants during the event include the following: (1) Five pillars and strategies of greening TVET; (2) Integration of green skills into the curriculum; (3) international practices and innovative initiatives in greening TVET; (4) Practices of greening TVET in the context of Singapore and (5) Policy intervention to greening TVET. The participants also prepared action plans and SWOT analysis to further apply their lessons into the practical scenario.
The participants praised the program’s organization and relevance, despite the variations on the time and backgrounds of the global participants. They also recognized the timeliness of the program and the efforts placed by the organizers despite the challenges faced in delivering the online course.
