Australia Contributes to TVET Reform in Bangladesh
International donors are poised to make significant improvements to the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector in Bangladesh.
With support from government, skills development has become an important issue in the country which earns the greatest share of its foreign income from the remittances of overseas Bangladeshi workers. The government has estimated that if each worker was paid as a skilled worker, rather than semi-skilled or unskilled as is currently the case, the value of remittances would increase from the current US$7 billion a year to over US$10 billion.
Over the next five years, more than US$120M will be spent on TVET reform, impacting on all aspects of the system including new national policies and legislation, a new TVET qualifications framework, teacher training system, equipment and many more initiatives. Funds will be provided by the European Commission (EC), the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, with other donors also interested to contribute once the key reforms are in place.
The first major project is funded by the EC and implemented by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The TVET Reform Project has an ambitious program of activities that deal with key systemic reform priorities. The project team has 18 staff, including five Australian advisors who are leading the five main components of the project.
During 2009, the TVET Reform Project will conduct three major international fellowships, where key policy makers, industry representatives and senior bureaucrats will undertake comparative study tours of the TVET systems in Australia and Malaysia.
The first of these tours is scheduled for March 2009, where 16 top officials, including a number of Ministerial Secretaries and Directors-General will visit NSW TAFE and other key local TVET contacts. During the fellowships, participants will be exposed to the best in TVET that Australia has to offer and thus hopefully be inspired to make the necessary changes at home so that the TVET system in Bangladesh can better serve the needs of the country.