A National Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council is expected to be formed by July this year. The National Council (NC), last year, recommended the formation of a TVET Council to provide overall policy direction and strategic guidance for the development of the TVET sector in the country.
In June last year, the NC’s special committee for TVET made seventeen recommendations under five broad categories to review the TVET system in the country. The committee recommended the review of governance and leadership, professional development, diversification of courses and curriculum, enhancing industrial linkages and collaborations on resources.
The Special Committee for TVET conducted a hearing with the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources (MoLHR) yesterday to inquire further details and evidence from the ministry on the progress made in the implementation of the committee’s recommendations.
During the hearing, MoLHR informed that TVET Council will come into effect from mid of this year.
While the ministry has implemented some of the recommendations such as scholarship programmes and enhancing industrial linkages and collaborations there are other recommendations that have not been undertaken so far. One such was the recommendation on the need of national institute for technical education to train the instructors of the institutions. The committee members expressed their disappointment over this. The committee says the trainer’s institute is an important initiative to develop the TVET sector.
“There is no dedicated institute or resource centre on the part of TVET. So what we have recommended was in line with the blueprint which they have already developed a few years ago, there is a strong need for the national institute for technical education. Whether the national council for TVET comes or not, from the committee’s side we feel that national institute for technical education important, because training has to be imparted. The instructor must be updated in terms of their qualification or in other learning methods progressively,” said the Eminent Member of the NC, Phuntsho Rabten who chairs the Special Committee for TVET.
The ministry is also yet to draft the national TVET policy which the Special Committee had recommended last year. The ministry said the policy will go through the TVET Council which is currently in the process of formation. The committee has asked the ministry to ready the final draft of the policy by June this year.
According to the committee, the ministry was engaged in other reforms which led to the delay in implementation of the recommendations. The ministry was working on the formation of two expert working groups: TVET institution and Governance group to develop a proposal for the establishment of a TVET institution as per the executive order from the government and a curriculum group to develop a framework for technical and vocational education curriculum.
“Today when we had the discussions through the hearing with the MoLHR, we could understand that the MoLHR has been more or less sunk in a lot of reform process. Initially, they were doing, then based on the government directives, they had to form these two professional working groups,” he added.
The Special Committee for the TVET carried out the hearing process to disseminate information regarding the works carried out for transparency and accountability.
Kinley Dem
