The Special Committee for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) of the National Council said that the government failed to implement 50 per cent of the recommendations passed by the House. The Special Committee passed 18 recommendations to the government in the last session.
Failing to establish the National Institute of Technical Education (NITE), professional development for instructors and trainees and recruiting experts and trainers from other countries on short-term period to strengthen professionalism in the TVET sector were some of the failures mentioned by the committee this morning in the 24th session of the National Council.
“Out of 18 recommendations, only around 50 per cent or half of the recommendations were implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources. In some cases, the recommendations could not be implemented stating that the recommendations will be aligned with the Council for TVET which is expected to form in July this year,” informed Phuntsho Rapten, the Chairperson of Special Committee for TVET, National Council.
Noting that the budget allocation in TVET sectors as relatively low, the House recommended the government to accord TVET sector a priority both in National planning and budget allocation during its last session. The Special Committee conducted a hearing with the Labour Ministry recently to inquire further details and gather evidence from the Ministry on the progress made in the implementation of the committee’s recommendations.
“We recommended the need for establishing the National Institute of Technical Education or NITE. Unfortunately, we were informed that the Labour Ministry didn’t receive priority in the 12th Five Year Plan. Similarly, the Ministry failed to implement in developing Human Resource policy for TVET trainers and to accord dedicated HRD budget for the development of the TVET system. Moreover, the Ministry has not considered our recommendation on developing a separate career structure for TVET professionals in the civil service that recognises mastery skills and long years of experience to foster career progression,” he added.
The House, during the last session, recommended the review of governance and leadership, professional development, diversification of courses and curriculum, enhancing industrial linkages and collaborations and financial support. The chairperson of the committee also suggested to relook and revisit the recommendations before establishing the TVET Council in July this year.
Tshering Dendup/Pema Tshewang
