Education and training: Are these in sync with demand?
Saturday, 27 November 2010
A fresh ‘Bangladesh skills development policy’ has reportedly been drawn up, with the assistance of the International Labour Organisation, under a $20 million EU project. The purpose : to address the state of technical and vocational training in Bangladesh and help upgrade the booming workforce to fit the demands of the market at home and abroad, something that the government’s existing TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) institutes and centres are not entirely equipped to do. Those run by NGOs are also said to fall short in terms of teaching methods and content, equipment and management.
But it is not just technical and vocational training that needs upgrading. The hundreds of thousands who are getting the socially-better-valued ‘general’ education at different levels, tertiary included, are no less disappointing. Its social value, notwithstanding, the system seems largely geared to merely going through the motions of poor teaching and perfunctory exams, culminating with the institutions doling out degrees that have little value in the practical world. The result is: industries, businesses and modern offices have a hard time finding the workforce with the appropriate knowledge and skills to fit the requirements of different levels of jobs -- white, blue or no-collar.
Over the past decades there have been no dearth of efforts given to upgrade the contents and teaching methodologies -- as well as the competencies of instructors -- at primary, secondary and higher-secondary levels. But the ‘system’ seems to have resisted everything, and remained at the same place, more or less, despite all the fuss and funds spent on projects after projects.
Now, in preparation for the much-hyped ‘digital Bangladesh,’ all schools are soon to include a core course in communication and information technology -- from class nine at least, it is hoped. The merit of this can hardly be underestimated.
An IT- savvy human resource is indispensable if we are to meet the current global challenges. But such a course needs to be sufficiently knowledge-based -- rather than only gadget-obsessed -- and must be properly internalised, so that there is scope for school graduates to hone their skills further and become competent trouble-shooters in due time. If not, cleverer nerds and cyber delinquents are likely to take advantage of any untoward situation in digitalised Bangladesh and take innocents for a ride !
As one educator puts it, the ultimate purpose of education should be: ‘ to learn to think and think to learn.’ Unfortunately, this fundamental principle is absent in most of Bangladesh’s educational institutions, barring a few. The predominant mindset rather seems to be : NOT to think, but to conform and copy and learn by rote ! One might claim that the very foundation of mediocrity is laid early on by this widespread practice of rote learning.
Is it any wonder then that our education system should yield nothing better than the current crop of unthinking drifters, pursuing meaningless tertiary ‘certificates’? Not that there are none who excel, but they are the minority of the minority who manage to reach tertiary education. And a handful of them do go to brilliant heights -- despite the ‘system’. But such success is usually found to come with a head start, that is, the high achievers are born and brought up in urban Bangladesh and that too in families that are socio-economically privileged. [One is not speaking here of the rare, born genius that neither penury nor a poor education system can suppress. In bygone days of course there were institutions and mentors in rural Bangladesh that produced and patronized brilliance. But no more.]
However, even under the given circumstances, Bangladesh could really take off economically, once its technical and vocational education institutes could be brought up to date, to produce a mass of readily employable hands that could be absorbed here as well as outside the country. But for that to happen, the scope of the TVET institutes and centres need to be sufficiently broadened. This calls for seriously addressing both course contents and the capacities of the instructors and trainers, first and foremost.
Happily, the new skills development policy that has been drafted and awaits approval by the government, sounds promising and realistic enough. It is said to be demand-driven and flexible and recommends the empowerment of managers in running institutions, as well as the recognition of prior learning and apprenticeships of students. Such a policy, if implemented, could be quite inclusive, with the scope to absorb dropouts, the underprivileged, working children and women, as well as physically challenged people.
But whether it is TVET or mainstream education, the focus should be on improving the grey cells, so to say, of both the teachers and the taught, in order to be capable of dealing with the challenges in a highly competitive knowledge-based world. There is no reason why ‘a time-worthy quality education’, consistently and earnestly followed from the very basic level, could not transform our young population into real value-added capital.
Universal quality education, with a particular focus on the poorest citizens, and improved dissemination of the knowledge, skills and values required for better living and sustainable development, by its very definition, extends to issues of gender equality and equity, health and nutrition, parental and community involvement and the management of the education system itself. Such an approach calls for more perceptive curricula and excellent teacher-input, so that the very process of learning becomes a preparation for life. Are we in Bangladesh anywhere close to this highly desirable concept of quality education ?
But it is not just technical and vocational training that needs upgrading. The hundreds of thousands who are getting the socially-better-valued ‘general’ education at different levels, tertiary included, are no less disappointing. Its social value, notwithstanding, the system seems largely geared to merely going through the motions of poor teaching and perfunctory exams, culminating with the institutions doling out degrees that have little value in the practical world. The result is: industries, businesses and modern offices have a hard time finding the workforce with the appropriate knowledge and skills to fit the requirements of different levels of jobs -- white, blue or no-collar.
Over the past decades there have been no dearth of efforts given to upgrade the contents and teaching methodologies -- as well as the competencies of instructors -- at primary, secondary and higher-secondary levels. But the ‘system’ seems to have resisted everything, and remained at the same place, more or less, despite all the fuss and funds spent on projects after projects.
Now, in preparation for the much-hyped ‘digital Bangladesh,’ all schools are soon to include a core course in communication and information technology -- from class nine at least, it is hoped. The merit of this can hardly be underestimated.
An IT- savvy human resource is indispensable if we are to meet the current global challenges. But such a course needs to be sufficiently knowledge-based -- rather than only gadget-obsessed -- and must be properly internalised, so that there is scope for school graduates to hone their skills further and become competent trouble-shooters in due time. If not, cleverer nerds and cyber delinquents are likely to take advantage of any untoward situation in digitalised Bangladesh and take innocents for a ride !
As one educator puts it, the ultimate purpose of education should be: ‘ to learn to think and think to learn.’ Unfortunately, this fundamental principle is absent in most of Bangladesh’s educational institutions, barring a few. The predominant mindset rather seems to be : NOT to think, but to conform and copy and learn by rote ! One might claim that the very foundation of mediocrity is laid early on by this widespread practice of rote learning.
Is it any wonder then that our education system should yield nothing better than the current crop of unthinking drifters, pursuing meaningless tertiary ‘certificates’? Not that there are none who excel, but they are the minority of the minority who manage to reach tertiary education. And a handful of them do go to brilliant heights -- despite the ‘system’. But such success is usually found to come with a head start, that is, the high achievers are born and brought up in urban Bangladesh and that too in families that are socio-economically privileged. [One is not speaking here of the rare, born genius that neither penury nor a poor education system can suppress. In bygone days of course there were institutions and mentors in rural Bangladesh that produced and patronized brilliance. But no more.]
However, even under the given circumstances, Bangladesh could really take off economically, once its technical and vocational education institutes could be brought up to date, to produce a mass of readily employable hands that could be absorbed here as well as outside the country. But for that to happen, the scope of the TVET institutes and centres need to be sufficiently broadened. This calls for seriously addressing both course contents and the capacities of the instructors and trainers, first and foremost.
Happily, the new skills development policy that has been drafted and awaits approval by the government, sounds promising and realistic enough. It is said to be demand-driven and flexible and recommends the empowerment of managers in running institutions, as well as the recognition of prior learning and apprenticeships of students. Such a policy, if implemented, could be quite inclusive, with the scope to absorb dropouts, the underprivileged, working children and women, as well as physically challenged people.
But whether it is TVET or mainstream education, the focus should be on improving the grey cells, so to say, of both the teachers and the taught, in order to be capable of dealing with the challenges in a highly competitive knowledge-based world. There is no reason why ‘a time-worthy quality education’, consistently and earnestly followed from the very basic level, could not transform our young population into real value-added capital.
Universal quality education, with a particular focus on the poorest citizens, and improved dissemination of the knowledge, skills and values required for better living and sustainable development, by its very definition, extends to issues of gender equality and equity, health and nutrition, parental and community involvement and the management of the education system itself. Such an approach calls for more perceptive curricula and excellent teacher-input, so that the very process of learning becomes a preparation for life. Are we in Bangladesh anywhere close to this highly desirable concept of quality education ?