The state of technical and vocational education
Anisul Islam | Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Technical education is in a shocking state. For example, newspapers reported sometime ago that 31 out of the 38 government's polytechnic institutes of the country are running without principals. And 35 of them have no vice-principals. Besides, 450 posts of teachers and 300 posts of instructors have been lying vacant in these polytechnic institutions.
According to newspaper reports a large number of teachers of the polytechnics have not received their salaries for about a year. Most of the polytechnics have to teach students with dysfunctional or worn-out equipment although tools and the machines are basic to imparting practical education in these centres of technical education and training.
Other institutions can not contribute even a fraction of what a polytechnic can in creating human resources for the country. But institutions that promote only general or purely religious education with little utility for the economy have been proliferating with liberal grants from the government. But the human resources making polytechnics are struggling for survival. It is an example of the awful mismatch between what the governments pledge to do and what they actually do. For this unacceptable neglect of the technical education, the country and its present and future generations will have to pay a heavy price.
It is high time to go for a realistic assessment of the costs of spending for unproductive education. The stock taking needs to be followed up by adoption and implementation of pragmatic policies to give thrust to technical and vocational education with the allocation of the needed resources to this stream of education.
According to newspaper reports a large number of teachers of the polytechnics have not received their salaries for about a year. Most of the polytechnics have to teach students with dysfunctional or worn-out equipment although tools and the machines are basic to imparting practical education in these centres of technical education and training.
Other institutions can not contribute even a fraction of what a polytechnic can in creating human resources for the country. But institutions that promote only general or purely religious education with little utility for the economy have been proliferating with liberal grants from the government. But the human resources making polytechnics are struggling for survival. It is an example of the awful mismatch between what the governments pledge to do and what they actually do. For this unacceptable neglect of the technical education, the country and its present and future generations will have to pay a heavy price.
It is high time to go for a realistic assessment of the costs of spending for unproductive education. The stock taking needs to be followed up by adoption and implementation of pragmatic policies to give thrust to technical and vocational education with the allocation of the needed resources to this stream of education.