Technical and Madrasa Education Department Secretary Dr KM Kabirul Islam said, “The interim government, realizing the importance of technical and vocational education, has recently approved three projects worth about 4 thousand crore taka. Moreover, steps are being taken to make this technical education up-to-date and develop skilled students according to the needs of the industry. Such arrangements have been made to make this education more practical.”
He said, “Earlier, Koreans used to come to Bangladesh for technical education, but now we have to go to their country.”
He added, “12 lakh graduates are coming out of the country every year. But, jobs are for 200,000. Again, they do not have any advanced training and skills. But, if the industry cooperates in this technical education, it will become an institution for creating skilled workers.”
He said this while speaking as the chief guest at a program titled “High-Level Policy Dialogue on Future Skills” on technical education at the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Conference Hall of the World Trade center on Wednesday night.
He said, “There are about 80 lakh Qawmi Madrasa students in the country. The ministry is working to bring them into mainstream work-oriented education through technology and technical training.”
The event organized in collaboration with ILO's Progress Project, was addressed by Director General (Additional Secretary) of the Technical Education Department Shoaib Ahmed Khan, Additional Secretary (Development) of the Technical and Madrasa Education Department Shamsur Rahman Khan, Chairman of the Bangladesh Technical Education Board Engineer Mohammad Ruhul Amin, Administrator of the Chittagong Chamber Muhammad Anwar Pasha, ILO Chief Technical Advisor and Office In-Charge Peter Belen, veteran businessman and organizer Ekramul Karim Chowdhury, President of the Diagnostic Owners Association Dr. AKM Fazlul Haque, Director of the Women's Chamber Amena Shahin and former Vice President Ivy Hasan, MD of Lub-Ref Mohammad Yusuf, MD of Confidence Cement Zahir Uddin Ahmed, Director of TK Group Zafar Alam, CEO of Rancon FC Limited Tanvir Shahriar Rimon, Director of BPGMEA Shahidul Islam Chowdhury, Executive Director of Maf Shoes Shahadat Ullah, , Advisor of GPH Ispat Limited Osman Gani Chowdhury and BSRM Group Rabiul Hasan,
Fatema Jahan, Joint Secretary (Planning) of Technical and Madrasa Education Department, Haji Delwar Hossain, Chairman of Chittagong Region of REHAB, Engineer Golam Sarwar, Managing Director of Prantik Group, Wasfi Tamim, Private Sector Engagement Officer of ILO's Progress Project were present at the event.
Director General (Additional Secretary) of Technical Education Department Shoaib Ahmed Khan said, 'The government is allocating additional budget and recruiting new manpower to make technical education practical. All institutions under the Directorate of Technical Education have been instructed to communicate more with the industry to ensure practical technical education.'
Shamsur Rahman Khan, Additional Secretary (Development) of the Technical and Madrasa Education Department, said, "If technical students intern in good institutions, they will quickly become skilled workers. Therefore, we are planning courses based on the opinions of factory and industrial owners to develop them into skilled workers."
