Local governments keen to help expand reach of TVET

January 17, 2018

Mayor of Birendranagar Municipality Dev Kumar Subedi (third from right), Deputy Mayor MohanMaya Bhandari (far left), Surkhet District Coordination Committee Chairperson Chavi Lal Sigdel (fourth from right), Joint Secretary at Ministry of Education Dr Dilli Ram Rimal (second from right) among others, at an interaction programme on TVET organized by UNDP SKILLS. Photo: Anand Gurung/SKILLS

Mayor of Birendranagar Municipality has assured the commitment of local governments across the country to create an enabling environment for TVET to flourish in their respective regions

Local governments are looking forward to helping create a conducive environment for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes in their given areas, according to Birendranagar Municipality Mayor Dev Kumar Subedi. Speaking at a a programme jointly organized by the Ministry of Education (MoE), the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) and UNDP Nepal’s Support to Knowledge and Lifelong Learning Skills (SKILLS) Programme in Birendranagar of Surkhet in mid-western Nepal on December 26, Mayor Subedi added that the new TVET policy that will come as a result of the ongoing nationwide policy dialogue process initiated by the MoE can become “the founding stone for the development of backward and impoverished regions like Province 6 of Nepal.”     

 “Creating such favorable environment for TVET to flourish would be in the interest of local governments as that will obviously lead to creation of industry-friendly environment and create a firm basis to develop entrepreneurship among the people of the country. As elected representatives of local governments we should pay heed to this,” he said, addressing chairpersons and members of 16 wards of Birendranagar Municipality.

Mayor Subedi, however, said that the strategies to be adopted by each of the seven provinces of the country in implementing the new TVET policy at the grassroots level could be different due to their own unique concerns and specific needs.

“The central government must first identify the prospects and possibilities of each of the seven provinces of the country and then decide what kind of TVET programme a particular province focus on for the benefit of the people there, especially the poor and marginalized,” he said. He stressed that local governments should be given responsibility for basic technical trainings, while mid-level trainings should be imparted under the direct supervision and monitoring of the provincial governments, and high level trainings under the supervision and funding of the central government. Regardless of who is offering a given training, he added, it should be delivered through a one-door system in order to avoid duplications.     

Also speaking at the programme, Deputy Mayor of Birendranagar Municipality Mohan Maya Bhandari said that the new TVET policy as well as the curriculum for TVET programmes in a given province should take into consideration the specific needs of that region so as to make it more practical and relevant.

“We have to come up with relevant and modern TVET policy that encourages and inspires our children, brothers and sisters to work for the development of poor and backward regions of the country rather than toil in the scorching heat of the Gulf countries and Malaysia,” Deputy Mayor Bhandari said.

Surkhet District Coordination Committee Chairperson Chavi Lal Sigdel, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Education Dr. Dilli Ram Rimal, Director of Regional Education Directorate Hari Gautam, CTEVT Director Deepak Poudel, including Under Secretary at the MoE Dr. Mukunda Mani Khanal, Under Secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Employment Jiwan Rai, TVET Expert Hari Pradhan, National Planning Commission’s Phadindra Poudel and representatives from District Education Office and District Agriculture Development Office shared their respective views and thoughts at the programme organized to solicit feedback from elected officials of local bodies, private sector representatives, TVET providers and concerned stakeholders for the review and reform of the existing TVET Policy 2012.