Under its 2005 poverty reduction strategy, the government of Bangladesh prioritized technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to maximize the opportunities for self- and wage employment accompanying economic growth. The country’s TVET system was however constrained by lack of linkage and relevance to the labor market, lack of opportunities for practical experience for students and the poor who left school, inadequate trained teachers with industrial experience, and poor and inadequate training facilities.
To help address these constraints, the Asian Development Bank approved a $50 million loan for the Skills Development Project in June 2008. In addition to the loan, ADB also approved a $6 million grant for the project from the fund it administers for the government of Switzerland. The project’s anticipated impact was increased wage and self-employment of skills training graduates. Its expected outcome was strengthened TVET capacity to provide market-responsive, short term relevant skills training. It had four planned outputs: (i) enhanced relevance and access to TVET programs, (ii) improved capacity for quality TVET delivery, (iii) delivery of relevant market-responsive skills training for poor communities, and (iv) project management.
At completion, the project developed 72 industry-endorsed competency standards for 26 priority occupations, of which 41 standards for 15 occupations had been adopted as national standards by the Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB). Competency-based learning materials (CBLMs) were prepared for 15 standards in 5 occupations. Training programs in readymade garments, construction, light engineering, and carpentry were implemented, based on the needs identified by industries. A TVET research and development cell was also established in the Department of Technical Education (DTE).
Development plans for the country’s key TVET institutes, the Vocational Teacher’s Training Institute and Technical Teacher’s Training Institute, were prepared. Sixty-four technical schools and colleges and the DTE main building were renovated or upgraded. Seven regional DTE offices were constructed.
TVET teachers were trained in competency-based training (CBT). Nine market-responsive, competency-based short training courses (MRTCs) were developed in consultation with industry associations. These MRTCs were provided by private and public institutions to 4,335 trainees. 3,586 poor and underprivileged youth and women were trained in sewing machine operation for employment in the garments industry.
While substantially achieving its revised targets, the project suffered from substantial weaknesses validated by review missions already during the fourth year of project implementation. These weaknesses included unrealistic performance targets, weak executing and implementing agency capacities, and low project readiness. The project was subsequently restructured to an investment piloting new approaches in TVET, with total financing reduced to $27.2 million from the original $66.7 million. Of the 32 original performance indicators, 7 were dropped, 7 were scaled down, and 6 were replaced. About $31 million or 62% of the approved ADB loan amount was cancelled.
The project had the Ministry of Education as executing agency and the DTE as implementing agency.
