Fewer students attending vocational education: Report
View(s):The number of students attending vocational education courses is decreasing owing to them being attracted to unskilled, low-paid jobs due to the prevailing socio-economic impact, according to the Department of Technical Education & Training.
In its 2024 annual performance report, the Department pointed out that this is a major challenge in improving vocational education in the country.
The report also noted that due to the limited budget allocation for the development of the vocational education sector, it is difficult to manage the maintenance costs of vocational education institutions. Moreover, due to the limited provision of student welfare facilities, there is a tendency for students to drop out of courses, and increasing the training capacity of courses with high social demand is not economically effective.
The report states that due to social attitudes and lack of awareness about vocational education opportunities and high salaries, there is low student attraction for technical courses such as welding, masonry and woodwork.
Meanwhile, the tendency for women to attend technical courses is low and career opportunities in the industrial sector are limited. The report highlighted that due to the slow pace of modernisation of courses in parallel with the rapidly evolving technology, it has become difficult to compete with private sector technical training institutions.
Plans are being made to bring about a change in the vocational education sector for social, environmental and ethical development, the report states. Accordingly, for the year 2025, the 39 College of Technology and Technical Colleges will be targeted to enroll 27,000 students for 119 courses under 18 fields. Under this, 81 NVQ 3/4 courses and 36 NVQ 5/6 courses are planned to be started and some certificate courses as well.
It has also been planned to start 18 courses related to the fields of automobile repair and maintenance, building construction, electrical, electronics and telecommunications, garment industry, information communication and multimedia technology and wood industry. A further14 new courses related to food technology, hotel and tourism, medical and health sciences, and office management will also be started. (SJ)
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