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| Sunday, 8 August 2004 |
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Skill level training begins by Gamini Warushamana A project to re-organise and develop the tertiary education system in Sri Lanka is now under way. The Skill Development Project which was started in 1999 has completed the planning stage and now being implemented. The Asian Development Bank is funding the project. Under this project, the Time-Based Training system which existed in the technical and vocational training institutions will be replaced by the new system as Confidence-Based Training (CBT) system. Under this new system, attention is focused on achievements of standard skill levels of the trainees. In the CBT system training in all trades will be divided into 7 National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) skill levels. Levels 1,2,3 and 4 are included in the Certificate Course. Trainees can get a diploma by extending the course up to level 6. Level 7 is equivalent to a degree. Accordingly, a trainee who joins following a course in masonry can get a degree equivalent to civil engineering. These skill levels are equivalent to international levels and equal to most advanced Asian country standards. In some countries the skill levels are extended upto 10 while Asian countries have 7 standards. Under this program technical and vocational training in 45 trades such as welding, carpentry and masonry, will be re-organised. Already syllabuses of 39 trades have been completed and implementation in 17 trades has started. All technical and vocational training institutions will implement this new system. "Theoretically a trainee who achieves the required levels of skills can obtain the certificate even in a month as the time factor is immaterial in this system, but it needs more resources and one teacher per trainee. At the moment it is not practical due to lack of resources. However, there will be only 20 trainees in a class in the future." said Athula Rajapaksha, Deputy Project Director. Bringing all the technical and vocational training courses into the national standard and improving and maintaining the quality are some objectives of this project. In the future all technical and vocational training institutions will have to obtain and maintain quality standards which is mandatory. Technical Education and Vocational Training Commission (TEVC) will monitor all government and private institutions. All the institutions have to get the registration of TEVC and there are certain criteria to fulfil. To get the accreditation for any course they should be designed to achieve expected skill standards. There can be differences in the syllabus taught by private institutions, but all government institutions must follow the same syllabus. Private institutions also can issue TEVC certified certificate for accredited courses and these certificates will have international recognition. Under the project buildings and other facilities at all government technical education institutions will be improved. Learner Resources Utilisation Centres (LRUCs) (will be equipped with all modern training materials), a modern library with IT facilities will be established at regional level. Rs.555 million has been allocated for this. The new project aims to develop the human resources of the country to meet the demand in the local and international labour market. School dropouts at every stage enter the labour force as unskilled labourers. According to labour force statistics, unemployed persons 13.3% have passed GCE O/L and 17.1% have passed GCE (A/L). But enrolment into technical education is very low. The Ministry of Tertiary Education and Vocational Training is planning to bridge the gap between unemployed youths and the vocational training institutions. An awareness program is scheduled to convey the existing opportunities in the field and change the negative social attitudes towards the employments in various trades. |
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