IVETA Regional Conference in Colombo

The Regional Conference of International Vocational Education and Training Association (IVETA) 2009 will be held in Colombo, from August 9th to 22nd. This is the first ever IVETA conference to be held in Asia and it is hosted by the Department of Technical Education and Training (DTET) under the guidance of Ministry of Vocational and Technical Training (MVTT), said Director General Ministry of Vocational and Technical training, Department of Technical Education and Training Dr. H. L. Obeyesekera.

The objective of conducting this conference is to foster and promote professional linkages among regional vocational educators and training providers and facilitate the region wide dissemination of TVET information.

IVETA expects the contacts and linkages developed among the participants at this regional conference will establish a continuing working forum for sharing TVET problems and to collectively address solutions.

IVETA also expects that the conference will initiate processes to assist TVET sectors in the South Asian countries to grow as an international enterprise.

The theme for this conference is 'Innovative TVET initiatives to support sustainable economic development and poverty reduction and the role of TVET in improving social equity'. The directly related sub themes include:

The role of TVET in: Supporting Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Development, Customized Quick Start Training for Enterprises, Linkages between Poverty Levels and TVET, Career Information and Counselling, Lifelong Learning, and Knowledge Economy and Human Resource Programs in Post Conflict Situations.

The core of the sub themes to be discussed under the main theme is that the TVET is a tool for poverty alleviation, social equity, peace promotion and the economic development of countries.

This is very important for countries in the Asian region as it could focus on TVET as having an influence on economic development for peace building and conflict resolution.

Already 18 countries have confirmed their participation while we are expecting 150 delegates from overseas. He said that an exhibition too with the participation of 6-7 countries will be held concurrent to the conference.

This is a good opportunity to share experiences and the main aim is to support the development of human resources.

He said that at present most children don't get admission to universities therefore technical education plays an important role in providing employment to the youth of a country.

He said that it is difficult to improve the technical education only with government funds therefore it should be done as a public private partnership.