Interview
Vocational Teachers Training Institute to ensure quality teaching and learning system in Bangladesh
Engr. Md. Zinder Ali, Principal, VTTI talks about how VTTI is transforming itself as a centre for skills excellence to ensure the quality of technical education in Bangladesh with the support from ILO's EU Funded Skills 21 project.
How is the Skill 21 project helping your institution address the challenges facing the TVET system?
The Vocational Teachers Training Institute (VTTI) in Bogura is a teacher training institute in Bangladesh. Currently, there are many challenges to TVET in Bangladesh, especially concerning the development of a quality teaching and learning system. The project has been supporting VTTI to address some of these challenges by strengthening the capacity of teachers, trainers, and assessors, and establishing labs with modern facilities and equipment. I believe these initiatives are really important to ensure the quality of TVET and will help us to overcome the challenges. In addition to that, the Skills 21 project supports VTTI to become a centre of skills excellence, and to help other institutes by delivering quality learning materials, trained teachers and assessors.How can TVET institutions proactively drive innovation and contribute to the promotion of competitiveness, employability and social cohesion?
At VTTI, we focus on practical skills through industrial attachment and project work. Right now, our primary focus is to align NTVQF in skills training for regardless teachers, trainers and assessors. TMED has the vision to upgrade TVET managers skills level to ensure the quality of training delivery that impacts employability.What are the features of CSE's?
The Skills 21 project is helping VTTI to transform the institution into a Centre for Skills Excellence (CSE) with a strong focus on producing qualified trainers and assessors for the TVET sector. This initiative has many folds, such as developing quality qualification packages that include competency-based learning materials and standards. It will train the teachers, trainers, assessors and managers to obtain at least one skill certification along with CBT&A levels 4, 5 and 6. Three labs have been upgraded with modern equipment, which is now operational for training programmes. The institutional management advisory board has been formed for better linkages and guidance from the private sector, as this institute is committed to catering to the local industries.
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the guidance from the Skills 21 project, VTTI housed the Instructional Material Development Centre (IMDC) to provide learners' access to quality learning materials. This will ensure a blended learning system going forward. To become a CSE, VTTI is now preparing more inclusive and green skills initiatives, following a comprehensive quality improvement plan.
How will the IMDC work?
With the support from the Skills 21 project, we have established an Instructional Materials Development Centre (IMDC) in VTTI along with an online learning management platform called e-campus. This is an integral part of the IMDC, which includes a modern IT lab to produce content for the online platform. A team of trained TVET teachers created 176 e-learning content materials ranging from video lectures and supplementary text materials. The content is now available on the e-campus, Facebook and YouTube pages of the respective TVET institutes. The project supports developing the platform, developing trade-specific e-courses, and building teachers' capacity to utilize the platform for TVET teaching and learning practice.