Nepal’s Education Minister Hon. Mr. Dinanath Sharma (4th fr. R) lights the panas during the program’s inaugural ceremonies, witnessed by (fr. right to left) the CPSC Director General, Dr. Mohammad Naim Yaakub, Dr. Gopal Khanal, CTEVT Vice-Chairman with other Nepal officials. |
The CPSC-CTEVT (Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training) In-Country Program on Competency-Based Curriculum Development successfully commenced with the presence of high level officials and more than 60 guests led by Nepal’s Minister of Education, Hon. Mr. Dinanath Sharma during the program’s opening on April 2, 2012. The honorable Minister as Chief Guest of the program, formally inaugurated the program by lighting the Panas. In his inaugural speech, he encouraged CTEVT to be productive in producing competent work force to ensure employment and mobility of knowledge workers who are currently comprised of 2% skilled, 28% semi-skilled and 60% unskilled. Similarly, he suggested further strengthening and improvement of CTEVT management to develop more qualified academic personnel through capacity building such as the program with CPSC.
High officials of Nepal and CTEVT composed of Nepal’s Education Secretary Mr. Kishor Thapa, Director General of Education Department Mr. Mahashram Sharma, Dr. Gopal Khanal, CTEVT Vice-Chairman, CTEVT Member Secretary Dr. Jay Bahadur Tandan, and Directors of different divisions of CTEVT, graced the inaugural session to give full support to the CPSC-CTEVT’s joint program. Nepal’s officials were unanimous in acknowledging CPSC’s dedicated efforts in organizing relevant programs in the country, especially in these times when the country’s TVET sector is facing various challenges and issues. In this light, they shared their plans of expanding CTEVT into a research based institution as well as their goal for increased accessibility of quality training in remote areas in the country.
The CPSC team, on the other hand, was led by the Director General Dr. Mohammad Naim Yaakub. The CPSC DG conveyed his profound gratitude to the honorable Education Minister for gracing the event and imparted his sincere hopes for the Nepal to move forward by finding a place for the country’s workforce in the globalized world. On behalf of CPSC, the DG promised its unwavering commitment in assisting member countries like Nepal in the enhancement of TVET systems through capacity building programs.
The joint program ran from April 2 to 6, 2012 and was conducted at the Training Institute of Technical Instruction (TITI), Kathmandu, Nepal. A total of 30 participants comprised of principals, heads of training division, curriculum developers, public and private TVET institutions teachers, instructors of employment promoting organizations and associations in the country gathered for the program.
The key components of the program were: Competency-based Education and Training (CBT) in TVET, instructional competencies perspective on teaching and formulating objectives; identification of competencies: techniques for occupational analysis; emerging challenges and issues in implementing competency-based curriculum for TVET in Nepal; DACUM as development of competency standards; competency-based assessment; and development of learning package.
Engr. Md. Jahangir Alam, CPSC Faculty Specialist, who acted as Program Coordinator and Chief Resource Person of the program handled the smooth implementation of the program in cooperation with the Local Coordinator Dr. RH Lamichhane. Both Coordinators ensured that at the end of the program the participants would be able to gain understanding on the general concepts of competency-based curriculum and the methodology of competency-based assessment as well as apply DACUM approach to competency-based curriculum design and develop CBT package in TVET system.
Dr. Naim in one of the sessions with the participants. |