Bishnu Koirala Director Curriculum Development Division Phone: (977-1) 630138 e-mail: koiralab@hotmail.com

 Historic Background of TEVT

Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training ( CTEVT ), has a long history for its establishment. While tracing back to its existence now,  we find that the considerable attempts have been made from the different level or the sectors to establish this Council. The current TEVT sector can be traced back to 1930 when an engineering school was established to produce skilled manpower. In terms of producing really productive craftsman, Butwal Technical Institute (established in 1962 ) and Balaju Technical Training Center ( 1963 ) have supplied most of the trained and skilled persons in the country. They have thus contributed much to the modernization process. During the 1960s, efforts were made to attach vocational education to general education from grades six to ten.

On the recommendation of the National Education Commission (1954), SLC curriculum and regulation were amended to accommodate vocational education in secondary and multi-purpose secondary schools. This decade was important for the opening of National Vocational Training Center (NVTC) and for the implementation of the New Education System Plan (NESP) which introduced vocational education in every secondary school throughout the country.
The formal system of technical education evolved after 1980 when Karnali Technical School in Jumla was established as the first technical school. After the withdraw of New Education System Plan ( NESP ), a Technical and Vocational Education Committee was formed for the management of the Technical Schools. This was followed by the establishment of Directorate of  Technical and Vocational Education ( DTEVT ), which was a division of Ministry of Education ( MOE ).

The directorate's functions were to coordinate the training activities of technical schools, design curricula, conduct final examination and certify successful candidates, approve the programs of each technical school and allocate resources. All the Technical Schools that established before the establishment of CTEVT were under the Tribhuvan University. 0n the history of above background, it was felt that to coordinate and facilitate overall activities of  Technical and Vocational Education system, there was an urgent need of a body to carry on the gradual development and support the system.

Thus, after a long efforts, CTEVT was initially formed legally under the Technical Education and Vocational Training Act of B.S.2045 ( 1988 ). It has been re - organized under the Technical Education and Vocational Training Council Act ( First Amendment ) of  B.S. 2049 ( 1993 ). The headquarters was established in Sanothimi, Bhaktapur. The Council has now its own 12 Technical Schools and 2 Rural Training Centers outside the Kathmandu Valley. CTEVT has now big challenge and responsibility ahead for the successful execution and implementation of the TEVT programs. To facilitate, coordinate and support all the Stakeholders who are involved in this endeavor, CTEVT has its own mission and purpose for the accomplishment and development of TEVT sectors.
Vision
 Given the responsibility shouldered to the CTEVT, it has the vision of being the apex body of TEVT sector with all the sectoral obligations for contributing in the economic development of Nepal.

Mission Statement of CTEVT

CTEVT formulates policies, ensures quality control, coordinates all the technical education and vocational training (TEVT) related stakeholders and provides services to facilitate technical education and  vocational training programs to prepare and facilitate in the preparation of basic and middle level skilled human resources for economic development throughout the kingdom.

Purpose and Main Objectives

The primary purpose of CTEVT is to facilitate the growth and development of human resources of the nation. The main objectives that will enable the organization to accomplish this purpose are:

• To provide the necessary support and services to both its own institutions and to private institutions so that training is need-based, effective, and as efficient as possible.
• To encourage the growth of independent ( private ) training providers through support and services which will help them to be effective, efficient and recognized for producing high-quality trainees.
•  To increase the number of trainees, especially women and others representing underprivileged groups, from both government and private training programs.
•  To ensure the quality of middle and basic level TEVT training so that it results in improvement of quality of life, self-employment, wage employment or income generation.

1. The practice of making involvement in the policy, coordination and quality control will be made more comprehensive.
2. As an agency for encouraging others for making their involvement in the TEVT sector, CTEVT will make efforts for     creating favorable working environment for the other training providers.
3. In association with the government, CTEVT will take a lead in providing vocational guidance for the high school students in the country.
4. In order to increase employment in the country and thereby replace the non-nationals from the employment rket,           CTEVT will strengthen skill testing activities in the country.
5. Strong coordination will be maintained between CTEVT, institutions under CTEVT management or affiliated and other stakeholders such as DOL, DCVI, INGOs, NGOs, HMTTC.
6. The support services provided to all training providers will include:
     need-assessment information and training
     development of competency-based (skill-based) curriculum that can be divided into modules and is                             environmentally-sensitive
assist in the development of special training programs to meet the needs of women and other underprivileged groups
 training for trainers
 skill testing and certification
 quality assurance through monitoring, evaluation and examination,
 articulation between various types of training programs e.g. through equivalency certificates based on training standards

7.  The sustainability of the institutions will be enhanced through:
 making involvement of the local governing bodies in the management of the CTEVT managed technical schools. They will be expected to share the operating cost of the particular institutions.
 production of the quality graduates from the private technical and this is expected to help these school maintain themselves for longer.
 regulate the private training providers.
 apprentice-ship training.

Current Activities of CTEVT
 

•  Operation of the 10 Technical Schools.
•  Operation of the 2 VTCD programs.
•  Operation of one Technical Teachers Training Institute.
•  Carrying out manpower needs assessment programs.
•  Granting recognition and accreditation to other TEVT programs and institutions.
•  Development of skills classifications, skills standards and carrying out skill testing.
•  Development of curriculum for long-term and short-term technical training programs.
• Make necessary arrangements for the operation of Polytechnics, apprenticeship training programs by others.
•  Various activities to strengthen the relationship between the employer and CTEVT.

Politics and Priorities in Nepal facing TEVT

The TEVT programs have been given the greater priority in the development activities now. While reviewing the past activities of the government, it is found that there are many attempts made by the government to reduce the challenges faced by TEVT programs and also there are many activities lunched to uplift TEVT sector. By the influence of the past experiences and the future challenges, Government ( CTEVT ) has developed certain Vision and Policies.
 
 

Major Challenges and Constraints

By the Act of Parliament in 1988, CTEVT has the responsibility for formulating policies, coordinating, and implementing all non-university technical education and vocational training (TEVT) programs in Nepal. CTEVT has a challenge of streamlining the country's TEVT system to implement relevant, demand driven, and effective and efficient programs. CTEVT is expected to provide leadership to develop need-based TEVT programs, design and implement competency-based curricula, and standardize skills through skill testing and certification.  Finally, CTEVT is also expected to prepare qualified instructors for TEVT institutions. CTEVT is also expected to assist TEVT institutions to establish linkages with business and industry to promote a smoother transition from TEVT to work.

As a principal agency for policy formulation and coordination of TEVT in Nepal, CTEVT faces several challenges. Some of these challenges are discussed in the following sections.

Need for National Coordination of TEVT

TEVT programs in Nepal are controlled by number of uncoordinated central bodies. Several vocational training are being operated under the auspices of different Ministries and organizations. In addition to government run training programs, there are numbers of other privately run training programs in absence of meaningful coordination and quality control. It has been realized that developing a system to coordinate is a massive challenge for CTEVT. The challenge to CTEVT will be to create an atmosphere in which training agencies do not feel threatened but rather served by the coordinating agency.

Lack of Reliable Labor Market Information

Another challenge facing the TEVT sector in Nepal is the availability of up-to-date and reliable labor market information.  Training programs are not being revised, readjusted or reoriented according to emerging and changing labor market needs. As a result, a mismatch exists between labor market needs and vocational training programs.  This leads to situations where TEVT graduates are unemployed and business and industry are not able to employ trained workers.

Lack of Standard Classification of Occupations

There is no standard classification of occupations to act as a basis for the determination of the skills needed for particular occupation. In the absence of such a classification system, certification, accreditation, skill testing and curriculum development become very difficult.

TEVT Training to Work Connections

The Nepalese TEVT sector is often disconnected from the world of work.  Many students from both general and vocational streams are unable to relate their training and education to their future career goals. Career counseling is neglected and placement services are non existent. The result is high unemployment among general, vocational, and technical education graduates. Instructors without industrial work experience are not being able to make connections between training and employment nor can they prepare successful entrepreneurs.

Concerns Associated with Cost

Technical education and vocational training programs in countries all over the world are known to be more costly than general education programs.  The high cost for delivering technical education and vocational training in Nepal has been a national policy issue for a long time. Therefore, another challenge for the TEVT sector is to seek external assistance for the expansion of training opportunities and examine possibilities to reduce per unit costs of training programs without compromising quality, relevancy and effectiveness.

External Assistance and Sustainability

Developing a TEVT institution requires heavy investment. Therefore, most of the TEVT institutions in Nepal in the past were developed with the external assistance. Assistance from the international agencies need to be continued to further develop and expand TEVT institutions in different parts of Nepal.

There is little cooperation among the agencies to jointly tackle rural poverty and unemployment. Most of the external assistance projects lack realistic planning and plans are not backed up by strategies for sustaining the training programs they start in the future. Another challenge for CTEVT is to seek support from the international agencies and develop sustainable TEVT  through a mechanism that allow training institutions to become increasingly self-sufficient both financially and administratively in the long run.
 
 
 

Need for Standardization and Quality Control

CTEVT is challenged to standardize and control the quality of training provided by public and private TEVT institutions. Because of the diversity of rapidly growing institutions, standardization and control of program quality has become the difficult task.

Quality control of private vocational training institutions operating with a strong profit motive is even more challenging. The general public always questions their quality, relevancy and effectiveness of programs of profit-oriented private institutions.  A great deal of effort will be required to standardize the existing programs by applying effective quality control mechanisms.  The volume of work required to carry out all of the various coordination and support activities will require a large number of highly skilled professional staff .

Post-secondary Technical Education Programs

According to the National Education Commission (1992), CTEVT is supposed to take authority for all non-university Technical Education and Vocational Training programs currently operated by Tribhuvan University (TU).  This sensitive task requires thoughtful planning and implementation strategies.  The scope of CTEVT's work will suddenly expand with the integration of TU technical diploma programs to be brought under CTEVT. This expanded responsibility requires an increased number of capable and experienced professionals within CTEVT. A clear national directive is essential concerning post-secondary technical education programs.

Broader Scope of CTEVT and Need for Decentralization

CTEVT currently has responsibility for managing a wide range of training and education programs - from post literacy vocational training to post- secondary technician education. Management and coordination of those diversified TEVT programs through the current centralized administrative practices is difficult unless institutional management is decentralized. To initiate a dramatic shift from centralized management to a system of site-based management is another challenge for CTEVT.

Shift in Focus from Implementation to Policy Support, Coordination, Quality Control and Provide Services

In recent years, CTEVT has realized a need to change its emphasis from operating its own training programs to investing more time and energy in facilitating and coordinating other training agencies' programs. The shift in focus of CTEVT activities requires strong political support, competent leaders, and motivated, capable, skilled professionals.

Meeting the Market Demand

There is huge demand of trained manpower in the market. However, due numerous reasons we are not in the position to conduct research in all these areas. This is applicable in terms of both quality and quantity of the technical graduates.
Bringing Geographical Balance

Since the beginning of the TEVT development, theoretically, the issue of balanced regional development was one of the important issues. This is why attempts were made to establish technical schools even in the most remote part of the kingdom. However, these establishments are still not sufficient. Very little have been done even in the urban areas.

The issue of unbalanced distribution of technical schools have been more serious due to the growth in number of private technical schools. As these schools are based on market need it is difficult to orient them for balancing regional development. Therefore, CTEVT must work for mitigating these problems.

Access to Vocational Training for Rural Population

Most of the poor population in Nepal lives in the rural areas.  Nepal's rural population is deprived of proper education and training to improve its earnings and productivity.  Expansion of cost effective vocational training opportunities to address the economic and employment needs of rural populations is a significant challenge for CTEVT.

Addressing the Poverty

Though sufficient research are required as how vocational training graduates can combat the poverty in Nepalese context, it is natural to think that with a skill people can make themselves able to solve the day to day problems. This particularly important in the rural areas because with technical education and vocational training, farmers can be expected to increase both production and productivity in a sustainable way.

Reaching the Underprivileged

It is a proven fact that mass of the Nepalese people in both urban and rural areas are underprivileged and therefore, are even unable to imagination about the developed world. The only way to help them is by equipping them with skill. It is expected to help them in generating income.

The experience in the past helps to realize that VTCD programs might be one of the effective tools for achieving it.

Maintaining Gender Balance

Also, it is a general fact that most of the opportunities are male biased. Although the socio-cultural practices have played a great role for the existence of this situation, there is urgent need for bringing change in this situation. Most of the situations which have been vulnerable for women by the lack of ownership over economic aspect. Therefore, to address this aspect, women should be provided with the same opportunity as that available to men.
TEVT graduate support services

Unlike in the past, due to the role of private sector in the TEVT programs, a huge number of  graduates are produced each year. There is possibility of being unemployment problem in the TEVT sector to as that is in the general education stream. Therefore, there is need of encouraging these graduates for initiating their own enterprises. This demands financial and other technical assistance and CTEVT is to take responsibility of this aspect with assistance from the financial sector in the country.
 

Lagislative

The TEVT ACT 1989 (amended in 1995) has assigned a huge responsibility and granted authority to CTEVT to deal the training sector of the country. It has covered the whole area of policy formulation to implementation through quality control of the TEVT sector (refer…). Therefore, all these provisions have made CTEVT a strong agency with legislative power. Hence, this is one of the factors which has made its working environment more effective.

Assistance of International Commitment

Even before the birth of CTEVT, various international communities were involved in the painstaking job of developing TEVT sector. United Mission to Nepal (UMN) and Swiss Development and Cooperation (SDC) are the most important contributors in the TEVT programs. The others are ODA, DANIDA, KOICA, UNESCO.

However, given the need of the country CTEVT is bound to explore such assistance in the coming couple of years. This anticipation has been hopefully fulfilled by the responses of many members of the international community. This has been one of the important strengths of CTEVT.
Recognition

Due to the  services CTEVT has been delivering for the last ten years, to date, it is recognized as the only government agency to deal in the TEVT sector.

Internal Favorable

Expertise

With the experience for more than ten years in the TEVT sector, CTEVT keeps the possibility of serving the country. This has been possible with the expertise in CTEVT. There are more than technical staff with specialization in various fields. This is the unique feature of CTEVT as compared to the other TEVT providers in the country.

Resources

All the technical schools and VTCD centers under CTEVT are well equipped. All these schools possess sufficient resources required for fulfilling the practical aspect of training. These resources include both machinery and buildings. This another strength of CTEVT.

Apart from exceptional cases, HMG has shown its commitment CTEVT by allocating sufficient financial resources.

  Donor's Activities in TEVT sector

 Donor's activities in TEVT sector is very much appreciating from the beginning of TEVT development activities. Donors has supported to establish Technical Schools, Vocational Training and Community Development Centers and even the Polytechnic Institutes which is under consideration in Hetauda, Makawanpur, Nepal. The Donor Agencies are mostly supporting in equipping Technical Schools and RTCs and in providing physical facilities. The major area of involvement by Donor Agencies are:
 

• Infrastructural Development
•  Human Resource Development
•  Software Development
•  Consultancy Services
•  Other Expertise

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation has contributed a lot in assisting TEVT sector from the very beginning. The coordination and cooperation by SDC is appreciating  not only by helping continuously to Balaju Technical Training Center, Jiri Technical School and helping us in shaping Technical Instructor's Training Institute through Swiss Contract. In addition, SDC has helped TEVT in developing the human resources of CTEVT who are now contributing in realizing the goals of CTEVT. More over, CTEVT remember SDC for its support particularly in the  desperate times.

The development of TEVT sector has also been possible to some extent by Danish government through Danish Association for International Cooperation which supported for the establishment of Rural Training Centers to run Vocational Training and Community Development activities which are very useful to bring about the change empowering rural women and marginalized population. United Mission to Nepal is the first Donor in establishing Karnali Technical School in Jumla which is the first technical school and is located in the most remote part of the country. More over UMN has been a life partner of CTEVT by supporting in different TEVT development activities even the Hetauda Polytechnics which is under serious consideration.

Asian Development Bank has been very instrumental in expanding Technical Schools in Nepal. To develop TEVT  programs in Nepal, the loan agreement between Kingdom of Nepal and Asian Development Bank under "Technical Education and Vocational Training Development Project 1989 " is very crucial remarks of bilateral cooperation. The general objective of the project was to strengthen Nepal's technical education system in support of its national development plans. In particular, the project aimed to develop the institutional capabilities of CTEVT, improve the quality and effectiveness of technical education offered in the country's Technical Schools and improve the supply of adequately skilled manpower at the craft and technician levels mainly for the agricultural, construction and health sectors.

One of the strongest partner in the sector was the British Aid in establishing a Technical School in Uttarpani Dhankuta. These are the important contributors in shaping the TEVT sector in Nepal. Equally important partner is Korean Government which provided TEVT an assistance through KIOKA to renovate physical infrastructure in Bharatpur where CTEVT has started Technical School of Health Science. Similarly, CTEVT has expected cooperation from Government of People's Republic of China to establish a Polytechnic Institute in Nepal.

 Numerous organizations, INGOs above been CTEVT's well wishers and contributors like JICA, JOCV, VSO, Peace - Corps Nepal, German-DED, SIAST- Canadian Cooperation etc.
 A brief activities of Donor Agency in TEVT assistance is summarized in the following table.

Zone Institution Donors Trade Areas
Bagmati Balaju Technical Training Center ( Balaju ) SDC/Helvatas Electrical, Sanitation, Mechanical
Sagarmatha Lahan Technical School ( Lahan) ADB/JVS Agriculture, Construction
Janakpur Jiri Technical School ( Jiri ) SDC Agriculture, Construction, Health
Koshi Dhankuta Technical School ( Uttarpani )  BRITISH Agriculture
Karnali Karali Technical School ( Jumla )  UMN Agriculture, Construction, Health
Seti Seti Technical School ( Dipayal ) ADB Agriculture, Construction, Health
Bheri Bheri Technical School ( Nepalganj ) ADB General Mechanics, Auto Mechanics, Plumbing, Welding, Electricity, Electronics, Computer, Office Management
Rapti Rapti Technical School ( Lalmatia )  ADB Agriculture, Construction and Rural Mechanics
Dhaulagiri Dhaulagiri Technical School ( Lete) ADB Lodge Management, Cooking, Food Processing, Fruit & Veg. Production, Livestock Production, Mountaineering
Gandaki Pokhara Tourism Training Center
( Pokhara ) ADB Hotel Management, Travel Agency, Trekking
Bagmati Technical Instructors Training Institutes SDC Instructor Training ( all areas and levels)
Gandaki Lamjung VTCD ( Khudi ) DANISH According to local needs
Gandaki Tanahun VTCD ( Vhimad )  DANISH According to local needs

ning programs will be initiated on the basis of results of Training Needs Assessments. To run these programs successfully, CTEVT will
New Training Programs traiencourage the donor involvement at least in the establishment phase. In additional following principles will be followed:

• CTEVT will continue to make attempt to minimize the number of programs for which it has a total and direct administrative responsibility. Instead, CTEVT will encourage the development of private or autonomous programs, or institutions run in partnership with community institutions and industry associations.
•  Yet, there are situations where CTEVT may directly run programs in a model basis. Using government and donor community resources, it will manage the training programs for:

•  women, underprivileged or deprived people or;
•  brining geographical balance in the TEVT sector;
•  establishing couple of programs in each area during the pilot or development phase. Even in such cases CTEVT should seek means for eventually making these institutions autonomous or private.
•  By the end of the plan period, CTEVT will have five polytechnics in each regional headquarters of its own. Apart from this efforts will be made to run diploma level programs in association with private and independent training providers. Even the CTEVT owned programs will be managed in association with local governing bodies. Polytechnics will dual objectives. On one hand, it will serve as the resource center for the training instructors in the technical schools and the other, it will work with the industry and business in order to produce man power necessary in that sector.
• CTEVT will establish five rural training centers in each region and as it can be managed cost effectively by utilizing the existing resources in good cooperation with government agencies. Working closely with the local bodies, efforts will be made to extend in al districts. This is expected to serve the district with its mobile services.

Short Term Trainees and 'Below TSLC Trainees'

This training will be 'demand-based' and independent training providers will be encouraged to provide much of this type of training. The increasing number of trainees emerging from non-CTEVT run technical training providers is difficult to estimate. However, CTEVT-run technical schools and VTCDs are expected to provide short term training also using mobile approach.

CTEVT Development Partners

Although along with CTEVT number of institutions such as Department of Labor, Department of Cottage and Small scale Industry, Ministry of  Industry, Department of Labor, Local Development Training Academy, Women Development Section, Department of Tourism, Nepal Telecommunication Corporation, Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Health involved in the delivery of training, the traditional thrust on training system has where government has put an increasing emphases on Employment Promotion Committee (EPC).

However, EPC itself suffers from number of difficulties. There is very little that EPC can do in respect of TEVT since it lacks both human resources with sufficient expertise and physical facilities. It will take another decades before EPC is fully recognized by people. On top of all these, it lacks its legislative provision. Yet, due to preference and emphasis given by government its role can not be overlooked.

Community Participation

In the changing world where community might be stronger to address the local needs, their role can be expected to increase. Even as an apex body in the TEVT sector, CTEVT might not be able to address all the needs of the country. It must more concentrate in the policy matters than in the implementation sector. Therefore, it should encourage the community to participate in the TEVT sector. The community might be the local governing agencies like VDCs, Municipalities and DDCs.

They are expected to play an important role in the cost sharing and management of the training institutions.

Private Partners

Given the huge need for delivering training service in the country, it is natural that there is need of heavy involvement from the private sector. Such involvement is expected to increase in the future too as myriad of new training areas have emerged. It will also be so age the government training system has not yet been able to address the market needs. Therefore, before the government mechanism achieves this quality, the role of private sector can not be limited.

The present experience shows that private sector has huge potential to mobilize the resources. It might help government in cost sharing. However, CTEVT as an apex body, should take care of all the quality aspects of  training.

Major Functions of CTEVT

The major activities that have been performed by the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) are as follows:

Service and program development

 the supThe CTEVT serves the country through technical schools, polytechnic and rural training centers. At present, 12 technical schools in 11 zones, one polytechnic and two Rural Training Centers (RTCs) are in operation under its own management. In addition, more than 150 private institutions are run under the CTEVT affiliation. Efforts have been made to streamline all these initiatives to fulfill the government expectations from these programs. In this way CTEVT has contributed a lot in Human Resource Development through its own and through the Private Technical and Vocational Institutions.

In addition to regular programs, these institutions provide skill development opportunities through myriad of short term training programs. All these are expected to address needs of the rural areas and economically disadvantaged community.

Supervision, monitoring and evaluation of these institutions are also done on a regular basis.  The CTEVT has to carry out this job in about 150 training institutions which are scattered all over the country. This makeservision and monitoring task often difficult.
 
 
 

Type of Institution Present Situation Target  Deficiency
Technical School 11 (zones)  14 (zones)   3
Polytechnic    1     5    4
Rural Training Center   2   75  73

As shown by the data, still there is lot to achieve. If the target, it has to obtain is considered, a great challenge remains with the CTEVT. It gives the rationale behind the need of support from government and international community.

The main objective of the Ninth Five Year Plan is to extend the opportunities for basic and middle level skill training as per the human resource development need of the country. The target is to produce 4,995 basic and middle level work-force through long term training and another 20,000 people with skill in various fields produced through short term training programs. For this, efforts will be made to establish and extend polytechnics for fulfilling demand in the industrial sector and RTCs for meeting local needs of rural communities by producing skilled manpower in the local level during this planning period.

Research and Information Dissemination

Under this function, CTEVT has to carry out different types of studies such as needs assessment, follow-up studies, feasibility studies, and other EMIS and LMIS related research studies.  Up to now, the Research and Information Division has conducted 7 feasibility studies, 14 needs assessments, and 4 follow-up studies. Similarly, the division publishes TEVT development journal in an annual basis.  The division also publishes CTEVT news bulletin in a quarterly basis. The division has its experience in providing consultancy in TEVT sector and conducting massive research activities. In long term planning, processing policy related issues, and project development, the division provides a significant contribution.

Skill Testing and Certification

The CTEVT has another major function to develop skill standards and test the people who have informally acquired skills.  This activity of the CTEVT provides opportunity to enhance career of the industry workers and lessens the international labor import in the country.  Skill certified workers are well paid if they go to other countries for work.

The Skill Testing Division which is responsible for this function, has developed over 100 skill standards in various trade areas and in different levels.  Up to now, the division has entertained over 1000 workers as the candidates of skill tests.  Among the testees, 530 candidates have been declared passed and provided skill certificates of various levels.  The division conducts Skill Olympics and the division is planning to develop the dictionary of occupational classification of skills.
 
 

Curriculum and Text Book Development

The CTEVT has another major function of developing curricula and textbooks.  To carry out this function, the CTEVT has a separate division.  The division designs new curricula as per the needs identified by the Council.  The curricula are revised as needs  and technology are changed rapidly in TEVT sector.  The division  develops textbooks  to cover up its  curricula.   CTEVT  extends its  cooperation   and coordination through designing and standardizing the curricula of other training institutions.  The curriculum and Text Book  Development Division has developed 40 Long Term different curricula revised 15 curricula, developed 30 textbooks, 50 short courses and conducted 61 DACUM workshops.

Quality Control

Examination Activities

This division conducts entrance tests, final tests and practical tests.  After administering the tests, this division provides certificates to the successful candidates.  Due to the nature of the course/program, the division administers the test through out the year and entertains about 15000 students.  This division plays a vital role to ensure the quality of the TEVT graduates.

Accreditation and Equivalency

The CTEVT grants accreditation and affiliation to the private institutions. As stated in section 4.1, up to now, more than 150 private training institutions are given temporary affiliation to run the training programs to produce basic and middle level human resource required to the country.  This division also provides equivalency to the people studied/trained in abroad in the related field.

Technical Instructors Training

The CTEVT provides training to instructors involved in TEVT sector.  This is one of the most important elements to ensure quality output in TEVT. Basically TITI under the Council, performs this job. TITI conducts training to equip the instructors in classroom instruction, skill upgrading, management, curriculum development specialist, and other related training areas. TITI provides long term training to 20 people and 1000 person weak as short term training every year. So far, over 2000 persons from within and outside Nepal have been trained by TITI.

Networking and Coordination

The Council has four major functions; service delivery, training implementation, policy formulation and coordination.  In its coordination function, the Council coordinates all the TEVT providers and actors through its instructors training, skill testing, institution accreditation and  equivalency of the training, standardizing curricula and providing EMIS and LMIS information.

In addition, to these training institutions mentioned, there are training centers running under many ministries. Among them those under the Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Agriculture are important ones. Similarly, government is making efforts to train people through Employment Promotion Committee (EPC). But often these programs suffer from duplication because of lack of appropriate coordination among the TEVT stakeholders. This is one of the important problems that is hindering the quality and efficiency of training programs. This has contributed in the misuse of scarce resources.

Current Thrust Regarding Coordination

 Keeping in the mind about the hindrance and duplications of the TEVT programs, a coordination body for this purpose will be formulated in the chairmanship of Vice-Chairman of National Planning Commission. Such an arrangement is expected to solve the problems of coordination with both national and international TEVT stakeholders. The coordination committee consists of  participation by different allies ministries, CTEVT, private sectors, FNCCI and all the TEVT stakeholders.
 

•  Coordination to prevent duplication of training and promote optimal use of limited resources
•  Training needs assessments ( TNA ) information and training
•  Development of competency - based ( skill-based ) curriculum that can be divided into   modules, is environmentally sound, and gender sensitive
•  Assistance in the development of special training programs to meet the needs of women and other underprivileged groups
•  Training for trainers.
•  Quality assurance through monitoring, evaluation and examination
•  Articulation between various types of training programs e.g. through equivalency certificates based on training standards.
•  Conducting research for improvement of TEVT training, and dissemination of this information and latest findings

Institutional Capacity Building

The current TEVT act has provided a huge responsibility to the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT). However, despite CTEVT's efforts, due to the resource constraints, a lot of tasks have not been realized yet. Therefore, along with other improvements, endeavors will be made in developing its institutional capacity which is expected to help to enhance its responsibilities.

At present a number of technical schools are serving the need of the nation. On one hand, these technical schools are insufficient in number. On the other, there is lack of institutions which could supply the necessary human and physical resource in these schools. More importantly, there is a great need of the workforce that could serve the need in the industrial sector. These workforce can be produced only through the polytechnics. Unfortunately, there are not any such capable institutions.
 In addition, government has already decided to phase-out certificate level programs from Tribhuvan University to the other appropriate authorities. However, due to investment constraints in both physical facilities and human resources, CTEVT which is the responsible

Human Resources

In the headquarters of the council, almost 200 staffs are working, however the capacity is for 204 only. Similarly, in its all Institutes those inside and outside the Kathmandu Valley, almost 1000 staffs are working, while the capacity as studied couple of years back were 739. This indicates that CTEVT is suffering from little bit overstaffing problem but it could be due to political interruptions and to some extent it may be due to temporary and contract staff to fulfill the immediate need of the organization. However, the capacity allocation in staffing is not fully reliable as it needs another identification based on the current situation because of the increasing institutes and the diversified trades lunched during this 2 years period.

Other Links
www.ctevt.org.np