KATHMANDU: Kathmandu University School of Education (KUSOED) launched three books amidst a program in the capital on Friday. The books were published by the alumni of Master in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (MTVET) program launched in 2018 by KUSOED.
KUSOED Dean Prof. Bal Chandra Luitel, Gandaki Province Ministry of Finance Secretary Baikuntha Prasad Aryal and CTEVET Vice-Chairperson Khagendra Prasad Adhikari launched three books on different dimensions of skill development for economic development.
Authors –Anil Muni Bajracharya, Sunila Baniya, Bikash Ghaju – based their individual books on their research on important specific dimension of technical and vocational education in Nepal.
Delivering a welcome speech, Prof. Mahesh Nath Parajuli, principal lead of the TVET4Income project, shared that the research findings must contribute to the policy decisions. “The intention of the book launch was to reach as many people as possible with the important research findings and bridge the gap between academia and the policymakers”, he highlighted.
Prof. Luitel expressed how vital a preparation of TVET instructors and TVET managers is in order to address the need of the Nepali TVET sector which has around 70,000 TVET students at present. The Dean also shed light on how KUSOED has already enrolled around 200 students to prepare them as TVET instructors through diverse programs. He mentioned how still it would be insufficient and more comprehensive data of the number of TVET instructors throughout Nepal is still the need of the time.
Aryal encouraged other learners and students to produce their findings as books as such findings provide a background for further research and actions towards the development of the country. Adhikari shared how TVET was not prioritized but now, its importance is clear because a) getting employment has become challenging, and b) practical skills to perform certain tasks will enable people to either go for employment or open their own enterprises.
Author of the book titled ‘Employer’s Involvement in Pre-Diploma TVET Curriculum Development’ in Nepal’, Bajracharya conducted his research to find why the employers’ demands are not met by the graduates’ skills. He found that meaningful employers’ involvement was missing in the curriculum design phase.
Author of the book titled ‘Use of Acquired Skills by Returnee Labor Migrants in the Home Country: A Survey in Nepal’, Baniya was curious to learn about the skills brought by the returnee migrants and their integration to prevent the cyclical nature of migration. One of her many findings were that there were no reintegration guideline, nor any skill profile of the returnee migrants.
Author of the book titled ‘Technical Education in Community Schools (TECS) Instructors’ Experience in Teaching-Learning’, Ghaju wanted to learn about the teacher perception in TVET in technical schools vs. in general schools with technical programs.
One of his major findings were that technical teachers in general schools had no facility like the general teachers had, and the technical schools had better linkages with the employers. He emphasized his finding that technical teachers perceived their teaching job as a part-time job which they could leave anytime if a better opportunity presented itself to them.
KUSOED Associate Dean of External Affairs Dr. Prakash C. Bhattarai shared how these books will reach shelves of all the attendees of the program and more stakeholders and how the issue/s raised or recommendation/s made in these books will be cited by other researchers.
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