ABSTRACT
ANALYSES OF VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN
BANGLADESH FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN
ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM
by

Abul B. M. Bahauddin

The purpose of this study was to investigate the current
situation of vocational—technical education at the secondary level in
Bangladesh in order to develop an alternative system of vocational—

technical education to overcome the existing shortcomings.

Method
Analyses of the study were based on a systematic review and
synthesis of conditions and recommendations published in various
documents. The criteria for selecting material were related to

publications and authors. The selection of publications was based

 

on two criteria: official publications from the then government of
Pakistan and East Pakistan (Bangladesh), and official publications
of agencies and organizations which conducted studies and projects in
Pakistan and/or Bangladesh. The selection of authors was based on
two criteria: associated with the government and/or associated with
organization or agencies which have conducted studies or projects in
Pakistan and/or Bangladesh.

Plans for an alternative system of vocational—technical
education were based on the synthesis of recommendations from

Government documents, authors associated with the Government.

Abul B. M. Bahauddin

international publications related to Bangladesh, and some principles

which have been advocated by other recognized leaders in education.

Findings and Interpretations

 

A serious and widening gap exists between the type of education
required for gainful employment and the existing secondary education
program. Educational leaders recognized vocational education should
be an integral part of the purposes of secondary schools in Bangladesh.
Educational programmes outside the school system such as, training
facilities for adults and out-of-school youth were also lacking
both in urban and rural areas of Bangladesh. In the urban on-the-job
training, upgrading and apprenticeship programmes did not adequately
develop in either the urban or rural areas. The systematic arrangements
and facilities for farmers' training or other training programmes
were not adequately available in Bangladesh. The economic benefit
which might be expected from widespread basic knowledge and application
of science and technology was not materialized in Bangladesh. The
growing numbers of untrained labourers with a high rate of unemployment
has made the situation in Bangladesh extremely alarming.

The existing agencies for vocational-technical education were
not operating effectively as perceived by the leaders. The present
divided administrative responsibility among several departments, had
no common standard for the type and level of training, the lack of
coordination and the duplication of facilities appeared to be the
major source of impediments.

Statements in contemporary government document and by

educational leaders emphasized a desire for a major Shift from the

dominant liberal art programmes to vocational-technical education

Abul B. M. Bahauddin

programmes in high schools. The major obstacles in achieving this
objective, as found in the review were lack of qualified teachers,
equipment, shop-laboratories and supplies. The proposed alternative
system, therefore, emphasized merger of all the vocational-technical
institutions into one at the thana level which is the lowest unit

of the Government's direct administration. The proposed thana

centres as envisaged would serve all the groups such as high school
youth, out-of-school youth and adults which previously were served

by the different departments. This combined and coordinated effort
could be more effective and less expensive than helping each individual
school. This approach might work as one of the best alternatives

to solve the various problems in expanding vocational-technical
education within the limited resources of Bangladesh. The system
might well auger the maintenance of high standards, wider geographical
coverage, greater Opportunities for all engaged in education and
training.

The basic programmes of the proposed thana schools included
the following; secondary school programme, pre-vocational education,
out-of-school youth programmes, adult programmes, work experience
programmes, guidance and counseling programmes, coordination programmes,
instructional deve10pment programmes, teacher education programmes,
research and deve10pment programmes, curriculum for high school
youth and adult programmes and administrative structure of the system.

These proposals were developed with a view to fulfilling the
government's perspective plan in education as has been reflected in

the various documents.

ANALYSES OF VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN
BANGLADESH FOR-THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN
ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM

by

1‘

c-

A( 1‘“.\
Abul ST E? Bahauddin

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Secondary Education and Curriculum

1975

DEDICATION

To cherish the loving memory of my father, Late Khan Sahib
Syeduddin.Ahmed, to whom I stand in debt for my education and knowledge;
and whose last words beaconed me to the path of higher education.

and

To my mother Momtaz Mahal Begum whose enormous support was a

source of strength in completing this humble work in order to fulfill

my father's desire.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

To professor 0. Donald Meaders, my gratitude and appreciation
for his scholarly guidance and constant encouragement and understanding
during the research and writing of the present study. (I gratefully
acknowledge the contributions of)the Late Professor Guy E. Timmons
those aid and encouragement greatly forwarded this study) I wish to
express my thanks and indebtedness to Dr. H. Paul Sweany, Dr. Dale
V. Alam and Dr. Mason E. Miller who served as members of my guidance
committee.

But the greatest debt is the most difficult to express, which
is the debt to my wife, Rita, who made my troubles her own, and through
her kindness and understanding helped ease most of them; my gratitude
for the good fortune of her patience during the innumerable hours I
had to spend with research rather than with her. My loving appreciation
goes to my daughter, Anita, who was born soon after my oral examination
and could not get enough attention from her "busy dad”; to her, I say
a most affectionate "thank you".

Of the many who have helped so generously and whom I thank
en masse, I should mention the name of Mr. Mahbubul Islam, Mrs.
Jahanara Islam, Mrs. Faizunnessa Begum and Mr. A. S. M. Nasiruddin.

Though the study has benefitted from the suggestions and
comments of several scholars, colleagues, and friends, the reSponSibility

of any errors or mistakes remains absolutely my own.

iii

LIST OF TABLES O O O O C O O O O O O 0

LIST OF FIGURES O O O O O O O 0 O O O O O O O O O 0

Chapter

1.

2.

3.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Background of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Objectives of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Basic Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Limitations of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Significance of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Definition of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Overview of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . .

EVOLUTION OF SCHOOLING UNDER FOUR DIFFERENT CULTURAL

AND POLITICAL PERIODS: A BRIEF SURVEY .

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Hindu Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Muslim Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The British Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Pakistan Period . . . . . . . . . . . .

POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES OF EDUCATION AND MANPOWER

DEVELOPMENT IN BANGLADESH . . . . . . . . . . . .

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Overview of Recent Manpower and Educational Policies
Analysis of the System of Secondary Education and

Its Curricular Offerings . . . . . . . . .
Vocational Education for Youth and Adults

Urban Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Rural Sector . . . . . . . .

iv

Page
vii

viii

H

woooxunb-L‘wr—w—a

P‘F‘

15

15
l6
18
20
25

31

31
32

41
47
48
51

Chapter Page

4. VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN BANGLADESH: ITS
STRUCTURE AND PROBLEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Directorate of Public Instruction . . . . . . . . . S8
Directorate of Technical Education . . . . . . . . . 63
Directorate of Labour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Directorate of Commerce and Industry . . . . . . . . 69

An Integrated Analysis of the Programmes and the
Administrative Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Major Problems Faced by the Existing System of

Vocational- Technical Education . . . . . . . . . . 73
Teacher Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Physical Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Student Enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

5. DEVELOPMENT OF AN ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM OF VOCATIONAL

EDUCATION FOR BANGLADESH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Alternative System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Rationale of the Proposed System . . . . . . . . . . 95
Thana as a Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Feasibility of the Proposed System . . . . . . . 98
Basic Programmes of the Proposed Thana Vocational
Technical Centres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Secondary School Programme . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Pre-Vocational Education . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Out-of-School Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Adult Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Guidance and Counseling Services . . . . . . . . 106
Instructional Deve10pment . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Work Experience Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Teacher Education Programme . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Research and Development Programme . . . . . . . 115
Curriculum of the Proposed System . . . . . . . . . 116
The Elementary School Level (Grades I-V) . . . . 118
The Junior High Level (Grades VI-VIII) . . . . . 118
The High School Level (Grade IX-X) . . . . . . . 119
The Post Secondary and Above Levels . . . . . . . 121
Curriculum for Out-of-School Youth and Adult
Programmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Administration and Management Structure of the
Proposed System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
A Board of Control for Vocational- Technical
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
A Manpower Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Governing Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Advisory Committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Faculty Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Academic Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Chapter

vi

6. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . .

Summary of Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Limitations of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Summary of Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DeveIOpment of Schooling Under Different Social-
PhiloSOphical and Economic Foundations . . . . . .
Recent Policies on Education and Manpower . . . .
Secondary Education and Its Curricular Offerings .
Vocational Education for Youth and Adults in Urban
and Rural Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
System of Vocational-Technical Education and Its
Administrative Structure . . . . . . .
Problems of Expanding Vocational -Technical
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Proposed Alternative System, . . . . . . . . . .
Interpretations of Findings . . . . . . . . . . . .
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Recommendations for Further Research . . . . . . . .

APPENDICES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Physical Structure and Related Problems . . . . .
Sparsely Populated Area Study . . . . . . . . . .

Page
132

132
133
133
134

134
135
136

138
140

141
142
144
149
150
154
154
155

156

177

Table

2.1

2.2

2.3

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

4.3

LIST OF TABLES

Regional Development Expenditure . . . . . . . . . . .

Comparison of Educational Expenditures, East and
West Pakistan, by Level, 1948-49 and 1953-54 .

Enrollment by Main Levels of Education, East and
West Pakistan 1948-49 and 1953-54 . . . . .

Comparison of Percent of National Income Spent on
Education in Pakistan and Other Developing
Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Projection of Labour Force, Employment and
Unemployment During Undivided Pakistan (in.Millions)

Number of High Schools Offering Various Courses in
East Pakistan (Bangladesh) During the Year
1968-69 0 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0

Percentage of Educational Attainment of Labour
in Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Admission Capacity, Enrollment and Output of the Two
Levels of Education Administered by the Directorate
of Technical Education During 1965-70 . .

Projection of Teacher Requirement for Vocational
Training Institutes During 1970-75 . . . . . . .

Enrollment According to Curricula in the Different

High Schools (Grade IX and X) of Bangladesh in the
Year 1967-68 0 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0

vii

Page

28

29

30

35

40

45

48

66

75

83

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page
5.1 Visualization of the PrOposed System . . . . . . . . 93
5.2 Thana Vocational Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

5.3 A Vertically Integrated Vocational-Technical
Curriculum for Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

5.4 Administration and Management Structure of the
Proposed System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

viii

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Statement of the Problem

 

The study was designed to investigate the current situation of
vocational-technical education at the secondary level in Bangladesh in
order to develop a feasible system of vocational-technical education

to overcome the existing shortcomings.

Background of the Study

 

The current vocational-technical education in Bangladesh had
its roots in the history of the sub-continent. Before 1947, under the
British colonial rule, the kind of vocational education developed was
meant to prepare the youth for gOvernment services in the clerical cadres.
The curricula of the secondary education programmes contained
considerable emphasis on literary subjects. The vocational education
for preparing clerks was also limited to only a few individuals and
not readily available throughout the country. The system of education
did not include curricula to prepare students to enter other occupational
areas such as agriculture, commerce and industry.

During the period of Pakistan since 1947, the system of education
at the secondary level remained virtually the same as that inherited from
Britain. There was very little emphasis on preparation of individuals
to enter economically useful activities. In other words, the system

was not designed to meet the needs and interests of adolescents to enter

a variety of careers which were necessary for national development.
This resulted in a serious imbalance between educational output and
Societal needs. On the one hand, there was an excess of liberal arts
graduates and on the other,there was a dearth of skilled manpower.
This was also recognized in the proposals for a new education policy
by the government of Pakistan;

After independence, although an expansion in educational

facilities did take place, no changes in the basic

structure of the education system were introduced.

The result has been that our educational institutions

have continued to produce white collared generalists

who seek Government service. Naturally, enough

employment opportunities in the Government service

cannot expand at a rate higher than the overall growth

rate of the national economy which itself has been

kept in check by the non-availability of technically

trained personnel because the educational system has

not produced them. A colossal waste of national resources

has obviously taken place and one of the reasons for

it has been that we have failed to adapt our educational

policies to the changed requirements of an independent

nation (85:22).*

However, on March 26, 1971, Bangladesh became a free and
independent nation in the Indian sub-continent, fulfilling the
aspiration of its people for a homeland to which so many had pledged
and sacrificed their lives and their fortunes. The energy of millions
of people were needed for the task of building a proud and prosperous
nation. Education in Bangladesh was expected to play a vital role in
developing the new nation.

There was also increasing realization in Bangladesh that the

present educational system founded by colonial rule was not adequate

to prepare youngsters and adults for the development of the country.

 

*85 indicates bibliography number and 22 is the page number of
the same reference.

Change in the scope and programme of education was considered necessary
to provide educational opportunities through which people could achieve
the economic security and social well-being consistent with the goals
of the nation.

Change is seldom easy to accomplish because change may threaten
the pattern of life and work of many. Some of the forces that impede
change include lack of funds, gaps in knowledge and outmoded administra—
tive patterns. However, the forces which hinder change in vocational
education may be partially overcome as the leaders in this field are
able to redesign programmes of vocational education to more effectively
serve society. This study was an attempt to examine the existing
situation of vocational education at the secondary level of Bangladesh
in order to develop a system to serve the educational needs of this

new nation.

Objectives of the Study

 

The objectives of the study were as follows:

1. To examine the current Situation of vocational-technical
education at the secondary level in Bangladesh with respect
t0:

a. recent policies on education and manpower,

b. secondary education and its curricular offerings,

c. opportunities for vocational education for youth and
adults,

d. administrative structure of vocational-technical
education,

e. teacher supply for vocational-technical education,

f. availability of physical facilities including
laboratories and requisite equipment.
g. student enrollment in vocational-technical education
programmes, and
2. To develop an alternative system of vocational-technical
education for Bangladesh to overcome the existing short-

comings.

Basic Hypothesis

 

The basic hypothesis of this study was as follows:

The present system of vocational-technical education at the
secondary level in Bangladesh is not serving the ultimate
goals of producing trained manpower for overall development
of the country as effectively as formal and informal leaders
believe it should.

Assumptions

 

The following assumptions were made as a basis for conducting
the study:

1. That a theoretical model of vocational and technical
education at the secondary level in Bangladesh can be developed by
synthesizing recommendations from relevant literature and educational
data.

2. That appropriate vocational education for the people will
help achieve national self-sufficiency and raise the level of living.

3. That vocational-technical education Should be provided at
the secondary level because that is the level at which large numbers

of students enter the world of work.

4. That an alternative system may be a solution to the
existing problems in the vocational-technical education programmes
at the secondary level in Bangladesh.

5. That the outcomes of this study may provide a basis for

improvement and promote further analysis on the subject.

Methodology

 

Due to the recent war and abnormal situation in Bangladesh,
it was not possible to collect primary data. The study was based on
reliable secondary data. The researcher also used his personal
observation and knowledge of the situation of vocational-technical
education at the secondary level in Bangladesh.

Criteria for selecting material for review were as follows:

Publications:
1. Official publications from the Government of Pakistan and
East Pakistan/Bangladesh; and
2. Official publications of agencies and organizations which
conducted studies and projects in Pakistan and/or

Bangladesh.

Authors:
1. Associated with the governments and/or,
2. Associated with organizations or agencies which have
conducted studies or projects in Pakistan and/or Bangladesh.
The publications were reviewed to determine the findings and
interpretations of findings reported by the various authors. These

findings, interpretations and recommendations were then synthesized

in order to establish the central focus of weaknesses, strengths,
and recommendations for change as reported by recognized government
agencies and various experts.

In analyzing information related to the first objective, the
current situation of vocational-technical education at the secondary
level was examined in terms of: recent policies, secondary school
curricula, availability of vocational programmes to youth and adults,
administrative structure, teacher supply, physical facilities and
student enrollment.

In analyzing information related to the second objective, an
attempt was made to develop an alternative system of vocational-technical
education on the basis of the synthesis of recommendations from
government documents, authors associated with the government and some
principles which have been advocated by recognized leaders in education.
In developing the outline or framework of the proposed system, emphasis
was given to (a) the various functions of the system, (b) administrative
structure, and (c) curriculum which would enable the system to meet
the needs of the nation.

Several key questions were used by the researcher to guide his
review of the literature for the study:

1. To what extent do the government's recent plans and policies

meet the educational needs?

2. How appropriate was the curriculum at the secondary level in
fulfilling the needs of the nation as well as the needs of
individual students?

3. To what extent were the vocational-technical programmes

available to youth and adults who needed such training?

4. How appropriate was the administrative structure for
vocational-technical education?

5. How adequate was the supply of trained teachers for
vocational-technical education?

6. How adequate were the various kinds of physical facilities
including laboratories and requisite equipment in the
schools?

7. How adequate was the student enrollment in vocational-
technical education at the secondary level?

8. Were the proposed alternative systems of vocational-
technical education at the secondary level feasible for

Bangladesh?

Limitations of the Study

The following limitations were acknowledged for the purpose of
conducting this study:

1. The study covered both formal and nonformal education, but
the formal education was limited to the secondary stage of high school
level (i.e., matriculation and equivalent level in Bangladesh). Emphasis
was placed on formal education.

2. Analyses were made by using selected secondary data which
had been compiled by various agencies, institutions and individuals.

3. The study was confined to the institutions offering
vocational-technical education open to the general public and did not
include in-service training offered by other institutions under govern-

ment and quasi-government organizations.

4. Publications produced during 1947-71 were used to analyze
the situation of vocational-technical education. Most of these

publications were not a direct product of the Bangladesh government.

Significance of the Study

Skilled and educated manpower is the hope of the present and
promise of the future of Bangladesh. For a country like Bangladesh,
with few minerals discovered and other natural resources, education
becomes a very important tool of government to promote development.
However, for the first time in recent history, Bangladesh has had the
opportunity to use the resources of its country for its own development.

The problems of deve10pment are many and varied in Bangladesh.
Resources are limited whereas problems seem unlimited. Very limited
industrial development and low productivity in agriculture provide an
insufficient base to feed the teeming population which is increasing
at the rate of three percent per year. There are few skilled workers
at all occupational levels in industry, agriculture and other fields.
Yet, the future of Bangladesh probably lies with the people, the one
resource which Bangladesh possesses in abundance. Hence, one of the
greatest assets of Bangladesh is manpower; but this asset can only
become the indicator of national wealth if its energies can be released
through a combination of appropriate skills and training accompanied
by appropriate government policies. Appropriate skills and knowledge
on the part of the people would then be a great national asset
instead of a burden and a constant snag to the economy of Bangladesh.

The implications of vocational-technical education for the
development process of Bangladesh are very important. The key factors

among many for economic development include capital, technology and a

skilled labour force. Among these three, capital can be borrowed

and technology can be adopted to the special conditions of the
country, but it is not feasible to loan the services of skilled labour
for a country like Bangladesh where labour is abundant or super-
abundant. It is desirable that the resident people be trained so that
they can participate in the nation building works.

From the point of view of social development, education in a
society should provide individuals with experiences whereby they can
learn to live and to earn a living. Therefore, vocational education
should be an integral part of the total education process.

In the nation building efforts of Bangladesh, the importance
of education and right kind of education cannot be overlooked. It is
necessary to consider this question and to develop the educational
policy and programme suited to the talents of its people and with
regard to the modern conditions and vast developments that have taken
place all over the world.

For a balanced development between social infra-structure and
production and physical infra-structure in Bangladesh, a high priority
needs to be given to the role of vocational-technical education at the
secondary level. This level in the educational ladder is universally
recognized as a critical one. It is a terminal stage for a large
number of students who then enter into the world of work. It is the
level of education where character building and leadership must be
developed. Secondary school students Should be provided with the
requisite skills and intellectual ability to cope with the various

needs of the society.

10

Life in a democracy is characterized by the opportunity for
individuals to make occupational, social, and intellectual choices.
Citizens in a democratic society like Bangladesh should have the
opportunity to prepare for any occupation they might choose and there
should be training readily available. In addition, the vocational-
technical education programmes should be of such size and scope as
to meet the qualitative and quantitative needs of the nation for
trained workers.

It is, therefore, considered important to take stock of
performance to-date and deal with the basic weakness of the existing
system of secondary education before going blindly ahead to compound
them through further expansion. The country can ill afford a gross
waste of economic and human resources.

In view of the above circumstances, it is, therefore, imperative
to investigate the current situation of vocational-technical education
at the secondary level in Bangladesh and to critically review the
nature of the recommendations which have been made to improve the

education.

Definition of Terms

 

For the purpose of this study some terms were defined and used

as follows:

Technical and vocational education--(The definition adopted at
the UNESCO international meeting of experts in 1962 was used.)

"technical and vocational education is taken to mean any form of

11

education relating to the practical, theoretical and general preparation
of persons for specific callings in agriculture, industry and commerce."

(53:3).

Technical training centres--institutions under the Directorate
of Labour, Bangladesh at the secondary level which offer vocational
and technical education courses to prepare peOple for employment at

the level of skilled worker.

Vocational training institutes-~institutions under the
Directorate of Technical Education, Bangladesh at the secondary level
which offer vocational-technical education courses to prepare peOple

for employment at the level of skilled worker.

Pilot secondary schools--twenty-one experimental high schools
under the Directorate of Public Instruction, Bangladesh; administered
through Bangladesh Education Extension.Centre, to demonstrate
implementation of diversified vocational courses to other secondary

schools of Bangladesh.

Multilateral high schools--high schools under the control of
Directorate of Public Instructions, Bangladesh, designed to offer at
least three or more courses out of diversified programmes of agriculture,
commerce, industrial arts, home economics, advanced science and
humanities, besides the compulsory subjects which are common in all

high schools of Bangladesh.

Secondary high school or secondary school--any institution

 

offering instruction from grade VI to grade X to prepare students for

12

matriculation or secondary school certificate examination conducted by
the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education. Secondary school
applies to all categories whether boys or girls, government or private,

pilot or nonpilot, multilateral or bilateral school; used interchangeably.

Thana--original meaning, police station in Bangladesh. The
smallest administrative unit of the government of Bangladesh. A

thana has several unions, wards, and villages.

Epign--a unit of local self-government made up of several
wards. A ward consists of several small villages or sometimes a
larger village may contain more than one ward. There are 4,053
unions, 40;000 (approximately) wards and 60,000 (approximately)

villages in Bangladesh.

Thana training and development centres~-training facilities

 

at the thana headquarters established by the Department of Rural Works
in the thana government; the programme is to train village leaders

and other staff of different rural development projects.

Thana vocational-technical education programme--a comprehensive

 

vocational-technical education programme in the geographical area of

a thana through some selected thana vocational technical centres.

Thana vocational-technical centres-—”Thana vocational-technical

 

centre" and "thana centres” are used interchangeably and refer to
some specialized schools in a thana meant for implementing thana
vocational-technical education.

Private industry--industry established and run by a management

 

other than the government.

13

Qpalified teacher--"qualified teacher" and "trained teacher”
are used interchangeably and refers to teaching staff with a
baccalaureate degree in the subject-matter of their teaching assign-
ment and one academic year of pedagogic training from a recognized

teacher preparation institution.

Crore--one crore is 1,00,00,000 equivalent to ten million

(10,000,000).

Overview of the Study

 

The first chapter has dealt with the introductory statements
for conducting the study: the problem, background, objectives,
methodology, assumptions, Significance of the study and definition of
terms used.

Chapter 11 contains a brief historical perspective for
the development of schooling in Bangladesh including a brief history
of the development of vocational education. This background information
provides some insight to the social-philosophical foundation of
education including vocational—technical education in Bangladesh.

In Chapter III, the manpower and educational need for
Bangladesh as described in various publications was identified. These
sources were used in describing the situation of vocational-technical
education in Bangladesh.

Chapter IV contains information about the existing structure
of vocational-technical education in Bangladesh and its major problems.

In Chapter V, plans for an alternative system of vocational-

technical education {or Bangladerh were developed. This alternative

14

system was based on the synthesis of recommendations from government's
documents, studies, authors associated with the government and other
recognized leaders in education.

Chapter VI contains a summary of the findings, conclusions,

recommendations, and suggested directions for future research.

CHAPTER II

EVOLUTION OF SCHOOLING UNDER FOUR DIFFERENT
CULTURAL AND POLITICAL PERIODS: A

BRIEF SURVEY

Iatroduction

From time immemorial, there has been a conscious effort on the
part of first, parent and later, others to prepare the children and
youth to conquer their physical world. Long before conscious education
through schools, children were taught to work by their parents. The
craftsman's shop was in his home and vocational education was a matter
of handing down from generation to generation the skills and knowledge
necessary to each craft. Some individuals were also trained as warriors
for using weapons to protect and expand the territories of the tribe
or nation.

However, civilization evolved out of specialized knowledge and
skills which were developed to satisfy basic needs and then those more
subtle and refined needs. All sciences, arts and crafts, and industries
grew by successive inventions, discoveries and refinement. Man can
become fully human, only by building a civilization and it is through
different skills and efficiency of work that he can build a civilization.

It has already been mentioned that vocational and technical
education is an integral part of the total education of individuals.

The development of education and schools in Bangladesh, includes the

16

development of vocational and technical education. So it becomes
imperative to examine the history of the present day vocational
education system in Bangladesh which has evolved under different
political, social and economic conditions.

The People's Republic of Bangladesh is a new nation with the
eighth largest population in the world. In population, it is somewhat
smaller than Brazil, the seventh most pOpulous nation and somewhat
larger than West Germany. Although Bangladesh is a new state, it is
not a new land. It was the seat of many ancient civilizations of the
world. It is a country with a rich heritage of educational values.
The existing educational status of Bangladesh has had four main periods
of cultural and political impacts: the Hindu period, the Muslim

period, the British period, and the Pakistan period.

The Hindu Period

 

During the ancient Hindu period the emphasis of education was
on religious and mythological literatures. The system of education
was essentially religious and personal in a sense that the pupil had
to learn from his teacher by devoted service and living with him. The
teacher taught the pupil how to pray, to offer sacrifice, and to perform
his duties according to his state of life. The method of learning at
home or in school was through memorizing subject matter (ZED.

During the Hindu period, education was confined to the
"Brahmins" or priestly class. The Hindu society was self-divided into
different vocational classes which gradually hardened into rigid
castes, namely ”Brahmins” (priests), "Kshatriyas" (nobles and warriors),

"Vaisyas" (agriculturalists and traders), and the great mass of

17

population was classed as "sudras" (untouchables and lower class people).
Each class carried on a particular occupation in the society. The
occupation of the individual was determined by birth and the children
were taught to work in the family: the daughters by the mothers and
sons by the fathers. According to Keay; "Each experienced priest
(Brahmin) probably taught his sons or nephews the ritual lore and
hymns which were in the family by letting them repeat over and over
again after him until all had been committed to memory, and probably
each family guarded the secrecy of its own sacred tradition" (14:3).

Later on, three types of educational institutions gradually
evolved which were known as, the "Parishads" (assemblies of elders),
the "T015" (Brahmin schools of Sanskrit learning) and the "Pathsalas”
(elementary school). The first two institutions were almost exclusively
for Brahmins or the priestly class. The third one, elementary schools,
gave instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic which were open
to all except the untouchables. As described by Sen,

The primary schools existed in all the large villages

and usually consisted of a dozen to twenty pupils with

a teacher, assembled under a tree or in temple, shed

or other building set apart for the purpose. The

teacher was an official of the community and either

received rent-free lands or a share of the village

harvest. His chief function was to offer worship

to the village deity on behalf of the villagers,

and his subsidiary function was to instruct the

children of the three higher castes in the three

R's and the precepts of the puranic legends" (21:17).

Just before the advent of the Muslim period, Buddhism emerged
in India for a short period (629-645 A.D.) as a powerful religious
movement fighting its way with Hinduism. Buddhism tried to break the

Brahmin's monopoly in education but could not succeed. Shortly there-

after, Hinduism revived, and Buddhism eventually succumbed to virtual

18

death in its land of origin. Although Buddhists ruled for a short

period of time, they left a deep impression on the thoughts and ideals

of democracy and prepared the ground for social and educational change.
However, education in the Hindu period was not democratic.

Because of the caste system, no individual in the lower class had an

opportunity to make changes in his social, occupational, and intellectual

life. Patterns of life were fixed. Under such a social condition, any

development of a formal vocational education system was very difficult

if not impossible.

The Muslim Period

 

The Muslims from central and Western Asia came to India as
conquerors and settled down in the country and subsequently made it
their home. However, the Muslim period started from the eleventh
century and continued uninterrupted until 1757 when British rule was
established.

During the Muslim period, emphasis was on the democratic
principles of universal brotherhood, tolerance and social justice. The
practical application of the principles of universal brotherhood resulted
in the abolition of all previous artificial social ranks, and required
everybody to workWho wished to eat. Society under Muslim rule had a
cultural commitment to democracy: freedom of individuals and the
fundamental human right of education. Under this new social order,
the educational philosophy was, education for all, irrespective of
caste, creed, and colour. New stress was: ”Brotherhood of truth is
one in all ages; it is narrow men who create sects (1:883)." The Muslim

rulers applied the principles of the prophet Muhammad's teachings, which

19

were: "Acquisition of knowledge is incumbent upon all the faithful,
men as well as women; to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave;

. "Go unto China in quest of knowledge;" which was a far-off land
and a country of non-believers in Islam.' ("Hadis" means sayings of
the prophet Muhammad.)

According to Nath Law, a well developed education system
emphasizing education as a preparation for life existed at that period.
The curriculum of secondary and higher stages of schooling included
study of ethics, arithmetic, accounts, agriculture, geometry, astronomy,
economics, art of administration, physics, logic, natural philosophy,
algebra, divinity and history (15).

Scientific and vocational education which linked education
with actual life was emphasized in the system of education. Agricul-
tural education was specially developed since the main occupation of
the people was agriculture. Large amounts of money were spent for
the development and improvement of agriculture and irrigation systems.
Names of rulers like Sher Shah, Jehangir, Akbar, and Shajahan may be
mentioned as great patrons of agricultural development.

Regarding physical facilities available for education, "Max
Muller, on the strength of official documents and a missionary report
concerning education in Bengal (now Bangladesh) prior to British
occupation, asserts that there were then 80,000 native schools in Bengal,
or one for every 400 of population (10;5),"

One UNESCO study indicated that,

The rulers of Muslim India, were, however, great patrons

of education and provided large sums of money to make it

widely available. The names of Mahmud of Ghazni, Feroz

Shah Tughlak, Sekander Lodhi, Akbar, Jehangir, Shahjahan
and Alamgir stand out particularly in this respect.

20

Except during a few periods, the royal courts were
thronged by renowned poets, philosophers, litterateur
and historians, who for all practical purposes, formed
a learned society with a monarch presiding, and
provided the motive force in the cultivation and
promotion of education. This body frequently acted as
an advisory body in educational matters (12:16)."

Considering all these historical evidences it is apparent

that the main emphasis of general and vocational education during the

Muslim period was for social development; thereby laying the basis of

social-philosophical foundations of vocational education.

power.

The British Period
After the Muslim rule, the British took control as a colonial

The British period started in 1757 and continued until 1947.

According to Adams and Bjork;

Studies

As early as the fifteenth century the riches of
the Indian sub-continent attracted adventurous
European traders. By the mid-nineteenth century,
when India passed from the authority of the East
India Company into the control of the British
Government, it was considered the richest jewel
in the colonial empire (2:76).

This statement also corroborates with a study paper of Pacific
Center by Carnoy;

Before its mid-eighteenth century conquest by the
British, Bengal's industrial development was what
a British commission in 1918 described as 'not
inferior to that of the more advanced European
nations'. Its cottage textile industry exported
large quantities of fine cotton and silk cloth
throughout the East and to Europe. More than
self-sufficient agriculturally, Bengal exported
rice, sugar, and butter. As part of the Mogul
Empire--the civilization of the Taj Mahal--Bengal
was EurOpe's equal, perhaps its superior, in
everything but arms. Entering Dacca at the head
of a victorious army in 1757, Lord Robert Clive
exclaimed that 'this city is as extensive,
populous, and rich as the city of London' (26:4).

 

'lv

 

21

During the colonial rule, British policy was ma1n1y commercial
exploitation of the country. It was a source of supply of raw
materials and cheap labourers for the industrialized United Kingdom.
Tax free imports of finished products from U.K. led to the destruction
of the local indigenous industries. The people who were engaged in
local industries and others producing sophisticated handmade products
by cottage industries were completely ruined. The British used
extreme measures to maintain control (e.g., amputating fingers of the
weavers in Bengal, who produced the world famous Muslin silk). As
described by Carnoy,

i

After first using tariffs and outright prohibition to

remove Bengali cloth from British and European markets,

the British introduced machine-made goods into the

Indian market. Within a few years Bengal's cottage

textile industry was dead, its practitioners pushed into

subsistence agriculture.

By 1850, once-thriving Dacca had shrunk from Clive's

'London' of 150,000 people to a village of 20,000.

And India was absorbing a quarter of Britain's textile

output, providing for the employment of an eighth of the

English working class (26:4).

During the early period of British rule no development of
education took place. However, the systems of education that were
developed during previous centuries, were doomed. Instead of any
educational development for the welfare of the people, they exploited
the country commercially to its fullest extent.

The same outlook was found in the field of agriculture. The
colonial power was only interested in agricultural revenues and
utterly neglected any development and improvement of agriculture in

the country. In 1793, colonial rule under Lord Cornwallis, introduced

a new system of land settlement known as Permanent Settlement. Under

22

the system, the proprietory rights of the land were vested in "Zaminders"--
a privileged class of people who were responsible nacollect agricul-

tural revenue. In the land revenue system, British rulers had no

direct touch with the land and farmers of the country; hence they

never felt the necessity of undertaking any development scheme for
agriculture. As stated by Carnoy,

In the space of five years the company allowed Bengal's

extensive irrigation system to fall into ruin and

raised taxes so precipitously that farmers were forced

to give up seed and livestock. The resulting famine in

the early 17703 brought death by starvation to fully

a third of the Bengal nation. But British capital

increased by gigantic amounts from its plunder of

Bengal, fueling the first stages of the industrial

revolution in England (26:4).

Due to lack of any development in agriculture and education
in the past, Bangladesh like many other developing countries previously
ruled under colonial power, faced tremendous difficulties in improving
agriculture. Farmers still follow primitive methods of cultivating
land, even though, Bangladesh presently is completely dependent on an
agrarian export economy.

In the first century of the colonial rule, the British were
mostly busy with the consolidation of their conquests, fighting with
'French and local people. They were not interested in the educational
welfare of the country. "During a debate in 1793, one member of the
British Parliament remarked, we . . . lost our colonies in America by
exporting our education there; we need not do so in India, too (18:32)."

After nearly a century of educational vacuum and darkness,

Britain introduced the first measures of education reform. The main

purpose of this new educational system was to create a small privileged

23

class of educated elite people to serve as leaders of illiterate
masses and to do the clerical job of administration. A decisive blow
was intended against the orientalists: "Macauly argued for an
education that would . . . form a class of persons, Indian in blood
and color but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and intellect
(4:601)." To strengthen this educational objective, the secondary
and higher education curricula were based on Western humanities and
liberal arts.

This new system of English education led to bifurcation in the
strong traditional mainstream of education which had a direct link
between people and their soil. The old system was not allowed to
survive through state negligence and therefore it became obsolete by
cutting off gainful employment. The product of the new educational
system isolated the elite group from the masses of people and created
a class by itself assuring the right of all privileges for themselves.
Lord Macauly's minutes (1935) considered that there was little in
Indian language and culture that could be used for education. As
viewed by Andrews, "He wanted to sweep away everything of the past and
to modernize entirely, on English lines-~to write on the clean state
of the Indian mind the word 'English' (3:26).”

Gradually the older well organized educational system which
was built through centuries by Muslim rulers, incapable of being
dynamic and vitalizing, increasingly turned attention toward its
glorious past; and the Muslims of British-India refused to accept this
new education. The Muslims viewed the new education as a borrowed and
imitated article. It did not cooperate with the national genius of its

being and hence it was powerless to enrich the likelihood of its soul.

24

As observed by a Briton, Sir William Wilson Hunter:

Before the country passed on to us, they (Muslims) were

not only the political but the intellectual power in

India. They possessed a system of education which, to

use the words of the Indian statesman who knew them best,

however inferior to that which we have established, was

yet no means to be despised; was capable of affording

a high degree of intellectual training and polish; was

founded on principles not wholly unsound, though

presented in an antiquated form; and which was much

superior to any other system of education then

existing in India; a system which secured to them

an intellectual as well as material supremacy (13:168).

However, Muslims after'their long period of remaining aloof from
the new education, ultimately accepted it under the influence of the
Aligarh MOvement sponsored by Sir Syed Ahmed.

In 1954, British parliament felt the responsibility of creating
a regular school system from primary to the university level in India.
The memorandum of Sir Charleswood recommended many developments in
education. But no serious attempts were made for the implementation
of his recommendations. In fact, Lord Curzon's University Act of 1904,
the Government of India Resolution of 1913 and the Calcutta University
Commission's Report of 1919, recommended some changes in the area of
liberal arts at the university level and paid no attention to the
development of vocational-technical education in the field of agriculture,
commerce and industry. During this period of the twentieth century, a
few local philanthropists came forward to establish some small vocational
schools, and orphanages where weaving, spinning, knitting, sewing, and
other handicrafts were taught. The Ahsanullah School of Engineering
at Dacca was perhaps the only school worth mentioning.

It can be seen that no systematic attempt was made by the

British to develop a sound system of vocational-technical education

25

‘with a wide scope for all. The kind of vocational education developed
was for the preparation of clerks to run the civil administration and

was limited for a few. The system of education under the British paid
no attention in other vocational fields such as, agriculture, commerce

and industry.

The Pakistan Period

Pakistan developed as a result of the partition of the Indian
sub-continent on August 14, 1947. For twenty-three years, Bangladesh
was a part of Pakistan, and known as East Pakistan. December 16, 1971
was recorded as the day of dismemberment. Disintegration of Pakistan
began on March 25, 1971 when the generals of West Pakistan launched
their mission of suppressing the electoral decisions of the majority.
Eight months later there were some 250,000 persons dead, ten million
displaced citizens, thousands of raped women and orphaned children.
Later the disintegration of Pakistan climaxed in the surrender of West
Pakistani's 100,000 soldiers. Few nations can claim.a chapter so
dark in their history. The causes as expressed in an editorial of a
Pakistani magazine were:

Power was concentrated in the bureaucracy and the

army, both trained and tested by colonial Britain,

aided and armed by imperial America. The poor were

disfranchised; government unaccountable to the

public. The callousness of our rulers was undiscrimi-

nating. Yet the more disadvantaged people of East

Pakistan could only comprehend their condition as

caused by regional discrimination. Their efforts to

exercise their rights as a majority peOple were

subverted in 1954, 1956, 1958, and 1969. In 1971

they were utterly brutalized.

. . our armed forces are better trained to occupy
the country than to defend it. The bureaucracy is

raised to rule the people not to serve them. Their
colonial ethos, authoritarian structure, mediocre

26

standards, and managerial outlook were suited to the

service of their foreign mentors, and are unfit for

a modern, independent nation (54:2).

The roots of disintegration in Pakistan. date back to Britain's
withdrawal from its Indian empire in 1947. Because India's Muslim
minority feared domination by the Hindu majority, a new state-~"Pakistan"
was created from predominantly Muslim areas of the Indian sub-continent.
Muslim.areas in the northwest became West Pakistan. Although East
Bengal was separated from West Pakistan by approximately 1000 miles
of Indian territory, it was included in the new state as East
Pakistan because its people were mostly Muslims. But there were
profound differences between the two Pakistans. They had different
languages and different cultures. The people in the West were mostly
tall and light-skinned. Their land was largely arid. East Pakistan,
by contrast, was tropical, and the people mostly small and dark-skinned.
But the imposition of one-nation-state model on a practically two-
nation-state through a centralized, authoritarian and non-representative
political system intensified the regional alienation to the breaking
point.

Bangladesh's p0pulation before it became independent stood
at 78 million as compared with 58 million in West Pakistan; but
Islamabad, in West Pakistan was the capital and the centre of all
governmental control. West Pakistan, moreover took 80 percent of the

jobs in the civil service, 90 percent of the posts in the armed

forces (67).

.Ah

 

27

Democratic institutions in politics never really took root
in Pakistan. As observed by Feldman,

By 1954 the real power had been assumed by the
bureaucracy and guaranteed in a caretaker role by
the military. Quite symbolic of this significant
change was the dismissal of the National Government,
the dissolution of the national parliament and the
appointment of the chief of the Armed Forces as a
Minister in the new government (8:65).

And in 1958 the military seized power and continued ruling
the country until 1971.

Inspite of all these incidents, the main cause for creating
a sovereign independent state of Bangladesh evolved because of the
control of the East Pakistan economy by the West Pakistani elite
and their treatment of their colonial subjects. As observed by
Carnoy,

The West Pakistani elite, which has monopolized the

international aid funds granted for the government's

first and second five-year plans, and has siphoned off

the international exchange generated by East Bengal's

jute export, is partially responsible for the lack of

industry in the East. Since independence, West

Pakistani capitalists have replaced Calcutta's rich

Hindus as owners of the jute processing mills and

export firms. If East Bengal could free itself of

West Pakistani imperialism, it would have a favorable

balance of trade. Its jute, just prior to the current

crisis, was earning half of Pakistan's total income

from commodity exports--some $150 million a year
(26:4).

The legendary 22 West Pakistani monopolist families controlled
80 percent of the banking, 70 percent of insurance and 66 percent of
industrial assets of Pakistan. East Pakistan interests were never
safeguarded in the distribution of national revenue, of foreign exchange
and of central government expenditure, which can be seen in Table 2.1

with data about the five-year plan expenditures.

28

Similarly, in the field of education, discriminatory policies
were adopted in the educational development of East Pakistan. This
disparity of educational development between East and West Pakistan
started from the beginning of the Pakistan period in 1948. Table 2.2
gives the picture of disparity in education expenditure in 1948-1949

and in 1953-1954.

Table 2.1

Regional Development Expenditure (In Million
Rupees: 21 U.S. Cents Equal One Pakistani

 

 

 

 

 

Rupee)
Second Plan Third Plan
1960-65 1965-70
Sector East Pakistan West Pakistan East Pakistan West Pakistan
(Bangladesh) (Bangladesh)

Public
Sector 6700 10,800 11,300 13,700
Private
Sector 3000 10,700 5,500 16,000
Total 9700 21,500 16,800 29,700
Distribution
Percentage 31% 69% 36% 64%

Source: ”Economic Development in East Pakistan”, Federal

Intervention in Pakistan, background Report VI, Information Division,
Embassy of Pakistan, Washington, D. C. June, 1971.

 

M

M

 

29

Table 2.2

Comparison of Educational Expenditures,
East and West Pakistan, by Level,

1948-49 and 1953-54

 

 

 

Level of Egpenditures (Rupees)g4 Annual
Education 1948-49 1953-54 Rate of
Change
Primary:
East Pakistan
(Bangladesh) 17,133,257 23,585,280 6.6
West Pakistan 20,078,851 40,371,272 15.0
Secondary:
East Pakistan
(Bangladesh) 4,633,380 5,378,680 3.0
West Pakistan 8,371,413 18,767,662 17.5
College & University:
East Pakistan
(Bangladesh) 2,528,541 4,007,200 9.7
West Pakistan 3,247,938 16,536,565 38.5

 

Source: Education Section, Planning Commission, A Brief
Review or the Progress of Education Since Partition, Edn. 23, March,

 

1955.

The enrollment figures of the three main levels of education

in early Pakistan (period of 1948) indicates, that enrollment in East

Pakistan in all the three levels was higher than West Pakistan but

expenditures for educational development in West Pakistan were

higher during the same period.

30

Table 2.3

Enrollment by Main Levels of Education,
East and West Pakistan 1948-49 and

 

 

 

 

 

1953-54
Level of Enrollment Annual
Education 1948-49 1953-54 Rate of
‘ Change
Primary:
East Pakistan
(Bangladesh) 2,531,324 2,792,895 2.0
West Pakistan 567,983 1,539,043 22.7
Secondary:
East Pakistan
(Bangladesh) 548,616 625,884 2.7
west Pakistan 534,300 711,881 5.9
Colleges:
East Pakistan
(Bangladesh) 21,851 22,468 0.6
West Pakistan 11,793 32,515 22.5

 

Source: Same as table 2.2

Data in tables 2.2 and 2.3 offer a startling contrast between
East and West Pakistan. From the beginning West Pakistan followed an
expansionist policy at the expense of East Pakistan (Bangladesh), with
the end result of large gains in expenditure and enrollment being
achieved.

It was, evident that the educational development plans and
policies during the Pakistan period were presumably for the benefit of
West Pakistan. No sincere attempts were made for the implementation
of governmental educational plans and policies in East Pakistan
(Bangladesh) that were presented at various intervals during the

Pakistan period.

CHAPTER III

POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES OF EDUCATION AND

MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT IN BANGLADESH

Introduction

It is sometimes argued by economists that if education is to
be a good investment in the development of a nation, the products
from education must fit the priority needs of economic growth. But
to many educators the wisdom of this idea is not acceptable, for it
seems to view students as future manpower units rather than as human
beings, to be grossly materialistic, and to disregard the great
humanistic aims and values which educators have cherished. This
view was also expressed by many participants in a policy conference
of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),

that it would be dangerous to base educational

policy on manpower needs alone. Such a policy

would be a negation of the freedom of individuals

and their right(s) to attain the highest level of

education of which they are capable. It would make

little allowance for social aspirations (62:22).

Therefore, both educators and economists are now in general
agreement that a nation's future manpower requirements should be given
serious weight in formulating educational plans, but other social and
individual objectives should also be weighed seriously. This approach

is also supported by Thorsrud, "Education and work are not only means

to an end but represent also basic values in human life (73:4)."

31

32

Therefore, this particular debate of social or economic
approach to manpower has been largely resolved on the ground that
education represents social values and is at the same time an
increasingly important factor in economic growth. Economic growth
is a necessary condition for social and cultural development in
general. In a developing society like Bangladesh, proper utilization
of manpower is both a social challenge as well as an economic
requirement.

Gainful employment of the labour force is necessary for the
development of a sound social structure and at the same time the
availability of a skilled labour force is a pre-requisite of economic
growth. The slow rate of economic growth in Bangladesh has brought
into sharp focus that the number of new job opportunities being
created fell far short of the number of new entrants on the labour
market. A severe under-use of human resources, coupled with a
population growth at the rate of three percent per year made the
situation of Bangladesh extremely alarming.

However, in this chapter an attempt shall be made to discuss,
(1) recent manpower and educational policies, (2) the system of
secondary education and its curricular offerings and (3) vocational
education available for the youth and adults in urban and rural
sectors of Bangladesh.

Overview of Recent Manpower and
Educational Policies

 

The Planning Commission of Pakistan, the supreme economic body

of the country with headquarters in West Pakistan and with the

33

President of Pakistan as chairman, was responsible during undivided
Pakistan for educational planning and other development plans. The
Government of East Pakistan was only an executing agency for targets
and policies set by the Planning Commission of Pakistan. Some funds
based on the planned allocation.were released by the central government
to the East Pakistan Department of Education in support of the
provincial programmes. Those allocations and the release of funds

to East Pakistan were always at the discretion of the central
government situated in West Pakistan.

From 1957 to 1963, there was no Chief of the Education Section
of the Pakistan Planning Commission. Decisions of educational policy,
priorities and financial allocations to education were reached
arbitrarily and almost exclusively by economists. Emphasis was
always on the productive sectors rather than on education. As
described by a journalist of an esteemed newspaper Of former East
Pakistan,

The most funny thing about our economy is that it is

planned, there is no doubt about it. This planning

only allows big businesses to thrive who care little

for human wealth. They will turn up only when there

is easy return for their investment. Perhaps, this

is why in all the three plans the so-called 'productive

sectors', which can easily demonstrate an immediate

return on investment were taken care of: education,

which produces human wealth in the form of educated and

skilled labour force, got the left-overs (68:4).

Nevertheless, education was one of the most neglected areas of
economic planning during the Pakistan period. Planners and policy-
makers in Pakistan neglected to see educational outlays as a form of

investment with high potential economic benefits, perhaps because

investment in education was less tangible and less spectacular than

34

investments in the productive sectors. Evidence of this can be seen
in the implementation of Pakistan's Third Five-Year Plan (1965-70).
The event of the 1965 war with India, with the unforeseeable rise of
defense expenditures and sharp decrease of foreign aid, resulted in
expenditures for education being sharply cut by 13 percent in the
revised plan (83).

In addition, during the first four years of the Third Five-
Year Plan, only 39 percent of the revised plan's allocation for
education.was released. As goes in the survey report of the Government
of Pakistan,

The Third Plan originally allocated Rs. 273 crore

in the public sector for education which was

subsequently revised to Rs. 237 crore. ... The

rate of implementation remained slow during the

first four years of the Third Plan, when only RS.

92.01 crore or 39 percent of the allocation was

utilized against the overall plan implementation

(33:251).

None of the other sectors of the plan suffered so much shortage
in resource availability, as did the education and social sectors.

Educational expenditure in Pakistan, in relation to Gross
National Product was one of the lowest in comparison with the other
developing countries. The data in Table 3.1 gives the general picture.

It is evident from the data in Table 3.1 that the position
of Pakistan was behind in comparison with other developing nations

except India. It was also acknowledged in the proposals for the

education policy of 1970,

35

Table 3.1

Comparison of Percent of National Income
Spent on Education in Pakistan and Other
Developing Countries

 

m

 

Country Year Total Public Recurring Public
Educational Expenditures Expenditure as
as Percent of GNP Percent of GNP
Pakistan 1964 1.9 1.1
Other Developing
Countries:
India 1962 0.8 2.4
Thailand 1964 2.8 2.3
Argentina 1964 3.2 3.1
Chile 1965 3.6 3.2
Columbia 1964 3.1 3.0
Mexico 1964 2.0 1.7
Ghana 1965 4.7 4.0
Nigeria 1962 2.6 2.2
United Arab
Republic 1964 4.8 4.4

 

Source: UNESCO, Statistical Year Book, Paris, 1968.

With its total expenditure on education accounting for
about 1.8% of G.N.P., Pakistan ranks among the
countries which accord a low priority to education.
UNESCO has recommended that a develOping country
should devote 4% of its G.N.P. to education. The
wisdom of this is manifest in case of a country

such as Pakistan which, with few known natural
resources, must depend on education to improve the
quality of its manpower if it is to make any real
breakthrough in development (85).

Investment in human capital as emphasized in other countries
indicates that education plays a multiple role in the modernization
process. In addition to social and cultural development, education

plays an important role in economic development of a nation. The

 

..l .1. .. v m .\,..

36

evidence of which can be seen in research related to developed as
well as developing countries. Schultz reported the economic return
from.education in the United States to be between 18 and 30 percent
of the economic growth (69). In studies with developing countries;
Daugherty, found that the rate of returns to investment in secondary
education in Columbia in 1968 was 21 percent, to vocational training
21 percent and to university training 16 percent (96). In a similar
study for Chile, Harberger and Selowsky, found the rate of return
was 24 percent for investment in primary education, 29 percent in
technical, 16.9 percent in secondary and 12.2 percent in university
education (100). Marshall, stressed the importance of education as a
national investment and expressed his view that the most valuable

of all capital investments was investment in human beings (17).

All the cited studies were indicative of high potential
economic benefits of education which were mostly overlooked (Table
3.1) by the planners and policy makers of Pakistan, who were
responsible for education and manpower development of the former East
Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

The planners of Pakistan considered physical capital accumu-
lation as the exclusive factor in economic development and education
was viewed as a conswmer service. Education, in the National Accounts
of Pakistan was treated as current consumption and not as an investment.
Consequently, all the Five-Year Plans Of Pakistan which were based on
macro-economic planning models reflected only a short-sighted approach
for physical capital investment. Even this approach to planning has

been acknowledged by Mahbub-ul-Haq, the then Chief Economist of Pakistan

37

Planning Commission in his book, The Strategy of Economic Planning (11).
In the various macro-economic models in the book, education was

always viewed as a claim of the distribution of economic growth,

rather than as a factor of production of economic growth. Again, Haq
held the view regarding manpower planning,

... this is not, just a planner's headache or

Government responsibility. This, in fact, is a

social responsibility. Ultimately, no Government

can dictate where people should go and work, which

institutions they should attend and what kind of

education they should get, unless it is based on a

different pattern altogether than ours. The

Government can merely provide a framework within

which intelligent manpower planning is possible

for the individual (63).

There is no denying, that in a democracy every individual
should have freedom and right to plan his own career. But it was very
difficult to apply that concept in the context of Pakistan's situation
where the illiteracy rate was one of the highest in the world.
Provision of only the framework by the Government without providing
adequate educational facilities could not fulfill the objective.
Adequate educational infra-structures, such as provision for vocational
education, guidance and counseling services, and employment placement
bureau, were particularly lacking. Only with the provision of
adequate educational services could individuals get opportunities to
select a useful course of study, to plan their career and thereby
become an asset rather than a liability in a democratic society.

However, the magnitude of inadequate planned manpower and
education was described by Adam Curle, who had been intimately

acquainted for more than a decade's national planning in Pakistan,

as follows:

38

It is interesting that the broad lines of educational
policy and the financial allocations for education,

in all three plans with which I have been associated,
were arrived at in a very arbitrary way. Nobody had,
and so far as I knew nobody has, any reliable empirical
method of determining the appropriate proportion of
planned expenditure to be devoted to education, or
social welfare, or health, or any of the factors which
do not give a directly measurable return (6).

Curle's critical comments show that planning in education and
manpower in Pakistan needed more than merely establishing on paper
the future educational targets or the administration of prescribed
governmental funds for education. For educational planning, it was
necessary to consider the dynamic nature of the manpower requirement
picture and project all skills which were likely to be potential
bottlenecks. In addition, functional manpower requirements should
have been defined in terms which were meaningful to educational and
training institutions, and the skill requirements Should have been
converted into corresponding training requirements. Manpower
requirements depended on what happened in the economy in respect to
the national goals. The goal of integration between educational and
overall deve10pment planning can be explained by quoting from UNESCO
illustrating the case of Soviet Russia.

Every development plan (long-term, medium-term,

short-term) contains targets for education and culture

and provisions for appropriate financial outlays. These

educational targets are closely linked with the other

economic and social targets. The thinking behind this

is that there is no point in creating new productive

capacities if there are not enough engineers and

qualified workersto operate them. There is little

sense either in training individuals with skills for

which no productive employment is in sight. The

two processes must be co-related so as to avoid waste

of resources, both material and human, and maximize
the rate of growth (16),

39

Analyses of the past and present conditions of the labour
market, skills and training requirements are necessary to prepare a
set of alternative decisions or plans for future action pertaining
to education. But in regard to the situation of Pakistan, no serious
attempts were undertaken to establish an adequate basis for educational
planning. The evidence of this deficiency can be seen in the Mid-Plan
Review of the Third Five-Year Plan of Pakistan, "the development of
human resources and manpower planning have remained the weakest area
in our planning experience so far and it is only appropriate that
they should receive greater attention at the present stage of our
development (35:312)."

Based on a recommendation by the Pakistan Planning Commission,
a National Manpower Council was established as a permanent inter-
departmental Government agency. The council, served by a Manpower
Directorate, working in close cooperation with the Planning Commission
was responsible for formulating national manpower programmes. The
potential contribution of such a council to the deve10pment of a
comprehensive manpower plan, can be described by quoting from the
Fourth Five-Year Plan of Pakistan,

The statistical base for manpower planning is poor. There

is considerable inconsistency and unreliability in vital

data. Existing arrangements for periodical review and

assessment of manpower situation or for follow up programmes

in terms of national objectives and targets are also

inadequate. The whole technique of manpower planning is

new and there is a great shortage of professional staff and

facilities. New arrangements are, therefore, required which

should be based on a prOper appreciation of the functions

and shortcomings of the present organization (84:110).

An attempt to project manpower needs for the development of

human resources in Pakistan first started during the Second Plan

40

period (1960-1965) and such efforts continued until the Fourth Plan.
The projections of labour force, employment and unemployment as
envisaged in the Fourth Plan (1970-75) of Pakistan are given in the

following table.

Table 3.2

Projection of Labour Force, Employment
and Unemployment During Undivided
Pakistan (in Millions)

 

1965 1970 1975

 

Undivided Pakistan

 

 

 

 

 

Total Labour Force: 36.7 42.3 48.8
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 26.9 30.2 33 7
Other Sectors 9.8 12.1 15.1

Unemployment 7.5 7.5 6.5

Employment 29.2 34.8 42.3

Unemployment in Percent of
Labour Force 20.4% 17.7% 13.3%

East Pakistan (Bangladesh)

Labour Force (both sexes) 21.2 24.7 28.6
Male 17.9 20.8 24.1
Female 3.3 3.9 4.5

West Pakistan

Labour Force (both sexes) 15.5 17.6 20.2
Male 14.0 15.9 18.3
Female 1.5 1.7 1.9

 

Source: Computed from the data available in the Pakistan
Fourth Five-Year Plan 1970-75, Government of Pakistan Planning
Commission, Islamabad, 1970.

 

41

The estimates presented in Table 3.2 focus attention on the
magnitude of the problem for providing employment for the growing
labour force which Bangladesh will continue to face in years ahead.
Reconstruction and development work in Bangladesh demands skilled
manpower. If the labour force is not trained and equipped with some
saleable skills in accordance to the social and economic needs of the
country, then they will be a great burden on the society.

Analysis of the System of Secondary
Education and Its Curricular

Offerings

 

 

A nation's educational system should be an important contri-
butor to the work, skills and knowledge of its labour force. A planned
effort to modify the character and improve the quality of the human
factor of production in line with general objectives for economic
deve10pment and growth should rely on the educational system, although
other social institutions have important roles to fulfill. The
programmes and policies have to be devised so as to establish the
desirable relationship between manpower and education. Economic
development can be enhanced if qualified and technical personnel
are produced in the required numbers to satisfy the manpower
requirements of the country. The application of science and technology
is a fundamental factor influencing the pace of economic development.

One of the basic problems in Bangladesh is the insufficient
application of science and technology in production and daily life.

The economic benefit which might be expected to result from widespread

basic knowledge and application of science and technology has not

42

taken place in Bangladesh. Masses of farmers and workers are illiterate;
and hence are limited in their ability to apply the techniques which
could greatly improve their production and standard of living.

It is imperative that every citizen should have some under-
standing of the application of scientific principles. First, those
who may work at relatively unskilled levels, need some knowledge of
science and technology to exploit opportunities of life, and to be
able to do their own jobs efficiently. Next, those who would be
employed in skilled occupations, need a greater degree of scientific
knowledge for performance of the tasks and processes under their
control which are based on scientific principles. At the higher levels
the need for science and technology are still greater. Therefore, the
need in Bangladesh for technical-vocational education which includes
the application of scientific principles is obvious.

The curricular offerings of secondary education in Bangladesh
is predominantly literary and general in character. It appears to
offer very limited instruction in the application of scientific
principles, and consequently provides limited help from the standpoint
of employment or self-employment. The existing system of education in
Bangladesh was designed to produce white collared generalists for
government clerical services and not to impart the analytical and
technical skills on which economic progress can be based. The system
does not cater to the different aptitudes, interests and talents of
students. As in the words of the Report of the Commission on National

Education,

43

When in this century our society underwent a rapid

series of changes our schools remained static,

isolated from the social, economic and industrial

revolution around them, and failed to meet

contemporary demands. The main weakness of secondary

education is the absence of full opportunities for

training in technical and other vocational subjects,

and its inflexibility and lack of diversification

which fails to correspond to social needs and

individual aptitudes and interests (32:111).

According to the recommendations of the above Commission, a
scheme of diversified practical courses, such as, agriculture, commerce,
science, industrial arts and home economics were introduced in the
secondary school system. The following table gives a general picture
of curricular offerings by the different high schools of Bangladesh
during the year 1968—1969.

It appears from Table 3.3, that humanities was the course
most commonly offered in the high schools of Bangladesh. The course
least frequently offered was industrial arts. The percentage of
schools offering various courses were 100 percent in humanities, 42.8
in science, 19.7 in commerce, 1.2 in home economics, 0.4 in industrial
arts and 2.3 in agriculture.

The curriculum of secondary education in most of the schools
placed emphasis on the humanities, and has been described as academically
narrow and bookish. With such education it is difficult to get a job.
The draft for the proposals of a new education policy (1969) described
the situation as, "Not only does it lead to the underemployment of
national resources, it causes untold frustration to those who, having
invested a number of years of their lives in educational institutions
and fired by the idealism of youth, fail to find any opportunities

for contributing to national development and are unable to earn a

decent living (85:22).”

 

44

.momH .woooo mo hummuo>fiss .:OHMOmom was coHuoosem mo

 

ousuaumnH .Anmoooawsomv noumwxom ummm_nw magnawuH was newumosom no sumo owmom Boom wouDQEoo

“mousom

.momuaoo mo mcoqumawosoo uosuo no oonowom .mowuwamaa: ecu cw womusoo Hommo has Hoosom same as «

 

 

 

m.~ mm I- H --- --- mm on onsuHaownw<
¢.o ma nu --- nu- --- ma ---- mun< HowuumaocH
N.H ad nu H on c nun nun- mowaosoom oEo:
n.mH men 0H wHH N m wNH one ouncEEou
w.~¢ coma ma oma om ed New mNoH oocowom
o.ooH Hemm ma mug ooa moH mmm «mama mowuwsmesm
momusou anon: Hmong

wnwuommo mHoonom noon: Hmuam noon: Hanan

mHoonom mo asnoauoosmOuoo mHoosom mango mHoozom whom

amounoonom Hmuoe woofiaz memuaoo

 

cmumwxmm umom aw womuaoo maowuo> wcwuowmo mHooaom swam mo woofioz

acuwoma use» onu weapon Anmoooamsmmv

m.m canoe

45

The problem is further aggravated by the social attitude of
the country towards manual work. There exists a long standing prejudice
of the educated people against manual work. It is almost an inherent
aversion of the intelligentsia toward manual labour. The traditional
education in Bangladesh inherited from colonial rulers made the peOple
believe that manual work was for the illiterate class of peeple and
those persons who have a school education should not perform.manua1
work. According to the Report of the Commission of Education (1959),

...there exists a widespread reluctance to dirty

the hands and a tendency to regard manual labour as

something reserved for a particular class of people.

We are disturbed to find the general impression that

the education system has contributed to the

development of these attitudes, and it is a matter

of great concern to us that education should, in any

way, be a party to the maintenance of cleavage and

division within our nation (32:245).

Social prejudices against manual work are one of the main
hindrances to the deve10pment of vocational-technical education in
Bangladesh. This can be seen from.the social attitude that the status
of craftsmen, technicians, and labourers are very low and are not
recognized as desirable occupations.

An equally serious limitation of secondary education is that it
is not designed as a terminal stage, but as a preparation for entry
to higher education. In reality, only a small percentage of secondary
school graduates secure a college or university education. The vast
majority of secondary school graduates interrupt their formal education
at this level and explore opportunities in the world of work and

assume adult responsibilities. Paradoxically, the curricula of

secondary education are rarely designed to provide this majority group

46

with essential skills for various occupational areas to meet the
employment requirements of and to be absorbed in the growing economy
of the country.

These are the major factors contributing toward a short
supply of middle-level skills, on the one hand, and a large scale of
unemployment situations on the other in Bangladesh. Referring to
the secondary education of Bangladesh, Benson in his study in 1970
pointed out,

Some unknown number of persons invested 10 years (or

more) of their time in completing a secondary school

and then failed to pass the matric exam. Because

secondary education does not offer a person saleable

skills outside (other-than) white collar work and

because white collar employers commonly demand matric

standard or higher as entry qualifications, the

employment prospects for such persons outside their

own village, say, are not bright. They can properly

be regarded as failures of the education system (23:67).

It has been said that the education system in Bangladesh is
producing mainly failures. Failures with regard to individual's
personal prospects and with respect to the contribution he might have
been able to make to his country and its development. Therefore,
adjustments are necessary with respect to enrollment and curricula of
secondary education, in order to maximize the contribution of education
in socio-economic deve10pment of the country. Thus, considering the
dynamic pattern of the economy there should be a massive shift towards
vocational-technical education, if secondary education is to stop
wasting resources in producing unemployable manpower. Preference
should be given to those types of education which are of crucial

importance for development in Bangladesh, such as skilled manpower at

the secondary level and below that level.

47

The priority of vocational-technical education at the secondary
level was also recognized by UNESCO conference on the application of
science and technology to the development of Asia which was held in
New Delhi in 1962: "It is particularly important in Asia to develop
secondary level manpower as the highest priority and at the same time
to strengthen the future scientific and technical potential of the
Asian nations by discovering individuals talented in science and
technology and nurturing this talent through the entire educational
and training process (50:81)."

Efforts directed toward increasing facilities and expansion
of vocational-technical education offer less risk than in expanding
regular secondary education. When the graduates from vocational-
technical education are not absorbed in the economy, they have greater
likelihood for self-employment. This could improve the production in

daily life and thereby improve the standard of living.

Vocational Education for Youth and Adults

The present educational attainment of the labour force in
Bangladesh is considered to be extremely low. The percentage distri-
bution of the labour force by a level of educational attainment as
projected by Karawanski is given in Table 3.4.

From table 3.4, it can be said that at present, about 85
percent of the labour force may be considered as illiterate, i.e.,
comprised of the persons who have not completed primary education
(Grade V). The remaining 15 percent have completed grade V or more.

The figures focus attention on the need for adult education in Bangladesh.

48

Table 3.4

Percentage of Educational Attainment
of Labour Force in Bangladesh

 

Level of Schooling Attained

 

 

Years Total Nil or Grade V
Labour Below and Above
Force Grade V Passed
1965 100.0 88.3 11.7
1970 100.0 84.1 15.9
1975 100.0 78.3 21.7
1980 100.0 71.3 28.7

 

Source: R, A. Karawanski, Education and Supply of Manpower in
Pakistan, Planning Commission, Islamabad, 1970.

Opportunities available for vocational education for youth
and adults may be described under two headings: (1) urban sector,
where industries are the main users of labour force and, (2) rural

sector, where agriculture plays a dominant role in Bangladesh's economy.

Urban Sector

In the past, the private industries which dominated the urban
economy of Bangladesh never accepted any responsibility for the
training of its workers. Under a training programme for skilled
manpower, there are two important categories, the training of new
entrants and upgrading of existing workers. No adequate arrangement
was available in Bangladesh for either of these two categories. Although
the policy of industrial development in Bangladesh was labour intensive,

the training of new entrants was carried out mainly by observation.

49

The programme of industrial development in Bangladesh omitted the
important factor of adequate training facilities for workers. The
lack of programmes of on-the-job training and skill development
appeared to be directly related to lack of productivity improvements
of the industry. The workers had no opportunity to increase their
efficiency and were left unguided and uncoached by industry. A high
level advisory panel from both parts during undivided Pakistan in a
manpower study (1970) recognized this aspect of training programmes.
Referring to on-the-job training the report of the advisory panel
stated,

This component is vital not only for increasing pro-

ductivity, but also to ensure that our developing

industry does not suffer a major set-back in its

further growth and development, one that may, with

further passage of time, become insurmountable.

Industrial development and industrial productivity

on the other hand, will get a great fillip if

skilled manpower of the correct type is provided

at the minimum cost (35:317).

Apprenticeship programmes are another important aspect of
industrial training which are universally accepted as an important
source for supply of skilled manpower. However, apprenticeship
programmes were lacking in Bangladesh. During the Pakistan rule,
the private industries in East Pakistan (Bangladesh), owned by West
Pakistan's capitalists, never provided for any training programmes.
The lack of support of industries for such training schemes, has
been described by Bari, ”This is because our industries now enjoy
unique advantage i.e., lack of competition; whatever they produce,

whatever might be its quality and whatever it might cost, they find

ready market (94:8)."

50

These private industries had many facilities and much potential
to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of trained manpower in
the world of work. As such the then Government of Pakistan initiated
a national apprenticeship ordinance in 1962 requiring certain categories
of industrial establishments responsible for operating systematic
programmes to train apprentices equal to at least 20 percent of the
total number of persons employed. In East Pakistan (Bangladesh)
the Act was adopted as a provincial ordinance and introduced in
July 1968. But the implementation of the programme was resisted by
the powerful capitalists of West Pakistan.who owned the major
industries of East Pakistan and virtually controlled the whole economy
of Pakistan. As a result, the industries in the then East Pakistan
shared very little responsibilities with the government to produce
skilled manpower in the form of apprenticeship training or any
training programme to improve and upgrade the workers. This can be seen
from the statement of the government of East Pakistan, Department of
Labour, Health and Social Welfare, Management Development Centres in
1968,

The apprenticeship training of developing Skilled

workers, if systematically organized and conducted,

becomes the most effective and efficient method.

But this has been neglected in this country. Only

1214 skilled labourers have been trained during the

last eight years in East Pakistan (99:6).

The advisory panels on manpower in 1970 held similar views,
about the importance of industry Sponsored training programmes,

Industry, the main user of skilled manpower, should

be given the major responsibility over the training

of its workers. Industry should make arrangements

and meet most of the cost of technical and vocational

training. The deal will be to make every employing
organization a training organization (35:318).

 

51

Rural Sector

The economy and population of Bangladesh are overwhelmingly
rural. Agriculture which is the main occupation of rural areas is the
foundation of Bangladesh's economy. Of the country's total population
of approximately 75 million, 85 percent (36) were direct tillers of
the soil; more than 90 percent (87) live in the rural areas; and most
of them derive incomes from agricultural activities. Of this rural
population, approximately 20 percent own one acre or less and can be
classified as landless. Above this landless group the small farmer
who own between one and seven acres of land comprised 70 percent of
the population.who were tillers of the soil. The final 10 percent
owned more than seven acres and were classified as large land holders
(83). This group also controls the commerce of rural areas, such as,
trading, processing of agricultural products, rural credit, traditional
‘manufacturing, and construction. This agricultural sector, prior to
Bangladesh, contributed 58 percent (39) of the gross provincial
product and 95 percent (37) of the province's export earnings. Hence,
the dominant role of agriculture in the economy of Bangladesh is
apparent. But the results of agricultural development in Bangladesh
have been very disappointing. Although some projects faced some
technical difficulties, what they all had in common was the failure
to organize and train farmers for using modern agricultural inputs.
According to Thomas,

The rapid growth that is taking place in a number of

developing countries is based on a major transformation

of the technology of agriculture. This transformation

takes place with the coordinated application of a package

of modern agricultural inputs. ... (such as) ... fertilizer,

pesticides, new dwarf varieties of high-yielding seeds

highly responsive to fertilizer, and the controlled
application of water (103:3).

52

Similar views were expressed by Falcon's "The Green Revolution:
Generation of Problems (60)." However, the introduction of modern
agricultural inputs should be supported by training programmes for
farmers. Introducing modern inputs to traditional farmers is of
little meaning without training. In the case of Bangladesh,
systematic arrangements for and facilities for educating farmers
were very much limited. The agricultural extension and demonstration
system in Bangladesh which was responsible to educate the farmers and
show the benefits of employing new technology were not as effective as
they should have been. According to a USAID agricultural extension
review team Which visited East Pakistan (Bangladesh) in 1968,

The Union Agricultural Assistant, the Spokesman

for extension at the local level, is not regarded

as an educational leader by farm people. He is

looked upon instead as one to perform certain

regulatory and service functions. His present

activities do not tend to develop the people

themselves (106:5).

Attempts to rapidly increase agricultural production in
Bangladesh omitted an important factor: education and training of
farmers. Any major increase in agricultural output would be very
difficult without involving the small farmers which comprise 70 percent
of the rural population. Hence, there was a need for provision of
adequate training facilities so that farmers can utilize modern
agricultural inputs.

However, agriculture which is the dominant sector of Bangladesh's
economy was greatly neglected in the past. According to the Third Plan,

Though the contribution of the agricultural sector to

the gross national product has declined from about

60 percent in 1949-50 to less than 50 percent in

l964-65--mainly due to rapid industrialization--
agriculture is still the largest segment of the

economy (822393).

 

L

Ab

L

53

The rate of agricultural growth stagnated during the 19603
when East Pakistan had to import an average of 2 million tons of
food grain annually to feed its population. The present situation of
food production in Bangladesh can be described by quoting Ensminger

and Andrews,

No problem facing the new government will be more
complex, time consuming, costly and more beset by
uncertainties than that of providing food for all
the people. Yet it is probably in this rural sector
and upon the strength and muscle of the Bangladesh
farmer that hangs the hope this country will survive
as a viable nation (97:2).

The most important resources that Bangladesh has are fertile
agricultural land and plentiful labour. If this plentiful labour
could be trained as to how to handle this agricultural land efficiently,
then the growth of production could keep pace with the growth of'
population. As observed by an expert of the Deve10pment Advisory
Service of Harvard University,

If Bangladesh could raise rice yields per acre to

half that of Japan, it could produce a surplus of

4 million tons-annually and there is no technical

reason why this couldn't be accomplished. Major

increases in agricultural production have taken

place in other Asian nations and the basis for such

a breakthrough exists in Bangladesh. It is based

on a major transformation of the technology of

agriculture (104:9).

In this regard, Schultz in his work ”Transforming Traditional
Agriculture", laid great emphasis on the connection between education
and agriculture. In Japan for instance, the primary school curriculum
has greatly contributed to agricultural development (22). Whereas
emphasis of primary education in Bangladesh is bookish in character

which has no connection with any practical arts subject such as

agriculture. In reality, a vast majority of the primary school

"E
..y

54

students who cannot afford to continue school drop out of school.
This group will normally be available to enter farming which is the
basic occupation of 85 percent of the people in Bangladesh. The
Fourth Plan identified the problem as,

In the past, too much emphasis in education was placed

on preparing people for desk work occupations in the

services sector of the economy and too little on

preparing people for occupations in agricultural and

in manufacturing industries. Few facilities at

present exist for providing young people training

in crafts and trades directly associated with rural

life and the agricultural economy'(84:146).

As a result, the problem of unemployment is almost inherent
in the rural sector of Bangladesh. According to the Fourth Plan,

The existence of large numbers of the unemployed and

underemployed especially in the rural areas of East

Pakistan (Bangladesh), remains a major social and

economic problem.(84:107).

The Pakistan Census Report of 1961 (87) and successive manpower
surveys indicated a high degree of potential unemployment and under-
employment in agriculture, and in other areas such as traditional
manufacturing, construction, and petty trade. This was described as
partly due to under-utilization of skill in the agricultural and
non-agricultural sectors. The Rural Works Programme introduced by
the Government in the hope that it would generate some jobs and assist
in creating new avenues of employment was also suffering from the
lack of various skills in rural sectors. The agricultural subsistence
economy in rural areas could not afford to engage the farmers more
than six months of a year. An increase in agricultural production

through application of labour intensive agricultural technology

could create more employment.

55

The preceding factors appear to be intensified due to the
lack of educational development in the rural sectors which could
serve as a powerful accelerator of rural modernization. Secondary
education in Bangladesh was financed in whole or part by private
bodies such as municipalities, groups of citizens, religious endowments,
and by philanthropic organizations. This means that high schools
existed where private enterprise and beneficence were available, and
as a result high schools were not well distributed geographically.

As against a total of 4,172 secondary schools (90:442) in
1972, only approximately 40 such schools were managed and controlled
by the government. A.1imited number of government high schools with
better amenities and physical facilities were located in the urban
areas, whereas 85 percent population of people were living in the
rural areas. The reason for such disparity was the tendency of planners
to use resources for expanding educational institutions in the show
places of the country thereby widening the gulf between the urban
schools and the rural schools. Expansion and improvement of rural
educational facilities was viewed as an important factor for the develop-
ment of Bangladesh as a whole. The vast majority of the untrained
labour force in the rural areas instead of becoming useful human
resources was a constant drag to the economy of Bangladesh. As observed
by Coombs in 1968, "Economic development experts and policy-makers
have largely come to regard agricultural and rural development as
perhaps the number one problem for many developing countries, deserving
of a higher priority than it has been getting (5:6)."

Some of the important tasks of developing the rural economy,

especially in agriculture, would include use of fertilizers, protection

rt

56

of crops, improving soil fertility, irrigation, and better management
of forests and pasture land. Implementation of these and other
practices for improving agriculture in the rural areas calls for
agricultural personnel with education at the secondary level who
will work at the grassroots level. But there was a great shortage

of agricultural extension personnel at this level. As reported by
Thomas in 1971: "The biggest problem for the agricultural extension
system.has been the lack of trained personnel available and willing
to undertake extension work (103:10)."

Other developing countries of Asia have similar problems as
can be seen in the report of UNESCO conference on the application of
science and technology to the deve10pment of Asia in 1968. In the
words of the report, "... there is an increasing demand for middle-
ranking specialized personnel to serve the rural population, hence
it is of fundamental importance to provide technical agricultural
training for such personnel, particularly as this enables a prOper
balance to be established between technological development in rural

areas and that in urban areas (50: 66) ."

CHAPTER IV

VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN BANGLADESH:

ITS STRUCTURE AND PROBLEMS

Introduction

 

There was very limited development of vocational—technical
education at the secondary level in Bangladesh. The various
departments of the former East Pakistan government trained personnel
in their specific fields and vocational-technical education was seldom
considered to be an integral part of the overall process of education.
The system of education and training existing in Bangladesh was
inherited from the government of East Pakistan.

The scope ' and definition of vocational and technical education
developed by UNESCO for international purposes was used as the basis
for analysis of the situation in Bangladesh: "Technical and vocational
education is taken to mean any form of education relating to the
practical, theoretical and general preparation of persons for specific
callings in agriculture, industry and commerce (51:3)."

Using the above definition, the existing efforts for conducting
and develOping vocational and technical education at the secondary level
in Bangladesh were reviewed under the following headings:

1. Directorate of Public Instruction.

2. Directorate of Technical Education.

57

58

3. Directorate of Labour.

4. Directorate of Commerce and Industries.

Directorate of Public Instruction

The Directorate of Public Instruction was concerned with the
implementation of policies and programmes in schools at primary,
secondary and higher levels and was the central authority for the
educational system. Under this Directorate, there was one Education
Extension Centre for implementation of diversified vocational programmes
in high schools and four Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education
to conduct public examinations. Under the Director of Public Instruction,
there were five Deputy Directors, one in the Office of the Director
and the other four, each in charge of one of the four Divisions of
Bangladesh. From the Divisional level, the Deputy Director controlled
the educational system through district education officers at the
district level, sub-divisional education officers at the sub-divisional
level and thana education officers at the thana level. In each
division, there were several primary teacher training institutes which
were controlled by the Deputy Director of the respective division.
Higher institutions, such as teacher training colleges for preparing
secondary teachers and government degree colleges, were controlled
directly by the Director of Public Instruction. However, only the
efforts under the Directorate of Public Instruction for developing
vocational education were reviewed within the scope of this study.

In the past, the Directorate of Public Instruction was
responsible only for general education. But in 1959, the Commission

on National Education recommended that vocational-technical education

59

should form an integral part of the educational system.and it should
function in general secondary schools through a scheme of diversified
practical courses, such as, agriculture, commerce, industrial arts and
home economics (32). These recommendations were implemented by the
Directorate of Public Instruction through some pilot and multilateral
high schools. In those schools the compulsory subjects, such as
mother-tongue, English, general mathematics and social studies were
supplemented by at least two or more groups of electives out of the
following groups: agriculture, home economics, commerce, industrial
arts, advanced science, and humanities. General science was compulsory
for students in the humanities and commerce groups. The above mentioned
groups of subjects were also offered in the bilateral high schools.
The data in Table 3.3 of Chapter III provides information about the
extent of offerings of vocational-technical courses by the various
kinds of high schools in Bangladesh. This educational development
through pilot schools was followed by the establishment of a total
of twenty-one pilot secondary schools in Bangladesh and one education
extension centre at Dacca.

The Education Extension Centre at Dacca was established in 1959
as a specialized branch under the Directorate of Public Instruction
for development of a new educational programme. The Education Extension
Centre was initially supported by a Ford Foundation Project
administered by the University of Chicago. However, the pilot school
project and Education Extension Centre were a joint endeavour of the
Ford Foundation, the University of Chicago and the former government

of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) to improve the quality of instruction

60

and to enrich educational programmes through the introduction of
diversified courses in the secondary schools of the area.

The purposes of establishing an education extension centre,
as stated in the document of the scheme were,

It is the announced plan of East Pakistan (Bangladesh)
to re-orient its education to meet the needs of the
children, the province, and the nation, chiefly by
introducing science and vocational subjects, by
improving teaching methods and by diversifying the
programme. This plan requires for its accomplishments
the re-training and refresher training of teachers,
headmasters, inspectors and other education officers.
There is now no education service to perform this
function systematically and effectively (89:1).

Since its inception on July 1959, the Education Extension
Centre performed multiferious functions toward fulfillment of its
objectives. According to the progress report of its first ten years
(1959-69), the centre was charged with the following principal
responsibilities,

1. To help the secondary séhool teachers acquire up-to-
date knowledge of teaching methods and increase
their efficiency in teaching their respective
subjects.

2. To help headmasters and headmistresses as far as
practicable to deal with problems arising out of
introduction of diversified courses--like advanced
science, commerce, agriculture, home economics and
industrial arts.

3. To assist in the general improvement in the curricular
programme of the pilot secondary schools.

4. To arrange seminars and conferences for inspectors,
education officers and other t0p ranking officials
of the education department.

5. To disseminate knowledge about different aspects of
education through the publication of journals, booklets,
etc. (38:3).

61

During this period of ten years from July, 1959 to June, 1969,
the Education Extension Centre conducted 361 short courses ranging from
one to ten weeks duration for secondary teachers and school admini-
strators; more than 8200 participants attended these courses. In
addition, the Centre organized 11 long courses of one academic year
duration which were attended by 111 teachers of vocational subject
areas.

Apart from the in-service training programmes, the Education
Extension Centre was charged with the responsibility of providing
leadership to and direction of the new vocational-technical curricula
to twenty-one pilot schools which served as demonstration schools for
other secondary schools. It was anticipated that these twenty-one
pilot schools would serve as demonstration centres and thus facilitate
the expansion of such programmes to other schools. The purpose of
the on-going pilot-secondary school scheme as stated in the Third
Five-Year Plan (1965-1970) was, "The scheme aims at developing a
selected number of schools, with an expanded and diversified curriculum,
to serve as models for others (82:192)."

Inspection of the government documents regarding the purpose
of pilot schools revealed that no provision was made for represen-
tatives from neighbouring schools to visit pilot schools or vice—versa.
Responsibilities of the Education Extension Centre (85:8-9) did not
include such visitation programmes. Hence, there was practically
very little opportunity for other secondary school personnel to
visit the pilot schools for studying and observing the operation of
new procedures and programmes adOpted in pilot schools. As a result,

there was very little interaction between the pilot school personnel

62

and other school personnel who were supposed to imitate the pilot
schools. It is questionable, how successful these pilot schools
‘were as demonstration centres. As observed by Allison, an U. S.
advisor attached to Education Extension Centre, Dacca, "While there
may have been some visits to pilot schools by headmasters and teachers
of other secondary schools, there is little evidence to suggest that a
planned programme has been established for this purpose (55:95)."

Secondly, the pilot schools were organized and developed to
such perfection by foreign and local experts of the Education Extension
Centre that these were considered by personnel in other ordinary
secondary schools as some sort of "Ivory-towers" and beyond the capacity
of other ordinary schools to follow the pilot schools. The
specialized equipment, laboratory facilities, and trained teachers
became a great barrier to the regular schools when they attempted to
follow the pilot school programmes and introduce vocational-technical
courses. The facilities available in the pilot (pioneer) schools as
stated in the ten years progress report of the Education Extension
Centre, were:

Facilities for diversified courses mean provision for

appropriate aids and equipment. So these pioneering

secondary schools of the province have been supplied

with additional equipment needed for science laboratory,

industrial arts, and arts and crafts workshop, and those

required for practical aspects of teaching agriculture,

home economics and commercial subjects. Most of these

materials have been brought from abroad through the

University of Chicago Pakistan Education Project out

of funds provided by the Ford Foundation for the

purpose (38:25).

The great question faced at that stage was whether or not the

facilities provided mainly by Ford Foundation to pilot schools were

63

practicable and possible for other secondary schools to imitate with
their limited financial resources. The government's resources were
limited as to the extent of financial aid which could be provided to
these schools to develop like pilot schools. Hence, the failure of
such a scheme can be seen from the poor response of the secondary
schools as shown in Table 3.3. The percentage of schools offering
various courses in 1968-69 were 100 percent in humanities, 42.8 in
science, 19.7 in commerce, 1.2 in home economics, 0.4 in industrial
arts and 2.3 in agriculture. Obviously, the efforts for developing
vocational-technical education through high schools of Bangladesh
under the Directorate of Public Instruction calls for a different

system.

Directorate of Technical Education

 

The Directorate of Technical Education was established in
1961, on a level equal to the Directorate of Public Instruction. The
Director of Technical Education, and a Board of Technical Education
established in 1969 were responsible to promote the development and
improvement of vocational-technical education at less than college
degree level. The Directorate of Technical Education was somewhat
smaller than the Directorate of Public Instruction. The Director
of Technical Education with some deputy and assistant directors
mainly in the office of headquarters, controlled the Polytechnical
Institutes at diploma level and other vocational schools at certificate
level. The diploma level two-to-three year post high school course
(post-Matriculation) was offered through technical and polytechnical

institutes: and another pre~matriculation high school level course

was offered through vocational schools. The diploma level program for
producing technicians and supervisors was beyond the scope of this
study.

The high school level (certificate level) programmes included
two courses: one designed to include a study period of one to two
years for persons with basic qualification of VIII grade and another
for one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half years course for persons who
had completed VI grade.

In 1972, there were twenty-two vocational schools functioning
under the Directorate of Technical Education. In addition, there
were double shift trade programmes in thirteen places attached to
Polytechnical Institutes. Under the Directorate of Technical
Education, the annual admission capacity was 1600 for such courses
including the double shift programmes. However, during the Pakistan
rule, this Directorate had a plan to establish vocational schools
for training skilled workers in every thana of East Pakistan (Bangladesh).
In the Pakistan Fourth Five-Year Plan (1970-75), this Directorate
had schemes to open sixty-three new vocational schools in different
areas of East Pakistan (Bangladesh). These were planned but never
implemented.

In addition to the vocational institutes established by the
Directorate of Technical Education, there were some private insti-
tutions with poor physical facilities and teaching staff.. These
institutions, although in deplorable condition, showed a great
enthusiasm, initiative and interest to build schools for formal education

in vocational-technical fields. The Directorate of Technical Education

65

provided yearly financial grants to these institutes. But the
government financial grants during Pakistan reign were inadequate to
‘maintain a minimum acceptable standard. The report of a survey
conducted by the Institute of Education and Research revealed that,

A total amount of nearly Rs. 70,000 was granted to

thirty-five vocational institutions by the Directorate

of Technical Education during the year 1967-68 ranging

from Rs. 300.00 to 6300.00 as yearly grant-in-aid per

institution. ... The duration of trade training

ranges from one to five years. Among the trades

weaving, tailoring and embroidery work are most common;

trade courses in metal, wood, cane and bamboo work

appear next in the frequency list; least frequently

offered trade courses are typing, leatherwork, book-

binding, clay modeling, coir weaving, and a few others.

The largest number of students are reported to be

enrolled in the area of weaving and tailoring (40:158).

Private vocational institutions in Bangladesh were very much
neglected. Because of a lack of standard in private vocational
schools and government vocational schools, no uniformity was maintained
in the development of vocational education for skilled workers. As
a result, the graduates from private vocational schools faced serious
problems in the job market. No efforts were undertaken by the
Directorate of Technical Education to standardize this level of
vocational education.

There was an imbalance in the development of vocational-
technical education under the Directorate of Technical Education.
Efforts for developing vocational-technical education at the
certificate level (high school level) were far less than the efforts
for development which took place in the diploma level (post high

school level). This can be seen from Table 4.1 which gives the

figures of annual admission capacity, enrollment and output of skilled

66

workers, technicians or supervisors offered by the Directorate of

Technical Education in Bangladesh.

Table 4.1

Admission Capacity, Enrollment and Output
of the Two Levels of Education
Administered by the Directorate

of Technical Education During 1965-70

 

Year Admission Enrollment Output
Capacity

 

Skilled Worker Level

1965-66 680 900 343
1966-67 680 1100 450
1967-68 900 1400 450
1968-69 1200 1800 850
1969-70 1600 2042 1000 (anticipated)
Technician Level
1965-66 1860 3747 527
1966-67 1898 4309 437
1967-68 2597 4798 1060
1968-69 3468 6259 1300
1969-70 3800 8500 1400 (anticipated)

 

Source: Directorate of Technical Education, Government of
Bangladesh.

The above table reveals the fact that there was an imbalance
in the development of the two levels of education under the Directorate
of Technical Education. The facilities for training skilled workers
were expanded more rapidly than the facilities for preparation of
technicians and supervisory cadre. Yet the total capacity for
preparing technicians was greater than the capacity for preparation of

skilled workers. In the pyramid of educational development, the base

67

ought to be stronger than the apex. In any development project,

the demand for technicians and supervisors usually is less than the
demand for skilled workers. Assuming a ratio of 1:5:20 between the
engineers, technicians and skilled workers, more expansion at the
skilled worker level was necessary. Moreover, the skilled worker is
important because he is an important factor in influencing productivity.
The development efforts for vocational-technical education under the
Directorate of Technical Education was not in accord with the manpower
requirements of Bangladesh.

The present development of vocational-technical education
institutions under the Directorate of Technical Education has largely
been organized on the basis of recommendations of the Commission on
National Education in 1959-60. It was recommended that training
facilities be provided for twenty-five new trades and technologies
in addition to the existing courses, which they considered to be
necessary for the developing economy of East Pakistan (Bangladesh).
According to the survey conducted in 1969 by the Institute of Education
and Research, Dacca, less than two-thirds of the areas of trades and
technologies recommended by the Commission had been developed and
introduced in the technical and vocational institutions of the then

East Pakistan (40).

Directorate of Labour

 

The Directorate of Labour has general responsibility for the
welfare of labourers. In addition to enforcement of government's
labour laws and regulations, education for generating skilled manpower

was one of the important responsibilities of this Directorate.

68

Educational programmes under this Directorate were very small. The
Director of Labour with some deputy and assistant directors controlled
some technical training centres under its jurisdiction. This
Directorate had only five institutions for producing skilled workers
with enrollment capacity of approximately 1540 persons. These
institutes were: Technical Training Centre, Dacca; Vocational and

Staff Training Centre, Chittagong; Technical Training Centre, Rajshahi;.
German--Bangladesh Technical Training Centre, Dacca; and Marine

Diesel Training Centre, Narayangonj. The above institutions offered

18 month courses for groups of trainees; that is, when one group
completed the course, another group was accepted. The Directorate of
Labour had plans for further expansion of its programmes by establishing
six additional Technical Training Centres for skilled workers.

The programme of on-the-job training and retraining facilities
for the skilled workers apparently were completely neglected by the
Directorate. The apprenticeship training programme which falls under
the category of programs for skilled workers was under the control of
the Directorate of Labour. As discussed earlier in Chapter III, the
apprenticeship programme in Bangladesh was not very effective and the
number of persons enrolled in training was very low. As observed by
English of Syracuse University,

Proposals in the First and Second Plans for regulating,

coordinating and standardizing in-service training and

apprenticeship programs were never really implemented.

Thus an inadequate ration of lower level skilled workers

to high level technicians has developed (59:24).

In fact, Bangladesh appears to be like many other developing

countries of the world where the higher levels of education have

69

grown faster than the lower levels. This faster growth in higher
education was true in vocationalbtechnical education as well as general

education.

Directorate of Commerce and Industries

Similarly, the Directorate of Commerce and Industries had
assumed a limited responsibility for training skilled manpower. In
addition to trade, commerce and industrial development, education was
one of the responsibilities of this Directorate. This Directorate
had a small programme to train about 120 skilled workers each year.
The Director of Commerce and Industries with his deputy and assistant
directors controlled five weaving schools located in the districts of
Mymensingh, Chittagong, Noakhahi, Pabna and Dinajpur. The Directorate
had its jurisdiction and control over these five district weaving
schools for skilled workers and one textile Institute in Dacca for
producing supervisory level personnel.

An Integrated Analysis of the Programmes
and the Administrative Structure

 

One of the major deficiencies of the system of vocational and
technical education at the certificate level was that it was not
systematically organized, and responsibilities were dispersed among so
many agencies. Because of these reasons, types and standards varied
widely and there was little comparability of qualification, nor were
there adequate planned relationships between manpower requirements and
amount of training carried out by various agencies. The Fourth Five-

Year Plan described the situation in 1970 as,

7O

Presently, there is no systematic pattern of training:

some training is conducted in public corporations, a

bit is done in private industry through apprenticeship

programmes; vocational institutes exist here and there

but generally have a small enrollment. In some cases

skills are handed down from father to son. There is not

even a standard classification of occupations yet

established, hence, the content and depth of training

for a given occupation varies from one plant to

another from one institutions to another (84:159).

It is imperative to have close and effective coordination and
cooperation among the different Directorates to avoid unnecessary
duplication and to promote uniform progress. The weakness in the
administrative structure as described in the proposals for educational
policy of 1970 was, "Most of the responsibility probably falls on a
too highly centralized and bureaucratic administration which does not
allow full play to the talents and capabilities of the teachers, the
students and the educational research workers (85:6)."

According to the survey report (1969) by Lyman there existed
a contradiction between the Directorate of Technical Education and
Directorate of Labour regarding responsibility and administrative
control over these vocational-technical institutions. The survey
report indicated that the Directorate of Technical Education claimed
responsibility for all vocational-technical training should be under
the Directorate's control; apprenticeship programme and other vocational
training within industry should be retained by the Directorate of
Labour. The main rationale for such claims was that vocational-
technical education was pre-employment programmes and were to be
integral parts of a national education system. On the other hand, the

Directorate of Labour saw no justification to transfer administrative

control of their Technical Training Centres to the Directorate of

71

Technical Education. According to the Directorate of Labour, the
programmes under their control were more realistic in relation to
industrial skill requirements, national manpower needs, interests of
workers and other related questions in the context of employment,
for which the Directorate of Labour had primary responsibility «€3).

It is of utmost importance to realize that every department
had a definite role towards the overall development of the nation and
for accomplishing real progress through cooperation between the
departments.

All directorates concerning vocational-technical education had
their own expansion plans without consideration of expansion plans
by the other directorates. The Directorate of Technical Education
had a plan to establish vocational training centres in each thana
of Bangladesh. In this regard Lyman commented in his survey report,

It would appear that the first priority should be

re-orientation of the existing secondary school

curricula to give them a substantial vocational

bias before launching expensive expansion of

facilities which may be unsuitable character.

... The cost of equipping such schools will be

very high and the demands for teachers and craft

instructors, already in serious shortage will be

even more critical. A strictly limited number of

such schools in rural areas and having courses

with an agricultural or rural community bias for

both boys and girls would appear to be the

desirable approach to further expansion (43:17).

Contrary to this, the aims of the Directorate of Technical
Education were to provide courses in thana vocational training
centres to prepare students to enter industrial occupations for the
modern sector, and to a great extent, overlooked the employment

opportunities in the traditional rural sector. Establishment of

vocational training institutions at the thana level with provision for

72

only industrial skills, were viewed by other writers as tending to
further aggravate the flow of young people to already crowded urban
areas.

The entrance requirements to these vocational training
institutions included the completion of the eighth grade. Because of
various reasons the dropout rates from primary schools were very high
in Bangladesh. Between the first grade and eighth grade there was at
least 60 percent dropout in rural areas mainly for economic reasons.
Maybe if these youth were not allowed to drop out, older youth might
find more work in rural areas. This vast mass of youth in rural areas
has remained as unemployed with little or no preparation for employment.
Evening courses for youth and adults to learn some type of simple
craft and skill training to enable these peOple to find some useful
activity in their rural environment, were not considered to be a
part of vocational education systems in Bangladesh.

Another deficiency in the curricula of these vocational and
technical institutions of certificate level was the limited emphasis
on instruction in language and social science studies. One of the
five year plans describes the situation,

The basic weakness in the entire programme of

technical education has been the failure to

perceive it as an integral part of the total

educational effort. Technical education has

been generally divorced from the rest of the

educational system and has, therefore failed to

produce the well-rounded, adaptable type of

individual that is needed. Technical training

must be based on the understanding that the

human personality cannot be segmented and that

the deve10pment of the individual as a worker,

as a citizen, and as a person must be a part
of the same educational process (792346).

73

Prior to Bangladesh, the New Education Policy of 1970
prOposed many reforms to overcome deficiencies of the existing system
of vocational and technical education. It was proposed that vocational
and technical education be reorganized in such a way that stages in
technical-vocational education would be parallel with different stages
of general education. The certificate courses should be renamed as
Matriculation (Technical) and should be of two years duration after the
eighth grade. The present three-year course after matriculation in a
polytechnic institution should be replaced by a two-year course leading
to an intermediate (technical) program, which would be followed by a
further two year course leading to a B. Sc. (technical) degree.
Similar programmes were prOposed in the fields of agriculture and
commerce (85) .

Major Problems Faced by the Existing System
of Vocational-Technical Education

Teacher Supply

The teacher plays a pivotal role in any system of education.
A widely accepted truism is that the quality of education depends
mainly upon teacher quality. Khan observed that,

In the ultimate analysis the teacher is the heart of

any educational system and without his effort no

progress in the field of education can ever be achieved.

It is an admitted fact that the quality of teachers

determines the quality of education and the effective-

ness of the system (65:5).

But the magnitude of the problem of supply of trained teachers

and other inputs for developing vocational-technical education was

stated in the document of the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1970-75),

74

Most of the technical programmes have so far suffered

from lack of qualified teaching staff and foreign

exchange for the purchase of equipments and books.

It is, therefore, essential that within the sub-

sector of technical and vocational education, highest

priority should be given to a substantial improvement

in the training of teachers, including teachers of

agriculture and of arts and crafts and technicians

(84 .147) .

A qualified teacher is one of the most important pre-requisites
for any quantitative and qualitative improvement of vocational-technical
education system. An adequate supply of trained and qualified teachers
in vocational-technical education was one of the greatest obstacles
in expanding vocational-technical education in Bangladesh. The
existing shortage of trained teachers in vocational-technical education
was largely due to lack of adequate teacher training facilities.
According to Bari:

One of the greatest handicaps towards expansion of

technical education has been the shortage of qualified

teachers at all levels. To meet the demands for teachers

at the polytechnic level, at technical teachers' training

college has been established in Dacca (94:10).

As mentioned earlier the polytechnic level (post-secondary)
was developing faster than that of secondary level. For the poly-
technic level at least one teachers' training college was established.
But no training institution was established by the Directorate of
Technical Education to meet the demand for teachers in the vocational
training institutes under this directorate. Most of the training posts
in these institutes were vacant and the number of vacancies in such
institutions were constantly on the increase. However, the Directorate

of Technical Education had a plan to start six colleges for training

of vocational teachers.

75

The following table gives the estimate of teachers needed in
the training institutes under the Directorate of Technical Education,

during 1970-75 period.

Table 4.2

Projection of Teacher Requirement for
Vocational Training Institutes During

 

 

1970-75
Total Existing Number of Additional
Requirement Stock of Teachers Teachers to be
of Teacher (untrained) . Trained trained
(estimated)
Instructor
(teacher) 2193 244 21 2172

 

Source: Directorate of Technical Education, Bangladesh.

It appears from the above table that about 2193 teachers would
be required for vocational training institutes and the existing stock
of teachers was 244, of which only 21 teachers had received training.

Facilities for training teachers of vocational and technical
education under the Directorate of Labour were not adequate to meet the
demand. Under this directorate, there were only two teacher training
units attached to the Technical Training Centres: one at Chittagong
with a capacity to train 25 teachers per year, and another attached
to Technical Training Centre, Dacca, with a capacity of about 30
teachers per year.

Lohman, in his evaluation report on technical education in East
Pakistan (Bangladesh) indicated in 1968 that the quality of technical

education programmes and the quality of the graduates was seriously

76

affected by the lack of trained teachers. A secondary cause was lack
of equipment (102).

Hamm, identified that, "The most serious obstacle to the
further expansion of technical education in East Pakistan (Bangladesh)
is the shortage of trained persons to staff the technical schools
(lOl:5)."

According to the findings from the Lyman survey on vocational
and technical education in East Pakistan (Bangladesh), "They (technical
institutions) all shared one thing in common--a shortage of qualified,
well trained teaching and instructional staff and most lacked adequate
supplies of equipment and training materials (43:28)."

Teacher-supply was equally dismal under the Directorate of
Public Instruction. Diversified vocational—technical courses offered
by the Multilateral high schools under the Directorate of Public
Instruction also suffered due to a serious shortage of trained and
qualified teachers. As observed by English of Syracuse University,
regarding diversified programmes of secondary schools in Bangladesh,

Another serious problem of the secondary level is the

lack of a diversified curriculum. While more electives

have been added in practical, technical and scientific

subjects, secondary education is still mainly general

education, especially due to lack of equipment and

qualified teachers for the new subjects (59:18-19).

A USAID study paper on education in Bangladesh indicated,

The most important single factor on which the success

of the new program in secondary education will depend

is the supply of qualified teachers. Experience since

the launching of this program indicated that availability

of human resources posed as great a problem as that of

material resources. The greatest obstacle in the way

of proper implementation of the educational program was

the inadequate supply of qualified teachers. This was

most pronounced in science and technical subjects like
agriculture and industrial arts (105:26).

77

Very few steps had been taken to cope with the problem of
inadequacy in the supply of trained teachers which was considered
to be the number one limiting factor for expansion of vocational
courses in the multilateral high schools of Bangladesh. There were
five teacher training colleges for the preparation of secondary school
teachers under the Directorate of Public Instruction. But no
provision was made in those teacher training colleges for the
preparation of teachers in diversified vocational-technical courses
offered in the multilateral high school. As observed by Sharefuddin,

One of the most important recent innovations in the

pattern of secondary education has been the diversi-

fication of courses--emphasizing such practical

subjects in the general schools as science, agriculture,

industrial arts, commercial subjects, home economics,

arts and crafts, etc. But the curriculum of the

general (teacher's) training colleges does not reflect

this emphasis. Each student in a (teacher's) training

college is required to specialize in two school subjects;

these options are still limited to the "traditional"

subjects, such as language, history, geography,

mathematics, science, etc. ... one of the stumbling

blocks in the rapid introduction of a diversified

curriculum has certainly been the shortage of properly

qualified teachers (70 24-25) .

The critical shortage of trained teachers was also reported
by Selim, "There is a wide gap between the number of trained teachers
required for various types of schools and the number of teachers
actually being produced by the existing training institutions (72:54)."

To meet the problem of inadequacy in the supply of trained
teachers for vocational-technical courses in the multilateral schools,

the Education Extension Centre, Dacca, offered a few long courses of

nine months duration, in collaboration with other institutions. From

78

July, 1959 to June, 1970, it organized and conducted eight long
courses for agriculture teachers, two long courses for industrial arts
teachers and two long courses for commerce teachers in which there
were in all 101, 8 and 18 participants, respectively. The number of
teachers trained by the Education Extension Centre was very negligible
compared to the vast requirements for implementing diversified
programmes in the high schools.

Since 1967-68, the Institute of Education and Research under
the University of Dacca, introduced a two-year undergraduate programme
leading to the B. Sc. degree in industrial arts. This programme was
established to meet the demand for industrial arts teachers. This
institute also offered a similar two-year programme in business
education to produce commerce teachers. But the number of teachers
produced by this Institute in the area of industrial arts and commerce
was very small in comparison to the need for teachers in these fields.
Regarding inadequacy of existing facilities for teacher education,
Ahmed observed,

The present training facilities have failed to meet

even the current demands as indicated by the huge

proportion of untrained teachers. If the future

demands are to be met, the number of these professional

institutions have to be doubled immediately and then

this rate of multiplication has to continue every

five years or so for several decades. It is doubtful

if the limited resources available for education will

permit this rate of expansion (56:90).

It is evident from the above statement that teacher preparation
which would.p1aya.great role in the implementation of huge programmes
by different directorates would pose a difficult Problem. The limited

resources of Bangladesh was viewed as probably the greatest obstacle

to overcome.

79

Physical Facilities

Physical facilities including specialized equipment and
laboratory-shop facilities, are a prerequisite for any development
of vocational and technical education. But most of the schools in
Bangladesh, offering vocational-technical courses suffered from
inadequacy of such facilities. Nonsavailability of specialized
equipment and inadequate shop-laboratory facilities were another major
bottleneck in the expansion of vocational-technical education in
Bangladesh.

It is an accepted truism that vocational and technical education
suffers when it is not adequately supported by sufficient funds to
build modern shop-laboratories and classrooms as well as to buy
up-to-date equipment and supplies. Insufficient funds in most of
the ordinary schools of Bangladesh presented a serious problem for
offering vocational-technical education facilities available in
Bangladesh.

According to a report of the heads of multilateral high schools
in a study conference held at Education Extension Centre, Dacca, in
1966,

All the schools are short of classrooms, some have only

one laboratory, some have no workshop, some have no

commerce room or geometrical and technical drawing rooms.

. Some of the schools have not yet been provided
with the tools and equipment they need (61:15).
It is evident that lack of physical facilities on the part of

many schools resulted in insufficient vocational-technical education

programmes. As observed by Ali,

80

Science libraries and laboratories are rare, and

those that exist are neither well equipped nor well

maintained. In some schools, even Dacca city, the

limited laboratory equipment which is available is

not for use by the students, but is stored in a show

case. Laboratory work, even where performed, is

done without any real purpose (57:80—81).

The report of the educational equipment survey of 1967 (in
Bangladesh) indicated that facilities for teaching science and
vocational subjects in most of the schools were inadequate. According
to the report, sixty‘five percent of the schools under survey had no
electricity; 89 percent of the rural schools and 77 percent of the
urban schools had no supply of running water. Gas supply was non-
existent in almost all school laboratories. About 17 percent of
the rural and 12 percent of the urban schools had no laboratories
at all. Most of the schools were under-equipped and some schools
offered science subjects without having any equipment for those
subjects (98).

In a symposium of scientists, held at Dacca in 1968, Ahmed,
described the lamentable condition of science laboratories at all
levels of education in Bangladesh,

Actually what we call laboratories in our schools and

colleges and in our universities where our boys get

their first lessons in experimental science is a

misnomer. They are almost outdated by a hundred years.

They are ill-equipped to a degree which stands no

comparison (58:2).

Similar views expressed by Sharafuddin, "After the problem of
teachers comes the dearth of laboratory, equipment, furniture,

textbook and other materials. There is no doubt that these facilities

are in very short supply (71:7)."

81

All the above findings aid statements indicated that
programmes of vocational and technical education in Bangladesh were
suffering due to lack of adequate facilities of shop-laboratory,
equipment and classrooms. But the provision for such facilities for
developing vocational-technical education in the individual schools
of Bangladesh would be a tremendous burden in the existing economy

of the country.

Student Enrollment

 

Emphasis on general education in Bangladesh is a legacy of the
pre-independence past. It evolved under an alien rule chiefly to
help staff the governmental bureaucracy and provided little scope
either to develop the talent potentials of leadership or take
advantage of a scientifically and technologically advancing world.
Technical and vocational education in Bangladesh has been traditionally
regarded as separate from the main educational system and relegated
to an inferior position since it does not lead to the most sought-
after careers. This attitudinal problem was identified as being
primarily responsible for the high rate of enrollment in general
education compared to v0cational and technical education at the
secondary level of Bangladesh. According to a report of United
Nations manpower project in 1967,

In 1964 per every 1000 pupils/students enrolled in

educational institutions in Pakistan only 4 pupils

are enrolled in technical institutions whereas in

general secondary schools about 196 pupils.

Corresponding figures for East Pakistan (Bangladesh)

and West Pakistan are respectively: 2 and 154

pupils and 7 and 251 pupils (41:63).

It is evident from the above figures that a large proportion

of student pOpulation in Bangladesh had a tendency to pursue general

82

education. However, on the basis of the recommendations of the
Commission on National Education (1959-60), diversified programmes of
vocational-technical education were introduced at the secondary high
schools of Bangladesh in 1961. But the enrollment figures in vocational-
technical courses were extremely poor and look almost incredible.

Data in Table 4.3 give the general picture of the enrollment situation
in different types of high schools in Bangladesh during the year
1967-68. More recently, the New Education Policy of 1970,

recommended a massive shift in education policy to promote vocational
and technical-oriented education at the secondary stage and to make
this instruction available in the ordinary high schools where students
can enroll for Matric (technical).

It can be observed from Table 4.3 that a large number of
students at the secondary level were enrolled in the humanities
curriculum. This situation in Bangladesh may have been due in part
to the total absence of guidance and counseling services at the
secondary level. The choice of courses of study by students was
mainly dictated by unrealistic ambitions of parents or other
considerations rather than considering national need and student's
own endowments, capabilities and interests.

The main evidence of failure of the education system at the
secondary level in Bangladesh, was its students who lacked gainful
skills appropriate for employment related to economic development of
the country. The flow of graduates did not satisfactorily fit the
needs in those required fields which created a double barrel problem

of unemployment for many and lack of manpower for developing a new

83

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Honoumawuacz

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mHooaum swam uaouomwflo can aw macofiuuco ou wcflouooo< unoEHHoucm

m.¢ wanna

84

field or enterprise. As observed by a foreign advisor attached to
the Education Extension Centre, Dacca,

An] nation that wants to meet the challenges of the
complex and dynamic society must have a guidance
service in its schools. Pakistan (Bangladesh) is

a developing nation and the new educational

programme and the nation must develop together (75:31).

The need for guidance and counseling services in the educational
system of Bangladesh was recognized in 1959 by the Commission on
National Education. One decade passed but nothing, or very little,
was done in this direction. As stated in the report of the

Commission,

We suggest the appointment of a staff member at all
secondary and vocational schools as a careers officer.
This teacher should have a wide knowledge of career
opportunities and the prospects offered by particular
vocations as well as an intimate knowledge of courses
of study available in preparation for these. ... It
seems to us that the introduction of such provisions
is a necessary corollary to the full utilization of
the programme of technical and vocational education
we are proposing (32: 134 and 161).

This was also recognized in the Third Five-Year Plan (1965-70)
but without any implementation. It was stated in the document,

A very important feature of all these programmes, whose
keynote is diversity and choice, is the deve10pment of
an effective guidance system to assist children in
making suitable decisions at the time of electing
subjects for study or seeking openings for employment.
This guidance and counseling programme will be based on
the use of standardized tests of intelligence, interest
and aptitudes of children and young people at different
ages and class level (821193).

It was, therefore, evident in the context of enrollment
situation at the secondary level of Bangladesh, that there existed a

wastage of human talent and national resources in education.

85

Recommendations were made in an effort to substantially reduce the
'wastage through a properly administered guidance and counseling

programme.

CHAPTER V

DEVELOPMENT OF AN ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM OF

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FOR BANGLADESH

Introduction

 

On the basis of the analyses in the earlier chapters it is
evident that the existing circumstances in Bangladesh calls for an
alternative system of education. Various national educational groups
and commissions have recognized the importance of vocational-technical
education as a function of public education to provide the means for
developing saleable skills, understandings and attitudes necessary to
make the citizens intelligent and productive participants in the
society. But the present system of education is dominated by general
education which has failed to contribute as much as is desired for the
socio-economic deve10pment of the country and to help individuals
develop fully. There is a need for resolution of the problems of
providing educational programmes that will form a bridge between man
and his work, and will help in socio-economic development of the
country. One possible solution is to develop an alternative system
of education emphasizing vocational-technical education, best suited

to the conditions and requirements of Bangladesh.

Alternative System

 

On the basis of the survey of the documents it can be said that

there is a need for reorganization of the existing system of education.

86

87

Also nearly all of the documents acknowledged the needs for reorienta-
tion of education to place greater emphasis on vocational-technical
education and training in order to make the education more useful and
to meet the manpower needs of national development. The basic

concept underlying the goals and guidelines of educational development
as outlined in the New Education Policy of 1970, were, "Re-orientation
of educational programmes in the light of the economic needs of the
society particularly by shifting the emphasis to scientific, technical
and vocational education (86:1)."

This increase in emphasis on vocational—technical education at
the secondary level should be such as to achieve an enrollment ratio
of 40:60 between the general arts programme on the one hand and the
vocational-technical programmes on the other. According to the
document, "The emphasis in secondary education should be shifted to
science, technical and vocational education so as to achieve a ratio
of 40:60 between the general stream on the one hand and the science,
technical and vocational streams on the other (86:6)."

The proposed massive shift towards science, technical and
vocational education at the secondary level was not necessarily based
only on the manpower requirement approach to education, but to create a
better trained citizenry in the country. According to the proposals
of the New Education Policy,

What is required in the next ten years is not the

'requirement approach' to vocational and technical

education but an approach which would create a

supply of a self-reliant class of skilled and

semi-skilled technicians in different technologies

of importance to the national economy. It should

be realized that such a class of trained technicians

would generate its onn employment potential and
would not necessarily be job seekers (85:23).

88

It was evident from the above mentioned statements that leaders
in government supported recommendations for developing science,
vocational and technical education in the country. But various problems
(discussed in Chapter IV) were identified with the attempts to implement
vocational-technical education programmes in the high schools. However,
emphasis on educational development indicated in the Third Five-Year
Plan (1965-1970),

Abridgement of the developmental gap between urban and

rural communities is important for the overall educational

development of the nation. The pronounced hiatus

between their respective facilities for education

and consequent supply of skilled persons has to be

closed (82:211).

Further, the policy of the government recommended in the
Fourth Plan (1970-75) was,

Existing secondary schools need to be renovated and

strengthened appropriately and further expansion

properly planned. As an urgent measure it is

necessary to vocationalize a majority of secondary

schools both in rural and urban areas by establishing

optimum size institutions which would be more

economical and efficient (84:155-156).

In this direction, the New Education Policy of 1970, recommended
"Considering the constraints imposed by the limited resources and
the expensiveness of science education, it will be desirable to develop
centres of excellence in selected places which should be open to all
on the basis of ability and aptitude (86:12)."

The same document also indicated the need for detailed plans

and programmes for educational development in the country. In the

words of the document,

89

The New Education Policy has, therefore, been finally

designed as a statement of national goals in education,

and some broad-based guidelines. The goals indicate

the general directions that educational deve10pment in

the country should follow, and guidelines provide a

framework within.which the provincial governments and

other governments and non-governmental agencies are to

prepare detailed plans and programmes (86:1).

The concept of Comilla-type thana training and development
centres for adult functional education was widely accepted by the
government, particularly for rural development. It was recommended
in the outlines of the Third Five-Year Plan,

Thana/Tehsil Training and Development Centres should be

established all over the country to organize compre-

hensive training in administration and skills and

servicing and coordinating the activities of the

cooperative village units (80:232).

Accordingly, in almost all thanas in Bangladesh, thana
training and development centres were set up by the Department of
Basic Democracies and local government in collaboration with other
departments.

The tempo of thana-based development continued and the
Directorate of Technical Education also undertook a plan to establish
one vocational training centre in each thana of Bangladesh. According
to the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1970-1975),

In East Pakistan (Bangladesh), there is already

underway a programme to establish a vocational

high school in each thana. By the end of the

Third Plan, it is expected that 35 of these schools

will be admitting students. During the Fourth Plan,

it is intended to open an additional 145 vocational
high schools (84:160).

The existing training institutions at the thana level were not
concerned with the vocational education of high school youth. However,

the government's more recent policy has emphasized a massive shift towards

90

vocational-technical education at the secondary level. It was recom-
mended that, "vocational and technical training should be made
available in the ordinary high schools (85:23).” To implement this
policy, many resources such as teachers, equipment, shop-laboratories,
supplies and money would be required.

In keeping with the above mentioned goals and recommendations,
it may be possible to offer an alternative system of education which
might solve some of the major problems faced by the existing system.
The concepts of the proposed alternative system may be presented under
the name, "Thana Vocational-Technical Education Programmes". The
system would be Operated by establishing some vocational-technical
centres on a thana basis.

Under the proposed system of thana vocational-technical educa-
tion programmes, all the existing training institutions at the thana
level would merge into one.

The proposed thana vocational-technical centres, in addition
to providing instruction for adults and out-of-school youth, would
also assume responsibility for high school youth. In other words, in
addition to other functions, these thana centres would offer education
at the secondary level in vocational-technical fields to students in
the geographical territory of a thana.

The prOposed thana vocational-technical centres would be the
focal point of the total vocational-technical education effort in
that thana by the schools and other government agencies. These
thana centres would offer instruction to all kinds of youth and adults

in a wide variety of occupational areas. The centres would seek to

91

provide the courses necessary to prepare everyone £01 potential success
in at least one vocation. This concept of centralizing the instruction
was also recognized in the First Five-Year Plan of Bangladesh (90).

Close involvement of local communities with the centres, as
recommended in the government policy, appears to be more feasible when
the development unit is at the thana level, the lowest unit of
government's direct administration. It is recommended that,

Close involvement of local communities with schools

is of great educational significance. The concept

of educational administration will be reviewed and the

present system of management of educational institutions

replaced by a more democratic decentralized admin-

istration (84:150).

Also, the existing disparity of educational facilities between
rural and urban areas would be reduced to a great extent, if the
governmental unit for deve10pment were closest to the grassroot level.
The proposed thana centres would be evenly distributed throughout
thanas of Bangladesh, which would cover both rural and urban areas.

The location of each thana centre should be,_ insofar as
possible at the geographical centre of a thana. This would facilitate
the sharing of the facilities by the high schools of the thana. The
students from the participating schools would retain their identity
with their own schools from which they would receive their general
education. They would graduate from their home schools.

As discussed in Chapter IV it is beyond the capacity of the
small private schools to offer vocational-technical courses. The
small private high schools with inadequate facilities for vocational

education programs would also share the facilities of thana centres to

gain maximum utilization of the comprehensive programme and facilities.

92

In other words, the proposed system would serve as a centralized
extension for existing schools to achieve the government policy of
massive shift toward vocational technical education.

The concept of sharing is explained in the document of the
Third Five-Year Plan,

Some projection apparatus is costly, but one film

or film-strip projector or overhead projector can

be used by many schools jointly. Similarly one

film library well stocked with appropriate films,

filmstrips, slides, etc., can serve a whole series

of schools and colleges (82:21).

However, for participating in the thana vocational-technical
education programmes, students of participating schools need to be
transported to thana centres. This might be by half day or other
block time arrangements fitting local schedules, distance and other
factors. The idea was also recognized in the First Five-Year Plan
of Bangladesh (90).

The provision of other facilities in the thana centres for
providing vocational-technical education would, no doubt, depend upon
the available resources of the country. But nevertheless, it would
be less expensive to provide one or two ”centres” with adequate
facilities instead of developing many individual small schools in a
thana. However, it was proposed in the Third Five-Year Plan, that,

The district high school will be the focal centre of

this development. It should be designed to be fully

comprehensive, with adequate residential facilities,

offering the widest possible choices in the elective
subjects. ...fully equipped with laboratories,

library, science equipment, workshops, apparatus,

machinery, other teaching aids and qualified teachers,

thus serving as a model for other high schools in the

district and drawing resident students from the areas
where particular electives are not available (82:192).

 

Participating
School

 

 

Participating
School

 

 

 

Thana Vocational
Technical Centres

 

 

 

 

Participating
School

 

 

Visualization of the Proposed System

Figure 5.1

 

 

Participating
School

 

 

94

But the development of district schools, generally located in
urban areas did not solve the problems of education in rural areas
where eighty percent of the people lived. This approach to deve10pment
was viewed as creating more disparity between urban and rural
educational facilities. Therefore, the development approach at the
Thana--the lowest administrative unit of the government would be a
better approach than district plan in the attempt to maintain equity
of deve10pment.

The existing television facilities in Bangladesh may be used
in the proposed system of thana vocational-technical education
programme. It was also recommended in the various documents to utilize
TV in the educational programmes. In the New Education Policy of
1970 it was recommended that, "For a general improvement of the
teaching of science and technical subjects the mass-communication media,
particularly, the television and radio should be effectively utilized
(86:6)."

In the Fourth Five-Year Plan, "Educational T.V. in Pakistan
(Bangladesh) may certainly supplement the teaching programmes at the
secondary and higher level (84:168)."

In the Third Five-Year Plan, ”As outstanding teachers are in
short supply especially in the field of science and technology, TV can
spread their benefit far and wide if educational programmes are
efficiently used (82:210).”

In the context of the above recommendations, it was believed
that problems of teacher shortage could be minimized by using

television in the programme. Some of the lectures emphasizing theories

95 ..

and demonstrations could be given at the thana centres and then

received at the home schools by television. A combination of instruction
by telecommunications at the home schools and hands on experiences of
shop-laboratories at the thana centre would also minimize the frequency
of student's transportation.

Additional details about implementing these proposed thana
vocational-technical education programmes are given in the Appendix A.
If the centres were to serve ten percent of unemployed adults and
out-of-school youth; and sixty percent of high school youth, the
requirements of the total number of thana centres would be 877 with
the capacity of 1000 participants per centre. Commuting distance for
participation of high school youth would be within seven miles.

A separate programme is prOposed in Appendix B for Chittagong
Hill Tracts district where thana programmes cannot be justified due

to sparce distribution of population within a large area.

Rationale of the Proposed System

 

The rationale of the proposed system has been discussed from
two points of view: (1) thana as a unit, and (2) feasibility of the

proposed system.

Thana as a Unit

 

A thana as the main focus of the proposed system of education
is consistent with the deve10pment plans of Bangladesh. Recent plans
for development are all thana based and the concept of a thana as a
unit of development is gaining more acceptance than ever before.

Moreover, experiments at Comilla demonstrated that a thana is a most

96

effective unit for development, particularly for rural development.
According to the Fourth Five-Year Plan,

A major problem in implementation of the programme
during the Third Plan was the lack of technical
personnel at the local level. A comprehensive
training programme to impart the necessary skills

to the people in rural areas is, therefore, to be
developed. In East Pakistan (Bangladesh) increasing
arrangements for training of local workers were made
through Thana Training and Development Centres and
through workshops established under the thana
irrigation programme. This effort has to be further
intensified and more closely linked with the
training programme in the Pakistan (Bangladesh)
Academy for Rural Development in Comilla (84:349).

Further, the Fourth Plan recognized that,

The Camilla approach has been tested outside its
laboratory area--the Comilla Kotwali Thana. It is
producing satisfactory results in groups of thanas

in the districts of Comilla, Chittagong and

Dinajpur and in four agricultural estates established
by EPADC (84:345).

Another new dimension of a successful thana based programme
is the "thana irrigation programme" in Bangladesh. According to the
Fourth Five-Year Plan,

The thana irrigation Programme is the single most
successful irrigation programme that has been
launched in the province (Bangladesh). ... Maximum
advantage will be taken of this success in the Fourth
Plan period and the Thana Irrigation Programme will
be expanded as rapidly as possible (84:342).

The programme focused on the thana level, where effective
programme planning, implementation, better supervision and close
involvement of people were possible. According to Ahmed,

In the recent past some solution to this problem has

been sought through improving the organization at

the thana level. ...In the context of the develop-

ment need of Bangladesh the center of administrative
guidance and power equivalent to that of the existing
district should be relocated at the thana level ...(92:4).

97

However, the following rationale is given in support of
the proposed thana based programme.

1. A thana in Bangladesh is the lowest unit of government's
direct administration so equity of educational development in rural
as well as urban areas is more conveniently possible.

2. Thana level officers, service and supply facilities of
government's technical agencies for deve10pment work available at
the thana headquarters, all can be efficiently utilized in the
proposed system. Different departments of the government can afford
to assign an officer with skill and experience to it. When there is
a critical shortage of trained personnel, the possibility of finding
413 well-qualified officers for assignment to the thanas is much
more likely than finding 4000 workers for the union level, or 45,000
for assignment to the village-level.

3. Thanas are sufficiently small that a broad spectrum of
the people of the area can participate in thana activities and
identify with its work.

4. The thana headquarters is the established unit of
economic and commercial activities. It is also the location of
commercial services and supply outlets and centre of transportation
of the area.

5. Rural areas of Bangladesh which have been neglected and
undeveloped can be reached through a thana more readily than from
higher units.

6. Government's Rural Works Programme which is designed to

implement labour intensive construction projects essential in increasing

98

rural productivity may be more effective if it is supported by a

comprehensive educational plan at the thana level as proposed.

Feasibility of the Proposed System

 

At present, there are two major types of training institutions
available at the thana level: (1) Comilla type thana training and
deve10pment centre, and (2) vocational training institutes by the
Directorate of Technical Education.

Comilla type thana training and development centres do not
serve as a comprehensive vocational training programme for different
groups such as, high school youth, out-of-school youth and adults.
The Comilla type programme only partially covers the adult group in
an indirect manner and in the areas related to the implementation of
government's rural works programmes and agriculture. Only the village
leaders or the key men of the village have the direct access to this
training,

The method suggested was for each village group to

select its representative, called the 'organizer'

who would serve as fiscal agent and learner-trainer.

Soon thereafter one or two alert farmers and early

adopters would be selected as 'model farmers'.

A training method would follow logically from the

above in which the organizers and model farmers would

come to the Academy for weekly training sessions,

followed by village meetings where the ideas learned

would constitute the 'lessons' for the vilkagers (19:46-47).

The second type of training institute at the thana level is
called a vocational training institute under the Directorate of
Technical Education. It offers vocational-technical courses below

secondary level for youth. This training programme is a duplication

of training facilities which the Directorate of Labour is also offering

99

and expanding under a different name. However, these vocational
training institutes at the thana level are not designed to include the
high school youth, whereas the government aims at a massive shift
toward vocational-technical education for high school youth. According
to the Fourth Five-Year Plan, "In secondary education the Fourth Plan
objective will be to achieve an enrollment ratio of 40:60 between the
arts programmes and the scientific, technical and vocational

programmes (84:155)."

This type of massive shift in educational practice towards
vocational-technical education at the secondary level is no doubt an
ambitious plan. But the resources required in terms of teaching staff,
workshops, laboratories, equipment, and supplies for these programmes
of vocational-technical education are rather large while the available
resources are very limited. The question of specialized equipment,
laboratory facilities, and teachers would become a great barrier to
expansion of vocational-technical courses in individual schools. It
is, therefore, desirable that all the existing training institutes
at the thana level such as a thana training and development centre,
and a vocational training institute at the thana level and other
training efforts by different departments of the government should
merge into one, in the light of the proposed system. Thus, in addition
to serving adult and out-of-school'youth, they would also serve the

high school youth. According to the Fourth Five-Year Plan,

100

High level research activities will be organized to

conduct analytical studies of educational problems.

Applied research will open the way to the establish-

ment of a more geographically decentralized

educational system, under which schools and training

programmes will be functionally related to local

demands for services and to local patterns of

employment, migration and community life generally.

It is, therefore, imperative to develop a strong

research programme which may be helpful in cutting

down the overall cost of the education programme and

increasing the effectiveness of the educational

investment (84:149).

The proposed system of thana centre is believed to be one way
of reducing the educational expenditure required to implement
vocational education in a geographically decentralized way.

Due to lack of resources, secondary schools commonly find it
difficult to provide various vocational-technical programmes. The
major problems facing these high schools in their attempt to provide
vocational-technical education were discussed in Chapter IV. The
situation faced by small schools and their resultant inability to
provide vocational-technical programmes may be at least partially
solved by the proposed system of thana centres. It is viewed as a
constructive approach to the solution of the problems of insufficient
funds, shortage of teachers and low enrollment in vocational-technical
courses.

Raper described one of the reasons for success of the Comilla
approach as, "With the creation of the thana training and Development
Center all of the thana representatives of the various government
departments concerned with development were brought together in one
location for the first thne ...(l9:14).”

The proposed system is alsc»consistentwith this approach that

thana centres would provide the centralized place for the total

101

educational effort of that thana, where all the government represen-
tatives at the thana level would be attached to this programme. The
proposed system of thana centres is also consistent with the government
policy of central laboratories and community workshops as recommended
in the First Five-Year Plan of Bangladesh (90).

However, in addition to other factors discussed, the following
rationale is given in support of the feasibility of the proposed system.

1. The proposed system would provide vocational-technical
education for high school youth of Bangladesh which is one of the
major goals proposed in the recent educational policies. This approach
would be cheaper than that of an effort to launch expensive vocational-
technical education in individual schools.

2. Within limited resources of the government, it is
economically more feasible to remodel the existing institutions or
to create a few institutions, where necessary, in order to include the
high school youth. This approach would offer solutions to the problems
of vocational education for both youth and adults in Bangladesh.

3. The developmental gap between urban and rural educational
facilities as proposed in the various documents may be reduced to a
great extent by implementing the proposed system of thana centres.

4. A higher degree of involvement of local people and
communities with the vocational-technical education centres would be
possible through the proposed thana centres.

5. The proposed system would reduce the unregulated expansion
of training efforts of different departments offering almost similar

programmes. The system would eliminate unnecessary duplication of

 

VI

I”

102

training efforts by different departments of the government in the
same thana and thereby, reduce the expenditures for equipment, service
and supplies.

6. Under the proposed system, it should be possible to offer
a greater number of curricula to fit different needs, abilities and
interests of the people. A more extensive programme of occupational
training opportunities, both for youth and adults, would be available.

7. It will offer training opportunities in more geographical
areas to more persons than is possible in individual schools serving
single communities.

8. The thana vocational-technical centre as a single admin-
istrative unit would serve multipurpose functions, whereas these
functions are at present haphazardly served by several different
administrative units or organizations.

Basic Programmes of the PrOposed Thana
Vocational Technical Centres

 

The thana vocational-technical centres would operate throughout
the year with an enrollment capacity of 1000 per centre. Each centre
'would be open to all who want, need, and can profit from occupational
preparation. It would be responsive to the needs of youth and adults
but also be in tune to the manpower needs of Bangladesh. The thana
centre would offer both full—time as well as part time, day and evening
courses. A high degree of flexibility would be maintained in order
to serve youth and adults to pursue their studies according to their
inclinations. Since the need for vocational education is different
for different groups of persons, the curriculum pattern for youth and

adults has been discussed separately. However, the thana vocational-

103

technical centres would operate the following programme areas:
secondary, pre-vocational, out—of-school youth, adult, guidance and
counseling, work experience, instructional development, teacher education,

research and coordination.

Secondary School Programme

 

As shown in Chapter IV, most of the high schools cannot offer
vocational-technical courses. Lack of resources constitute one of the
major obstacles for introducing vocational-technical education in
high schools. One of the alternative solutions for such problems
would be through proposed thana centres.

The thana centres would offer instruction for grade IX and X
to prepare students for matriculation in different vocational-technical
subjects. The students of the participating schools would receive
general education at their respective home schools. The programme of
the thana centres would be intended for occupational preparation and
at the same time would be useful for those students who desire to
continue their education in technical, semi-professional and professional

programmes.

Pre-Vocational Education

 

Certain prerequisites for vocational-technical education at
the thana centre would be provided through a pre-vocational programme
during grades VI to VIII at the home schools. The importance of such
programmes were recognized in the Fourth Five-Year Plan, ”Pre-vocational
courses imparting basic knowledge of crops and crop storage, agricultural
equipments, soils, seeds, rural carpentry, first-aid and nutrition will

be provided as a part of the course (84:156).

104

Development of pre-vocational courses would be an important
part for the proper implementation of high school vocational programmes
through thana centres. This part is the foundation and pre-requisite
for participating in the thana centres. Therefore, it is necessary
that thana centres should provide coordination, guidance and counseling
services and other necessary services to the participating schools
for develOping pre-vocational programmes. The thana centres should
take an active role in developing materials for orientation of students
in pre-vocational preparation at the participating schools. In all,

a thana centre would assume the responsibility of assisting students
of the participating schools in developing self-concepts in the world

of work and preparatory backgrounds for the thana centers.

Out-of-School Youth Programme

 

Out-of-school youth are those who are of high school age but
have dropped out of school prior to completion. Many have dropped
out due to economic reasons. Although these young people have ceased
or interrupted their secondary education many have time available for
full-time education before seeking work. However, school dropouts
are one of the major educational problems in Bangladesh. The dropout
youth with no saleable skills are a great economic burden to Bangladesh.
With adequate training these young people could be an asset to the
society rather than a liability. However, special effort should be
made by the participating schools to recruit or re-enroll these youth
so that they can complete their high school education. To achieve
this plan would take much time in Bangladesh. At present, the rate

of dropout is so high that it is almost beyond the ability of the

105

participating schools to manage. There is practically, a fifty percent
dropout between the first and second years of primary school and it is
reasonable to assume that for some years to come, a substantial portion
of youth will not be able to go beyond 6th or 7th grade for mainly
economic reasons. Therefore, the second approach for these out-of-school
youth would be for the thana centres to offer courses to provide

some type of training involving use of hand tools, which will enable

the dropouts to become semi-skilled workers or self-employed artisans.

Adult Programme

 

As discussed in Chapter III, the lack of training facilities
for adults is one of the major problems in Bangladesh. Most of the
farmers in the rural areas and workers in urban areas are illiterate,
have had no Opportunity for any occupational training, and do not
apply the techniques which could greatly improve their productivity
and standard of living. Therefore, one of the main purposes of thana
centres would be to offer various training programmes to provide
these adults with the skills needed to be absorbed in the developing
economy of Bangladesh. This programme should explore the potential
for self-employment of adults; offer training either part-time or
full-time and make it available during both day and evening hours;
and have no entrance requirements and nature of courses would vary
from course to course according to the needs of the adult participants.
These variation and flexibility in adult courses are necessary because
some adults will need preparatory training, whereas some may need
upgrading, retraining, or resettlement. At the same time, some adults

in the rural areas where there is no industry, will need some type of

106

simple craft and skill training involving use of hand tools which will
enable these people to find some useful activities in their rural

environment.

Guidance and Counseling Services

Providing opportunity for vocational-technical education would
have no meaning if it was not sufficiently used by the people. The
government policy designed to reduce the proportion of students in
general studies and to increase the proportion in vocational-technical
education would be difficult without guidance and counseling services.
As discussed in Chapter IV the choice of courses of study is mostly
dictated by expectations of parents for their children rather than
considering national needs or the student's own endowments, capabilities
and interests. The need for guidance and counseling services has been
recognized in the various documents of the government.

New Education Policy of 1970 recommended, "The new approach
to the deve10pment of technical and vocational education in Pakistan
(Bangladesh) will necessitate, (a) creation of a full-time counseling
and guidance service at various levels (86:11)."

Fourth Plan recommended, "Orientation and development of
curricula towards scientific, technical and vocational education as
well as services such as guidance and counseling for directing students
to the courses according to ability and aptitude will be undertaken

(84:146).”

107

The Third Five-Year Plan, recommended,

A vigorous campaign needs to be launched for the

introduction of diversified courses at the secondary

stage and the introduction of a large percentage of

students into subjects such as industrial arts,

agriculture, commerce and home economics. Here some

guidance and counseling becomes important for directing

students to the most appropriate forms of education, to

apprenticeship, to craft training or to the study of

science and mathematics consistent with their interests

and aptitudes (82:187).

Guidance and counseling services were also recommended by the
National Commission on Education in 1958 and in earlier educational
plans. Inspite of these recommendations there exist no such programme
in the present stage of development. One of the possible reasons
might be limited resources of small schools to implement this
expensive programme. Lack of qualified personnel and factors involved
in the process of implementation might be other reasons for lack of
this programme. Despite importance of guidance and counseling services,
it is not possible on the part of the government to help each
individual school with such a SOphisticated programme. Therefore, one
of the alternatives may be to establish guidance and counseling services
at the thana centres which will cover all the small schools in that
thana. The most critical stages of secondary education where the
students need branching off are at the VIII grade and/or matriculation
level. These two important stages would be covered by the guidance
and counseling services at the thana centres. Hence, the guidance and
counseling staff of the thana centres would extend their services to
the participating schools of the entire thana by visitations (Figure 5.2).

Guidance and counseling services at the thana centre may render

the following four major services:

108

1. Information about student. This service should be designed
to collect information about an individual student from the time he
enters school until he graduates.

2. Information about environment. This service should have

 

three distinct parts; occupational information, educational information
and social information. The occupational information will explain the
Opportunities, requirements, advantages and disadvantages of various
occupations in Bangladesh. The educational information will include
the various educational programmes available in Bangladesh. The social
information area will include information about relationship with
others and obligations of the individual in maintaining the best
possible personal relationships.

3. Counseling. This service will provide each student with an

 

opportunity to get necessary help from counselors for problems which
the student cannot solve himself. Counselors would help a student to
make his own decisions with respect to the ways and means of attaining
his goals in vocational life.

4. Relating to future goals. This service should be provided

 

as a means by which a student can move to his past-school life and to
maintain follow-up records. This services will help the student obtain
employment, enroll in other schools for additional training, or help

him embark upon some other possibility.

Coordination Service Programme

 

In Chapter IV of this report, the lack of coordination was
discussed as a major impediment of vocational education programmes in

Bangladesh. Different departments of the gUVerMgHt have their own

109

programmes, conducted in their own.way; and hence there is confusion,
contradiction and duplication of programmes. Therefore, in the context
of Bangladesh situation, one of the important roles in successful
implementation of the prOposed system would be coordination. The new
education policy of 1970 also recognized the elements of coordination,
such as, "Establishment of a coordination unit at the Ministry of
Education (86:12)."

The coordination unit at the national level will, no doubt, find
it necessary to maintain coordination among the various agencies
concerned (this is discussed in greater detail under the heading
Administration and Management Structure of the Proposed System). But
the need for coordination at the local level cannot be overlooked. It
is, therefore, suggested that there should be a coordination unit at
the thana centre. The coordination units at the thana centres would
be called upon for conducting the following functions:

1. A liaison between the participating schools and the thana

centres.

2. To maintain effective public relations.

3. To contact various commercial and industrial establishments

to cooperate with the thana centres.

4. To coordinate the development of various courses for adults

and out-of-school youth by other teaching members.

5. To coordinate the various advisory committees.

6. To develop a spirit of cooperation among faculty-student

and administrators.

110

It can be seen from the above mentioned functions that
coordination units at the thana centres have many important roles to
play in the implementation of the programmes. The following diagram
(Figure 5.2) gives the general picture of the coordination and

guidance-counseling services.

Instructional Development

For the acceleration of vocational-technical education,
production of educational material within the country needs to be
encouraged. Lack of instruction material is one of the major problems
in the present system of education. According to the Fourth Plan,
"One of the greatest handicaps in promoting better vocational and
technical training at the certificate level, whether this is done in
the private sector or the public, is the paucity of interesting,
accurate and pedagogically-effective textbooks, manuals, workbooks
and exercise (84:161)."

In the Third Plan it was recognized,

Use of maps, charts, illustrations, pictorial or

model representations, films, filmstrips and other

projected materials are a great help in real learning

processes. Some institutions are currently making

effective use of certain simple devices. But it is

necessary that a massive and comprehensive effort be

mounted so that all educational institutions are

induced and enabled to use the available audio-visual

materials (82:209).

Benson in his study (1970) on East Pakistan (Bangladesh)
indicated, ”Materials of instruction were largely non—existent G¥+:l7).”

This gap in the educational development should be dealt with

effectively. One way to solve this problem may be through thana centres.

Thana centres may serve in developing materials, media and techniques

lll

 

 

 

Participating Participating 7 ‘Participating _
High High High
School School School

 

 

 

TI-
1
I

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Participating Thana Participating
High - -,. ”Vocational __ _ __ High
School Centre School

104‘
I

I

I

I

I

I

I
i}?

Participating Participating Participating
High High High
School School School

Figure 5.2

Movement of students from a participating high school to
the thana vocational-technical centre

-------- Movement of counseling and guidance services, and

coordinator services between participating high schools
and thana vocational-technical centre.

112

to help the occupational instruction of the participating schools. The
thana centres may serve to produce improvised equipment, textbooks,
training manuals and other teaching aids for the overall development

of vocational-technical education in that thana.

Work Experience Programme

The negative attitude toward manual labour with its origin
in historical circumstances, still prevails in Bangladesh. This
attitude might have intensified because of the lack of growth in
science and technology; and consequently the educational system did
'not acquire a bias towards it. As observed by Khan,

The nineteenth century European education did have

a clerical bias. If somebody went to high school or to
college, it was to get a classical education. It was
to become a gentleman. It was to become what was then
called a clerk, a person who was not concerned with
manual labour, with craftmanship, with technology in
general, but a person who held a white collar job. Our
educational system was based upon this assumption;

the purpose of an education was to make a person a
gentleman and not a technician (42:4).

Further, the Commission on National Education in 1959, recognized,

... there exists a widespread reluctance to dirty the
hands and a tendency to regard manual labour as some-
thing reserved for particular classes of people. We
are disturbed to find the general impression that the
education system has contributed to the existence of
these attitudes, and it is a matter of great concern
to us that education should, in any way, be a party
to the maintenance of cleavage and division within
our nation (32:245).

A socialist democracy like Bangladesh cannot allow' the ten
different elite classes as in the past. Education should be responsive
to socio-economic needs of the nation. Attempts should, therefore, be
made to change the values placed on manual work. The thana centres can

take leadership to change this attitude by introducing work experience

113

programmes in cooperation with various organizations in the thana. This
programme may serve as an effective device to related education to life
and productivity and thereby also provide them with vocational experience.
This programme may be in the form of practical participation of students
in productive situations such as in the school, in the home, in a
workshop, on a farm, or in a factory. The thana centres can possibly
provide some part-time employment for students. Instead of utilizing
servants or hired labour for thana centres and other schools, it may
be possible to have much of the work done by students, not primarily
to save money, but to provide valuable experience. This will reduce
the existing social stratification and help reduce the distinction
between intellectual and manual work. In this regard, the experience
of the People's Republic of China may provide examples worth studying.
Also as observed by Benson,

The wasted hours of the present-day student should be

put to use in a National Service Corps. In exchange

for the opportunity of attending an institution from

the secondary level upward, the students would under-

take an obligation to serve a given number of hours

each week in the local community: helping to improve

the water supply, repairing bridges, painting road

signs, building recreational centres, health centres

and even drains (24:79).

The Commission on National Education also recommended that,

...Secondary school students should participate in

work projects in community service or in such activities

as health programmes, flood control, and the cleaning

and repairing of wells and drains. In their vocational

and technical courses some of the students will have

acquired specific manual skills and these should be

utilized for the good of the community as well as in

anticipation of their own future careers (32:246).

Accordingly, the Academy for Rural Development, Comilla in

Bangladesh, has undertaken such a programme on experimental basis

114

called "the school works programme”. Findings of this project

indicated that,
The students had found that everyday life could be
related to education and that they could earn some
money while learning about book theorems in actual
practice. They learned about mortars and their
proportions, how to level floors by a spirit-leveler,
how to find out the total volume of earth moved, the
total volume of wood used in furniture, how to make
geometric designs for furniture, etc. (19:207-208).
Thus, the work experience programme in the thana centres may

help students acquire work habits and insights into productive

processes which make their entry into the world of work and employment

easier.

Teacher Education Programme

 

Various documents reviewed (in Chapter IV) recognized the
lack of teachers as one of the important problems for expanding
vocational education in the country. The New Education Policy of 1970
emphasized that, "The need for training a large number of teachers
would call for a comprehensive teacher training programme, including
the expansion of the normal programme of teacher education and a
crash programme of condensed training on an emergency basis (86:19)."

In this regard, the thana centres may serve as a clinical site
for teacher preparation and inservice teacher education. A unit of a
teacher education college may be attached to a thana centre as an
occupational teaching laboratory. Students who are preparing to be
teachers may utilize the various facilities of vocational-technical
education at the thana centres which are not available in teacher

education colleges in Bangladesh. After the completion of the theoretical

115

portions of the training at the campus of the college, these partici-
pants may be placed at the thana centre for imparting the practical
aspects of their preparation as vocational teachers. This would impart
a great variety of interrelated experiences and reduce the cost of
teacher training programmes by avoiding duplication of equipment,
service and supplies in the teacher's training colleges. Inclusion
of the teacher training programme in the technical institutions is
also proposed in the New Education Policy of 1970,

It may be worthwhile to mention that technical

institutions should in addition to their normal

programmes, also arrange for short-term, sandwich

and extension courses in various trades for various

kinds of semi-skilled/skilled workers and technicians

as well as refresher courses for the teachers in

vocational subjects in the schools offering vocational

courses (86:12).

Therefore, the thana centres may help solve the problem of

vocational-technical teacher shortage.

Research and Development Programme

 

It is generally recognized that no system or programme of
vocational-technical education can reach its full potential without
research. The proposal of the New Education Policy recognized that,

One of the reasons for our poor academic standards has
been the fact that our education policies have not
placed adequate emphasis on the importance of
educational research. ...By ignoring research, our
educational policies have missed the opportunity to
maximize the utilization of resources which have been
available for education (85:25).

The Fourth Plan also recognized, ”Urgent steps will be taken

by the Ministry of Education and provincial departments of education

116

to encourage and promote educational research and offer the required
leadership (84:165)."

It is, therefore, imperative that development of vocational-
technical education should go hand in hand with research activities.
Research efforts may be strengthened by utilizing the various facilities
of thana vocational-technical education programmes. Thana centres may
have a section of research and development to deal effectively with
the challenges and opportunities which confront the vocational
education programmes. It may also permeate other relevant problems
of vocational education in Bangladesh. A percentage of the total
expenditures of the thana centres for each year should be used
specifically for experimental, developmental, pilot or innovative
programmes.‘ Research and development programmes of thana centres
would provide a basis for the study of relationships, principles, and
the discovery of new information and verification; of existing knowledge

of vocational-technical education in Bangladesh.

Curriculum of the PrOposed System

 

Although the proposed system of education is mainly concerned
with the secondary level, it has a direct link with the different
levels of education in Bangladesh. The need for restructuring of
curriculum at the different levels of education in Bangladesh is
recognized by the different commissions and educational leaders of the
country in the past. In a most recent policy of education, it was
proposed in 1970,

It will be necessary to set up curriculum committees

at appropriate levels to design curricula suited to

the needs of each stage of education. Currriculum
development, however, should be viewed as an integrated

and continuous process (86:16).

117

The statement of the document indicates a need for redefining
and changing the educational programmes at different stages of the
whole educational system. These changes should stem from the basic
principle, that primary, junior high, secondary, higher secondary and
university levels have a definite role in preparing the individual for
the world of work. This whole process of education should be considered
as a continuum.

However, in the process of determining the type of vocational-
technical education required in Bangladesh, it is necessary to identify
the contribution which each educational level should make towards
the development of individual occupational competency.

Much consideration should be given in the curricula of
elementary and junior high levels as well as to the vocational-technical
education at the secondary and higher levels. It was also proposed in
the New Education Policy of 1970 that,

It is imperative that science education should commence

from the earliest stage of education to develop a

scientific attitude by stimulating, sustaining and

rewarding the spirit of enquiry and the power to analyze

and solve problems. With this end in view it is

necessary to modernize the curricula for science

teaching on a continuous basis (86:11).

It is, therefore, evident that the curricula of the proposed
system of education at the secondary level should have adequate
relationship with the other levels of education to maintain consistency
and equillibrium within the whole system. However, the following

elements may be considered in making a vertically integrated curriculum

of vocational-technical education for Bangladesh.

118
The Elementary School Level (Grades I-V)

According to the New Education Policy of 1970, ”The curriculum
of elementary schools should be re-designed around basic linguistic
and numerical skills and manual and productive work to suit the practical
needs of every day life (86:16)."

Hence the primary education should include some means of
giving children at an early age a link and respect for manual work
and they should begin to acquire an understanding of the world of work.
This may include accustoming them to observation and creative effort;
and encouraging them in an intelligent approach to practical problems
arising at home and in the community. This approach to primary
education is also supported by the recommendations of the Third Plan,

Curriculum development is very important at the primary

level. The child's experiences have to be given a

practical orientation. The overall objectives of

accelerating productivity in an economy have to be

kept in view. It has to be remembered, that at this

stage in a child's development, foundations are laid

of attitudes towards life and environment (82:190).

The Junior High Level (Grades VIjVIILL

Not much direction is available in the document of the New
Education Policy of 1970 or in the Fourth Plan, regarding the curricula
of the junior high level. But according to the Third Plan,

Education at the junior high stage consisting of

classes VI, VII, and VIII, ...curriculum at this

level needs careful attention. At this stage, the

school curriculum has also to be expanded to include

diversified subjects, craft work and prevocational

courses, which the children have to be encouraged

to explore (82:191).

Hence, the curriculum at this level shoald include more

information about the world of work and students should be exposed

119

to exploratory occupational experiences. The student at this stage
should be acquainted with the basic requirements of various occupations.
The role of guidance and counseling would be very important at this
stage to assist each student to capitalize on one's interests and
aptitudes for taking vocational-technical courses at the secondary

stage.

The High School Level (Grade IX-X)

 

Thana vocational-technical centres would be particularly
responsible for this level. The New Education Policy of 1970 and the
Fourth Plan gave general recommendations that curriculum at this level
should be shifted from general to vocational-technical education; and
appropriate curriculum committees should be set up to design curricula
suited to the needs of students. In the Third Plan emphasis was the
same as above,

Apart from expansion, secondary education is in need of

fundamental reorientation of its curriculum. A vigorous

campaign needs to be launched for the introduction of
diversified courses at the secondary stage and the

induction of a large percentage of students into subjects

such as industrial arts, agriculture, commerce and home

economics (82:187).

However, vocational-technical education at this level would
normally serve two groups of students: (1) for those who will
terminate their education at this level, and (2) for those who will
continue their education at higher levels.

For both of these groups, a relatively broad education for a
”cluster" of occupations may be provided. In this type of training most

occupations may be clustered. This may be designed to provide education

in skills and concepts common to clusters of closely related occupations

120

of agriculture, industry and commerce. The instruction at this level
should be basic to most of the occupations within the cluster. The
group of students who will terminate their education at this stage would
receive basic training so as to enable them to enter one of several
possible occupations within a specific field. The other group, those
who will continue vocational-technical education beyond high school
level, also need basic skills, ability and understanding for depth
training. Therefore, implementation of the cluster approach in the
thana schools would provide a broadly based training which would serve
the divergent needs of the groups of students.

An advantage would be that an individual acquiring this type
of fundamental broad training would be able to move back and forth
over several occupational categories and find a better job market
than specific training. According to the recommendation of the New
Education Policy of 1970, "A large number of student should be diverted
to technical, agricultural and industrial streams designed to prepare
them for absorption into the economic life of the country (86:16)."

Absorption into the economic life of the country as stated in
the above document, would be easier for students in a broad based
cluster curriculum. As mentioned earlier most of the vocational-
technical education in Bangladesh is offered by different departments
of the government mainly to train personnel in their specific field.
With this type of narrow specific training, an individual will be at
the mercy of situations. Therefore, the thana centres should provide
the high school students a kind of vocational-technical education
which will form a solid basis for the entry level of jobs, assisting

them to reach mental and manual maturity, and which will broaden their

121

opportunities for various occupations. This approach is also emphasized
by the UNESCO conference on the application of science and technology

to the development of Asia in 1968, "That in the deve10pment of techno-
logical education and training, particular attention be paid to the
timing of specialization; early narrow specialization is not advisable
for countries at lower stages of development where job opportunities

are limited (50:76)."

It is, therefore, imperative, that a developing country like
Bangladesh should provide a broad type of training. The product of
such may be absorbed in the present economy as self-employed artisans
or serve as a potential reservoir of trained manpower for future
deve10pments of the country. Therefore, the curriculum of cluster
programmes which would be derived from the analyses of the common
features of occupations, would be very suitable in the context of
Bangladesh's situation. Specialized training, when needed, may be
received by these high school graduates in an apprenticeship or on-
the-job training programme. Most of the students of high school age
in Bangladesh are not mature enough to make firm decisions regarding
their life's work in terms of identifying a specific occupation. In
addition, the broad-based programme would be less expensive and would
be more useful than that of specialized programmes at the secondary

level.

The Post Secondaryiand Above Levels

 

The post secondary level may be provided with a wider variety
of vocational-technical programmes designed to give depth training for

a particular occupation or for several closely related occupations.

122

—

Specialized programmes may be at the college or university level.

This is to say that post-secondary level should be of semi—specialization
which could lead to specialization at the baccalaureate degree level.
Consistent with other levels, a wide variety of specific occupational
preparation may be provided at the college or university level.

Thereby, each level of vocational-technical education would have an
unique role to play in the development of occupational competency. The
following flow chart (Figure 5.3) gives the general picture of

proposed curriculum of vocational-technical education programmes for
different levels in Bangladesh.

Curriculum for Out-of-School Youth and
Adult Programmes

 

 

Vocational-technical education for unemployed youth and adults
would be narrower in scope than the programmes for youth enrolled
in full-time secondary schools. For high school youth, vocational-
technical instruction would be only a part of their total programme
of studies. On the other hand, out-of-school youth and adults who
will enroll in vocational training, are seeking specific knowledge
and certain definite skills to help them secure a job or to improve
their skills for self employment. Usually such enrollees will be less
interested in formal education programmes and do not have the time
to study them even if they are interested. For these reasons,
vocational offerings for such groups would be usually specific rather
than general. These training programmes of the thana centres would
be related to local employment or occupational Opportunities and other

various problems of that particular thana as determined by school

 

-——_+ LEVELS OF EDUCATION

123

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T
U
m
i‘.’ 83
a a 5 Specialization and Specific Training
H a) p—‘l
m o
O
O
m
m
h
I H
H . . . .
E39: 2 Semi-Specialization Training
m o o
o A
o
U)
f:
g T) 10 To Provide Training for Cluster Occupational
a > Preparation
0 o
o A
o
(D
1
8
g'd 7 Continue to Stimulate Awareness and Provide
3 E Exploratory Experience
21
5
4
a"; 3
E 5 2 Development of Awareness for the World of Work
a A 1

 

 

Figure 5.3

A Vertically Integrated Vocational-Technical
Curriculum for Bangladesh

 

124

officials in cooperation with occupationally concerned and competent

individuals and groups.

Administration and Management Structure of
the PrOposed System

 

 

Administrative aspects of the existing system of vocational-
technical education in Bangladesh are very much complex. As indicated
in Chapter IV, there seems to be a conflict among different departments
for power and administrative authority over vocational-technical
education at the secondary level. As a result, there is confusion and
anomalies in the system of vocational-technical education in Bangladesh.
As such, the New Education Policy of 1970, recommended that,

It is, however, considered essential that measures should

immediately be initiated to decentralize the administra-

tion of educational institutions in order to allow
community participation and insure academic freedom and
administrative and financial autonomy needed by

educational institutions for their proper development
(86:20).

It is, therefore, desirable that the proposed thana vocational—
technical centres should be autonomous in character, and all the
departments of the government should extend necessary help and c00pera-
tion in the implementation of various programmes. The overall
administrative structure of thana centres should be centered in the
thana level. As a measure towards decentralization, management and
administrative power should be vested at the local level. This will
allow close involvement of local people in the educational matters,
and will bring school and community together. Decentralization is
also necessary to ensure academic freedom for proper development of

the system. According to the prOposal of the New Educational Policy,

125

there exists bureaucratic control which denied academic freedom.
In the words of the document, ”Teachers have been paid low salaries,
they have been made sub-ordinate to the bureaucrat who exercises over
them the rights of appointment, promotion, transfer and dismissal (85:6)."
However, decentralization of educational administration.would
necessitate creating certain educational bodies at the local and
national levels. In this direction, the government policy emphasized
that, "It has been proposed that all institutions, from secondary
schools upward, should have Governing Bodies/Advisory Bodies, with
apprOpriate representation of the Government, parents, teachers, and
:founders/donors, if any (86:21)."
However, the administration of thana vocational-technical

programmes may include the following component parts.

A Board of Control for Vocational-Technical Education

At the national level, a Board of control for vocational-
technical education should be established which should consist of
representatives from the following: (1) a Directorate of Technical
Education, (2) a Directorate of Public Instruction, (3) a Directorate
of Labour, (4) a Directorate of Commerce and Industries, (5) a
Directorate of Agriculture, (6) Chambers of Commerce and Industries,
and (7) distinguished educationists. The Secretary of Education may
serve as the chairman of this board.

The direction and magnitude of the efforts to promote
vocational-technical education at the secondary level may be developed
by this board. The board should function as an autonomous body for

the formulation of overall policies on the thana school system and

126

prepare necessary plans concerning the use of facilities and deve10pment.
Another important function of the board would be to provide required
funds upon the request of the different thana centres. The board
may also recommend guidelines for the location of the thana centres.
It is important that board should give written policies
indicating the place and goals for vocational education programmes
in the system of education. These written policies should also
specify the duties, responsibilities and relationships of personnel
in the thana vocational education programmes. These written policies
for thana centres are vitally important for operational stability and
also for a sense of security to those who will be involved in the

programmes.

A Manpower Committee
A manpower committee may be established under this Board
to collect data for providing information about manpower and occupational
trends. This coordination of educational effort would help thana
centres to draw up training programmes. The need for such a
committee can be seen from the document of the Fourth Plan,

Educational statistics in Pakistan (Bangladesh) suffer
from a number of limitations with regard to coverage

and accuracy. A number of departments and agencies
collect data on the educational system almost
independently. There is a complete lack of coordination
between these agencies, and the scope, criteria and
definitions used, and the purpose for which these data
are collected, very widely. The estimates and forecasts
made on the basis of such inaccurate data have been
occasionally so high that the goals have seemed to

be non-attainable (84:148).

Hence, the data available from the different agencies of

Bangladesh for determining programme needs would not be very useful.

127

Therefore, one of the primary responsibilities of this manpower
committee would be to conduct surveys to identify programme needs.

The survey may contain the following:

Survey

 

 

 

The World of Work Persons to be Sdlved (People)
occupational opportunities student interest

and manpower needs student abilities
skills and competencies target groups
employment trends parental expectation
employer desires follow-up data

Pertinent educational data as shown above may be collected
for use in planning for vocational-technical education programmes.
These data may be used in developing a description of experiences
which young people and adults should have in order to acquire and
maintain occupational competency. According to Byram,

Program needs have their roots in three sources: the

needs and interests of the clientele to be served; the

occupational Opportunities available; and the competen-

cies in‘workers needed by employers. Data concerning

each of these should be obtained without limiation

to present vocational offerings. Findings are to be

used to compare the contribution of the present program

to the identified needs, leading to recommendations

for changes and/or expansion (25:vi:i).

However, this approach may be followed to identify what
vocational-technical education programmes should offer in the thana
centres of Bangladesh. The manpower committee under the board could
provide a useful service by issuing a series of publications reporting

the findings of the survey and other reports on occupational needs

and opportunities.

128

Governing Body

 

According to the proposals of the New Educational Policy,
"Every educational institution should have a governing body to look
after its day to day administration (85:8)."

It is, therefore, imperative that at the local level there
should be a governing body for each thana centre. The governing body
will help the head of the thana centre or effective operation, in
accordance with the policies given by the board of control. The
governing body should be elected and consist of representations of

the localities to be served by thana centres.

Advisory Committees

 

Consistent with the government policy, each thana centre
should have some advisory committees. These committees will consist
of those people who are professionally competent and interested in the
activities of the thana centre. They may offer advisory services in
formulating different programmes of thana centres. Representatives
of this committee would be mostly from government technical officers
posted at the thana level and from industrial, agricultural, commercial
firms, local leaders, teachers, local educationists, and representatives

from self employed people.

Faculty Council

 

One of the recommendations stated in the proposals of educational
policy is that, ”Financial powers within approved budgets and decisions
such as the appointment and promotion of teachers should be delegated
to the educational institutions themselves in the governance of

which, teachers should be allowed to have an effective voice (85:7).”

129

 

Secretary of Education
Chairman of the Board

 

Directorate of Directorate of
Public Instruction Agriculture
Directorate of V iDirectorate of
Technical Education 'V Labour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
   
 

 

 

 

Board of Control for

Vocational-Technical Education]
Chamber of Commerce ,/2' ‘Directorate of
and Industries Commerce and

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-.--” Industries
Manpower TI
Committee Distinguished
' Educators
‘1!
Thana Vocational
Technical Centres
F i 1
Governing Advisory Faculty
Body Committees Council
Figure 5.4

Administration and Management Structure
of the Proposed System

130

Hence, to preserve rights and responsibilities of teachers
and to maintain an effective voice, all thana centres should have a
faculty council with the head of the school as chairman. The main
purpose of this council would be to discuss various problems faced by
faculty members, exchanging ideas and recommendations for adequate
measures. The development and progress of different on-going
programmes of thana centres may also be discussed at the faculty

council meetings.

Academic Freedom

 

The faculty and administrators of thana centres should be
given considerable freedom from the normal control. As recognized
in the New Education Policy of 1970, ”The present administrative set
up of education in Pakistan inhibits initiative and creative self-
expression which can flourish only an atmosphere of relative freedom
and responsible participation (86:20)."

Therefore, it is imperative, that unlike the existing system,
they should not be rigidly controlled or subjected to formalities
which leaves them no possibility of adaptation. Vocational-technical
education, being so varied in character and methods, requires a
flexibility which cannot be maintained if a ban is placed on local
initiatives. It is essential that a certain independence must be
permitted to those who have to carry out the plans of thana vocational-
technical education programmes.

However, allowing academic freedom to students is equally

important for the purpose of providing the environment, most conducive

131

to teaching-learning processes. The basic necessity for enlargement,
dissemination and application of knowledge are freedom of expression
and communication. Without this freedom, effective sifting and
teaching-learing are stifled. But absolute freedom is anarchy,

just as absolute order means tyranny. Therefore, all regulations of
the thana centres should provide the best possible reconciliation

of the principles of maximum freedom and necessary order which promotes

its basic purposes.

CHAPTER VI

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary of Study

 

The study was designed to investigate the current situation of

vocational-technical education at the secondary level in Bangladesh

and to review the recommendations which have been made as one basis

for developing an improved system of vocational-technical education.

The objectives of this study were:

1.

To examine the current situation of vocational-technical

education at the secondary level in Bangladesh with respect to:

a.

b.

To

Recent policies on education and manpower,

Secondary education and its curricular offerings,
Opportunities for vocational education for youth and
adults,

Administrative structure of vocational-technical education,
Teacher supply for vocational-technical education,
Availability of physical facilities including shop
laboratories and requisite equipment,

Student enrollment in vocational-technical education

programmes; and

propose an alternative system of vocational-technical

edication for Bangladesh in order to overcome the existing

shortcomings.

132

133

W

The study was based on reliable secondary data. Criteria for
selecting (l) publications, and (2) authors, were the following:

Publications:

1. Official publications from the Government of Pakistan and

East Pakistan/Bangladesh.

2. Official publications of agencies and organizations which

conducted studies and projects in Pakistan and/or Bangladesh.

Authors:

1. Associated with the government,

2. Associated with organizations or agencies which have

conducted studies or projects in Pakistan and/or Bangladesh.

Analyses were based on a review of the analytical statements
in various documents and preparation of a synthesis of the major points
which were reported.

Plans for alternative system of vocational-technical education
were developed on the basis of a synthesis of the recommendations from
government documents, authors associated with the government, inter-
national publications related to Bangladesh, and some principles which
have been advocated by recognized leaders in education. Feasibility
of the proposed alternative system was examined in the light of the
government's new perspective in education as reflected in the various

documents.

Limitations of the Study

 

The following limitations were acknowledged for the purpose of

conducting this study:

134

l. The study focused primarily on formal education and was
limited to the secondary stage of the high school level (i.e.,
matriculation and equivalent level in Bangladesh).

2. Analyses were made by using selected secondary data which
had been compiled by various agencies, institutions and individuals.

3. The study was confined to the institutions offering
vocational-technical education open to general public and did not
include in-service training offered by other institutions under govern-
ment and quasi-government organizations.

4. Publications produced during Pakistan time (1947 to 1971)
were used to analyze the situation of vocational-technical education.

These publications were not a direct product of the Bangladesh government.

Summary of Findings

 

Development of Schooling Under Different
Social-Philosophical and Economic
Foundations

 

 

 

Bangladesh has inherited the educational system originally
installed a century ago and founded upon socio-economic and politico-
cultural bases entirely different from those of a truly independent
country. This educational system provided little opportunity for the
people to take advantage of a scientifically and technically advancing
world. In the past, education was mostly regarded as an end in itself,
justifying the substantial sums invested in it by the very fact of
its existence--without regard to its utility or its influence on the
society.

Long before institutionalized education, vocational education

was a matter of handing down the skill from one generation to another.

135

Bangladesh is a new state but not a new land. The present status of
education in Bangladesh has many socio-economic and cultural impacts
of the past. The system of education during the ancient Hindu period
was based on rigid caste systems which may impede educational
development. During the Muslim period, democracy replaced the caste
system and formal education including some vocational education was
introduced. During the British period, the system of education,
excepting liberal arts for clerical professions, paid no attention to
other vocational fields such as agriculture, commerce and industry.
During the Pakistan period, although some changes in education took
place, the emphasis of education inherited from British colonial rule

remained on liberal arts.

Recent Policies on Education and Manpower

 

During the Pakistan rule, the utility factor of education was
greatly overlooked by the planners. Hence the liberal arts education
which had less demand in the job market played a dominant role over
the vocational-technical education. However, the planners and policy-
makers of Pakistan neglected to see educational outlays as a form of
investment with high potential economic benefits. The Planning
Commission of Pakistan which was the supreme authority of decision-
making, placed emphasis on the productive sectors rather than on education.
Investment in education was viewed as less tangible and less spectacular
than the productive sectors. As a result, manpower and educational
planning did not receive adequate attention in the overall deve10pment

plan of the country.

136

For the first time in recent history, Bangladesh got the
opportunity and responsibility to use the resources of its country for
its own development. The problems of development were many and varied
in Bangladesh. The magnitude of the problem of unemployment and growing
labour force was tremendous. Skills at all levels in industry,
agriculture and other fields were reported to be quite low. About
84 percent of the labour force was considered to be illiterate, i.e.,
had not even completed primary education (grade V).

The existing system of education in Bangladesh has contributed
greatly to the situation of large scale unemployment. The educational
system was not geared to the social and economic needs of the country;
in other words, not producing the right kind of manpower in quality

and quantity needed for the development of Bangladesh.

Secondary Education and Its Curricular Offerings

 

Education at the secondary level has not been prOperly related
to the world of work. The courses of study at this level were too
academic and unrelated to life. The programmes of secondary education
in most of the schools of Bangladesh were arts and humanities,
academically narrow and bookish. The system did not cater to the
different aptitude, interest and talent of students. Hence, one of
the major weaknesses of the existing system at the secondary level was
the lack of adequate opportunities for education in vocational-technical
fields.

Education at the secondary level has been designed as a

preparation for entry to higher education. But in reality, only a

137

small percentage of secondary graduates enter colleges and a vast
majority terminate their education at the secondary level.

The problem was further aggravated by long standing prejudice
of educated peOple against manual work. The system of education
produced white collared generalists classified as “gentlemen", and
made them believe that manual work was for the illiterate class of
people.

The type and content of education, which is particularly
important for employment even at the lowest entry level, was not
offered at the primary level. The next level, the secondary education
which was considered to be an adjunct to college education and
predominantly literary and general in character, was of little value
in the job market. Further, education at the higher level was a
mismatch between the content of education and employment readily seen
in undue emphasis on university general education.

In analyzing the education of the different levels the question
arose as to whether the absorptive capacity of Bangladesh should
constitute a limit for educational expansion, or whether educational
expansion should continue despite the growing unemployment in rural
areas and mounting unemployment in urban areas. There was no reason
to recommend a ceiling on the growth of education but rather the
necessity of establishing the priority in education. Continued
development of education was recommended, because social development--
a positive change in the social environment-~to which education can
contribute was viewed as being as indispensable to sustained economic

growth as was the flow of capital. Therefore, there were problems of

138

priorities within the educational system. Since non-utilization of
education was identified as a waste of resources, a higher priority
should have been given to those types of education which were of crucial
importance for economic development of Bangladesh, such as, vocational-
technical education at the secondary level and below that level, to
produce skilled manpower. This action would have required a decisive
change in the secondary education system of Bangladesh.

To make education more useful, vocational preparation should
be one of the important purposes of secondary schools in Bangladesh.
Contemporary statements including UNESCO recommendations emphasized
the purpose of secondary education should provide for both liberal
and vocational-technical education. But in Bangladesh, this principle
did not provide much direction for the secondary school programmes.
General education and vocational-technical education were found to be
divided and not considered as parts of a whole process.

Vocational Education for Youth and Adults
in Urban and Rural Areas

 

 

Educational programmes outside the school system, such as,
in the urban and rural areas have not been very promising either.
The private industries, which in the past dominated the urban economy
of Bangladesh, were reluctant to accept any responsibility for training
of their workers. As a result, the development of on-the-job training
and apprenticeship programmes have been practically neglected.
Arrangements for upgrading the workers'skills have not been available
in Bangladesh. This situation of inadequate training facilities in

rural and urban areas may impede the growth and development of industries.

139

In the rural sector, agriculture is the main occupation of
people and in fact, the foundation of Bangladesh's economy. But the
results of agricultural development in Bangladesh has not been very
promising. Improvised, outdated agriculture with low productivity
can no longer feed the teeming pOpulation which is increasing at the
rate of about three percent per year. Agricultural production could
be greatly increased by training of farmers. Eighty-five percent of
the people of Bangladesh are living in villages as farmers, yet the
curriculum.which is being taught in the primary and high school has
almost nothing to do with agriculture. Neither any systematical
arrangements and facilities for conducting farmers' training programmes
adequately available in Bangladesh.

Hence, one of the basic problems at the lower level in
Bangladesh is the insufficient application of science and technology
in production and daily life. The economic benefit which might be
expected to result from widespread basic knowledge and application of
science and technology do not materialize in Bangladesh. Masses of
farmers and workers are illiterate, have not received any occupational
training and hence do not apply the techniques which could greatly
improve their production and standard of living. This situation in
Bangladesh has come to such a head that expansion of rural facilities
remained as an important factor for the total development of a
Bangladesh as a whole.

The inadequate situation in the rural sector of Bangladesh,
was viewed as due primarily to the lack of educational development
which could serve as a powerful accelerator of rural modernization.

Education in rural Bangladesh, especially of the secondary level, was

140

financed primarily by private organizations. This was indicated by
the fact that high schools had arisen where private enterprise and
beneficence were available. High schools were not well distributed
geographically, with many rural areas largely neglected.

Most of the government high schools with better amenities were
located in the urban areas, whereas 85 percent population of the
people are living in the rural areas. This disparity between rural
and urban areas was due to the planner's tendency to use resources
for expanding educational institutions in the show places of the country
resulting in a widening of the gulf between the resourceful urban
schools and backward rural schools.

System of Vocational-Technical Education
and Its Administrative Structure

 

 

The existing vocational-technical education system in Bangladesh,
was found to be a heterogeneous mixture of some vocational-technical
institutions under different Directorates. The different programmes
of vocational-technical education were administered through four
separate governmental units: (a) the Directorate of Public Instruction,
(b) the Directorate of Technical Education, (c) the Directorate of
Labour, and (d) the Directorate of Commerce and Industries. The
Directorate of Public Instruction had a programme of vocational education
through some pilot and multilateral high schools; the Directorate of
Technical Education offered this education through some vocational
training institutions; the Directorate of Labour had some technical
training centres for this education; and the Directorate of Commerce

and Industries was offering some courses through weaving schools.

141

Each directorate appeared to be administering the programmes of
vocational education in isolation from the other directorates.

Therefore, it can be said, that the present system of vocational-
technical education at the secondary level was not centrally coordinated.
The responsibilities are dispersed among many agencies and there
existed confusion, contradiction and duplication of programmes. Because
of these types and standards, there was little comparability of
qualification, nor were there adequate relationship between the type
of training needed and training carried out by various agencies. Also
there existed lack of cooperation and coordination among the various
agencies. One of the basic weaknesses of the existing system of
vocational-technical education at the secondary level was failure to
perceive it as an integral part of the total educational effort.

Problems of Expanding Vocational-Technical
Education

 

Statements in the various contemporary government documents and
reports by educational leaders emphasized a desire for a major shift
towards vocational-technical education at the secondary level through
high schools. This type of massive shift in education policy towards
vocational and technical education at the secondary level through high
schools was no doubt an ambitious plan. But the resources in terms of
teaching staff, workshops, laboratories, equipment, supplies and money,
for these expensive programmes of vocational-technical education were
rather limited in Bangladesh. The lack of specialized equipment,
laboratory facilities and trained teachers may become a great barrier

to the expansion of vocational-technical education in the high schools.

142

As discussed in Chapter IV, most of the schools in Bangladesh,
offering vocational-technical courses had inadequate facilities and
funds. Within the limited financial resources of Bangladesh, it
was believed to be neither possible for the government to support
every individual school to build modern shop-laboratories and
classrooms, nor to buy up-to-date equipment and supplies. Also, it
was not possible on the part of the government to produce adequate
trained teachers within a short period of time. Therefore, a need
existed for an alternative system (Chapter V) to overcome the

shortcomings.

The Proposed Alternative System

 

The proposed system of thana vocational-technical education
programmes emphasized that all the existing training institutions at
the thana level should merge into one. The high schools of the thana
would share in the use of facilities provided by the proposed compre-
hensive programme of thana vocational-technical centres. This combined
effort would reduce the cost of training by economizing the use of
laboratory facilities, equipment, trained teachers for expensive
vocational-technical education. These thana centres, in addition to
high school programmes would be expected to offer vocational education
programmes for adults and out-of-school youth of that thana. Due to
high density of population in Bangladesh, the commuting distance
between the high schools and the proposed thana centers would not be
very great. Within the limited resources of the government it would
be easier to provide adequate facilities in a few schools at strategic

locations rather than helping each of the secondary schools to offer

143

vocational education. The proposed system would be one of the best
alternatives to expedite the growth of vocational education for all
age groups, such as, adults, out-of-school youth and high school youth
in Bangladesh.

The thana as the main focus of the proposed system of education
appeared to be consistent with the development plans of Bangladesh.
Many recent developments were all thana based, and the concept of
the thana as a unit of development has gained more importance than
ever before. Moreover, experiments at Comilla also demonstrated that
the thana is an effective unit for development. The existing training
efforts at the thana level, such as, vocational training institutes
by Directorate of Technical Education, thana training and development
centres by the Department of Rural Works Programmes, and training
efforts by the Labour and Commerce Department have not been concerned
with the high school youth. The government policy in recent years
has emphasized a massive shift towards vocational-technical education
at the secondary level. Limited resources were available to implement
that policy. Therefore, the proposed system emphasized consolidation
of all government vocational programmes under one administrative unit
and to include programs for high school youth, adults, and out-of-school
youth. The basic programmes of the proposed thana vocational-technical
schools should include the following areas:

1. Pre-vocational instruction

2. Programmes for secondary school students

3. Programmes for out-of—school youth

4. Programmes for adults

144

5. Guidance and counseling services
6. Instructional development activities
7. Re-service and in-service teacher education programs

8. Research and development programmes.

Interpretations of Findings

The following were the interpretations relating to the major
findings of the study:

1. The country has inherited the present educational system
which was established more than a hundred years ago by foreign govern-
ments and founded upon political, social, economic and cultural concepts
different than those present today in Bangladesh. This education system
was originally created under British colonial rule to fulfill the need
of training English-speaking clerks and office workers. Hence, there
is a need for reorientation of education to meet the needs of this
new nation.

2. During the period of Pakistan since 1947, no changes in
basic structure of the education system were introduced. The result
has been that educational institutions have continued to produce white
collared generalists (Table 3.3). Thus, the system of secondary
education remained virtually the same as that inherited from Britain.

3. During the Pakistan rule education was one of the most
neglected areas of economic planning. The Planning Commission of
Pakistan considered physical capital accumulation as the exclusive
factor in economic development and neglected to see educational outlays
as a form of investment with potential economic benefits. With its

total expenditure on education accounting for 1.9 percent of G.N.P.

145

(Table 3.1), Pakistan ranked among the countries which accord a low
priority to education. As a result, manpower and educational planning
did not receive adequate attention in the overall development plan of
the country.

4. The magnitude of the growing labour force of 28.6 million
With :3 20.4 percent rate of unemployment (Table 3.2) in Bangladesh
is alarming. The educational attainment of the labour force is
extremely low. About 84.1 percent (Table 3.4) of the labour force
have not completed primary education (grade V). These vast human
resources not equipped with some saleable skills constitute a great
burden on the society and a constraint on economic development.

5. The insight gained from the present study indicated that
the existing system of education at the secondary level in Bangladesh
has not been properly related to the world of work in the country. The
system has not produced the right kind of manpower for the development
of Bangladesh.

6. The system of secondary education in Bangladesh is dominated
by liberal arts education (Table 3.3 and 4.3) which is too academic
and unrelated to life. This kind of education has not equipped the
graduates to find employment because the demand for such kinds of
education are very limited in the job market. The large scale
unemployment may be attributed in part to this imbalance.

7. The curriculum of secondary school systems does not offer
courses which are needed for the practical life situation and socio-
economic development of the country. The percentage of schools
offering various courses as shown in Table 3.3 were 100 percent in

humanities, 42.8 in science, 19.7 in commerce, 1.2 in home economics,

146

0.4 in industrial arts and 2.3 in agriculture. Expansion of the
existing system which has emphasized liberal arts education would be
mere wastage of the country's scarce resources. Hence, it is necessary
to give the system a new orientation in keeping with the country's
social and economic needs and aspirations.

8. Due to lack of attention to the scientific and industrial
development of the country in the past, a false prestige has been
assigned to liberal arts attainments rather than manual dexterity and
pride in craftmanship and technical accomplishment.

9. There is a wide disparity in the growth of educational
development between rural and urban areas of Bangladesh. Most of the
secondary high schools are financed in whole or part by private
organizations. This has meant that secondary schools have arisen
where private enterprises were available, and as a result high schools
are not geographically well distributed, with rural areas being
largely neglected.

10. There is low enrollment in vocational-technical education
at the secondary level. Enrollment according to curricula in
different high schools (Table 4.3) were 241,034 students in humanities
against 551 in agriculture, 746 in industrial arts and 836 in home
economics. The choice of courses of study is mainly dictated by the
ambitions of parents or other considerations rather than considering
national need and student's own endowments, capabilities and interests.
It is beyond the means of individual schools to introduce guidance
and counseling services since a large part of the burden of financing

secondary education is now shouldered by private agencies. Neither

147

can the government afford to provide such a sophisticated service to
each individual school in Bangladesh. Therefore, there is a need

for an alternative system for providing these services in an economic
and rational way.

11. General education and vocational-technical education are
divided in Bangladesh, and are not considered as an unified integral
whole process. Vocational-technical education has been generally
divorced from the rest of the educational system. Most of the
vocational-technical institutions at the secondary level are branches
of the different Directorates. Hence, there is a need for a consistent
and unified system of secondary education.

12. The Directorate of Public Instruction's goals for expanding
vocational education in other secondary schools by imitating pilot
high schools seems to be unrealistic and impractical.

13. The diverse administrative and financial control of the
different Directorates over the existing system of vocational-technical
education make it exceedingly difficult to achieve any real progress.
Different Directorates try to expand vocational-technical education
without evidence of cooperation or coordination with each other.

14. In the urban sector, the participation of industry in
non-formal training is minimal. There is little appreciation of the
value of training programmes such as apprenticeship programmes. Lack
of training programmes has created a gap in manpower development.

15. The economy and population of Bangladesh are overwhelmingly
rural. But training facilities for this rural people are not adequately

available. Agriculture is the foundation of Bangladesh's economy and

148

the training of farmers is an important factor for introducing new
technology. The existing educational system lacks such training
programmes.

16. The insufficient application of science and technology
in production and daily life in the grassroot level of Bangladesh may
be due to lack of any organized educational programmes for adults and
out-of-school youth related to the problems faced in their own
communities.

17. The expansion of vocational-technical education at the
secondary level of Bangladesh depends in part on an adequate supply
of trained teachers. But there are impressive evidences of short
supply of qualified trained teachers in vocational-technical education
at the secondary level. Prospects of sharp increases in vocational-
technical education through individual high schools is not very
promising, especially in view of the severe difficulties in obtaining
trained teachers. In the expansion effort, the dearth of qualified
teachers will become more pronounced if development schemes for
vocational-technical education are undertaken on the basis of individual
schools.

18. Provision of adequate physical facilities including
shop-laboratories, up-to-date equipment, and supplies is another
essential prerequisite for development of vocational-technical education.
But most schools offering vocational-technical courses in Bangladesh
are suffering due to lack of such facilities. It is extremely doubtful
whether the limited financial resources of Bangladesh will permit

sufficient help to each individual school to build up adequate

 

149

shop-laboratories and provide equipment and supplies for vocational-
technical education.

19. Thana vocational-technical school system has been
proposed as an alternative to solve many of the major problems in
expanding vocational-technical education within the limited resources
of Bangladesh. The proposed system may serve several well defined
functions which are needed, including development and maintenance of
high standards, wider geographical coverage, greater Opportunities for

all in education and training.

Conclusions

 

Many of the programmes recommended by educational leaders for
strengthening vocational-technical education are feasibly sound.
But evidence of implementation is not available. Lack of implementation
may be due to want of funds, operational knowledge and various
political factors involved in the country. In many cases the recom-
mendations for vocational-technical education have not been based on
through consideration of the operational aspects and various input
factors involved. In other words, some recommendations are not very
relevant in the context of Bangladesh's situation. Therefore, many
of the statements of national goals in education may be good but
difficult to implement. In the documents, the goals of educational
development are usually indicated with a general direction instead of
any specific direction to follow. These directions of educational
deve10pment to be followed are not necessarily based on any research

or depth study.

150

The findings of the study raise questions about the extent
to which the product of the existing educational system.would be
able to satisfy either themselves or the economic growth of the
country. It has been argued that Bangladesh should stop producing
liberal art graduates and concentrate on the deve10pment of vocational-
technical education for which the country would have greater advantage.
If an adequate system for such education could be developed, then there
should be no cause for concern. Therefore, much information is
required particularly for educational planning purposes and about the
changing structure of education. However, for sounder decisions to
be made in the area of vocational-technical education more analytical
studies are needed particularly for generating trained manpower in

the country.

Recommendations

 

The following recommendations for bringing educational change
in the system of vocational-technical education at the secondary level
are offered with the hope that these changes will bring about improve-
ment in the existing system of secondary education and thereby life
for all in Bangladesh.

1. The secondary education programme of Bangladesh should
offer a more diverse and enriched series of vocational-technical courses
to prepare individuals in terms of their own capabilities and the
social and economic needs of the nation. It is imperative that
secondary school systems should offer adequate vocational-technical

courses so that the consumer of this education can achieve a gainful

151

employment and a rewarding life in the society. Additional research
should be conducted regarding the type of training which secondary
educational institutions should provide.

2. The national plan for development should be geared to the
maximum utilization of the human capital, particularly by concentrating
on the creation and multiplication of job opportunities, potential
for self-employment, and a general deve10pment of a better trained
citizenry. As a step in this direction, a general survey of educational
needs should be conducted which will provide additional information
for the direction of educational programme planning.

3. National efficiency is the sum total of the efficiency of
all individual citizens, and the national wealth is the sum of their
wealth-producing capacity. Therefore, vocational-technical education
should be a concern of the government. Its strength and well-being
are tied inseparably to the skill, technical knowledge and productivity
of the peOple. This is why it is recommended that the government of
Bangladesh reinforce and re-emphasize its vocational-technical education
system to promote further deve10pment and improvement of vocational-
technical education at the secondary level.

4. It is recommended that the concept of thana vocational-
technical education programmes proposed in Chapter V, be implemented
so that vocational-technical bias in secondary education can be more
nearly fulfilled within the limited resources available in Bangladesh.
Implementation of the proposed system may Offer a solution to most of
the problems faced by the existing system.

5. It is recommended that research should be conducted on

self-study of the proposed system or on a pilot project of the proposed

152

alternative system as it is tried out. Such a self-study may provide
some additional information on operational knowledge and necessary
modifications, if any.

6. It is recommended that research be undertaken to determine
the anticipated need for funds and other financial implications involved
in the implementation of the proposed system. The proportional share
of government, industrial establishment, local support and other
desirable methods for securing these funds may be determined.

7. It is recommended that the existing vocational-technical
institutions should be separated from the various government departments
and to be a part of the prOposed integrated educational system. One
of the important requisites of the prOposed system would be integration
of all vocational education into one directorate or department. In
this regard, it is desirable that the government should take adequate
steps to develOp and adopt an official policies regarding the role
of different departments; and organizational patterns for the
establishment of thana vocational-technical education programmes.

8. The urgency of making a series of changes in the curriculum
of secondary education and other levels should be recognized. These
changes should stem from basic principles such as: secondary education
levels and other levels have their own objectives in terms of the needs
of youth. Curricular study should be done to determine, particularly
the prOposed clusters of closely related occupations, and appropriate
methods of teaching the clusters. In this regard the Department of
Education or the authority concerned should develop and publish a
statement of curriculum philosophy concerning vocational education in

the system of education.

153

9. Industrial training programmes should be recognized so as
to systematize the programme. Training given on the job and in
apprenticeship should account for a large part of specific training
in the country. Since big industries in Bangladesh are few in
numbers, perhaps on a cooperative basis between the industries and
training institutions may be another way to meet the situation. The
industries may impart the practical instruction and the training
institutions may cover the theoretical instruction. Research should
be conducted to determine the most promising methods of such training.

10. To begin to cultivate a deeper appreciation of the
dignity of labour and habits of industry, the proposed work experience
programme in Chapter V may be implemented. A survey may be conducted
on the availability of various establishments in each thana for
placing students to acquire work experience.

11. A well adapted vocational-technical education system is
useless if young and adult people of Bangladesh do not make sufficient
use of it. Students selection of subjects of study appear to be
without having adequate knowledge of career prospects. It is, therefore,
recommended that research may be conducted on career Opportunities and
on the feasibility of implementing guidance and counseling services
at different stages of educational systems in Bangladesh.

12. Secondary education in Bangladesh should have its own
terminal objectives to meet the diverse needs of the country's middle
level manpower, rather than preparing youth or college and university
entrance. It is recommended that adequate steps should be taken to
develop such terminal objectives and to use those objectives in the

revision of curricula for secondary education.

154

13. It is imperative that adequate training facilities should
be provided for adults and out-of-school youth to meet the needs of
practical life and local environments. It is, therefore, recommended
to conduct a survey for local training needs at the thana level to
offer courses by the thana schools.

14. The lack of trained teachers in vocational-technical
subjects is one of the most serious bottlenecks in developing vocational
education at the secondary level. An appraisal of vocational teacher
education programmes should be undertaken in Bangladesh. Perhaps a
special body should be appointed by the government to study the
situation of teacher education. Existing teacher's training colleges
of Bangladesh may revise their programmes to include training programmes
of vocational teachers. Proposed thana schools may be used for the
practical training of the teacherls programme sponsored by the

teacher's colleges.

Recommendations for Further Research

 

In the following a few recommendations for further research

in this area are presented.

Physical Structure and Related Problems

The implementation of the proposed system of thana vocational-
technical education programmes will require construction of new
buildings or extensions to present buildings. The present report
did not offer guidelines for building design including design of shop

laboratories, classrooms, etc., or the type Of construction. Further,

155

it is necessary to identify the exact location of these buildings as
far as possible in the centre of or in a strategic place in a thana.
It seems desirable to conduct a study in depth that would shed light
on these problems and provide for the orderly development of a nation-

wide system of thana vocational-technical schools.

Sparsely Populated Area Study;

A study may be conducted to explore various alternatives
for providing adequate vocational-technical programmes in (The)
Chittagong's Hill Tracts and other areas of Bangladesh where population

is too sparse to justify proposed thana vocational-technical programmes

within a short commuting distance.

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX A

INFORMATION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE

PROPOSED SYSTEM

The implementation of the proposed system of the Thana
Vocational-Technical Education Programme will involve the following
points for considerations: (A) the physical plant, (B) population
involved in the programme, (C) commuting distance involved in the
programme, (D) requirements of the number of thana centers, and

(E) separate plans for the Chittagong Hill Tracts district.

A. The Physical Plant

The construction projects for establishing thana vocational-
technical centres may be of three types:

1. Selecting vocational training institutes, thana training
and development centres, pilot high schools and other heterogeneous
technical institutions which are located in a strategic or central
place of thanas for remodeling in the light of the proposed thana
centres.

2. Some of the existing multilateral high schools which are
located in a strategic or central place of thanas may be selected
for rehousing and re-equipping Lnndl the standards of proposed thana

centres are met.

156

157

3. In the thanas, where the above mentioned types of

institutions whether available or not and not fulfilling the

purpose, will obviously need new construction for establishing

thana centres.

B. Population Involved in the Proposed Programme

 

Thana centres would be mainly concerned with the three groups,
the high school youth, the unemployed adults and the out-of-school
youth. In View of the limited resources of the country, it is neither
feasible nor expected by the government to have one hundred percent
participation of the above mentioned groups of peOple.

Therefore, the following calculation would be based on sixty
percent participation of high school youth at the IX and X grade
(as proposed in the New Education Policy of 1970) and ten percent of
the unemployed and underemployed labour force. Adults and out—of-
school youth groups would fall under unemployed and underemployed
labour force, which are extremely high in Bangladesh. Even a
population of ten percent participation of such groups would be more
in number than sixty percent of high school youth. Therefore, at the
initial stage, it is reasonable to include ten percent which may be
increased at subsequent stages of development as desired by the

government of Bangladesh.

158

Calculation*

 

Total population of Bangladesh = 75 million (approximately),
Actual labour force = 24.7 million, Unemployed and underemployed =
ZO'A of labour force (normal time), and actual unemplOyed and under-

employed labour force = 4.94 million
(24.7 x 0.20)

49:4 x 100

6.6'L.of the total population (66 persons
per thousand)

 

Enrollment at IX and X grades = 0.395 million

Percenta e of tot l o lation = 0.395
g a P P“ 75 x 100 = 0.526 7.

i.e. (5.26 persons per thousand)

 

Assuming 10‘7. participation of unemployed and underemployed
labour force and 60'Z of high school youth at IX and X grade in the
thana schools:

10 7.

0.494

60°A 0.237
0.494 + 0.237 = 0.731 million
Therefore, the total population involved in the proposed thana

school programme would be 731,000 which is approximately 1 Z. of the

total population of Bangladesh.

 

*Calculations are based on the data published in the Pakistan
Fourth Five Year Plan (1970-1975).

159

C. Commuting Distance Involved in the Programme

To facilitate easy commutation, thana centres would be located
(in terms of miles) as far as possible at the centre of each thana.
The number of such centres per thana would be based on the population
of that particular thana. As shown in the above estimate, approximatelv
one percent of the population of each thana would be involved in the
programme. Assuming each thana centre to handle 1000 participants per
year, some thanas may have to have more than one unit, based on
population of individual thanas. The following table gives the

general picture of the commuting distance based on the radius of each

 

 

 

thana.
Table A.l
Classification of Thanas by Area
Area in Sq. Miles Radius in Miles No. of Thanas
from Centre
(Appx. Distance)
0 ‘ 79 O " 5 One 102
80 -114 5 - 6 Unit 89
115-154 6 - 7 105
155-199 7 - 8 More 57
200-314 8 -1O Than 42
315-above lO-above One 5
Unit

*ChittagongHill Tracts

District 12
Total 412

 

*Shown in Appendix B

160

From the previous table it can be seen that three-fourths
(296) of the number of thanas falls within a radius of 7 miles. Only
5 thanas fall within a radius of more than 10 miles. All five thanas
(150, 53, 54, 64, and 83 See Appendix C) would involve more than two
thana schools because of higher pOpulation. By selecting strategic
locations for these centres, commuting distances can be considerably
reduced.

Based on commuting distance, 206 thanas require at least one
unit per thana. The other 104 thanas excluding 12 under the Chittagonj
Hill Tract district will require more than one unit. In addition to
considering commuting distance population of each thana will also
influence the number of units. Since area and pOpulation of thanas
are the main considerations for establishing thana centres, one
district (Chittagong Hill Tracts) consisting of 12 thanas require

different treatment and hence are dealt with separately (Appendix B).

D. Requirements of the Number of Thana Centres

 

The following table gives the approximate number of thana
centres required in each thana on the basis of one thana centre per
1000 participants. The census figures of 1961 being the latest in
Bangladesh, calculation of this table is based on that. Keeping the
dispersion of population at the thana level the same as 1961 and using
1974's figure of total population, which is 75 million (approximately)
compared to 50.8 million in 1961. Since the total population figure
has gone up one and a half times from 1961 to 1974, one percent of
each thana population in 1961 is taken and multiplied by one and a

half times to arrive at the number of participants in the programme

at each thana.

161

Table A.2

Estimation of the Number of Thana Centres
(Based on 1000 Participants Per Unit)

 

 

 

 

Range of No. of No. of Thanas Suggested No. of Total
Student Population Involved in the Thana Centres per Requirement
in Thanas Range of Thana (approx.)
Student Population
0—1000 74 1 74
1000-2000 201 2 402
2000-3000 85 3 255
3000- 37* 4 or more 148
Total 397 877

 

*This includes Dacca Municipality which is counted as one but

contains 4 thanas.

It can be seen from this table that more than fifty percent

of the thanas will have participants within the range of 1000 to

2000. It will be economical and practical to have one thana centre

instead of two, in the cases where the number of participants is

more than 1000 but less than 2000. The same principle may be applied

to other categories keeping a minimum of one thana centre per thana.

This may result in less numbers of thana centres compared to 877

shown in the above table.

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX B
SEPARATE PLAN FOR CHITTAGONG HILL.TRACTS DISTRICT

Due to sparce distribution of populationnwithin a large area,
12 thanas of Chittagong Hill Tracts district cannot justify the
establishment of the proposed system of education at the thana level.
It is, therefore, suggested to implement the programme at the sub-
division level instead of thana level. The following table giVes the
general picture of the situation in Chittagong Hill Tracts district

which consists of three sub-divisions, and each sub-division contains

four thanas.

Table B.1

Area and Participants Involved in the
Chittagong Hill Tracts District

 

 

Number of Name of the Area in Number of Expected
Sub-divisions Sub-divisions Sq. Miles Participants

1 Ramgarh 1,727 2020

2 Rangamati 1,601 2400

3 Banderban 1,765 1323

 

It can be seen from the table that even at the sub—division level,
that the number of participants are too small in comparison to the
area involved. Therefore, this district may have large size administra-

tive areas with satellite attendance areas. Larger blocks of time such

lb”

Q.

163

as two to three days per week at the centre might be feasible. Another
alternative would be that the sub-division may be the nucleus of
training facilities. From that point, the whole area may be covered

by mobile units. In other words, taking programmes to students by
mobile units instead of transporting the students. The proposed mobile
unit for the Chittagong Hill Tracts district could provide intensive

instruction while the unit would be at a given locale.

APPEND IX C

No.

APPENDIX C

Thanas Reference List

Name

DINAJPUR DISTRICT
Thakurgaon Sub-Division

O

OOCDNO‘m-F‘LONH

H

Teiuha
Panchigar
Boda
Debiganj
Thakurgaon
Atwari
Bahadanga
Ranisankail
Haripur
Pirganj (D)

Dinajpur Sub-Division

ll.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.

Bochaganj
Biral
Dinajpur
Kaharol
Birganj
Khansama
Chirirbandar
Parbatipur
Fulbari (D)
Hakimpur
Nawabganj (D)
Ghoraghat

RANGPUR DISTRICT
Nilphamari Sub-Division

23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.

Domar

Dimla

Jaldhaka
Nilphamari
Saidpur
Kishoreganj (R)

Area in sq. miles

2,609
1,241

74
103
166
119
249

81
111
110

77
152

1,368

87
138
139

80
157

69
121
165
123

78
152

57

3,705
634

97
127
127
134

47
102

Persons per
sq. mile (1961)

655
564

475
479
547
548
646
583
574
526
496
602

738

672
647
986
617
587
839
904
948
614
671
621
665

1,025
1,094

896
792
1,000
1,062
2,348
1,239

165
Rangpur Sub-Division

29. Patgram

30. Haubandha
31. Kaliganj (R)
32. Gangachara
33. Rangpur

34. Kaunia

35. Pirgachha
36. Badarganj
37. Mithapukur
38. Pirganj (R)

Kurigram Sub-Division

39. Bhurungamari
40. Nageswari
41. Falbari (R)
42. Lalmonirhat
43. Kurigram

44. Ulipur

45. Chilmari

46. Rahumari

Gaibandha Sub-Division

47. Sandarganj
48. Sadullapur
49. Gaibandha
50. Fulchari
51. Saghatta
52. Palashbari
53. Gobindaganj

BOGRA DISTRICT
Bogra Sub-Division

54. Panchbibi
55. Jaipurhat

56. Khetlal

57. Shibganj (B)
58. Gabtoli

59. Shariakandi

60. Dhunot

61. Sherpur (B)

62. Bogra

63. Kahaloo

64. Dubchanchia
65. Nandigram
66. Adamdighi

1,266

93
112
167

83
123

58
103
166
200
160

971

89
161
63
131
107
209

110*
101*

834

162
90
124

121*

87
75
176

1,502
1,502

109
92
93

122

132

181
95

115

157

119
63

103

120

981

642
> 733
990
1,125
1,440
1,239
1,129
909
944
853

926

923
856
958
1,187
965
1,010
671
731

1,155

1,155
1,303
1,469

560
1,248
1,392
1,112

1,048
1,048

790
1,191
890
1,241
1,459
824
1,229
763
1,482
802
1,069
566
1,202

166

RAJSHAHI DISTRICT
Naogaon Sub-Division

67. Raninagar
68. Atrai

69. Manda

70. Niamatpur
71. Mahadebpur
72. Naogaon

73. Badalgachhi
74. Dhamoirhat
75. Patnitola

Nawabganj Sub-Division

76. Porsha

77. Gomastapur
78. Bholahat

79. Shibganj (R)
80. Nawabganj (R)
81. Nachole

Rajshahi Sub-Division

82. Tanor

83. Godagari

84. Boalia (Rajshahi)
85. Paba

86. Mohanpur

87. Bagmara

88. Durgapur (R)

89. Puthia

90. Charghat

Natore Sub-Division

91. Lalpur

92. Bagatipara
93. Natore

94. Baraigram

95. Gududaspur
96. Singra

PABNA DISTRICT
Sirajganj Sub-Division

97. Tarash

98. Raiganj (P)
99. Kazipur
100. Sirajganj
101. Kamarkandi
102. Belkuchi
103. Chowhah
104. Shahzadpur
105. Ullapara

3,654
1,132

95
101
159
173
152
106

83
115
148

. 865

195
123

50
203
186
108

921

114
173
34
101
63
141
77
75
143

736

127
54
156
117
78
204

1,877
964

116
103

143*

126
36
63

94v:-

125
160

769
804

770
762
890
505
794
1,419
1,214
634
586

724

441
664
583
1,002
1,021
335

791

516
514
1,673
984
820
920
701
831
881

742

735
826
871
721
877
584

1,044
1,150

463
1,017
921
1,612
1,531
1,639
831
1,619
1,101

167

Pabua Sub-Division

106. Chatmohar
107. Faridpur (P)
108. Atghoria
109. Ishurdi

110. Pabna

111. Sujanagar
112. Santhia

113. Bera

KUSHTIA DISTRICT
Kushtia Sub-Division

114. Khoksha
115. Kumarkhah
116. Kuhtia
117. Mirpar
118. Bheiamara
119. Daulatpur

Meherpur Sub-Division

120. Gangni
121. Meherpur

Chuadauga Sub-Division

122. Alamdanga
123. Chaudanga
124. Damurhuda
125. Jibannagar

JESSORE DISTRICT
Jhenzidah Sub-Division

126. Maheshpur
127. Kotchandpur
128. Kahganj
129. Jhenaidah
130. Harinakundu
131. Sankupa

Magura Sub-Division

132. Sripur
133. Magura
134. Sahkha
135. Nohammadpur

NardJ.Sub-Division

136. Narail
137. Lohagara

138. Kaha

913

143
83
72

104

145

135

128

103

1,371
653

38
127
122
126

59
180

276

133
144

442

135
111
119

78

2,547
828

200
66
148
182
88
144

405

71
155
88
90

149
116
118

932

776
878
663
966
1,221
808
915
1,119

851
1,012

1,227
955
1,362
860
985
890

693

677
703

711

779
709
695
613

860
757

591
693
745
755
812
999

835

1,010
856
696
943

979
870

1,009
1,080

168

Jessore Sub-Division

139.
140.
141.
142.
143.
144.
145.

Abhoynagar
Bagherpara
Jessore
Manirampur
Keshabpur
Jhikargachha
Sarsha

KHULNA DISTRICT
Sarkhira Sub-Division

146.
147.
148.
149.
150.
151.
152.

Kalaroa
Sarkhira
Debhata
Kaliganj (K)
Shamnagar
Asasuni
Tala

Kbulna Sub-Division

153.
154.
155.
156.
157.
158.
159.
160.

Parkgacha
Dacope
Bariaghata
Dumuria
Phultala
Daularpur
Khulna
Terokheda

Bagnerhat Sub-Division

161.
162.
163.
164.
165.
166.
167.

Motlahat
Fakirhat
Bagherhat
Rampal
Sarankhola
Morelganj
Kachua

BARISAL (BAKERGANJ) DISTRICT
Perojpur Sub-Division

168.
169.
170.
171.
172.
173.
174.
175.
176.

177.

Nazirpur

Banaripara

Showorupkati (Swarupkati)
Kawkhali

Perojpur (Pirozpar)
Bhandaria

Kathalia

Mathbaria

Patharghata

Bamna

932

95
105
168
172
100
160
132

4,652
1,448

90
141
66
128

734*

159
130

1,708

850*
401*

95
176
29
44
40
73

1,496
118

62
126

660*
294*

172
64

4,240
753

87
50
71
31
102
63
61
138

111*

39

900

959
739
1,112
913
967
840
718

526
563

893
964
734

1,003
195
892

1,053

492

228
191
829
751
1,463
2,755
3,298
876

530

1,008
1,027
1,160

239

178
1,028
1,212

1,005
1,236

1,241
1,704
1,802
1,599
1,324
1,432
1,235
1,029

688
1,046

178.

179.
180.
181.
182.
183.
184.
185.

169

Patuakhali Sub-Division

Betagi
Mirzaganj
Borguna
Amtali
Kalapara
Galachipa
Patuakhali
Bauphal

Bhola Sub-Division

186.
187.
188.
189.
190.

Balmohan
Tajumuddin
Burhanuddin
Daulatkhan
Bhola

Barisal South Sub-Division

191.
192.
193.
194.
195.

Bakerganj
Barisal
Nalchiti
Rajapur
Jhalakati

Barisal North Sub-Division

196.
197.
198.
199.
200.
201.

Wazirpur
Babuganj
Mehendiganj
Hizla
Muladi
Gaurnadi

FARIDPUR DISTRICT

202.
203.
204.
205.
206.
207.
208.
209.
210.

Kalkinj
Goshairhat
Bhedarganj
Palong
Naria
Janjira
Shibohar
Madaripur
Rajoir

GOpalganj Sub-Division

211.
212.
213.
214.

Kotalipara
GOpalganj
Dkfl<sudpur
Kasiani

1,481

64

67
146
251*
165*
423*
148
214

827

291*
129*
125*
116*
166*

597

156
113
90
63
75

681

95
57
135
177
101
116

2,694

110
82
125
67
90
98*
129
110
89

571

154*
180
128
109

727

1,227
1,114
842
557
395
561
1,076
920

857

785
603
1,011
1,021
945

1,482

1,363
1,732
1,288
1,412
1,641

1,190

1,460
1,510
1,172

611
1,103
1,794

1,180

1,399
1,125
1,108
1,522
1,624

969
1,539
1,646
1,355

1,205

980
1,243
1,339
1,291

170
Faridpur Sub-Division

215. Alphadanga
216. Boalmari

217. Nagarkanda
218. Bhanga

219. Sadarpur

220. Char Bhadrasan
221. Faridpur

Rajbari (Goalundo) Sub-Division

222. Baliakandi
223. Pangsha
224. Rajbari
225. Goalundo

DACCA DISTRICT
Manikganj Sub-Division

226. Shibaloy

227. Daulatpur (D)
228. Ghlor

229. Saturia

230. Manikganj
231. Hariranipur
232. Singair

Dacca Sadar South Sub-Division

233. Nawabganj

234. Dohar

235. Keraniganj

236. Tejgaon

237. Dacca Municipality consisting ofBalbagh
Kenwah, Ramna and Shirapur Thanas).

Munshiganj Sub-Division

238. Serajdikhan
239. Srinagar
240. Lohajang
241. Tangibari
242. Munshiganj
243. Gozaria

Narayanganj Sub-Division

244. Fatullah
245. Narayanganj
246. Baidyerbazar
247. Araihazar
248. Rupganj

760

36
173
148

84
105

64
149

465
125

175
107

58*

2,882
532

77*
84*

56
62
76
94
84

332

109
36
71

108

8

369

70
78
55
46
80
40

711

31
29
66
71
102

1,092

1,052
1,021
1,051
1,678
1,100

702
1,063

1,180

944
905
1,060
769

1,768
1,318

946
1,091
1,327
1,559
1,604
1,236
1,522

3,429

1,478
2,099
2,401
3,217

45,251

1,979

1,911
1,756
2,164
2,420
1,952
1,828

2,175

3,532
7,262
2,034
2,150
1,744

171

250. Raipur (D)
251. Shibpur (D)

252.

Monohardi

Dacca Sadar North Sub-Division

253.
254.
255.
256.
257.
258.
259.

Kapasia
Kaliganj
Sripur
Joydebpur
Kaliakoir
Sabhar
Dhamrai

MYMENSINGH DISTRICT
Tangail Sub-Division

260.
261.
262.
263.
264.
265.
266.
267.

Mirzapur
Nagarpur
Tangail
Basail
Kalihati
Ghatail
Gopalpur
Modupur

Jamalpur Sub-Division

268.
269.
270.
271.
272.
273.
274.
275.
276.
277.

Sharishabari
Jamalpur
Madarganj
Melandaha
Islampur
Diwanganj
Sribardi
Sherpur (M)
Nakla
Nalitabari

Mymemsingh Sadar North Sub-Division

278. Haluaghat
279. Phulpur
280. Iswarganj
281. Nandail

Mymensingh Sadar South Sub-Division

282. Mymensingh
283. Muktagachha
284. Phulbaria
285. Trisal

286. Bhaluka
287. Ghaffargaon

147
87
96

938

139*
110

179*
139*
121*
133*
117

6,361
1,301

144
115
160
165*
187*
174*
171*
185*

1,311

104
185
90*
94
143*
163*
121
138
67
206

752

165
257
204
126

146
121
163
97
171*

154

1,904
1,518
1,705

1,044

1,112
1,385
702
900
786
1,120
1,520

1,103
1,143

1,281
1,426
1,538
914
1,213
908
1,290
734

1,105

1,334
1,341
1,126
1,242

907

917
1,120
1,338
1,211

751

1,104

787
940
1,373
1,420

1,246

1,701
1,304
1,201
1,389

677
1,359

172

Kishoreganj Sub-Division

288.
289.
290.
291.
292.
293.
294.
295.
296.
297.
298.
299.

Hossainpur
Kishoreganj
Pakundia
Katiadi
Kuliarchar
Bhairab
Bajitpur
Oshtogram
Nikli
Karimganj
Itna
Tarail

Netrokona Sub-Division

300.
301.
302.
303.
304.
305.
306.
307.
308.
309.

Kendua
Madan
Khaliajuri
Mohanganj
Atpara
Barhatta
Netrokona
Purbadhala
Durgapur
Kalmakanda

SYLBET DISTRICT
Sunamganj Sub-Division

310.
311.
312.
313.
314.
315.
316.
317.

Dharmapasha
Tahirpur
Jamalganj
Sulla

Derai
Sunamganj
Chharak
Jagannathpur

Sylhet Sub-Division

318.
319.
320.
321.
322.
323.
324.
325.
326.
327.

Balaganj

Biswanath (Bishwanath)
Sylbet

Gowanghat

Jaintiapur

Kanaighai

Zikiganj

Beamoazar

Golapganj

Fenchuganj

989

46
69
69
86
4O
47
73
116
117
77
194
55

1,155

129
90

112*

96
74
85
121
134
166
148

4,785
1,445

140

141*
196*

100
161
288
277
141

1,301

151
81
229
250
80
155
111
98
106
41

1,245

1,776
2,150
1,740
1,680
1,893
2,124
1,413

592

768
1,669

508
1,356

832

1,163
790
384
787
961
891

1,015
949
776
644

729
601

672
408
369
468
661
680
697
720

789

850
1,118
1,038
344
352
571
954
1,054
1,082
1,072

173
Maulvi Bazar Sub-Division

328. Barlckha
329. Kulaura

330. Rajnagar
331. Kamalganj
332. Maulvi Bazar
333. Srimangal

Habiganj Sub-Division

334. Chunarughat
335. Bahubal
336. Nabiganj
337. Ajminganj
338. Baniyachang
339. Habiganj
340. Lakhai

341. Madhabpur

COMILLA DISTRICT
Brahmanbaria Sub-Division

342. Nasirnagar

343. Sarail

344. Brahmanbaria
345. Kasbah (Koshba)
346. Nabmagar

347. Bancharampur

Camilla Sadat North Sub-Division

348. Honina

349. Daudkandi

350. Muradnagar

351. Debiduar (Debidwar)
352. Chandina

Comilla Sadar South Sub-Division

353. Burichang
354. Comilla
355. Chouddogram
356. Laksham
357. Barura

Chandpur Sub-Division

358. Kachua

359. Matlab Bazar
360. Hajiganj
361. Chandpur
362. Faridganj

1,045

177*
263*

131

188*

132

156*

993

192*

89
160
83
192
95
75
108

2,594
742

121
93
187
116
145
80

515

69
145
132

91

78

678
116
107
152
209

93
658

92

158*

133

183*

91

710

599
707
743
574
1,028
700

859

669
933
898
616
721

1,250
881

1,141

1,693
1,552

1,076
1,397
1,642
1,600
1,688
1,924

1,865

1,996
1,858
1,857
1,936
1,694

1,649

1,710
2,031
1,575
1,514
1,579

1,761

1,599
1,724
1,747
1,669
2,215

174

NOAKHALI DISTRICT
Noakhali Sub-Division

363.
364.
365.
366.
367.
368.
369.
370.
371.

Raipur

Ramganj

Lakkhipur (Lakshmipur)
Begamganj

Senbag

Companyganj

Noakhali (Shudharam)
Ramgati

Hatia (Hatiya)

Feni Sub-Division

372.
373.
374.
375.

Belonia (Parshuram)
Chhagalnaiya

Feni

Sonagazi (Shonaghazi)

CHITTAGONG DISTRICT
Chittagong Sadar North Sub-Division

376.
377.
378.
379.
380.
381.
382.
383.
384.
385.

Shondip (Sandwip)
Mirsharai (Mirsarai)
Sitakund

Double Mooring
Panchlaish
Chittagong (Kotwali)
Hathazari
Fatikchari

Raozan

Rangunia

Chittagong Sadar South Sub-Division

386.
387.
388.
389.
390.

Boalkhali
Patia (Patiya)
Anwara
Satkania
Banshkhali

Cox's Bazar Sub-Division

391.
392.
393.
394.
395.
396.
397.

Kutubdia

Chakaria

Moishkhal (Maheshkhali)
Cox's Bazar

Ramu

Ukhia

Teknaf

1,855
1,501

78*
118
199
158

62

73*
320*
251*
242*

354

70

60
137

88*

2,705
1,157

187*

177*

117*
39
19

101
292*
94
133*

673

53
197

66
206*
151*

875*

34
239*
123*

80*
151*
101*
147*

1,285
1,194

1,566
2,233
1,355
2,315
1,819
1,191
774
643
621

1,668

861
2,339
2,037
1,257

1,103
1,317

1,019
1,059

978
4,882
5,279

34,436

1,555
591
1,693
912

1,368

1,995
1,494
1,667
1,176
1,113

616

1,270
653
633

1,062
454
498
396

175

HILL TRACTS DISTRICT (CHITTAGONG HILL

TRACTS DISTRICT) 5,093* 76

(Chittagong Hill Tracts) Ramgarh

Sub-Division 1,727* 78
398. Ramgarh 349* 105
399. Mahalchhari 402* 131
400. Dighinala 259* 110
401. Bablakhali (Kasalong) 717* 24

Rangamati Sub-Division 1,601* 102
402. Langadu 181* 82
403. Barkal 510* 67
404. Rangamati 644* 103
405. Chandraghona 266* 181

Bandarban Sub-Division 1,765* 49
406. Bandarban 346* 84
407. Ruma 514* 42
408. Lama 724* 30
409. Naikhongchhari 181* 80

*Includes a considerable area under forest or permanent water bodies.

176

BANGLADESH

THANAS

 
  
  

 

 

 

   

  

   
     

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., D

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(September, 1967) 1-3.

 

67. Reed, David, and Frazer, John E. "The Agony of East
Pakistan," Reader's Digest (November, 1971) 66-71.

 

68. Special Correspondent. "Manpower Needs Planning", The
Pakistan Observer. Dacca (July 17, 1968) 4-5.

 

69. Schultz, T. W. "Investment in Human Capital," American
Economic Review. (March, 1961) 34-36.

 

70. Sharafuddin, A. M. ”Perspective in Teacher Education”,
Improvement of Teacher Education. Dacca, Education Extension Centre
(June, 1969) 13-32.

 

182

71. Sharafuddin, A. M. "How Science is Taught in Schools,"
The Pakistan Observer (July 31, 1968) 7.

72. Selim, M. "Problems of Teacher Training Institutions in
East Pakistan," Improvement of Teacher Education. Dacca, Education
Extension Centre (June, 1969) 53-62.

73. Thorsrud, E. "A Social Research Approach to the Education
and Utilization," Policy Conference on Highly Qualified Manpower,
Paris, 25th-28th September, 1966. Paris, OECD, 1967 56-64.

 

74. UNESCO. "Introduction," Bulletin of the UNESCO Regional
Office for Education in Asia, Vol. IV, No. 2 (March, 1970), 1-2.

 

75. Wetzel, Winston W. "Need for a Guidance Programme in
Schools," East Pakistan Education Extension Centre Bulletin, Vol. V.,
No. 3-4 (June, 1966) 30-31.

 

Public Documents

 

76. Government of Pakistan. The Six Year National Plan of
Educational Development. Karachi: The Manager of Publications, 1952.

 

77. . The First Five-Year Plan (1955-60). Karachi:
The Manager of Publications, 1955.

 

 

78. . The First Five-Year Plan (1955-60) Education
and Training (Draft). Karachi: The Manager of Publications, 1956.

 

 

79. . The Second Five-Year Plan (1960-65).
Karachi: The Manager of Publications, 1960.

 

80. . Outline of the Third Five-Year Plan.
Karachi: The Manager of Publications, 1964.

 

 

81. . The Long Term Perspective Plan (1965-85).
Karachi: The Manager of Publications, 1965.

 

82. . The Third Five-Year Plan (1965-70). Karachi:
The Manager of Publications, 1965.

 

83. . Revised Third Five-Year Plan (1965-70).
Karachi: The Manager of Publications, 1966.

 

84. . The Fourth Five-Year Plan (1970-75). Karachi:
The Manager of Publications, 1970.

85. . Proposals for a New Education Policy. Karachi:
The Manager of Publications, 1969.

86. . The New Education Policy of the Government
of Pakistan (1970). Karachi: The Manager of Publications, 1970.

 

183

87. Government of Pakistan. Pakistan Census Report. Karachi:
The Manager of Publications, 1961.

88. , Census of Agriculture, Summary of East
Pakistan Sector, Karachi, the Manager of Publications, 1960.

 

89. Government of East Pakistan, University of Chicago, Scheme
for Establishment of an Education Extension Centre for East Pakistan,
Karachi, Pakistan Education Project, N.D.

90. Government of Bangladesh, The First Five-Year Plan 1973-
1979, Dacca, Planning Commission, 1973.

Unpublished Materials

 

91. Altman, James W. "Toward A Concept of Integrated
Vocational Education". Pittsburgh, American Institutes for Research,
1965. (mimeographed).

92. Ahmed, Raisuddin. "A Note on Post-War Planning in
Bangladesh with Special Emphasis on Agriculture". East Lansing,
Michigan State University. A paper presented at a seminar on South
Asia and U. S. Foreign Policy, February, 1972. (mimeographed).

93. Alger, Leon J. "A Rationale for the Establishment of
Area Vocational Education Programs in.Michigan." Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, Michigan State University, East Lansing, 1967.

94. Bari, M.A. "Technical Education in East Pakistan Upto
the End of the 3rd Five-Year Plan". Dacca, Directorate of Technical
Education, undated. (mimeographed).

9S. Burns, Richard Lyons. "Factors Governing the Establishment
and Operation of Area Vocational-Technical Schools and Programs in
the United States with Application to Missouri". Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, University of Missouri, Columbia, 1964.

96. Dougherty, C. R. S. "A Cost~Benefit Analysis of Columbian
Educational System." Harvard, DAS, 1968. (mimeographed).

97. Ensiminger, D., and Andrews, 8. "Bangladesh--An Overview."
Michigan, The Bangladesh Emergency Relief Fund, April, 1972.
(mimeographed).

98. EWP Associates. "Educational Equipment Survey Report:
East Pakistan." Dacca, prepared for East Pakistan Educational
Equipment Development Bureau, Government of East Pakistan, 1967.
(mimeographed).

99. Government of East Pakistan. Department of Health,
Labour and Social Welfare, Management DevelOpment Centre. "Comments
on the Questionnaire of the National Commission on Manpower and
Education, 1968.” Dacca, undated. (mimeographed).

 

10). Harberger, rnold C., and Selowsky, M. "Key Factors
in the Economic Growth of Chile: An Analysis of the Sources of Past
Growth and Prospects for 1965-70.” uidated. (mimeographed).

lOl. Hamm, Erwin. ”Summary Report, Technical Education in
East Pakistan (l963-66)." Dacca, 1966. (mimeographed).

102. Lohman, Dean. "Schemes for Further Expansion of Technical
Education Programme.” Dacca, Oklahoma State University Ford Foundation,
1968. (mimeographed).

103. Thomas, John W., ”Agricultural Production, Equity and
Rural Organization in East Pakistan”, Paper presented at Pakistan
Rural Development WorkshOpm, Michigan State University, July, 1971
(mimeographed).

104. Thomas, John W., "Public Policy in the Reconstruction
and Development of Rural Bangladesh”, presented at the Bengal
Studies Conference, University of Toronto, May, 1972, (mimeographed).

105. USAID, "Education in East Pakistan", Dacca USAID Staff
Paper, 1967, (mimeographed).

106. USAID, ”Agricultural Research and Extension in East
Pakistan”, the Agricultural Research and Extension Review Team,
September, 1968 (mimeographed).