Webinar on Significance of National Vocational Qualifications System(NVQS) for Technical Education and Vocational Training System Reform: Roles of the Government for its Implementation

Initial vocational education and training
23.09.2021
Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), Bagmati Province, CTEVT/NSTB (Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training/National Skills Testing Board) and Nepal Vocational Qualifications System Project (NVQS-P) organized a webinar titled “Significance of NVQS for TVET System Reform: Roles of the Government for its Implementation.” 

The main objective of the event was to inform the province level stakeholders about the importance of NVQS and discuss/clarify about the roles of different tiers of government regarding NVQS implementation.   It also aimed to provide knowledge about the significance and status of NVQS initiatives in Nepal and how NVQS addresses the TVET system reform agenda. The event also clarified the key functions of Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), Bagmati Province as a lead authority in the province to implement NVQS.  The event was conducted in Zoom and broadcasted live through the Facebook page of National Skill Testing Board (NSTB).

The webinar was moderated by Mr. Ram Prasad Sapkota, Technical Coordinator of NVQS-P II, Bagmati Province, who started the webinar by addressing all the participants and requested Mr. Yagya Prasad Dhungel, Secretary, MoSD, Bagmati Province to Chair the event. The webinar started with welcome remarks by Mr. Tek Bahadur Malla, Director, National Skill Testing Board (NSTB) during which he shared the objectives of webinar.

The first presentation of the webinar was done by the Team Leader of NVQS-P, Swisscontact, Mr. Devi Prasad Dahal. Through his presentation, he explained about the benefits of NVQS, the overall roadmap, matters to be clarified for the implementation of NVQS and clarified about NVQS-P in Province level.   Next in the program was the presentation by Dr. Hari Lamsal, Joint-Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) and Head of TVET Division at MoEST.  During the presentation, he explained about the status and brief introduction of NVQS and shared about the role of federal, province and local government for implementation of NVQS. The third presentation was made by Mr. Rudra Hari Bhandari, Under-Secretary, MoSD, Bagmati Province. He shared about the roles and responsibilities of different bodies for the implementation of NVQS-P II such as Project Implementation Coordination Committee (PICC) and Provincial Project Coordination Unit (PPCU).

After the presentations, the floor was opened for the participants to put forward their queries and questions which was addressed by the presenters. After this, the Honourable Health Minister of Bagmati Province, Mr. Pradeep Katuwal shared his remarks regarding TVET sector and technical education and motivated the participants for technical education. At the end, the chair of the event Mr. Yagya Prasad Dhungel, Secretary, MoSD, Bagmati Province, made his closing remarks highlighting the instrumental elements of NVQS for overall TVET system reform in Nepal. He thanked all the participants and organizers and concluded with commitment for the proper implementation of the NVQS.

The event contributed to clarify about the roles and responsibilities of the federal, provincial, and local government to implement NVQS and system development. The participants of the program were officials of the Education and Planning Divisions of all MoSD, Chief of Department of Education/Education Section, Education Development and Coordination Unit, Employment coordinators, and TVET school principals/teachers of Bagmati Province. There was a presence of around 300 participants (27% Female) in the webinar. The broadcast of the webinar has been viewed by over 3000 people (as of 21 September 2021) in NSTB Facebook page.

The video record including the presentation of the webinar can be accessed through this link https://www.facebook.com/ctevtnstb/videos/652905965673939/