Around 4000 students from 242 textile institutes are following the newly revised curriculum developed as a result of the HELD project. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German development agency, initiated this project to improve the application-oriented competencies of future textile industry specialists and managers in sustainable corporate management.
The primary purpose of the Higher Education and Leadership Development for Sustainable Textiles in Bangladesh (HELD) project was to strengthen the textile diploma curriculum and prepare Bangladeshi Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) for the future. To commemorate the fruits of labour thus far, GIZ organised the HELD Reflecting Forward: Insights on TVET Initiative event on 29th June at Pan Pacific Sonargaon in Dhaka.
Prof. Md. Mamun Ul Hoque, Chairman, Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB), Mohammad Nuruzzaman, Director General, Department of Textiles (DoT), Dr. Christian Bochmann, Head of Project, Higher Education and Leadership Development for Sustainable Textiles in Bangladesh (HELD) Project, Sanjida Rahman, Technical Advisor– TVET, HELD, other GIZ, BTEB, DoT representatives, Principals from 7 textile institutes, students, industry leaders, and civil society organizations (CSOs) were present in the event.
The event’s major agenda included celebrating achievements and sharing ideas on breakthroughs, lessons learned, and future orientations in the field of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). A notable highlight was the official delivery of four textbooks to seven textile institutes. The textbooks are written in Bengali to make them accessible to everyone.
To improve the textile diploma curriculum, a team of specialists from academia, industry, and government created two new modules, “Sustainability in Textile Industry” and “Compliance in Textile Industry,” as well as revised two existing modules, “Environmental Studies” and “Industrial Management”.
The BTEB validated all four modules in March 2023. After conducting a thorough Training Needs Assessment (TNA), teacher training modules were developed and provided to improve technical abilities in environmental and sustainability practices, as well as pedagogical competencies.
The study involved piloting and monitoring seven institutions. During the event, the principals of various institutes were officially presented with the four Bengali textbooks. The administrators and students discussed their experiences with the new curriculum, textbooks, and the best practices they learned from pedagogical training.
All these developments were based on the study titled “Making TVET in Bangladesh Future-Proof: Textile Diploma Curriculum and Industry Needs Assessment for Green Transformation”, a study conducted to evaluate the existing textile diploma curricula through the lens of social and ecological sustainability with the support of the Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB) and the Department of Textile (DoT).
