Budgetary allocation a must to deepen disability inclusion: experts

The government should make dedicated budgetary allocation to accelerate disability inclusion at technical and vocational education and training institutes to equip the disabled with employable skills, experts said yesterday.

There is no dedicated budget on making TVET institutes and transport accessible for students with disabilities, said Kishore Kumar Singh, a skills development specialist of the International Labour Organisation in Bangladesh.

He made the remarks at the launch of a guideline on how to include disabled people in technical and vocational education and training at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel in Dhaka.

ILO's Canadian-funded Bangladesh Skills for Employment and Productivity Project has formulated the guideline to improve the skills and employment for the people with disabilities.

About 2 million people enter Bangladesh's job market every year. Of them, 10 percent have disabilities, said Singh.

He said about 7,925 TVET institutes exist across the country and most of them are inaccessible to the disabled.

“The government should enact policy to promote disability inclusion,” he said. 

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said the Directorate of Technical Education has taken successful measures to boost the number of people with disabilities who are trained at TVET institutes.

He urged other ministries to ensure that 5 percent quota is set aside for disabled students at all government and non-government polytechnic institutes, technical schools and colleges.

Speakers emphasised raising awareness among employers about employing trained people with disabilities.

Lack of awareness, accessibility, institutional capacity and collaboration among the TVET institutes are counted as the main challenges for disabilities inclusion, they said.

In a statement of the ILO, Md Alamgir, secretary of the Technical and Madrasa Education Division, said equal emphasis should also be given on creating demand within businesses and industries to hire disabled workers.

Ashoke Kumar Biswas, director general of the Directorate of Technical Education, highlighted the need to continue disability inclusion efforts.

“While the enrolment of persons with disabilities in our TVET institutes has increased significantly there are still many challenges to overcome,” he said.

“Enhanced collaboration is needed among all those working with the disabled so that the full economic and social potential of this large group of people can be realised.”