$19.8m Canadian grant for vocational training

The government of Canada has provided $19.8 million in grants to Bangladesh to strengthen the country's technical and vocational training institutes to create employable and market-oriented workforce.
The country will provide the funds through the multi donor trust fund of the World Bank for the ongoing Skills and Training Enhancement Project (STEP).
Arostoo Khan, additional secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD), and Johannes Zutt, World Bank country director, signed a deal to this regard in the city yesterday.
Heather Cruden, Canadian high commissioner, said her country would provide the funds over the next four years to extend the reach of the STEP project.
The project, which began in 2010 and will run until 2016, aims to create demand-driven technical and vocational education and training and increase the number of employable students and trainees, including those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
Cruden said Canada's contribution would support all project components and expand and deepen impact by enabling additional private diploma-granting institutions and short-course institutions to benefit from the funding.
"In addition, our support will enable increased access by an additional 32,000 students, particularly females to stipends for technical and vocational training."
Zutt said the project would help public and private technical institutions to extend their offerings and improve their quality and link the workers to the job market in a more effective way.
ERD Secretary Abul Kalam Azad also spoke.