Technical and Vocational Training in Nepal

Bhuwan represents the youth of Nepal as a member of the UNFPA’s Global Youth Advisory Panel (GYAP) and the Women’s Refugee Commission Youth Advisory Group (YAG).

In Nepal, where the literacy rate is 57% and the percentage of the educated population is even lower, vocational trainings play a vital role in creating skilled manpower among youth and in generating employment opportunities.

Many students drop out of school after completing their primary schooling. The main reason for this is their increased role as breadwinner of their respective families after they enter the youth age group. This trend has created a huge gap in the skilled manpower creation process because all of these young people get engaged in the informal sector, where working conditions are risky and the dignity of labor is comparatively less.

The Nepalese government, with the support of various agencies, has started an employment fund through which young people acquire various vocational skills to enhance their livelihood opportunities. Realizing the importance of vocational trainings, The Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) was constituted by the government in 1989. CTEVT’s have contacts in all of the districts of Nepal and offer different types of vocational trainings and support systems. I am interested in the provisions of these livelihood training opportunities and in finding where the gaps are within this system.