CPSC Conducts Online Capacity Building on Entrepreneurship Development as a TVET Goal with Don Bosco Tech ASEAN Instructors

The Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC) recently implemented the Online Capacity Building Program on Entrepreneurship Development as a TVET Goal on August 14 to 18, 2023. The program was conducted in collaboration with Don Bosco Tech ASEAN, a network of countries in Southeast Asia operated by the religious congregation known as the Salesians of Don Bosco. The training was facilitated online via Zoom and was attended by a total of 20 Salesian TVET instructors, technical directors, and headmasters of TVET technical centers from Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

The program aimed to further the awareness of the participants on the relevance of entrepreneurship education in the present times, and the need to divert a significant chunk of TVET graduates from wage employment to entrepreneurial careers in developing countries across ASEAN member states. The program has trained the participants on initiating awareness and understanding of entrepreneurship development in TVET among the TVET graduates, on instilling high achievement motives amongst the graduates and understanding the complete process of entrepreneurship.

Supervising the program was CPSC Director General Prof. G.L.D. Wickramasinghe. In addition, CPSC Senior Faculty Specialist, Engr. Dr. Mian Khuram Ahsan served as the Program Coordinator. CPSC has also tapped key TVET experts to serve as Resource Persons in the program namely: Dr. Kesavan Ulaganathen, CPSC Governing Board-Engaged Faculty Consultant; Prof. Romulita C. Alto, EdD, CPSC Project-Based Faculty Consultant; and Dr. Suresh Kumar Dhameja, Professor at the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR), Chandigarh, India.

From left: CPSC Governing Board-Engaged Faculty Consultant, Dr. Kesavan Ulaganathen; Don Bosco – One TVET Philippines Executive Director, Fr. Jose Dindo Vitug, SDB; and Don Bosco Tech ASEAN Country Representative, Br. Ephrem Santos during the opening ceremony.

The opening program was conducted on August 14, 2023, and was attended by CPSC and Don Bosco Tech ASEAN officials. On behalf of the Director General, Dr. Kesavan Ulaganathen thanked Don Bosco Tech ASEAN for continuously extending their support to CPSC even during the pandemic for their training needs. On the other hand, Br. Ephrem Santos, Country Representative, Don Bosco Tech ASEAN delivered a special remark and thanked CPSC for answering their calls to conduct training programs to their instructors throughout the previous years. Finally, Fr. Jose Dindo Vitug, SDB, Executive Director of Don Bosco – One TVET Philippines also delivered a short message and encouraged all the participants to do their best for the upcoming weeklong training.

From left: Resource persons Dr. Suresh Khumar Dhameja and Prof. Romulita C. Alto, EdD during the lecture sessions.

The program consisted of lecture sessions, workshops, and activities in relation to the program theme – equipping skills, mindset, and knowledge required to become successful entrepreneurs and actively contribute to the economic and social development of the global community. Engr. Dr. Mian Khuram Ahsan delivered the lecture entitled: Understanding Entrepreneurship Development as a TVET Goal during the first day which was followed by a lecture by Dr. Romulita Alto on the Excellence in TVET and Entrepreneurship as an Added Road to Academia. On the second day, Dr. Suresh K. Dhameja delivered his lectures on Designing Entrepreneurship Development Program in TVET which was followed by an online activity on the same topic. The third day commenced with another lecture by Dr. Dhameja on Social and Rural Entrepreneurship as well as a lecture from Dr. Kesavan Ulaganathen on Experience Sharing on Best Practices on Entrepreneurship Development in TVET in Some Countries in Asia. The fourth day focused on the participants crafting their respective action plans for initiating the establishment of an entrepreneurship development program in their TVET centers. Their outputs were presented and evaluated by the resource persons on the fifth day.

Program Coordinator and CPSC Senior Faculty Specialist Engr. Dr. Mian Khuram Ahsan during the Vote of Thanks on the closing ceremony.

During the closing session on August 18, 2023, Mr. Som Panith, Academic Office Manager from Don Bosco TVET Center in Cambodia briefly shared some of his learnings and reflections on behalf of all the participants. Afterwards, Br. Ephrem Santos once again congratulated all the participants for successfully completing the weeklong training and hoped for future collaborations with CPSC. This was likewise seconded by Dr. Kesavan who delivered the closing remarks on behalf of the CPSC Director General. Meanwhile, Program Coordinator Engr. Dr. Mian Khuram Ahsan delivered the Summary of the Program and Vote of Thanks.

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