The Project Package for Middle-Level TVET Program: An Assessment of the Situation in PHEIs

Abstract

The 1994 Education and Training Policy of the Government of FDRE not only identifies lack of middlelevel human power as a serious impediment to economic development but also envisages that the middlelevel TVET program would offer basic solution in developing a competent taskforce graduating with sufficient theoretical and practical orientation. To this end, apart from the in-school training, the program consists of an apprenticeship practices and a good number of major project packages. There are good theoretical reasons to share this optimism based on the experiences of other countries though, in the Ethiopian situation, empirical evidence is yet to be sought. This paper attempts to take a close look at the major project packages launched in the middle-level TVET program in a bid to assess whether there are positive indications or not. The study was based on both primary and published materials. In addition, interviews and extensive discussions with course instructors and Department Heads were conducted. Questionnaires have also been filled out by students who were selected randomly. Finally, the data were analyzed using percentages and ratios in SPSS. The findings of the study indicated that there are serious gaps ranging from attitudinal to technical problems that need to be addressed to expect tangible results from the project packages launched though there are departmental differences. The most serious problems identified were lack of data, group conflict and lack of full cooperation from institutions.