H. M. Nazmul Alam
The story of technical education in Bangladesh today is a paradox of ambition without absorption. On paper, the country is on a grand mission to expand vocational and technical institutions into every upazila, ensuring that no corner is left untouched by the promise of skills-based learning. Yet in practice, classrooms remain half empty, workshops echo with silence, and an entire sector drifts further away from its stated purpose.
The numbers reveal a worrying mismatch between policy and reality. In 149 operational technical schools and colleges (TSCs), more than 150,000 seats were offered in the last academic year. Yet only a fraction was filled. About 62 percent of seats at the pre-vocational, SSC (Vocational), and HSC (Vocational) levels remained vacant. That means tens of thousands of allocated spaces stood empty despite heavy public spending. More alarmingly, the shortfall persists across every level, suggesting this is not a passing problem but a systemic failure.
Despite this, the government has pressed forward with two massive projects to construct 429 TSCs across the country. Ninety-one institutions have already begun partial activities, though half the sanctioned teaching posts remain vacant. The scale of expansion is breathtaking: if the 338 under-construction institutions eventually open, nearly 300,000 new seats will be added. When stacked against the present vacancy rate, the outcome seems obvious. Bangladesh is building institutions that may never be filled, classrooms that may remain without students, and workshops without teachers.
This is not simply a matter of underutilised infrastructure; it is a deeper reflection of how educational planning has been reduced to brick-and-mortar targets. The last government measured its progress by the number of buildings inaugurated, not the number of competent graduates produced. In this approach, physical expansion became a substitute for academic quality. The result is a system where new campuses spring up in every district but are unable to attract students or produce employable graduates.
At the heart of this failure lies a lack of alignment with the labour market. Technical education is meant to supply industries with skilled workers and provide young people with viable employment pathways. Yet both domestic employers and international recruiters continue to complain about the inadequacy of training. A large proportion of diploma holders remain unemployed, and even among those who secure jobs, most are absorbed in low-paying positions in the private sector. Research shows that nearly four out of ten diploma graduates are jobless, a figure that starkly exposes the gap between promises and outcomes.
The international dimension is equally troubling. One of the stated objectives of expanding technical education is to strengthen the remittance economy by producing skilled labour for foreign markets. However, the export of manpower remains overwhelmingly dominated by unskilled and low-skilled workers. In 2024, only about a quarter of outgoing migrants were classified as skilled. This figure alone undermines the entire rationale for pouring billions into technical institutions. If most young people remain untrained for the jobs that the world demands, the investment is yielding little return.
Beyond the labour market mismatch, there is also a cultural barrier. Technical education in Bangladesh carries a stigma. Parents tend to see it as the refuge of the academically weak, while bright students are pushed toward general streams. Schools often discourage their students from moving into vocational tracks, viewing it as a step down. These perceptions, combined with weak promotion and limited career support, make it difficult to fill classrooms. Unless technical education is repositioned as a prestigious and practical choice, expansion alone cannot change enrolment patterns.
Teacher shortages further weaken the system. In many of the new TSCs, half the posts remain unfilled. Equipment is outdated or insufficient, and much of the curriculum is decades behind modern industry needs. A significant portion of teachers themselves believe that their courses fail to meet market demand. Without qualified instructors, modern labs, and continuously updated syllabi, no number of new buildings will transform vocational education into a dynamic force.
This raises uncomfortable questions about the rationale of continuing to pour resources into incomplete projects. The first initiative, launched in 2014, was supposed to finish within two years but now faces its third extension, pushing the deadline to 2027 and tripling the original cost. The second initiative, launched in 2020, is heading toward the same fate. Together, the two projects have already consumed thousands of crores, yet their completion remains uncertain and their utility doubtful.
The political economy of education planning cannot be ignored here. Infrastructure projects allow for ribbon-cuttings, contracts, and visible symbols of development. Quality enhancement, on the other hand, is slower, less visible, and often politically unrewarding. It is easier to count the number of institutions built than to measure the number of graduates employed in decent work. Yet it is the latter that determines whether technical education can truly drive national progress.
The danger is clear: Bangladesh is on the verge of creating a sprawling system of underutilised technical schools that drain resources without delivering skilled workers. Instead of lifting young people into employment, the system risks producing more disillusioned graduates and wasting scarce public funds.
What is required is not more buildings but a complete rethinking of priorities. Technical education must be aligned with the sectors that actually generate jobs, both at home and abroad. The curriculum must be modernised, equipment upgraded, and teachers trained in the latest technologies. Employers should be directly involved in shaping courses so that graduates are prepared for real-world demands. Simultaneously, a national campaign is needed to change perceptions, assuring parents and students that technical education is not a second-class option but a pathway to prosperity.
Bangladesh cannot afford to ignore these realities. The country faces a rapidly growing population of educated unemployed youth. The demographic dividend will turn into a demographic liability if millions of young people remain jobless or forced into low-skill migration. Technical education, if done well, could be the solution. Done poorly, it becomes just another failed promise.
As things stand, the nation is trapped between ambition and execution, between structures built and opportunities wasted. The expansion of TSCs without fixing the fundamentals of quality, relevance, and perception risks becoming one of the most expensive miscalculations in the education sector. The question is not how many more schools can be built but whether those already built can serve their intended purpose. Until that shift happens, the silent crisis of vacant seats will continue to grow, undermining both economic growth and social stability.
The writer is an academic, journalist, and political analyst
