Strengths and Weakness of Internship Programs in TVET: Government Polytechnic Institutes in Bangladesh

Abstract

Internship programs in TVET in Bangladesh is longstanding but ineffective. Because, there had no study on identify strengths and weakness of internship programs in TVET: especially in the field of electro-medical engineering in government polytechnic institutes in Bangladesh. Thus, special objectives of this research are: to find out the strength of electro-medical engineering internship programs in government polytechnic institutes in Bangladesh, to find out the weakness of electro-medical engineering internship programs in government polytechnic institutes in Bangladesh, to suggest how to improve the TVET internship programs in government polytechnic institutes in Bangladesh. Quantitative method used in conducting this research which emphasizes understanding of phenomena through direct observation, communication with participants, or analysis a test and may stress contextual subjective accuracy over generality. There are 51 government Polytechnics in Bangladesh. However only 9 Polytechnics have been offering Diploma Engineering Degree in Electro-medical technology. Out of 9 Government Polytechnic Institutes this research was consider 3 Polytechnic Institute students were taken as a population of the research, such as Dhaka Mohila Polytechnic Institute, Rajshahi Mohila Polytechnic Institute, B. Baria Polytechnic Institute. The total population of the 3 Polytechnic was around 120 students, where sample size was 96 (80%) followed by random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire based on Five points scale was used as a data collection tools. Researcher herself purposively selected medical hospitals to collect the research data by using semi-structure questionnaires. Mean, Weighted average and statement-wise Chi-square test used for data analysis sing SPPS version 24. The research tried to find out the strengths and weaknesses in Hospital Institutions for improving of internship program by the research. The research find out major strengths of internship program such as: attainment of practical skills that are useful to real life situation; the internship program helped the trainees to get acquainted with functions of scientific machineries, which in turn build the capacity of trainees for their future world of work; the internship program also helps in bridging the gap between knowledge acquired in the institutions and the industrial tasks; and finally, it provides opportunity for trainees to enhance their problem solving skills and develop the ability to communicate ideas professionally and enhance. The research find out major weakness of internship program such as: Short duration of the entire program; though internship program was found to provide adequate knowledge and skill to the trainees, these limited to few machineries only; some of the reputable medical colleges were not accepting students for internship program. The respondents gave their opinions about improvement of the TVET internship programs in government polytechnic institutes in Bangladesh. According to the respondents comments the research revealed some suggestions of the internship program such as: the time duration of internship program should be extended, lack of skilled trainer in internship program of Electro-medical sector, lack of students’ motivation to participate in practical class, the medical institutions should improve their medical instruments for training, and poor linkage between hospitals and TVET institutions.