A comparative study on S.S.C (Voc.) and Dakhil (Voc.) students’ performance in Bangladesh

Abstract

The social, economic and cultural development of any country largely depends upon education, especially technical and vocational education. Governments have taken different various steps to improve quality and to increase the quantity of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) graduates in Bangladesh. Vocational Training course at the secondary level school follows a compulsory formal curriculum combining general skills with occupation-specific education. The success of the school-based training crucially depends on the alignment of skills taught in the schools and application of the skills to the labor market both local and global, and hence requires close collaboration of employers, unions, educational institutions and all other relevant stakeholders. The objectives of this study were to compare student academic performance, identify the problems and prospects of integrated curriculum and other issues at the secondary level S.S.C (Voc.) and Dakhil (Voc.) of High School and Madrasah education respectively in Bangladesh. The null hypotheses were tested by analyzing the data relating to the academic achievement of the selected two groups. Independent sample t-test was applied to determine the significance difference between SSC (Voc.) and Dakhil (Voc.) students as well as to the male and female students. From the analysis it was observed that mean score of SSC (Voc.) students was higher than Dakhil (Voc.) and females had higher mean score than male in both cases. However, there was significance difference between male and female in SSC (Voc.) High Schools, where female students had higher achievement than the male students. Dakhil (Voc.) Madrasah cases same results were found between male and female with respect to their academic achievement. In the statement-wise category percentage, weighted average and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon tests, it was found that majority of students were not facing difficulties to understand the subject matter except English and competent level of trade subject. They also faced problem with labs, equipment’s and raw materials during their study. The findings of the study may provide useful information to the authorities of TVET as well as to the secondary level executive committee, administrator, teachers of SSC (Voc.) in High Schools and Dakhil (Voc.) in Madrasahs in order to improve student performance and teachers’ technical skills. The study may also help to identify the problems and throw some light on how to overcome the problems related to implementing integrated curriculum and other related institutional facilities.