The Accelerating and Strengthening Skills for Economic Transformation (ASSET) project, being implemented under the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) of the Technical and Madrasah Education Division, has made significant headway in job-oriented skills development, with a total of 225,336 people completing training between February and August 2026 under the current government.
Of the trainees, 130,470 were women and 94,866 men, meaning women made up nearly 57.90 percent of the total, 35,604 more than their male counterparts. The trainees also included 4,080 people from small ethnic communities and 779 persons with disabilities, according to a press release issued by the Technical and Madrasah Education Division on Monday.
The training was carried out under the project's two components: Short Course and Enterprise-Based Training (EBT).
The Short Course, a 360-hour institution-based job-oriented training, was conducted through government technical schools and colleges, government technical training centres, the Bangladesh Institute of Technical Aid Centre (BITAC), Regional Population Training Institutes (RPTI), Regional Training Centres (RTC), specialised government technical institutions, and selected private training institutions.
A total of 21,702 people completed Short Course training, with women accounting for about 38.87 percent, with emphasis on hands-on practice and trade-specific skills.
Meanwhile, EBT was carried out through industry partners, including Industry Skills Councils, industry associations, and chambers of commerce and industry. Under this component, 203,634 people completed training, nearly 59.93 percent of them women.
Depending on the type of EBT, some training was conducted entirely in factory production settings, while in other cases 50 percent of the training took place at selected Skills Training Providers (STPs) and the remaining 50 percent through apprenticeships in factories, giving trainees exposure to modern technology use, production systems, workplace discipline, safety, and real work experience alongside trade-specific technical skills.
Both training streams were evaluated and certified by the National Skills Development Authority (NSDA).
Officials said the scale of job-oriented training delivered under the current government marks a notable achievement for the country's technical and vocational education system, significant not only for the number of trainees but also for bringing women, small ethnic communities, persons with disabilities, and people from various socio-economic backgrounds into the mainstream of skills training.
To sustain the project's achievements and meet remaining and revised targets under a restructured work plan, the government sought an 18-month extension of ASSET.
Following the government's request dated April 26, 2026, development partner the World Bank gave formal consent on July 29, 2026, to extend the project's timeline and restructure it, pushing the project's completion date to June 30, 2028.
During the extended period, the scope of the Short Course and EBT components will be expanded, with training aligned to demand-driven and future job market-relevant trades.
Emphasis will also be placed on increasing participation of women and disadvantaged groups, ensuring transparency in trainee selection and enrolment, and strengthening digital data management, progress monitoring, and quality assurance of the training.