Technical and Madrasa Education Division

division · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head: Muhammad Rafiqul Islam
Role: Secretary
Annual budget: ৳126,780,000,000
Staff: —
Established: 2016
Legal basis: Government of Bangladesh split the Ministry of Education into two statutory divisions on 30 November 2016 under the Rules of Business 1996 (as amended); NSDA Act 2018 further anchors skills development coordination under TMED.

Actively modernising BTEB's diploma-in-engineering curriculum toward market alignment, scaling the ILO-piloted industry-attachment model nationwide, advancing the BNQF for international TVET certification recognition, and pursuing mandatory Qawmi madrasa registration under a 15-member committee policy framework.

Recent activity

2026-03-04 reform Education Minister Milon, with Secretary Rafiqul Islam presiding, directed Directorate of Technical Education officers to modernise diploma-in-engineering curriculum to match domestic and international labour market demands, strengthen PPP linkages with industry, and expand overseas skilled manpower placement via coordination with MoEWOE. ↗↗
2026-03-30 policy ADP implementation review meeting for TMED held at Ministry of Education; TMED's ADP implementation rate for July 2025-February 2026 stood at 24.59 percent, signalling absorption capacity concerns for the Tk 12,678 crore allocation. ↗↗
2026-04-01 reform ILO ProGRESS pilot (TMED/DTE/BTEB, funded by Global Affairs Canada) completed: 45 of 47 diploma students from Chattogram Polytechnic and Bangladesh-Sweden Polytechnic finished a redesigned industry-paid 4-month attachment at six Chattogram firms (BSRM, GPH Ispat, Confidence Cement, Maf Shoes, Rancon, CPDL); TMED and BTEB committed to scale the model nationally. ↗↗
2026-04-23 policy Minister Milon told the Jatiya Sangsad that the Bangladesh National Qualifications Framework (BNQF, 10 levels) has been approved by the Cabinet Division to unify all education streams and enable international recognition of BTEB certificates; TSCs are being established in all 493 upazilas, with 85 already operational. ↗↗
2026-05-01 reform TMED pursuing mandatory registration of Qawmi madrasas under a 15-member inter-ministerial committee formed to draft an integrated policy merging the six Qawmi boards into a single state-supervised body; Qawmi madrasa Vision 2025-2035 proposes state-funded teacher salaries and a four-tier grading system. ↗↗
2026-05-10 policy Secretary Rafiqul Islam attended as special guest at National Education Week-2026 national final in Dhaka, reiterating the government's commitment to a technical college in every upazila and polytechnic in every district as the flagship infrastructure expansion. ↗↗

Provenance & notes

TMED was carved out of the Ministry of Education on 30 November 2016 as one of two statutory divisions (the other being SHED). It oversees five subordinate bodies: BTEB (technical board), DTE (directorate), BMEB (madrasa board), DME (madrasa directorate), and NSDA (skills authority). Secretary Muhammad Rafiqul Islam was transferred from the PPP Authority and appointed in August 2025, replacing KM Kabirul Islam. The FY2025-26 budget figure (Tk 12,678 crore = BDT 126,780,000,000) is sourced from the Finance Division budget documents and cross-confirmed by Dhaka Tribune and BSS. head_since date is approximate (August 2025); exact notification date not publicly available in indexed sources. ADP absorption at 24.59% through February 2026 is a verified figure from the March 2026 review meeting. TMED supervises approximately 113 public technical institutes, 4,727 private technical institutes, 3 public madrasas, and 7,620 private madrasas.

Technical and Madrasa Education Division

Profile

Recent activity

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