Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre the chief administrative training institution located at SAVAR, about 28 kilometers to the

north of the capital city, Dhaka. It is primarily responsible for imparting public administration training to civil servants of various levels. The Ministry of Establishment is in overall charge of supervising the activities of the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC). Established in 1984 as an autonomous organisation under provisions made in Ordinance No XXVI of 1984, the BPATC in effect provides for an integrated national training institution in the field of public administration and management. It is headed by a senior secretary to the government who is officially designated as Rector. Immediately below him are five Members Directing Staff holding the rank of joint secretary to the government, each of whom is responsible to look after one of the five functional divisions, namely management and public administration; programme and studies; development and economics; research and consultancy; and projects. The Rector as chief executive has adequate powers to make decisions on day-today financial and administrative matters. However, the 12-member Board of Governors, chaired by a minister, provides general policy directions. The BPATC's charter of duties requires it to perform a wide range of functions. In particular, this training organisation at the national level is specifically assigned the task of equipping public and private sector officials with requisite knowledge and skills in the field of public management and development. To that end the BPATC is constantly engaged in organising programmes to provide foundation training to the fresh recruits of the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) cadres as well as to impart in-service training to mid-level and senior government officials, including those of the public corporations, local authorities and private sector organisations. Its other functions include activities to conduct research on public administration, management and development; to advise the government on specific problems of administration and development; to publish books/periodicals and reports on administration and development; to establish and maintain libraries and reading rooms; and to carry out similar other functions envisaged in the Ordinance. However, the government also may ask the Centre to perform other functions related to training and research in public administration. The clientele of the BPATC comprise government officials belonging to both cadre and noncadre services. Their level ranges from the fresh BCS cadre recruits to the top policy managers. The executives of both public and private sectors are also encouraged to participate in its training programmes. Currently, the NGO executives are also showing keen interest in training programmes of the BPATC. Each year the Centre prepares a comprehensive plan for organising training courses, workshops and seminars. The plan is revised every year to incorporate new courses and seminars/workshops in response to the needs of the clientele and the rapidly changing work environment. Its training programmes are classified into two broad types: core courses and short specialised courses. Core courses usually range from 10-16 weeks, while short specialised courses range from 1-4 weeks. The focus of the core courses is on the development of a conceptual and technical base, whereas short specialised courses stress on the development of skills of specific clientele groups. The core courses are designed within the framework of Foundation Training Course, Advanced Course on Administration and Development, and Senior Staff Course.

Four regional centres called Regional Public Administration Training Centres operate under the overall administrative supervision of the BPATC, each at the divisional headquarters of Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna. These centres usually organise skill-based training courses for the support staffs as well as for Class I and Class II officers. Training courses and seminars/workshops for senior officers are organised occasionally at the regional centres. Every year an annual training plan for each of the Regional centres is prepared and distributed to the clientele organisations. The training functions of the BPATC also include an activity to organise seminars and workshops on both national and international issues. Each participant in the Senior Staff Course and Advanced Course is required to prepare a seminar paper on a specific topic. Similarly, the participants of the foundation courses are also encouraged to prepare and present seminar papers while on training at the BPATC. The faculty members and trainers of the BPATC are always encouraged to undertake research and to conduct case studies in such fields as public administration, management and development economics. Necessary financial and other logistic support is provided to them to carry out these activities. Each year roughly 8 to 10 research works and case studies are conducted by its faculty members. Need-based curricula, empirical reading materials, instructional cases and training methods are developed out of these research and case studies. Since its inception the BPATC has been pursuing a policy of sending faculty members on deputation for overseas training to many countries, namely the US, UK, Netherlands, France, Germany, Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, India, and Pakistan. The specialized areas of such overseas training include public administration, business administration, development economics, human resource management, environment management, project management, financial management, disaster management, rural development, management information systems, geographic information systems, policy analysis, etc. The BPATC also arranges training courses, seminars/workshops and various research programmes in collaboration with both the national and international agencies, including the ESCAP, UNDP, UNICEF, IDS, IIAP, WFP, ILO, and the APDC (Malaysia). Till the mid-1990s foreign study tours by participants in the Senior Staff Course and Advanced Course were organised in collaboration with the SLIDA (Sri Lanka), INTAN (Malaysia), LAN (Indonesia), PASC (Pakistan), NASC (Nepal), and the IIPA in India. [Syed Naquib Muslim] Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD) an autonomous national institution for training, research and experiment on rural development. Established in 1959 in Comilla, the institution is governed by a Board of Governors with the Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives as its chairman. The director general is the chief executive of the institution. One of the mandatory functions of BARD is to provide training for both officials and non-officials. During 1959-1988, a total of about 1,18,000 participants attended various training courses, visit programmes, workshops and seminars conducted by the Academy. Located at Kotbari, 10 km off Comilla town, BARD has a very entertaining campus of 156 acres of land in natural surroundings.

It has a 63-multi disciplinary faculty under nine divisions. There are five hostels, four conference rooms, and a beautiful mosque, a library with a rich collection of books, a health clinic, sports complex, two cafeterias and a primary school on the academy campus.
Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development, Comilla

The Academy's research is aimed at collection of socio-economic data for the purpose of planning and project preparation. Research findings are used as training materials in the Academy and as information materials by ministries, the PLANNING COMMISSION, and policy makers for drawing up development programmes. The Academy is also engaged in evaluating major national rural development programmes either independently or jointly with government agencies, universities and research organisations. BARD has undertaken experimental projects to evolve models for improved institutions, administrative structures, coordination and methods of production. Project activities have involved villagers, village institutions, local councils, and government officials. Since its inception, the Academy has conducted about 48 experimental projects on various aspects of rural development. In the early 1960s the Academy evolved a new system of rural cooperatives. The small farmers of Comilla sadar thana were organised into primary cooperatives. Great emphasis was given on member training, regular weekly meetings and thrift deposit, as well as adoption of new technologies like high yielding variety of seed, fertiliser, irrigation, etc. Village based primary cooperatives were federated at the thana level and the federation was called Thana Central Cooperative Association. The federation was designed to provide training and credit support to the village level primary cooperatives, and to undertake ventures such as storage, processing, marketing, mechanisation, etc. This two-tier cooperative was found viable and was adopted by the government in 1972 and has been replicated all over the country under the Bangladesh Rural Development Board. The Thana Training and Development Centre (TTDC) was designed as a model of decentralised and coordinated rural administration for the sake of development. TTDC aims at effective coordination between nation-building departments and organisations of the rural people (local councils, cooperatives, etc). The people and the government are partners of development, and TTDC provides the institutional mechanism to promote this partnership. Replication of TTDC in phases throughout the country was accepted as a programme by the government in 1963, and was gradually replicated in all the thanas. TTDC was used as a base for introducing a decentralised administration system under the thana parishad in 1982. The Academy involved villagers and local councils in the development of physical infrastructures through an experimental project, which later came to be called Rural Works Programme (RWP). In addition to providing flood protection and facilitating communication, the projects generated employment

for landless in the lean periods. The success of the programme led to its nationwide replication in 1962-63. Development of market centres, bridges, culverts, sluice gates, and the construction of TTDC and union parishad buildings have marked the expansion of the scope of RWP in recent years. In Bangladesh, the period from December to March normally remains dry. In the absence of irrigation arrangement no agricultural operation could be taken up during this period in the past even though water remained available in canals, rivers and underground. The simple operation of lifting surface and underground water and channelling it through canals remained unrealised due to lack of technology and appropriate organisation. The Academy's experiment in its laboratory area (Comilla sadar thana) to use surface water through lift pumps and underground water through tubewells with the management of village cooperatives led to a new rice cultivation season (Boro) during this period. As implementation of the experimental programme as well as operation of the irrigation technology required collaborative efforts of cooperators and thana level officers, a new institutional arrangement emerged which became known nationwide as the Thana Irrigation Programme in 1969. The family planning programme of the government launched in 1965 was more or less based on the results of experiments at Comilla. The institutional infrastructure of cooperative, the administrative infrastructure of TTDC, and the physical infrastructure of the Rural Works Programme and the Thana Irrigation Programme constituted a single united approach to rural development. This approach was an integrated framework, which in its totality can be called the COMILLA MODEL of rural development. The model was initiated, cradled and brought to replicable maturity by AKHTER HAMEED KHAN, the founder-director of BARD, and his colleagues.
in Bengali

Bangladesh Civil Service Administration Academy an institute meant for basic training on law and administration for officers of the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) administration cadre. Established on 21 October 1987, the Academy was initially responsible for imparting training to young and midlevel officers belonging to the BCS administration cadre only, though the BCS (Foreign service) officers had been attached to it for sometime between 1989 and 1996. The Academy is attached to the Ministry of Establishment and is located at Shahbag of Dhaka city in a building that used to house the Gazetted Officers' Training Academy during the Pakistan period and the Civil Officers' Training Academy after independence. Generally, trainees of the administrative cadre attend the Academy's prescribed professional training course on completion of the compulsory foundation training course with new recruits of all other cadres from Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre, Savar, Dhaka. The main objectives of this national administrative training academy are: (a) to impart professional training to the members of the BCS (administration) cadre to improve their knowledge and skills regarding criminal laws, land laws,

various minor acts, rules and regulations, public administration, development administration and good governance; (b) to enable young officers to study the CONSTITUTION of the People's Republic of Bangladesh and other basic laws and internalise their spirit and consider their implications for the public servants; (c) to facilitate sharing of ideas and experiences between young and senior members of the service by organising seminars, symposia, workshops etc on important issues in public administration and socio-economic subjects; (d) to develop in trainees esprit de corps so that they can think, plan, organise and work through teamwork; (e) to maintain intimate linkage with other training institutes, both local and foreign, for improving and upgrading the training management system; (f) to provide consultancy and advisory services to the government in different areas of public administration, management and economic development, and to assist the government in formulating policies on training and human resource development as and when asked for; and (g) to prepare and publish case studies, research papers, journals and professional books on fields of specialisation of the Academy and also on related areas. Training courses offered by the Academy include the following: (a) a fivemonth long law and administration course for assistant commissioners/assistant secretaries; (b) short courses on management of criminal courts, land revenue laws, and civil laws for assistant commissioners; (c) short courses on laws for magistrates; (d) short courses for assistant commissioners and junior officers in secretarial procedures; (e) an advanced course on law and administration for additional district magistrates, additional DEPUTY COMMISSIONERs, UPAZILA NIRBAHI OFFICERs, revenue deputy collectors, land acquisition officers and general certificate officers; and (f) orientation courses for upazila nirbahi officers, deputy commissioners and district magistrates. In addition, the Academy organises in each training year a number of workshops and seminars on management and legal issues. Emphasis is laid on applied training methods in all programmes. Study tours and visit to different institutions are regularly arranged so that participants can gather practical knowledge. The Academy is headed by a senior member of the administrative cadre designated as the director general who holds the rank and status of an additional secretary to the government and three directors of the rank of deputy secretary to the government. Faculty members act as directors, co-ordinators and assistant co-ordinators of the courses run by the academy. Moreover, they have specific jobs assigned to them regarding the academy's administration, planning, development, research, consultancy and publication. The Academy has a valuable library having collections on law, rules, public administration, diplomacy, economics, management, sociology and the humanities. The library subscribes to almost all newspapers, magazines and periodicals published in the country as well as several internationally reputed magazines. It carries out research in the fields of public administration, management, economic development, criminal justice and other socio-

economic subjects. Its trainees also pursue short research projects during their training period in the fields allotted to them. The Academy publishes basic books/reports on public administration and socio-economic subjects on the basis of work undertaken and research findings. The academy also publishes journals, bulletins and periodicals related to training. A two-way evaluation system is followed in the academy to ascertain the level of progress in syllabus and subjects included in the courses as well as performance of trainers and trainees. [Mohammad Ehsan] Advanced course on administration and development (ACAD) This is a mid career level course intended for deputy secretaries and equivalent officers. Like the foundation course, ACAD too is a residential months long course and held at BPATC campus. The curriculum is of two and a half months organised on three modules, ie public administration; development economics; and miscellaneous subjects including English, computer training and extension lectures. Senior staff course (SSC) This is intended for joint secretary and equivalent levels. Like the foundation and ACAD, all courses including the SSC are residential and a course of 2.5 months. Each senior staff course is framed on a particular theme of national importance. Each participant prepares a paper on agreed concern which is presented to the entire class with two more senior officers (additional secretary/secretary level) grading it. The key training institutions are supposed to use a variety of training methods including exercises, case studies, field visits and role-plays. The overwhelming majority of training, however, is delivered through lectures. Of the 140 or so sessions on the foundation course, 116 were lectures. 32 days of 58-day ACAD were taken up by lectures. The senior staff course brochure does not give any figure for lectures, but calls it substantial. However, after each lecture, some questions and comments are allowed, although briefly, giving the sessions a participatory look. A large number of participant trainees are represented by primary teacher training institutions. Other institutions provide extension training and workshop facilities for members of the public involved in socio-economic projects. So the non-key institutions also serve key functions ie training non-officer members of the public. So training should not only be given to officers, but also to members of the public who are increasingly being involved in government sponsored projects throughout the country. The project committee is an example in point. There is then, a case for 'training for all' including especially members of the family, male and female. It is important that these institutions be classified according to the functional ministries/divisions/or functional areas. As the largest number of training institutions is represented by the primary teacher institutes, it would be reasonable to assume that the government attaches most attention to primary level training. This is most understandable that in view of the educational backwardness of Bangladesh, the proper place to put the training emphasis is the primary education. If the primary education has the best-trained teachers, it would most likely be able to produce the best students. This emphasis would need to be not only continued, but improved in quality and quantity.

NGO training institutions All NGO projects, when launched, give some kind of training to their field staff. The permanent staff also receive training. BRAC is now the largest organisation for giving training to NGO staff. Training about non-fromal education and poverty alleviation constitute the major areas for NGO training. [M Anisuzzaman]