JEDDAH, 19 October 2004 — Saudi youths have been urged to get trained by attending special courses to take up more than two million vocational jobs currently held by expatriate workers, an official statement said. The new jobs offer them a total of SR7 billion in monthly salaries.
The Defense Ministry’s land forces have agreed to train young Saudis at its institutes in Alkharj and Qasim. More than 5,000 secondary students will be given training in 18 vocational jobs annually, the statement issued by the vocational military training program said. “Twenty-five percent of graduates from this program will be employed in military sectors,” the statement said, adding that interested graduates will be given opportunities for higher studies.
The trainees will be provided with food, accommodation, medical treatment and monthly stipends during the training period. The vocational military training program is organized in cooperation with the Interior Ministry and the National Guard to speed up Saudization of jobs.
The General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT) has allocated SR280 million for the vocational military training program initiated by Crown Prince Abdullah as part of the government’s efforts to reduce the country’s unemployment rate. Under the program, 10,000 Saudis will be given training at GOTEVOT’s facilities in Riyadh, Alkharj and Jeddah every year.
The intensive training programs come at a time when the Labor Ministry has embarked on a major drive to find jobs for all unemployed Saudis. Forty-six committees have been set up in various parts of the Kingdom with a total of 1,357 members to execute the program.
Dr. Ali ibn Nasser Al-Ghafees, governor of GOTEVOT, said his organization would spend SR8.7 billion to train 100,000 young Saudis during the next five years. Twenty technical colleges will be established in various parts of the country at a total cost of SR1.15 billion to train 60,000 young Saudis every year.
GOTEVOT has plans to open 13 technical new institutes and 45 vocational training centers to train 42,000 Saudis every year.
Ghafees said his organization’s training programs were designed to meet market demand. He said GOTEVOT would open a department for agricultural technology at the College of Technology in Alkharj to meet manpower requirements of dairy farms.
Meanwhile, efforts are under way to establish an academy for training women in the Eastern Province. The move comes following a Cabinet decision to expand job opportunities for women. The new academy will train women to take up various jobs available in the market, the Saudi Press Agency said.
Training will be provided in tailoring, embroidery, flower designing and other prospective areas. The academy, initiated by Eastern Province Governor Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd, will be part of a joint stock company for training. According to a report carried by Al-Madinah Arabic daily, 75 percent of the Kingdom’s unemployed are women. But the General Statistics Department put the figure at 21.7 percent.
