RIYADH, 28 October — The General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training is planning to conduct tests for expatriate technicians soon after their arrival in the Kingdom and before joining duty.
It will also conduct similar tests for Saudis as well as existing expatriate technicians to assess their professional skills.
Speaking to Arab News, Dr. Ali Al-Ghafees, governor of the organization, said the program will be finalized after discussion at the technical conference opened by Riyadh Governor Prince Salman on Saturday.
"We planned this program after learning that about 94 percent of expatriate technical workforce have not attained required skills to do their jobs," he said.
Ghafees said the new program will open the door for competition among Saudis to improve their standard before looking for jobs. "It will also encourage expatriates to get adequate training back home before they set out for the Kingdom."
The main objective of the program is to prevent unqualified foreign workforce from occupying jobs in the Kingdom and reorganize recruitment of foreign workers in accordance with the country’s actual requirements.
"Providing on-the-job training to expatriates will cost the Kingdom dearly," Ghafees said.
The organization will set the criteria for the professional tests soon. In light of the tests workers will be given certificates to do various technical jobs.
In the beginning the certificates will not be mandatory for doing the jobs they wish to do. However, they will be tested with the aim of knowing how good they are in technical skills related to their jobs.
He said certificates will be given to workers without considering whether they learned the profession at school or institute or by practice.
"All professionals at workshops and other work places will be tested to know their skills and classified accordingly as first, second and third professional, diploma holder and advanced diploma holder.
Ghafees said workers have to pass the tests to practice the job in the Kingdom. They can try to get license to practice more than one job, if they fulfill required conditions.
Muna Daghsh adds: Riyadh police arrested an expatriate worker at a medical laboratory, for trying to bribe an official at Saudi Authority for Medical Specializations to receive a certificate of lab specialist and register his name with the authority, without appearing for a test.
Dr. Hussein Al-Fareehi, secretary-general of the authority, told Arab News that an Arab expatriate, who works at medical laboratory, approached the official to get the certificate in exchange of a bribe. The department informed the police who caught the man while receiving a fake certificate.
