Crown Prince Abdullah has just approved SR3 billion for vocational and technical training programs for Saudi youth. The plan calls for opening 20 new technical colleges accommodating 60,000 students annually in addition to 39 institutes with 40,000 students. An additional SR270 million has been sanctioned to boost military technical training programs where 10,000 young Saudis are enrolled each year.
On the surface, this is certainly good news and reflects a strong commitment on the part of the government to solve some of the problems facing Saudi youth. Going through the details of the project, however, I was left with many unanswered questions.
I still don’t know the objectives of military technical training and whether it is the first step toward introducing conscription. Mandatory military service is a good thing but the young people should be given basic military training and then sent to technical institutions for advanced vocational training.
The second question is addressed to the governor of the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT), who was quoted as saying the new technical colleges would be no different from the existing ones. If this is the case, then these institutions will only produce more youths to join the many jobless ones now roaming the streets in search of work. The problem with these unfortunate wanderers is that the training they received coupled with their lack of knowledge of a foreign language is not what private business is looking for. In other words, these students were not properly prepared to compete in the job market. The governor must be fully aware of this bitter and unpleasant reality.
To correct the situation the organization must review its curriculum, training standards, the facilities made available for its students as well as the caliber of its teachers and instructors. The organization should also begin searching for international models to follow and benefit from. We need young Saudis with a good command of English, who are computer-literate and able to do the job they have been trained to do. None of this is the case at present. The government expects the organization to produce 1.5 million well-trained, highly qualified graduates by the year 2020. Can it happen?
