RIYADH: The Kingdom has finalized plans to build 300 technical and vocational institutes to cope with the growing enrollment of young students and to train Saudi boys and girls to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign workers in many sectors.
The Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), the government-run agency that has the sole mandate to promote vocational education in the country, has embarked on a major project to revise the outdated curricula and training programs.
“More than 20 years after the TVTC launched its technical education and training programs, it has become imperative to revise courses keeping in view the fundamental changes that have taken place in the texts, strategies and overall technical education system,” Ali Al-Ghafees, TVTC governor, said on the sidelines of the fifth Saudi Technical Conference and Exhibition.
Al-Ghafees said the new training programs are being formulated according to the needs of the local labor market.
On the first day of the four-day conference, Anne-Marie Bjornson Langen of AFPA France was the main speaker, and Fahd A. Al-Tuwaijri, TVTC vice governor responsible for joint training, was the moderator. Langen spoke about the AFPA experience and said the AFPA has emerged as a leading adult vocational training organization in Europe.
Several training sessions and workshops were organized yesterday with the dominant theme of technical and vocational training.
Referring to the establishment of new technical and vocational centers, Al-Ghafees said plans are afoot to set up 36 higher learning facilities for young women.
“Construction work is already under way for some campuses,” said the TVTC chief, adding that the organization is expected to admit about 50,000 trainees this year. “There is an urgent need to polish the skills of young Saudi boys and girls, who will eventually enter the job market,” he said.
“We are very happy with the strategic collaborations with private sector companies that have come up with tailor-made training programs,” said Saleh Al-Amr, chairman of the conference.
He said these training programs are aimed at reducing unemployment. A TVTC official said more than 55 percent of Saudi university graduates are women, but the majority of whom remain at home as most families do not allow them to work. He, however, added that the trend was changing.
