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JEDDAH: The Technical and Vocational Training Council (TVTC) is seeking to develop Saudi youths in all types of vocational and small businesses to achieve the targets of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
The council is planning to train 950,000 young Saudi men and women by 2020, and also seeking to expand its training units to increase the participation of high school graduates and working youths in technical and vocational programs, and polish their skills according to their interests, by offering them flexible morning and evening programs.
General Organization for Technical and Vocational Training Gov. Ahmed bin Fahd Al-Fuhaid said during the 7th Arab-German Education and Vocational Training Forum, which opened Thursday at Berlin, that the Kingdom is going through a new phase of development in every sector to comply with Vision 2030, and is putting all efforts into developing the future of the youth in education, training and rehabilitation, advanced health services, developed housing projects, entertainment and other fields.
He said investment is the key to diversifying the economy and achieve sustainability, and the strategic geographical location of the Kingdom will enable investors of the world to focus on connecting with other continents through ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ.
Al-Fuhaid said the vision of the Kingdom includes several objectives linked to the labor market, notably to reduce unemployment rate from 11.6 percent to 9 percent; increase the contribution of small and medium enterprises in the gross domestic product from 20 percent to 35 percent; as well as raise the rate of women participating in the labor market from 22 percent to 30 percent.
He said it will also work to bridge the gap between training outputs and needs of the labor market in the Kingdom.
Fahad bin Manahi Al-Otabi, spokespman of TVTC, told Arab News that enrollment of Saudi youths increased almost 36 percent this year.
He said the organization was seeking to expand the training units and open 42 new branches of technical colleges, so it can offer more opportunities to Saudi youths, especially high school graduates and working youths, to participate in vocational training diplomas and graduate programs.
The TVTC has initiated a number of different programs that will increase coordination and fill the requirements of the public and private sectors with qualified trained youth.
He said the aim is to increase the production of qualified and trained youths by around 10 percent annually, with the cooperation of international vocational institutes, according to international standards, and the demand of the Saudi market.
The TVTC currently operates 52 vocational colleges for men, 36 vocational colleges for women, and 66 industrial training institutes, and supports 21 private sector institutions specialized in various fields.