Jordanian, Syrian youth receive vocational training

Jordanian and Syrian youth are being offered technical and vocational education and training as part of a new project implemented by UNESCO in partnership with al-Quds College, with support and funding from the Republic of Korea.

The project, launched at the UNESCO Amman office on May 14th, will benefit 250 youth in the first stage, with plans for future expansion.

The participants, more than half of whom are female, will take part in internationally accredited diploma programmes for six different specialties.

This will include seven months of coursework and one month of practical, on-the-job training that also will seek to enhance the English language, computer literacy, study and life skills of the participants, organisers said.

"Programmes such as this have been developed to counter the common challenges faced by many countries in the Arab region," UNESCO representative to Jordan Costanza Farina said at the project's launch.

These challenges include rising youth unemployment rates, a weak link between education, training and industry, and a shortage of entrepreneurial youth who are sufficiently equipped to create their own jobs, she said.

"We are very proud to be among the first to respond to the Syrian crisis and have worked to achieve the goals of the Jordan response plan," al-Quds College dean Ayman Maqableh said at the ceremony.

"The national challenges Jordan and its generations face today have been exacerbated by the repercussions of the Syrian refugee crisis," said Employment and Training Council director Tarek al-Rashdan.

Teaching marketable skills

"Such projects play an important role in relieving the pressure on Jordan and local communities brought on by the large number of Syrian refugees and competition in the labour market," said economist Wajdi Makhamreh.

"Overall enrollment in vocational and technical education in Jordan is weak, and the existence of such an initiative motivates students to learn the technical skills needed in the labour market," he told Al-Mashareq.

This will help graduates secure a job or start a small enterprise and hire others, he added.

"The unemployment rate in Jordan exceeded 18% at the end of 2017, the highest in 25 years in the kingdom," Makhamreh said.

This calls for programmes that enable youth to develop skills in non-academic fields, he said, noting that there are up to 80,000 university graduates in Jordan each year, and jobs in some fields are saturated with applicants.

Meanwhile, he added, "there is a need for vocationally-trained workers, and opportunities abound".

Opportunities for youth

"After failing the high school exam several times, I began working in clothing shops, and in restaurants on occasion, but this is not a long-term career," Hussam Bassam told Al-Mashareq.

"Such a programme is especially important because it is free of charge and offers youth like me an opportunity to learn a respectable vocation," he said.

"I will apply to take advantage of the programme," he said, adding that his long-term goal is to open a shop of his own.

The programme offers unemployed youth who are unable to pursue higher education an opportunity to learn marketable skills, said Rami al-Homsi, a Syrian refugee from Daraa who lives in Amman's Marka district.

"I am 20 years old and it is not easy to find a steady job," he told Al-Mashareq. "I do not mind learning a vocation, because I have not been successful academically."