Under the auspices of H.E. Dr. Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of ALECSO, and under the patronage of H.E. Dr. Nasreddine Nsibi, Tunisian Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, ALECSO convened, on October 26-28, 2021, remotely and at its headquarters in Tunis, the “Second Conference of Arab Ministers and Officials in Charge of Technical and Vocational Education and Training”. The Conference was held under the theme of “Technical and Vocational Education and Training between Societal Culture and Labor Market Requirements: Challenges and Issues.”
The Conference was attended remotely by relevant ministers and officials from the following Member States : UAE, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Lebanon, Comoros, Somalia, Palestine, Qatar, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, and Yemen. It was also attended by representatives from regional and international organizations (UNESCO, ICESCO, ABEGS), the Arab Federation for Technical Education, and the Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts.
The Conference opened with statements by the Director-General of ALECSO, the Mauritanian Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, President of the first session of the Conference, and the Tunisian Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, President of the second session of the Conference.
Dr. Mohamed Jemni, Director of the ICT Department and Acting-Director of the Education Department, presented the Director-General’s report on the implementation of the recommendations of the First Conference held in March 2017 in Nouakchott, Mauritania. He then presented the main document of the Conference entitled : “Technical and Vocational Education and Training : Between Societal Culture and Labor Market Requirements.”
The Conference concluded with a statement by the Director-General of ALECSO in which he reiterated his thanks and gratitude to the Ministers and Directors-General of the Arab, Islamic and international organizations and federations for their participation in the Conference. He indicated that ALECSO is keen on following up the implementation of the Conference recommendations. He affirmed that the Organization stands fully ready to further enhance cooperation and coordination with the Tunisian Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, with all relevant ministries and stakeholders across the Arab States, as well as with Arab, Islamic and international organizations and federations partners to ALECSO, in order to advance the TVET sector in the Arab World, as part of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.
Recommendations proposed by the Expert Meeting and adopted by Arab Ministers and Officials in Charge of Technical and Vocational Education and Training :
I - Recommendations addressed to Arab States :
- Improve the attractiveness of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) through various mechanisms, including through organizing Arab Skills Competitions;
- Establish a labor market data observatory in the Arab countries where such a mechanism is not available, which will be useful in drawing up TVET policies;
- Create mechanisms to anticipate future jobs and occupations;
- Develop special programs to enhance entrepreneurship culture among trainees and prepare them to launch their own projects;
- Incorporate occupation-related learnings and skills into basic and intermediate education curricula, with a view to imbuing youth with a sense of entrepreneurship.;
- Update legislation to encourage the private sector to invest in the TVET sector;
- Allocate the necessary funds for the promotion of the TVET sector.
II - Recommendations addressed to ALECSO :
- Build a unified Arab qualifications framework;
- Set standards for identifying TVET outputs;
- Monitoring and disseminating successful Arab and international TVET experiences.
