The opportunity to rescue (5) Technical Education and Vocational Training

The opportunity to rescue (5)
Technical Education and Vocational Training
By Hossam Badrawi
Technical education and vocational training absorb more than half of the number of students who join the secondary stage after the preparatory stage, which represents the majority of young people. Given that the Egyptian economy must reach growth rates of more than 8% annually on a sustainable basis for at least ten years, the job opportunities that are available and will be available in the future are great. This development cannot be sustained without high-level technical labor and effective organization of the professions required by this development. Rather, the regional and global labor market, especially in the northern Mediterranean, will need labor from outside its geographical scope, which opens up greater opportunities for Egyptian youth if they are well prepared to fill the jobs needed by this market, which increases their resources and the state’s resources, reduces unemployment, and achieves economic and human gains for citizens. Technical education, like any old educational system, is exposed to many challenges, and also contains strengths and opportunities for development and growth. The most important challenges facing this type of education are the absence of a sustainable and integrated vision for it, and the low budgets allocated to development needs and aspirations. Like other education sectors, it suffers from the philosophy of distributing and directing students based on the total grades in the basic education completion certificate, while internal coordination of technical schools is carried out according to the capacity of the department and the number of teachers in the specializations and according to the grades as well, without taking into account the needs of the labor market or the tendencies and readiness of students in light of the weakness of the sector The private sector, which represents the field of training and the future workplace.

Reality confirms, for example, the high unemployment rate for graduates of technical schools, especially commercial ones, whose enrollment rate rises to about 34% of the total number of those enrolled in technical education, most of whom are girls, as if it were a garage created by the education system not for the purpose of acquiring skills and increasing knowledge, but to spend time at this vital age stage without any return on youth and society.

It is strange that there is no demand for agricultural education in Egypt, which has an influential agricultural history in the world, as the demand for vocational education in this sector coincides with a low social view of this type of education, and considering it and its graduates to be at a lower social level.

The proposed policies for upgrading and developing technical education and vocational training must be an integral part of the human development strategy that we must adopt, noting that scattered, distinguished efforts have been implemented in this field over the past years. The proposed policies for developing technical education and vocational training are divided into six policy packages, which we present as follows:
First: Policies for general education related to technical education:
The student in this system still has to acquire general knowledge and skills in language, computer use, and study materials that deepen his national affiliation and form his identity and connection to society. Higher education has an important parallel role, which is graduating teachers and trainers for these institutions, as well as expanding technical and technological education institutes as part of the higher education system, which will lead to two influential results, the first: the compatibility of technical higher education with the requirements of some professions, and the other result: appears in the societal impact of integrating technical education and higher education in raising the status of this type of education in the community’s customs with the real need for it, provided that this is in the presence of a national qualifications framework in Egypt (we have been seeking to approve it for twenty years!!) and it was finally legislated..

Therefore, this type of education must enjoy flexibility in the curriculum that must keep pace with the type of professions associated with the number of years of study, which should not be determined by two, three or four years, but rather with educational packages and degrees of merit and skill efficiency taught according to the credit hour system.

Second: Policies specific to developing the umbrella responsible for this type of education:
The umbrella now is the Ministry of Education primarily, and the Ministry of Higher education and specialized ministries such as industry, agriculture, tourism, manpower, housing, etc., which may supervise some training centers and their programs, but in an unconnected manner, and without a comprehensive, consistent vision, which may scatter and disperse efforts. We have witnessed the creation and deletion of a ministry responsible for technical education without analysis.. Why was it created and why was it abolished?!
Third: Policies specific to implementing quality assurance and accreditation systems:
For all programs related to technical education and vocational training and their institutions.. Any service must have standards, and any service must be evaluated based on the indicators of these standards. There is no doubt that the general education standards that must be approved by the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Authority in Education differ from technical skills (industrial, agricultural, or other professions), which must be approved and evaluated for teaching and training by neutral evaluation bodies. This is the philosophy that I see as necessary in technical education.

We must differentiate between the accreditation of the educational or training program proposed by the specialized councils for each group of professions, and the accreditation of the educational or training institution that teaches or trains this curriculum. Both are required, and these are new relationships for the technical education community.

Within the framework of Egypt’s Vision 2030, and based on its recommendation, a law was issued to establish a new independent authority for quality assurance and accreditation in technical and vocational education and training (ETQAAN) with the support of all major development partners (USAID, GIZ EU) in 2022, which we commend, support, and recommend that it have an independent budget.

Fourth: Policies for developing and improving the performance of working human cadres:

Whether in schools or institutions and training centers, this is done by establishing a system of material and in-kind incentives for all members of the technical and vocational education community, holding study programs with international institutes to provide joint curricula in which technical education students from inside and outside Egypt participate, sending missions and creating partnerships with the private sector. It is worth noting that the Ministry of Education and Technical Education included the Technical Education Teachers Academy (TVETA) within the new organizational structure of the Ministry, and also creating a new sectoral concept represented by the Sectoral Centers of Excellence (Centers of Competence), where this concept began to be applied with KFW and the European Union in the new and renewable energy sector and with GIZ in the engineering and automotive industries sectors. It is worth noting that the government, thankfully, presented a new model for education, which is the Applied Technology Schools in partnership with leading private sector companies and international institutions to ensure quality. The beginning was with three schools, and now we have more than 41 schools, including 6 new schools with an advanced concept called International Technology Schools. Applied, but I do not have recent statistics for the number in 2024.

Fifth: Policies specific to changing society’s view of technical education:

This comes through media interest in technical education, highlighting the capabilities, fields and prestigious job opportunities for its graduates, and appreciating the first and distinguished among them. Also, adding technological education to the name of technical education and its content (technical and technological education and vocational training) may be a factor in changing society’s impressions about this education in a more positive way.

Sixth: Policies specific to practicing various professions:
This is done by determining the levels of technical competence for each profession, licensing and re-licensing them, and partnering with the private sector in this, so that the names of professions are unified at the national level, describing them and determining their skills, and developing appropriate and unified programs to obtain those skills, and developing their tests and granting their certificates, which I think the state has finally paid attention to.

The degrees of professional competence for each profession must be visible between countries and each other And agreed upon. Perhaps the European Union and its respectable efforts in this field have united European countries, facilitating the movement of professionals and teachers across borders between one country and another. My call was – and still is – to adopt these standards and this method, as our professional youth will have a wider labor market than Egypt in the Arab countries and the northern Mediterranean. If the technical education and vocational training systems are compatible with European systems, this will be a positive factor in creating good job opportunities there without the need for illegal presence or accepting low salaries due to the low professional level and the absence of a license linked to the recognized degrees of professional merit. The opportunity is available, rather I see it calling us and seeking us, and it is time for us to take the initiative to take it. The matter does not require a new genius, but rather it requires political will and sustainable implementation.