UNRWA training center in Amman teaches practical skills to prepare refugee students for the workforce – UNRWA article

Students create tools for future classes at UNRWA training centre

Arabic text: http://www.unrwa.org/atemplate.php?id=1062

11 July 2012, Amman, Jordan — To help equip young Palestine refugees in Jordan with practical skills for the workforce, UNRWA’s Wadi Seer Training Centre in Amman delivers high-quality training to students on a range of subjects, including vehicle maintenance and repair.

A group of these students went even further with the knowledge gained from their training this year — creating vehicle models that will be used by the next class of students in the same field.

“When our trainer suggested creating a hydraulic steering model, I had no idea where to start”, said Mu’tasem, one of the students in the programme. “I thought we were doomed to fail, but with our teacher’s help, my colleague Dawoud and I were able to construct it.”

Recycling vehicles and knowledge

The models, made out of scrap materials from old UNRWA vehicles, will be used by instructors at the Centre to demonstrate how vehicles work to incoming classes of Palestine refugees.

“The models help to simplify the training for students, helping them to eventually trouble-shoot defects on real vehicles”, said Dr. Taisir Abu-Zaina, the deputy dean of the vocational training programme.

Mu’tasem’s hydraulic steering model will allow students to see first-hand how fluid passes through the system. “It’s become much easier for me to diagnose defects in steering and to repair them”, he said. “Now I feel like I could fix anything.”