EU and Germany fund technical and vocational education and training in Nablus – EU press release/Non-UN document

Press Release

Towards Youth employment through strong cooperation in
 Technical and Vocational Education and Training

Nablus Governorate celebrates signing the implementation agreements
 of TVET development projects funded by the EU programme

“Support to TVET Development in oPT”

 09.07.2012 — Under the auspices of HE the Governor and the Chairman of Nablus LET council, Mr. Jibreen Bakri and within the cooperation programme between the European Union, the German Government development program and the partner ministries; Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Education, Nablus governorate witnessed today the signature of five implementation agreements of EU funded TVET development projects: Car Mechatronics, Food production & Waiter, Air Conditioning & Refrigerating, Office & Home Appliance and Fashion Designing.

The TVET development projects shall constitute a set of newly developed training packages targeting the skill levels 2, 3 or 4. The implementation period in Nablus TVET institutions; Nablus Industrial Secondary School, Al-Najjah University – Continuing Education, Nablus Vocational Training Centre, Hisham Hijjawi College for Technology and the Girls Rehabilitation – Ministry of Social Affairs, shall extend to two years encompassing curricula development, training of trainers and teachers, equipment upgrading and educational administration capacity building. Consequently, TVET institutions will turn to more effective and attractive learning places and relevant to the labour market demand.

This 4-years EU funded with 4 million € programme is being executed by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) through the programme “Promotion of TVET and Labour Market”. It targets on strengthening and up-scaling the TVET institutions in three pilot regions of Bethlehem, Nablus and Hebron Governorates and encourages partnership between local institutions for technical and vocational education and labour market (LET Councils) and the private sector. The local partners in TVET and authorities (LET Councils) will steer and supervise the EU-funded programme that supports the implementation of the revised National TVET Strategy.

Main programme's objectives includes increasing the learning places and processes and make them more effective and relevant to the labour market demand; improving utilization of TVET institutes; and improving attractiveness of the Palestinian TVET sector. "Through strong cooperation between TVET institutions and the private sector and innovative ideas from vocational schools, technical colleges and training centers, this programme will increase the employability of the students and matching education with the demand of the labour market”, Volker Ihde, Head of GIZ programme explained.

"Despite a slight increase in the enrolment rate in the TVET system in recent years, the technical and vocational training is unfortunately still considered a second class education. We hope that through improving the quality of the teaching and the potential employability of TVET graduates, this programme will raise the profile of TVET education among Palestinian youth", said Olga Baus Gibert, Head of Social Affairs Sector at the European Union Representative Office for the West Bank, Gaza Strip and UNRWA.

For further information

Volker Ihde

Programm "Förderung von Berufsbildung und Arbeitsmarkt"

Programme "Promotion of TVET and Labour Market"

Head of Programme,

Tel: 02 241 4064/5