Chapter 2. Progress towards the EFA goals - Unesco

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CHAPTER 2
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Education for All Global Monitoring Report
In the Middle
East, millions of
youth leave
school without
employable skills
24. One prominent
example is the Mubarak-
Kohl initiative, an
arrangement involving
the Ministry of Education,
the German technical
cooperation agency GTZ
and business
associations. The
government provides
premises, GTZ supplies
technical experts and
equipment, and business
associations contribute
training opportunities and
allowances. So far,
around 16,000 trainees
have been trained in
1,600 companies through
45 technical secondary
schools.
High youth unemployment in the Middle East
is about far more than a failure of vocational
education. Slow economic growth, rigid labour
markets and gender discrimination have all stymied
job creation. In many cases, education systems are
part of the employment problem. Courses are
geared towards rote learning for university entrance
exams that are seen as a route to public sector
employment. The upshot is that millions of youth
leave school without employable skills and millions
more emerge from university lacking the capabilities
needed to compete for entry into private sector
employment (Salehi-Isfahani and Dhillon, 2008).
Most parents and students in the Middle East
see vocational education as unattractive because
it receives meagre budget resources, is often
delivered by badly trained teachers lacking in
motivation, bears little relation to the skills
employers seek and produces certificates that
are not subject to uniform standards. Part of the
problem in many countries is that the private
sector has a limited voice in setting priorities and
standards (DFID and World Bank, 2005). As a result,
the skills delivered through vocational programmes
are often of little relevance. In addition, governance
typically falls to a range of ministries and
government agencies, so it is often fragmented
and poorly coordinated. There are some notable
exceptions. In Egypt, innovative partnerships are
bringing together governments, business and
donors. 24 And Morocco has adopted far-reaching
governance reforms aimed at improving quality,
relevance and equity (Box 2.13).
Box 2.13: Morocco — strengthening
vocational governance
In Morocco, vocational education has been
overhauled in the past decade. It has its own
ministry and a national office for vocational
training and work promotion. Syllabuses are
adapted to trainees’ general education level, with
an emphasis on a combination of specific skills
and broader capabilities. Vocational schools have
achieved good results, with more than half of
graduates finding a job within nine months. The
proportion of female trainees is rising, reaching
44% in 2006. The vocational system is expanding
as the government seeks to foster the skills
needed by new sectors such as vehicle
manufacture, aeronautics and agro-industry.
Source: African Development Bank/OECD (2008d).
In India, limited reach and duplication
Technical and vocational education systems in many
countries suffer from inadequate reach as well as
limited benefits for participants. In India, only 3% of
rural youth and 6% of urban youth have had any kind
of vocational training (India Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, 2006; India Planning Commission,
2008). The country’s Industrial Training Institutes
and various craft centres are not accessible to
the vast majority of the poor. India also has some
of the world’s largest reported gender disparities
in technical and vocational education, with girls
accounting for just 7% of enrolment at the
secondary level and their courses heavily
concentrated in traditional areas such as nursing
and sewing. In general, the benefits of vocational
training are not immediately apparent. Some 60% of
graduates from Industrial Training Institutes are still
unemployed three years later (World Bank, 2006g).
Industrial apprentices are more likely to get work,
but generally not in the trade for which they trained.
Governance problems have hampered India’s efforts
to strengthen vocational education. Responsibilities
are split among the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry
of Human Resource Development, other national
bodies and state authorities. Duplication and
fragmentation are widespread, there is little control
over quality and the certification system is poorly
understood by employers. Companies and employer
organizations are only marginally involved, though
efforts are being made to strengthen their
engagement.
Sub-Saharan Africa:
failing to reach the marginalized
Governments in sub-Saharan Africa face some
of the toughest challenges in reforming technical
and vocational education. Finance is part of the
problem – institutions across the region suffer
from a familiar combination of underinvestment
in equipment, low pay for instructors and problems
recruiting qualified staff. But not all the difficulties
can be traced to financial causes.
Many countries track students into vocational
education far too early – often in the face of
concerted resistance from parents. Parental
concerns are often well grounded. Evaluations
point to low rates of absorption of graduates
into employment – under half in some countries,
including Madagascar, Mali and the United Republic
of Tanzania (Johanson and Adams, 2004). The
resulting unemployment, even in countries where
employers face shortages of skilled secondary
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