Dr. Bahaa Helmy writes: Technical Education in Egypt: Problems and Solutions

Technical education is one of the main drivers of the country's development, and it is the principal source supplying the labour market with trained technical workers, as the force that drives the wheel of production and the push towards building a supportive and promising future for the national economy.

The labour market has become more specialised and demands higher levels of skill and competence. This has prompted European governments and companies to increase investment in technical or vocational education through training organisations funded and supported by civil society. They did so in light of the findings of studies and indicators on the reasons behind rising enrolment in European universities and its negative impact: shortages in the technical skills the labour market requires, and a deficit in the technical and vocational jobs needed for production. In addition, the growing number of university graduates creates a wide gap between them and the few jobs available to them compared with vocational jobs, which ultimately leaves students disappointed and affects industry, production and development in general.

For this reason, developed countries are keen to develop and devise means and incentives that encourage students and young people to enrol in technical institutes, such as: providing training and education opportunities while employed; creating rewarding, professional jobs for workers and technicians that are better than the jobs available to university graduates; and establishing an attractive system of promotion to higher grades, along with special incentives for creativity and innovation at work.

In light of Egypt Vision 2030 and its aim of equipping graduates with the skills the labour market requires, as well as plans to develop curricula, expand training and raise the standard of trainers in technical education, the hoped-for progress in this area does not match what is required to implement those plans, for several reasons, including:

• The overlapping efforts and objectives of six different ministries in this file, which affects the implementation of the desired development plans.

• The generally inferior image of technical education in society.

• Continuing to burden the Ministry of Education with the file of developing technical education alongside its responsibility for developing education in Egypt as a whole, which constitutes a heavy load that may affect performance and achievement.

• Certain laws standing in the way of developing technical education by entrenching segregation and discrimination with regard to some professions and the requirement of a higher degree, and the absence of a technical career scale for many technical professions.

In light of the State's commitment under the Constitution to develop technical and technological education and vocational training and to expand their types in accordance with international quality standards; given the need of the national and international labour markets for qualified technical workers and the severe shortage in almost every field; and given the reluctance of students and young people to enrol in technical schools and their preference for public and private universities and higher institutes regardless of the scale of unemployment, family income and the steadily increasing number of coffee shops and cafés, we are prompted to put forward a new, unconventional vision for developing technical education in Egypt, based on several pillars.

The first: we consider it appropriate to separate the technical education file from the Ministry of Education and place it under the supervision of an independent council or authority, or to change the mandate of the Ministry of Local Development so that it oversees this file as one of its core competences, in order to provide a better life for Egyptians, achieve economic development, and make villages productive and governorates exporters, as announced on the Ministry's website.

The second: mobilising efforts for a media campaign to improve the image of technical education in society and to celebrate the examples of young people working in these fields.

The third pillar: changing the names associated with this image, such as "intermediate qualification" or industrial, agricultural or commercial schools, which no longer suit a specialised labour market that is changing at great speed, to new names such as "specialised qualification" or "graduates of specialised technical institutes" instead of schools, with the title "specialised technician", for example, used instead of "intermediate qualification".

The fourth pillar: introducing a legislative amendment that allows students at these schools and institutes to go on to university education to a greater extent than is currently the case, in order to attract the largest possible number to enrol in technical institutes.

The fifth pillar: identifying market needs, particularly in petroleum, information technology, construction and architectural trades, maritime transport and transport logistics, while amending restrictive laws and drawing up job descriptions for these positions, so that a technical qualification distinguished by competence becomes the criterion for filling technical posts, with outstanding individuals granted special benefits and incentives.

The sixth pillar: making economic, investment and production projects responsible for training workers and preparing national cadres on modern scientific and practical foundations.

Finally: taking the necessary steps to conduct national field studies and research on the scale of unemployment among university graduates, particularly from faculties of law, commerce and others that admit large numbers even though the labour market cannot absorb them. This increases unemployment and reduces the technical workforce, which has a negative impact on the various crafts and professions and affects production and development in general.

Friday, 02 March 2018 - 10:22 AM