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Awareness campaign encourages youth to grasp vocational jobs

‘Your Profession is in Your Hands’ initiative seeks to pave way for young entrepreneurs

By Maram Kayed - Dec 11,2019 - Last updated at Dec 11,2019

AMMAN — A vocational and technical training awareness campaign titled “Your Profession is in Your Hands” was launched on Wednesday by Minister of Labour Nidal Bataineh on behalf of Prime Minister Omar Razzaz.

The campaign aims to guide young people towards vocational and technical work by demonstrating its importance in the Jordanian economy, as well as emphasising the labour market’s needs for professionals who are competent and skilled, according to Bataineh.

“We must pave the path for Jordanian youth to start their own businesses and turn away from traditional professions,” the minister said.

The launch ceremony was attended by British Ambassador to Jordan Edward Okden, Head of the Civil Service Bureau Sameh Nasser, a number of Jordanian private and public university presidents and representatives from the public and private sectors.

Supported by the British government, the campaign will last for six weeks, targetting young people between the ages of 16 and 28 and their families through messages “prepared to change the stereotype of vocational and technical training, using a number of media outlets”, according to introductory remarks at the launch.

The ministry focuses on various fields of training according to the needs of the labour market, including the sectors of energy, logistics services, tourism, hotel and hospitality, industry, maintenance and the information technology.

Bataineh said that during His Majesty King Abdullah’s recent visit to the Vocational Training Centre in Marka, His Majesty highlighted the need to introduce modern programmes for the institution, suggesting the introduction of three-dimensional printing.

General Manager of the Vocational Training Corporation Ziyad Obaidat said at the ceremony that the awareness campaign targets all regions of the Kingdom.

He added that the campaign was launched after a study examining the vocational training centres in the governorates of the Kingdom found that the lowest turnout was in the south, “revealing the need for awareness-raising media campaigns covering youth and their families”.

Enas Jabour, a student with a hearing impairment who is a student trainee at the Ruseifa Vocational Training and Employment Centre, said she “valued the efforts of His Majesty to integrate persons with disabilities, and his constant emphasis on giving them the opportunity to train and work in the labour market”, according to a video presented at the launch.

From Tafileh, Walaa Al Shehadeh, a communications engineering graduate, shared her success story, that started when she joined vocational training programmes for cellular maintenance at the Tafileh Institute Zain Centre, saying she “prides herself on taking this step, as girls are often excluded from this sector”. 

Fawzia Tomani, who enrolled in sewing programmes, said she became the first sewing trainer in her area of Al Jafr, where she went on to train 300 girls.

Two chefs, 19-year-old Dana Jarad and 16-year-old Amal Nader, told The Jordan Times they “did not feel the need to enroll in a university” as they have always known that their passion was cooking and they thought that “vocational training was the better and more logical choice”.

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