July 15th of every year marks one of the lesser known, albeit significant, international days. World Youth Skills Day celebrates the importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship. It provides an opportunity for governments, policy makers, TVET institutions and development partners to shed light on the importance of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in equipping young people with the skills required for the future. World Youth Skills Day 2021 will pay tribute to the resilience and creativity of youth through the Covid-19 crisis.
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands together with UNICEF, ILO and the Technical and Vocational Skills Development Commission launched a week-long social media campaign to shed light on the importance of TVET, celebrate examples of successful Jordanian youth who make a good living after having graduated from TVET programmes, as well as provide resources for those who are interested in knowing more.
According to the World Bank, 38% of youth in Jordan are not in education, employment or training. Unemployment rates amongst youth in Jordan has reached an unprecedented high in 2021. Yet, TVET is by many not considered a popular form of further education. This can in part be attributed to a number of structural and institutional challenges in the sector. However, a major reason for TVET’s unpopularity in Jordan resides in negative cultural perceptions of it as being a less accomplished form of further education. This causes youth and qualified teachers to discount TVET as a viable option and employers to consider TVET graduates as less qualified than their peers, causing mismatches in the labour market. In fact, high quality TVET education can teach students skills that are much needed and with which they can earn a decent living.
The social media campaign aims to shed light on the positive impact of TVET in reducing unemployment and upskilling youth. The Kingdom of the Netherlands works with UNICEF and ILO, as well as with UNHCR, IFC and the World Bank under the Prospects partnership. Our partners, among others, ensure access to quality education and training for refugees and host communities with a focus on youth and women. Activities under Prospects are implemented with local stakeholders such as the Jordan Agriculture Engineers Association, the TVSDC, Luminus Education and the Ministries of Education and Labour.
The TVSDC is the unified national umbrella that organizes and leads the work of the TVET sector in Jordan. It aims to harmonize the outputs of TVET with the required skills for the labour market. The commission is the responsible authority for setting and formulating quality education requirements (quality assurance, certification, levels, accreditation, a national qualifications framework).
Strengthened coordination between the TVSDC, international organizations and donors will lead to an improvement in the skills and outputs of TVET programs and prepare students better for the labour market, making them more valuable for employers. This in turn aims to reduce unemployment rates among young people and job seekers at all their skill and technical levels as well as support employers with more suitably skilled employees. This helps both TVET students and employers to make a better living.
