Twenty technical colleges will be established in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, at a total cost of SR1.15 billion.
Thirteen technical institutes and 45 vocational training centres will also be set up, according to Ahmed Abu Haleeqa, Director General of Professional Training at the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT).
“These colleges will train 60,000 young Saudis every year. The vocational training centres will train 36,000 Saudis, and the technical institutes will educate 6,500 per year. They will cost SR700 million and SR144 million respectively,” Haleeqa said.
He said that five vocational training centres would be established at prisons in Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Dammam and Jizan. “This program is aimed at helping prisoners to obtain jobs after completing their jail sentences,” Al-Madinah Arabic newspaper quoted him as saying. A sum of SR20 million has been allocated for this part of the project.
GOTEVOT allocated another SR280 million for a military training program initiated by Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz as part of the government’s efforts to reduce the Kingdom’s unemployment rate. “Under the program, 10,000 Saudis will be given training at GOTEVOT’s facilities in Riyadh, Al-Kharj and Jeddah per year, in cooperation with the Defence and Interior Ministries,” Haleeqa noted. The organization also plans to open training centres for women.
GOTEVOT allocates 75% of its programs for practical training and the rest for theoretical studies.
Source: SPA
