Closing ceremony “TOT Entrepreneurship Education in TVET and Solutions in the context of COVID-19 and Beyond”
Ramallah: UNESCO Ramallah, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research conducted a Training of Trainers (ToT) for technical vocational education and training (TVET) Master trainers in technical colleges in three governorates (North, South and Middle) for six days (46 training hours in total). This training aimed at equipping the master trainers with the necessary skills and expertise to ensure mainstreaming of the entrepreneurship education in TVET curricula and to enhance the skills of their students (youth) to facilitate their access to the world of work.
This initiative is part of UNESCO’s 3-Years Youth Employment in the Mediterranean Project (YEM), with funding from the European Union. The overall objective is to support national authorities, together with the private sector, the TVET providers and the youth organizations in the South Mediterranean region, in understanding and anticipating labour market changes with a view to inform the design, implementation and evaluation of relevant TVET policies, strategies and programmes, aimed at increasing youth employment and entrepreneurship.
In his opening remarks, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Prof. Mahmoud Abu Mouis applauded the generous support of the EU to the YEM project and warmly thanked UNESCO for their continuous support to Higher Education in Palestine. Mentioning the fact that students enrolling into Higher Education Institutions can either choose to go to the academic or to the Vocational and Technical tracks, he emphasized the importance of entrepreneurship education in higher education to become a separate stream within the newly established Technical University. He also recommended that this training should be followed by practical applications where real projects are materialized to ensure integration in the labour market and achieve real success.
The EU representative, Mr. Odoardo Como, Head of Section at the European, thanked UNESCO and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research for the organization of the training and reiterated the continuous support of EU to youth in Palestine through the different interventions and partnerships including YEM Project.
Ms. Noha Bawazir, Head of Office and Representative of UNESCO to Palestine highlighted the critical importance of strengthening entrepreneurship and digital skills among youth, recalling that it is an important pillar within the YEM project. She also emphasized that should be mainstreamed in TVET curricula to increase youth employability and facilitate their access to the world of work. Furthermore, Mrs Bawazir reiterated UNESCO’s commitment to support TVET as a future career pathway for youth as a response to address the high unemployment rate and commended the outstanding level of cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education with great acknowledgment to the generous support of EU.
UNESCO consultant and one the of the trainer, Mr. Hasan Hamed briefly presented the outline of the training and stressed the active participation of all trainees. He also summarized recommendations for future interventions as a follow up to the training where more focused training is required and expanded to include more areas in Palestine including Gaza.
This was followed by feedback from three of the trainees who expressed their appreciation for the informative sessions. Although very condensed, they all confirmed the importance of the issue especially in qualifying them to transfer the knowledge to their fellow colleagues and their students. they also emphasized the need for longer and more focused trainings in the future.
Finally, the event was concluded with agreement to follow up on the various recommendations mentioned related to enhanced entrepreneurship skills towards quality TVE in Palestine.