Morocco: Government boosts vocational education programmes

The Moroccan government has launched an ambitious plan to reduce unemployment by expanding job training resources. A new vocational education strategy aims at providing the labour market with some 750,000 graduates over the next four years from various private and public training institutions, compared with just 500,000 between 2003 and 2007. Officials expect that the number of people graduating from vocational training establishments will increase by 50% between 2008 and 2012.

To meet these targets, different measures will be introduced in 2008. The government looks to promote vocational training by strengthening partnerships with chambers of commerce, professional associations and businesses. To encourage workplace training, Morocco also wants to set up sector-based vocational training programmes on a contractual basis with professionals.

Some 10m dirhams will be allocated to finance studies on the best strategy to realise these objectives. Conducted under the guidance of a steering committee, the studies will determine the actual needs of the labour market and focus on adding new dynamism to the training sector. Study results will enable an emergency action plan to be set up by the start of the next academic year to implement necessary reforms.

Employment and Vocational Training Minister Jamal Aghhmani has stressed that the professional work world and the vocational training sector need a shared strategy. Such a co-operative plan will determine the national economy’s requirements in terms of skills and training and allow businesses to anticipate their future labour needs.

The strategy is also a response to the growing number of workers who do not fit the needs of the market and the problem of unemployment in the country.

Jamila Radi, who teaches in a vocational training institute, said it is not the work which is lacking, but rather the workers capable of doing it. She noted that while the aeronautics sector is "promising", the employee shortage is making itself felt in other areas. "We need to train some 70,000 graduates in tourism, 75,000 in textiles, 60,000 in information and communication technology [and] 60,000 in agriculture," Radi said, adding that young people who want to learn a trade need an effective career guidance system.

Professional training is coming to be valued more and more. In recent years, 4,000 graduates have joined vocational training institutions in recent years. Of these students, 41% graduate with high marks and 80% receive their diploma at the end of the programme.

To meet training needs, the government intends to create 50 new centres and increase the capacity of ten more by 2010.

However, a great many graduates from vocational training institutions find it hard to get a job once they have been awarded their diploma. To help them find their way into employment, there is a plan to set up 20 new national agencies to promote work and skills (ANAPEC), to meet a target of 70 total agencies in 2008.

Four other agencies will provide help for graduates who opt to take the foreign employment route.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat