A national dialogue on educational and training reforms began yesterday. The reforms are the third and final phase of the labor market overhaul initiated by the Crown Prince, Commander-in-Chief of the BDF and Chairman of the Economic Development Board, Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

The other two projects in the three-tier package are labour market reform and economic reforms.
“Views of all segments of society would be taken into consideration before chalking out the framework of a strategy to develop the educational and training sectors,” Shaikh Salman yesterday told a workshop at the Shaikh Hamad Palace.

Top officials, educators, labor experts, mediapersons, businessmen and politicians were present.
“The whole nation should believe in the importance of changes rather than focusing on their differences over achieving the reforms,” Shaikh Salman said.

The Crown Prince said promising economic and social developments could be possible by improving the educational output. “The achievements in the last decades shouldn’t stop us from seeking more.”
He said the reforms were necessary to face the new economic challenges and cope with the Kingdom’s development needs.

“We have achieved many things but more are yet to come,” he said, calling upon citizens to raise their expectations higher than the challenges and keep pace with the rapid developments worldwide.

“The growth couldn’t be achieved without strategies to ensure a proper human resources development,” the Crown Prince said, adding that one of the Kingdom’s main challenges was to further improve the competence of the local manpower by enhancing skills of youth.

Shaikh Salman affirmed the Kingdom’s keenness on further improving the efficiency of citizens and making them the core part of all-round development. “If the local workforce is competent then the Kingdom can attract more foreign capital,” he said, stressing that the reforms were part of the guidance under the Islamic regulations. “Education shouldn’t be referred to as a waste of financial resources. It is an investment for the future.”

The educational and training reforms project is the third phase of the overall labour market reforms, initiated by the Crown Prince as part of the EDB’s keenness on laying the foundation for better development of the Kingdom.
It aims to get feedback about the development requirements for the educational system and training programs in the Kingdom. A series of workshops will be held before launching the project directly covering the Ministry of Education, vocational training institutes and the training section at the Ministry of Labor. The Minister of Education, Dr Majid bin Ali Al Nuaimi, briefed the participants on the ministry’s achievements and the educational strategies.

Panel to draw strategies:

A committee to draw strategies for educational and training reforms will be formed next week, the EDB President, Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa, told the workshop. He said the panel of representatives from the main development sectors would focus on the development needs vis-a-vis the loopholes in the training and education process. Shaikh Mohammed said that during a survey of the state of the education system, 92 per cent respondents had said education was one of the most important factors that influenced development, while 78 per cent said the educational system had failed to enhance youth’s skills to make them suitable for the labor market.
“The local workforce, with poor skills, cannot face the competition from the expatriate workers,” he said, adding that the reforms project aimed to evaluate the educational system as well as the training programs in private and public institutions.

“The legislative authority will support the reforms which aim to enhance the educational outputs if the changes wouldn’t add to financial obligations of citizens,” Deputy Mohammed Al Abbas, said. Al Abbas supported the reforms to prepare long-term educational and training strategies. “The reforms should be based on facts and transparency as well as involve the public in designing the strategies.”

Many participants supported the idea of establishing a Supreme Council for Educational and Training Development to design the strategies. Shura Council member Jamal Fakhro said the workshop highlighted the problems but not their causes and the focus should be on the educational philosophy and strategies to solve unemployment. “The role of the Ministry of Education should be a supervisory one to make the schools more creative and educationally independent,” Fakhro said. Fakhro’s colleague in the Shura, Bahiya Al Jishi, said public education should focus on the teaching of English language by introducing the curricula in English.