Jordan Times
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Education forum focuses on
labour market needs
By Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN — High unemployment rates ranging between 15 to 20 per cent hinder Arab
countries from achieving sustainable development, which necessitates creating
job opportunities that match higher education outputs, Prime Minister Marouf
Bakhit said on Tuesday.
Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah at the opening of the 4th Arab Forum on
Education entitled, “Education and the Needs of the Job Market,” Bakhit noted
that the conference is a result of Arab intellectual leaders’ awareness of the
importance of matching the quality of education with labour market needs.
“Studies and research prove that the future of economic and social life in the
Middle East and North Africa region will be determined by the requirements of
the job market,” Bakhit said in his opening address.
He added that improving the quality of education requires the appropriate
infrastructure, clear evaluation standards, adopting self-learning and creative
programmes instead of rote learning methods and increasing the use of
technology.
Underlining the importance of scientific research, Bakhit called for increasing
the amount of money allocated for scientific research in Arab countries,
allowing the industrial sector, funds and NGOs to finance such activities and
encouraging cooperation between universities and research centres.
In his address at the afternoon session, HRH Prince Hassan emphasised that
democracy, peace-building and development could only succeed with a foundation
in modern learning, called for teaching criticism and dialogue in curricula to
encourage creative thought.
The Prince reminded the audience that schools should not be mere teaching
factories but supportive learning environments catering for the needs of
individual students.
Meanwhile, Saudi Prince Khaled Al Feisal, president of the Arab Thought
Foundation, said achieving positive partnership of Arab countries with the world
economic systems requires developing educational curricula in order to bridge
the development gap between Arab states, advanced countries and some developing
countries.
According to a report published by the Arab Economic Unity Council, an affiliate
of the Arab League, unemployment rates in the Arab world increase annually by 3
per cent. The report also expected the number of unemployed people in the Arab
world to reach 25 million in 2010.