Palestinians turn to vocational education to spur job market

This article originally appeared on themedialine.org.

Amjad Delbah sits in front of a computer screen wearing headsets, his crystal blue eyes matching the blue carpet in this state-of-the-art facility located in the city’s wealthy suburbs of Al-Tireh. Having received his accounting degree in Jordan, Delbah now hopes to increase his career potential and fulfill his dream of becoming an auditor by participating in a new program designed to create jobs and improve the work force through vocational training.

The program, which is being offered in the West Bank by the United Kingdom-based Pitman, aims to provide a much needed boost to the Palestinian economy and eventually reduce the unemployment rate by offering training in English while learning to use technology and working under pressure.

“We are very excited about launching our first Pitman Training centre in Ramallah, taking our world class vocational skills to a vibrant new market in Palestine,” Andrew Walters, International Development Director of the Pitman Training Group told The Media Line. “The launch event proved the appetite that there is in Palestine for learning and education,” he said.

Key among Pitman's goals is to have a positive effect on the serious problem of unemployment, which according to Palestinian Ministry of Labor statistics stands at 26%.

“One of the aims is to resolve unemployment by giving skills to the people to create jobs. This will resolve unemployment. Our target is to expand in Palestine through new collaborations and new centers,” according to Pitman CEO Nasri Barghouti, who predicted the creation of more than fifty new jobs within the first twelve months.

He told The Media Line that the courses and degrees have been developed “to cater for the employers' needs and to develop graduates who are qualified and work-ready and able to deliver efficiency in their work place.” This is what Delbah is relying on.

“Today, employers are not looking for a diploma, but for experience and this is what I’m getting here,” the 23-year old told The Media Line.

Delbah makes the daily two-hour commute from Tulkarem to the Pitman Training Center in Ramallah because he knows it will benefit him in the end.

“I can tell that anyone who comes to Pitman to study is very serious about his or her education and future career,” Administrative Executive Eman Musleh told The Media Line.

Established in 1837, Pitman UK offers courses including accounting and book-keeping, secretarial and office training and IT technical.

“We are really proud of what we offer and believe that it can make a big difference in helping to improve the skills and job prospects for the Palestinian people,” Walters said. Giving the Palestinian people the chance to develop world-class skills which can be used in the marketplace will have the “knock-on effect of driving the efficiency of businesses and powering the local economy,” he added.

Pitman relies on promoting its center through meetings with organizations to not only explain its interactive learning methods, but to build relationships.

Before its launch, Walters says, Pitman worked very closely with Palestinians to look at the ways “we can collaborate and the challenges and tremendous potential that there is within the education market in Palestine.”

These days, according to Barghouti, the wrong question is being asked: “How many teachers and how many rooms?” instead of “What is the curriculum; and what are the contents and the delivery?” 

“We have graduates who took theoretical courses unlike here where the curriculum is based on experience and development in the work place – based on scenarios,” he said.   

Walters says Palestinian businessmen and the Palestinian Authority have welcomed Pitman with open arms. One of the aims of Pitman is to breed efficiency within the PA's ministries.

“We are not against this but strongly encourage any initiative that tends to the needs of the markets — especially if it means helping to increase job opportunities,” PA Ministry of Labor official Asem Abu Baker told The Media Line.

Pitman's Palestinian partners called on the group to fill the void of the skills  that are lacking. Barghouti says they are not rushing to advertise but instead doing evaluations to see the Palestinian market’s needs, focusing on small businesses. 

“If I am a web designer, I can work from home. If I’m a plumber, I can use social media to market,” he said referring to the web design and social media courses offered.

Many of the centers which exist in Ramallah offer English-to-Arabic translation, but not at Pitman where its director says that would defeat the purpose of the bigger picture.

Walters says conducting training in English develops a “crucial skill for students to develop in the modern world of business which can prove a challenge for some.”

To the concern of whether or not the Palestinian market is ready, Barghouti says that the Palestinian Territories has to keep up with the technology since he thinks the traditional way of learning is out and people in schools and universities will “reject and rebel.”

“This is the iPad generation, this is the iPhone generation, which no longer relies on talk-and-chalk teaching. There is more focus on the interactive learning process,” he said.

In the online video promoting Pitman, the group boasts that 77% of its graduates land a job after six months. But what does that mean for the Palestinians who have yet to establish a state on the 1967 borders?

“An excellent command of the English language, demonstrated self-independence and the ability to work independently are the key for any employer,” said Barghouti, who is also a civil engineer. He says they have received requests for the program to be in Arabic — “resistance” as he calls it — but in the end, he says English is the universal language.

He argues that not staying up to date today may cause students to drop out of elementary schools or universities due to the gap that exists between those adhering to tradition and those keeping up with the times. That, however, does not mean forgoing college of university studies.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

He admonishes, “Go to university and enhance your knowledge and come here to give you better opportunity in your future career.” Reema Azzam did just that. 

“There is flexibility. The pressure [at Pitman] is less than it would be at the university,” the 22-year old recent graduate of Birzeit University told The Media Line.

Pitman – Ramallah hopes to enroll housewives through their distance learning program. “I think Pitman is especially good for women because they can get professional experience to enter the workforce,” Pitman Learning-and-Training manager Tahani Sbeahat told The Media Line. 

Pitman opened in 1992 in Kuwait and has offices in Libya, Jordan and Bahrain.

“We tend to draw on the Jordanian experience in this particular instance and they already want to draw on our experience here,” Barghouti said on a tour of the facility, adding that when the opportunity presents itself, he hopes to include the Gaza Strip. 

Back in his cozy blue office, over a cup of coffee, he tells a story that he hopes will explain in a nutshell the vast need for vocational training.

“I was at conference recently and a child asked his mother, 'Mom, when was I downloaded?'”