CAIRO – August 29, 2022: A recent study shed light on technical education in Egypt, pointing out that the previous decades saw a large gap between education and the job market, and listed only among the reasons that led to this was the lack of involvement of specialists in agriculture, industry, commerce and technology in the formulation of the objectives and results of technical education.
The study explained that technical education graduates in most of its specialties lacked the skills to keep pace with the labor market, which was often accompanied by the difficulty of providing a labor force. skilled work and knowledge of the nature of business and its innovations of all kinds.
Consequently, it negatively affected the possibility of settling in certain industries and economic activities, and the graduates of this system tended to practice the usual simple trades, whether inside or outside the country. Egypt, which is a waste of Egyptian human resources, according to the study.
The study prepared by Dr. Ahmed Sayed Daoud stated that the Ministry of Education is moving towards the need to develop technical education to meet the demands of the labor market by acquiring the technical education graduate with the skills necessary that qualify it.
This will be done through the application of the merit system in various types of agricultural, industrial, commercial and other technical education. Merit is the clear application of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required to work in a specific field, job, or profession to defined standards.
The study pointed to the merit system, which the state seeks to generalize to all technical education schools by the end of 2022, to provide functional knowledge, skills and values in a way more relevant to the labor market. According to the study, specialists in economic activities and services participate in determining the labor market requirements that a graduate of technical education must have. By taking their point of view on the curricula and streams and by taking advantage of their real experiences in their various specialties to formulate the technical education programs and the logistical aspects of the implementation of these programs, as well as by using them in the process of supervising and evaluating the level of success of technical education students with the skills necessary for the labor market.
The study pointed out that the Egyptian Ministry of Education and Technical Education started applying the merit system to 105 schools, and the number reached 400 schools by the end of 2021.
This system is expected to be applied to 1,200 schools by the end of 2022, and approximately 23,000 students are expected to graduate from the system as the first class of the Academic Merit System in the Technical education.
During the three years of technical education, students study their courses as a set of separate units each year divided into two semesters, where students study cultural subjects (basic skills) and each subject is considered as a stand-alone unit in addition to the majors (Technical Skills) are programs that include specific separate units.
The study showed that the assessment mechanisms of the merit system differ from the traditional system, where the assessment according to the merit system includes three types of assessment: cognitive assessment, skills assessment and student achievement profile.
In cognitive assessment, students are tested in what has been studied, both in cultural subjects (basic skills) and specialized units (technical skills) in theory according to the booklet system. Students are allowed to participate in a second round if they do not obtain the minimum final mark to pass the subject.
In skills assessment, the student is given a skills test, where they are asked to perform skills tasks in the units studied in the skills program, and the student is observed by three assessors who use score cards, then the scores given by the evaluators are collected and the average score obtained is calculated.
The study stated that the empowerment of technical education students and the acquisition of skills needed for the labor market is the main objective of the skills system; Therefore, a system has been developed to ensure the eligibility of the technical education graduate and to provide more of an opportunity for students to achieve this, as the student is tasked with performing a specific task in the skills assessment.
The student then undergoes a treatment program for two weeks with a prescribed fee which is paid electronically, and if he fails for the third time, he is entitled to participate in another round of merits, and according to the merit scoring levels, students are divided into: a student who has not mastered merit (and has the right to enter the second round after the treatment program) and an unworthy student (when he has not passed more than two units of the prescribed merits – or if he is absent for more than two units of the prescribed units).
According to the study, technical education students receive two certificates according to the merit system, the first one is a technical education diploma and the other is a specialized certificate which includes all the skills that the student has completed according to his technical specialization. . This certificate shows employers the skills and competencies the graduate has when applying for a job.
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