JEDDAH — The Technical and Vocational Training Cooperation (TVTC) has announced that private sector institutes and centers in the Kingdom have trained a total of 183,691 in 300 different trades during the last Hijri year. Fahad Al-Otaibi, spokesman for TVTC, said there are 945 training institutes in the Kingdom. Riyadh province, which accounts for 33 percent of the training institutes, topped in their number, followed by Makkah province with 32 percent and the Eastern Province with 15.4 percent. The training programs, explained Al-Otaibi, are offered to young Saudis in computer maintenance and applications, travel and tourism, geology, oil and gas, media, beauty salons, cloth design, interior design and management. [caption id="attachment_108839" align="alignright" width="257"] Young Saudis get training at the Petroleum Institute in Dammam.[/caption]Al-Otaibi said the training programs are in four different categories. The first includes training that lasts less than a month and the second for more than a month and less than a year while the third category includes rehabilitation programs for one to two years. Finally, there are two-to-three-year diploma programs offered to high school graduates. Al-Otaibi said the TVTC has 23 regional offices in the Kingdom. These offices have simplified regulations for investors in training programs. They encourage the private sector to invest in training to meet the job market needs for qualified manpower. The TVTC, added Al-Otaibi, issues licenses to establish training institutes in the private sector and supervises these centers to ensure the quality of training by meeting TVTC standards. The TVTC has announced lately that they are collaborating with Saudi Aramco and the Human Resources Development Fund to train 2,000 young Saudis to help nationalize jobs in Al-Fadli project, which will be established in Al-Nuairiya, west of Jubail. Training programs in all required job categories will be extended for a three-year period to meet the Saudization requirements in the project. There are now 24 specialized training institutes in different parts of the Kingdom that help young Saudis acquire much-needed experience in various trades that are in great demand in the job market.
