| |
|
|
| Palestinian Minister of Education Lamis Alami and USAID Deputy Mission Director Sherry Carlin at the curricula handover ceremony on Wednesday. |
|
|
Ramallah, West Bank – The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Program, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), have joined efforts to provide career guidance to Palestinian students in government schools in the West Bank. During a ceremony held at the Ministry Office on Wednesday, February 1, USAID handed over TVET’s newly developed Career Counseling Curricula to the Ministry to be integrated into the national education system. The Curricula will provide Palestinian students career information and skills to prepare for the job market. The handover ceremony was attended by Ms. Lamis Alami, Minister of Education and Higher Education; Ms. Sherry Carlin, Deputy Mission Director of USAID; and Mr. Alex Shein, Country Director of Save the Children which implemented the project, along with representatives from the Palestinian Authority and Save the Children.
The Ministry of Education and Higher Education in its Strategic Plan for 2008-2012 identified career guidance as one of the important needs to be addressed to shape the work force in Palestine. Save the Children and the Ministry jointly developed the Career Counseling Development Program to respond to this need. Under the program, an age-appropriate, three-level Career Counseling Curricula was developed, tested and finalized, targeting students in grades 8 to 10. The curricula will provide students with work experience and information about possible careers, and teach them career path planning strategies. It will also enable the students to gain valuable knowledge and skills in teamwork, presentation, innovative and critical thinking, and communication.
The important aspect of the Career Education Curricula is its unique approach in establishing linkages with the private sector, as well as the engagement of the parents and the surrounding community in supporting students in this critical stage of their development.
The Technical and Vocational Education and Training program, in partnership with the Ministry, piloted the Curricula in 60 middle schools in the West Bank, in 2011. Approximately 2900 students were engaged in the activities, in addition to 1170 parents, and 58 school counselors and Ministry curricula specialists, as well as 200 private sector businesses. The school counselors received advanced training in curriculum development and participated in creating the content for the three-level curriculum. The Ministry of Education and Higher Education then tested the curriculum and it is now ready for institutionalization at the national level.
The Technical and Vocational Education and Training Program, which was completed October 31, 2011, was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Save the Children US, in partnership with Mercy Corps. The program aimed to strengthen and diversify the skills of young Palestinians through developing the Palestinian technical and vocational education sector in order to give young Palestinians the skills needed to enter and succeed in the job market and contribute to the development of the Palestinian economy.
Since 1994, USAID has provided more than $3.5 billion in US economic assistance to Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza on projects designed to reduce poverty, improve health and education, build infrastructure, create jobs, and promote democracy and good governance. |
