In the 21st century, several developing countries are increasingly relying on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) as a means to capacitate their young population with the required knowledge and skills, enhance their competitiveness in the labor market, play a considerable role in countries' overall development and realize sustainable development.
Because, TVET plays enormous important roles in terms of providing training opportunities and career advancement for the increased number of school leavers; and producing skilled manpower needed at different levels of the economy, it is one opportunity for change.
As a nation, Ethiopia is striving to produce competent and self-reliant citizens who contribute significantly to the economic and social growth of the country. As part of this aspiration and to expedite its set goal in the area, the country has established a range of collaboration and partnership with countries.
In recognition of the social and economic returns of TVETs, the 2023 China-Africa Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Cooperation Seminar was held last week here, in the capital.
According to the organizers, the Seminar was organized in collaboration with the China-Africa Vocational Education Alliance and Ethiopia's Ministry of Labor and skills. On the occasion, pertinent institutions and professionals drawn from both parties have taken part and discussed issues that are vital to advancing TVET, explore opportunities, address challenges, and draw lessons from successful Chinese practices.
Aligned with the principles of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the event contributes to the high-quality development of cooperative efforts between Ethiopia and China. According to China-Africa Vocational Education Alliance, the collaboration between China and Ethiopia has evolved into a robust diplomatic and economic alliance. This fruitful partnership extends to the heart of the TVET sector. In January, the China -Africa Vocational Education Alliance and the Ministry of Labor and Skills of Ethiopia formalized their commitment through a Memorandum of Understanding.
Speaking on the occasion, Labor and Skills State Minister Teshale Beracha said that, the partnership will significantly contribute to strengthening the longstanding relations between Ethiopia and China. According to him, the collaboration in TVET is not merely an academic endeavor, but it is also a bridge that connects the two nations, fosters mutual understanding and reinforces the bonds that tie them together.
Ethiopia is keen to deepen TVET collaboration with China to attain the much-needed human resource capabilities and eventually generating a skilled workforce adaptable to the ever-evolving demands of the global job market. As to him, it is a high time to give more attention to further strengthening collaboration because the sector has crucial role in the implementation of infrastructure and other socio-economic development projects under the China-proposed BRI.
"Human resource development is the critical impetus to ensuring the quality of infrastructure to be built as part of the BRI," Teshale added. The government of Ethiopia is strongly emphasize the role of the TVET sector in generating the desired trained workforce to support current and future investments across all development sectors in the country, including agriculture, infrastructure development, manufacturing, service and other development sectors aside from further bolstering cooperation between the two countries in the area.
TVET collaboration with China over the past decades has produced well-trained human resources, contributing to the sector's development. "We are really grateful for the cooperation between the two countries in the TVET sector, and we are now upgrading our cooperation to a very high level so as to deepen the previous cooperation to a more increased bilateral connection between the two countries."
The government is currently reforming the education and training sector to improve its quality and relevance to the labor market. He also lauded China's significant achievements in improving the training and education system, and underscored Ethiopia's aspiration to further harness the already thriving China-Ethiopia cooperation in the TVET sector.
"We need to learn a lot from the experiences of Chinese on how they achieved this high-level growth within a short period of time. We need to explore the 'newcomers' advantage' where we can easily learn from our partners, like China, to cope with the dynamic environment of technology and labor market needs."
In its BRI cooperation with China, a host of crucial infrastructure development projects in Ethiopia, ranging from roads, railways, industrial parks, energy development projects to export-oriented industries, have yielded tangible results.
Director General of the China-Africa Vocational Education Alliance, Mark Gong on his part highlighted the Alliance's comprehensive collaboration with the Ministry of Labor and Skills in Ethiopia.
The efforts span various areas, including industry development, economic infrastructure, mining and extraction, health, agriculture, trade and business, sport culture, and Tourism, he pointed out. The China-Africa Vocational Education Alliance was established in 2021 with the objective of promoting TVET collaboration between China and countries in Africa.
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The Alliance has already launched number of projects in countries in Africa, including Ethiopia. The government of Ethiopia has been working to strengthen the development of vocational and technical education considering the crucial importance of the sector to expediting economic development.
In this regard, China-Africa Vocational Education Alliance is expected to play key role in realizing this national agenda. The alliance works to connect various vocational colleges, enterprises, trade associations, experts and scholars of China and Ethiopia, and strive to build a new platform for in-depth and comprehensive vocational education in the world.
The collaboration encompasses diverse activities, ranging from the review and enhancement of Ethiopia's occupational standards to development of national curriculum, quality assurance measures, and accreditation processes.
On the occasion, pertinent institutions and professionals drawn from both parties have taken part and discussed issues that are vital to advancing TVET, explore opportunities, address challenges, and draw lessons from successful Chinese practices.
The event was also hailed as a hallmark in bilateral relations, specifically within the realm of technical and vocational education and training between the two countries, it was learned.
