3-Year Vocational Education, Training at High School

With standardization of TVET curriculums and fixing the timeframe of the courses to three years at the high school level, it is estimated that annually one million school students can graduate in technical and vocational majors, said Ali Zarafshan, deputy minister for secondary education. Vocational skills development is vital for poverty reduction, economic recovery and sustainable growth. 

As such, the government is paying close attention to technical and vocational education and training (TVET) under an established framework.

Instead of opting for math, science or humanities, which students have to decide in the first year of high school, they will in future have the option to choose TVET. The plan in this regard will be implemented from September 2018 when the academic year beigns, and the goal is to train and empower students to find jobs after finishing high school, Zarafshan said, ISNA reported.

Stating that currently the ministry’s experts are  working on the curriculums, he said the programs and their contents will be designed based on job market demand as announced by the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade and the Technical and Vocational Training Organization (TVTO).

Pointing to the fact that currently only 34% of high school students are studying technical and vocational majors, he said, “The ministry plans to increase the figure to 50% in the sixth five-year economic development plan (2017-22).” This figure is 75% in some industrialized countries like Germany and “we still have a long way to go to reach the goal.”

Complementary Courses

After completing high school, students in the program can also benefit from the complementary courses in the vocational subjects offered by TVTO, affiliated to the Ministry of Cooperatives. Currently, over 700 public and 12,000 private educational

and vocational training centers are under TVTO supervision.

Koroush Parand, deputy minister of cooperatives, labor and social welfare had earlier said that with special focus on the youth, the TVTO promotes employment opportunities and helps raise labor productivity in industry, agriculture and the service sector. “For this purpose, TVTO has a network of 25,000 trainers and teachers.

” Technical and vocational training has been expanded in different sectors including power, energy, automotive, aerospace and carpet weaving, through more than 50 MoUs signed with private and public institutions, he said. TVTO which is the main institution in charge of short-term technical and vocational training was founded in 1980. Research is also one of its main tasks.

Through research, the organization tries to do an in-depth study of the job market demands, and to collect information required for curriculum development in skills training. TVET comprises formal, non-formal and informal learning for the world of work. Young people learn knowledge and skills from basic to advanced levels across a wide range of institutional and work settings. TVET can enhance its role in developing more equitable and sustainable societies.