Saudi Gazette Jeddah — The Human Resources Development Fund (Hadaf) has decided to stop financial support to private centers which provide vocational training to Saudi youth till an evaluation is made about their success rate. Abdulrahman Al-Zahrani, head of the Human Resources Development Fund (Hadaf) in Makkah region, said that at least 95 percent of youth who got training at private centers have not found jobs. He said that the decision to discontinue financial aid was taken after it was found that at least 6,000 Saudi youth received training in these centers but unemployment rate was very high. Training center owners, however, argued that they should not be blamed for the unprofessionalism of the youth who do not stay in jobs. The two parties tried to prove their points in a heated discussion at an event organized by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) on Sunday to discuss vocational training in view of Vision 2030. Al-Zahrani said that a majority of training centers do not provide quality training to job-seekers despite the fact that they receive huge financial support from Hadaf. "Our numbers show that more than 95 percent of youth who get training at these centers are jobless. Even if we say that some youth are not punctual or do not stay in jobs, this does not absolve training centers of their share of responsibility," he said. Al-Zahrani said that problems have been found in training centers in three resigns: Riyadh where 50% of training takes place, followed by Makkah which has 33% of training and the Eastern Province which has 10% while the remaining 7% is distributed in the remaining regions. He said that coming period was challenging since they have to provide jobs to 1.5 million Saudi youth. Training center owners, however, said that many companies offer minor jobs to Saudis to fill their Saudization quotas. Ahmad Al-Dawsari, head of the training and employment committee at the JCCI, said that all training centers should get ready for Vision 2030 where they should provide quality training to the youth.
