Skills Development: Vocational Education
in the Islamic Countries
109
THEME 5: The relationshipof TVETsectors and industry
In Gaza Strip (Palestine), there is a gap between skills level of TVET sectors and the
requirement of industry. A number of reasons can be identified which has resulted in to
this apparent skill gap. Some of these reasons are:
1. The skills that are taught in the TVET programs have no relevancewith industrial
or labor market requirement.
2. There is a lack of coordination and cooperation among TVET institutions and
industries.
3. Most of the TVET institutions do not have modern machineries whereas some
industries have modern set-up and machineries for their operations.
4. Gaps have also emerged due to old curriculum, which in turn is unable tomeet the
current industrial demand. For instance, many demanded skills and courses are
not included in the current TVET curriculum.
The above challenges are supported by the following interviews data:
“The main gap between the two categories e.g. TVET and industry requirement is because
of absence in coordination between TVET sectors and industries. This has badly affected the
skills acquired by our graduates, which does not respond to the industrial and the labour
market demands. As a result, graduates do not easily find a suitable job due to the fact that
skills acquired by them are not relevant to the skills demanded by the real market. This is
the major skills gap”. (P5)
“There is a gap between vocational and academic education and the labour market, which
requires harmonization between education and the labour market.” (P4)
“There is no cooperation between the instructor in the college and the industrial
requirement”. (P5)
“The vocational skills should suit [with] the labour market needs to fill the gap. The most
required skills are not being taught and trained [in TVET sectors], for example, courses such
as solar energy, graphic design, ICT, mobile application, web page development and auto
electric [are] the real needs in today’s labour market but they do not exist in these
educational institutions [TVET sectors]”. (P1)
Figure 4.12 The relationship of TVET sectors and Industry
Skills gap
Lack of
Cooperation
Lack of
Modern
machineries
Old
Curriculam