Skills Development: Vocational Education
in the Islamic Countries
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unable to meet, can cause a lot of discomfort in the society. It results to social inequality and in
many cases cause death. Therefore, governments, NGO, donor agencies are taking many
initiatives for eradicating poverty and social inequality. Social inequality is the existence of
unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or
society. Social inequality “is the condition where people have unequal access to valued
resources, services, and positions in the society” (Kerbo, 2003, p. 11).
1.1.2. Skills Development through Vocational Education and Training
Vocational skills are usually hands-on practical skills targeted towards a particular occupation.
Being trained in vocational skills individuals to perform particular tasks in alignment to fixed
occupations. These skills could be achieved through on-the-job training or through a vocational
school. They can be masteredwithin a fewmonths to2 years. Some examples of these skill based
occupations are: truck drivers, hair dresser/stylists, tailors, medical records technicians, heavy
machinery operators, emergency medical technicians and many more.
Figure 1.3 Concepts of Competency-Based Leaning Model for skills training
Source:
The diagram displayed above shows the concepts/principles of Competency-Based
Education/Leaning (CBE/L) Model for skills training in Malaysia. It shows how vocational
curriculum is aligned with the industry and other stakeholders to produce skilful, competitive
graduates and also promote supply-demand driven VET systems.