Ethiopia, Germany Sign MoU to Enhance TVET Nat'l Program

Addis Ababa November 29/2018 Ethiopia and Germany have signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will help realize the TVET national flagship program dubbed “Eshi-TVET for Sustainable Development Program.” The MoU was signed between Minister of Science and Higher Education Hirut Woldemariam and Germany’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Brita Wagner. The program was initiated by development partners to strengthen TVET in Ethiopia and sustain its role in the country’s ambitions to become s middle-income country by 2025. Speaking at the workshop on the national flagship program, Hirut said the youth in developing countries require governments to sustainably deploy this force for the good of social and economic development. She stated that the last decades are characterized by more children with primary education in developing countries, which put pressure on governments to provide sustainable options that would prepare them to be absorbed in the labor market in a sustainable way. In this regard, Hirut noted that Ethiopia has embarked on empowering the TVET system during the last two decades in an innovative manner to support the far reaching national economic and social development goals. According to the minister, the intention of TVET reform was re-adjusting the TVET system so that it would become capable to respond properly to economic needs. Hirut pointed out that “this should be achieved by providing qualified human resources for the labor market to support the creation of self-employment opportunities by capacitating young talented students to play a vital role in adapting and converting international technology standards to the national industrial development.” Germany’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, Brita Wagner said Germany will continue its support to enhance TVET and realize the new program. She noted that the Ethiopian government achieved tremendous achievement in enhancing TVET in the last two decades. “The German government is proud that we could assist the government of Ethiopia in its effort to more enhance the TVET,” Wagner said. The ambassador noted that the government of Germany has supported over 60 public and private TVET colleges, out of the over 1500 in the last two decades.