Saturday 16 / November / 2024
Muscat: Oman should consider employing more locals, regardless of their educational majors at universities, ministers suggested on Thursday.
The suggestion came during a closed-door meeting with Majlis Al Shura youth and education committees.
Shura member Tawfiq Al Lawati said this would allow for more job vacancies to be filled by Omanis.
However, he pointed out that hiring in technical professions, such as medicine and engineering, would not be regulated under this suggestion.
“Internationally, around 80 per cent of college graduates have jobs that are not related to their majors,” Al Lawati explained, adding that obtaining a higher education degree is “not the end of the road”, which is why Omanis who struggle to find a job should be trained to cultivate their communication, technical and other skills.
“Job-seekers need to think outside the box and learn other skills to boost their chances of getting a job,” he added.
Khalid Al Farei, head of the education committee of Shura, echoed Al Lawati, saying this decision will “help in handling the current situation”.
“If they are qualified, I think people should apply for jobs which require similar basic skills as learned in their major,” Al Farei added, while saying that educational institutions must also prepare students to work in more than one field.
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In contrast, Sultan Al Abri, another Shura member, said the minister’s suggestion “cannot work”.
He noted that the root of the problem is the major areas of study being taught in Omani colleges and universities, because, according to Al Abri, there are few job vacancies in those fields in Oman.
“Many graduates, most of them females who are ‘Before School Child Education’ majors, are in limbo, as the number of available jobs can be counted on one’s fingers,” he said.
This was discussed during the ‘Harmonisation of higher education outputs with labour market’ meeting, which included participation by Rawya Saud Al Busaidi, Minister of Higher Education, Khalid Umar Al Marhoon, Minister of Civil Service and Abdullah Al Bakri, Minister of Manpower.
The unemployment rate in Oman has reached 7.15 per cent, according to the International Labour Organisation, predicting that the number of unemployed people in the world will increase by nearly 2.3 million in 2016 and 1.1 million in 2017 as a result of last year’s global economic slowdown.
The Times of Oman reported last February that more than half of Omanis remain jobless after graduating from colleges in the Sultanate, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE).
The survey was carried out among 12,551 students who have been searching for jobs after graduating from college.
The survey pointed out that while 53 per cent remained jobless, 47 per cent of Omanis obtained jobs after graduating from college.
The study also showed that students studying Science, Philosophy and Engineering received jobs after graduating from college, while students in the Arts struggled to find a job.
