Professor Jawad Fatayer Participates in a Meeting about the Youth Employment Plan at the Sharek Youth Forum
On May 16th, Professor Jawad Fatayer, An-Najah National University President Assistant for Graduate Affairs, participated in a meeting about the youth employment plan at the Sharek Youth Forum which was held in Ramallah. Attendees included Dr. Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mr. Mazen Sinokrot, Chair of the Palestinian Education for Employment Foundation, Mr. Sufian Musha’she, Secretary-General of Sharek Forum, as well as Mr. Bader Zama’reh, Executive Director of Sharek Forum.
Mr. Musha’she presented a summary of the Palestinian youth employment plan which the Forum has set for the year 2011. He also spoke about the challenge that faces youth employment in Palestine and highlighted the weakness in the Palestinian economy, in addition to the issue of inequality between men and women with respect to economy and the Palestinian market.
Moreover, Mr. Musha’she spoke about the importance of production initiatives and small projects, as well as the importance of education and training and stressed the danger of the gap that exists between theoretical knowledge and the requirements of the local market.
Dr. Fayyad spoke about the issue of employing the youth potentials in the sustainable development process and pointed out that unemployment among youth is a common Arab phenomenon; therefore, he recommended more involvement of the youth in the extensive development and decision-making processes.
The Prime Minister focused on the necessity to prepare university students to able to compete both locally, regionally and internationally and to be self-dependant and productive. Moreover, he explained the three qualities that can help the youth to succeed and excel in the work field including: Analytical Thinking, the ability to deal with computers and language competency and fluency (both the mother tongue and English).
It is worth mentioning that what the participants have talked about and discussed at the meeting is considered the basis upon which the Competency Development Program at An-Najah University is built.
