TECHNICAL/VOCATIONAL

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The Government of Mauritania is in the process of restructuring its education and training system to correct distortions in cost and resource allocation and to improve quality and relevance. The ongoing Education Sector Restructuring Project, jointly financed by the International Development Association (IDA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) supports this initiative and is successfully implementing restructuring measures in primary, secondary and technical education. However, attempts to correct deficiencies in vocational training and make training programs more flexible and responsive to labor market demands were largely unsuccessful. In technical education, following the outflow of skilled foreign workers in the early 1990s and a planned sharp reduction of French technical assistance serving as instructors, qualitative and staffing problems require urgent attention. The principal objectives of the project are to help establish a coherent system of technical education and vocational training (TEVT), staffed largely by national instructors, efficient and of good quality, and responsive to labor market demands. To this end, the project supports a number of institutional measures to: (a) establish a common management structure for the TEVT system; (b) increase the financial and operational autonomy of TEVT institutions; and (c) promote the participation of employers in operating and financing technical and vocational training.