KABUL: Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) on Thursday said the absence of skilled workers in the country appears to be having a negative effect on businesses and it is affecting investment in the country.
Almost 80 percent of skilled workers are hired from abroad due to the lack of skilled workers, the ACCI said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD) has said it is committed to establishing new vocational centers in the country to meet the needs of the local market.
According to ACCI, for now there is no option but to hire foreign workers to fill the gap.
ACCI says that if government takes steps to formulate comprehensive programs to provide training to locals, Afghans will be eligible for more jobs.
“Government must establish training centers to skill workers, because we are facing problems in this field; we are compelled to hire 80 percent of workers from abroad,” said ACCI deputy chief Khan Jan Alokozai.
According to (MoLSAMD), currently 45 vocational training schools are providing education to locals in different parts of the country.
“We are trying to recruit more youths by building more vocational training centers,” said MoLSAMD spokesman Abdul Fatah Ahmadzai.
The Afghan-Korea Vocational Training Center is one key institution which provides training to around 1,000 Afghan citizens in different fields such as auto repairs, general maintenance, electrical engineering, plumbing, construction, tailoring and computer technology.
Trainers at the Afghan-Korea center have called on government to boost their capacity so that more students can get benefit from the center.
“If such centers are built, this will be helpful for youths, alongside their studies, they can learn a skill,” said one trainer at the center, Sayed Nusrat.
“We are facing problems with stationary, we buy the books ourselves; these were provided to students in the past, but now we are not getting this,” said another trainer Basira.
“Government must establish more vocational training centers for youths,” said another trainer, Ahmad Rustam.
MoLSAMD said that 46 more vocational training centers will be established in the near future.
