Bahrain training institutes appeal to PM for help

Manama : Training institutes in Bahrain appealed to Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa yesterday seeking a solution to their financial plight.

According to Bahrain Society of the Private Training Institutes (BSPTI), majority of training institutes are under threat of closure due to their financial struggles. On Tuesday, 55 training institutes had taken part in a BSPTI meeting held on Bahrain Society of Engineers premises in Juffair to discuss their issues.

In a statement released yesterday, BSPTI said that business of training institutes had gone down dramatically after the responsibilities of the High Council for Vocational Training was transferred to Tamkeen. 

Elaborating on the conclusions from the meeting, BSPTI pointed out the main causes behind current situation: 

1. Tamkeen’s Training and Wages Support (TWS) scheme is not practical as most of the private enterprises are not willing to spend more in Human Resources during 2016/17 as the business environment is not healthy. 

2. Local laws issued recently allowing the private enterprises to pay BD300 and get expatriate work visa will worsen the situation more and less locals will be hired. 

3.Tamkeen (TWS) Portal is not user-friendly. 

4. Absence of the Labour Law to support training and development for locals

“We, the training Institutes/centres, send urgent appeal to Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa to save the training Institutes/Centres from total bankruptcy and closure,” BSPTI stated. 

Tamkeen’s response 

In response to DT News’ query, Tamkeen emphasised that it focuses on training initiatives that are customer-centric and impact-driven.

Tamkeen pointed out that more than 2,580 Bahrainis had been enrolled in various training programmes provided by training institutes in Bahrain this year, adding that more than 82 enterprises had benefited.

“Tamkeen continues its drive towards creating impactful training in the Kingdom of Bahrain as it bases its training on enterprise and individual requests and will continue providing training based on the actual needs of the private sector,” stated Tamkeen. 

It stated that the training is being provided by training institutes and includes professional certification support and basic skills support besides training and wage subsidy support. 

“As part of Tamkeen’s continuous engagement with training institutes, a dedicated team from the organisation visited around 50 training institutes out of 78 in total that are licensed and approved by the Ministry of Labour and Social Development to engage with them in regards to the current training programmes and services on offer,” it added.

Tamkeen recalled that it had organised an event on February 23 that was attended by 122 representatives from 66 training institutes, in addition to one-to-one visits to the various other institutes. 

“Tamkeen has also implemented an online portal solution that allows institutes to register their training courses and allow them to be viewed by individual and enterprise applicants,” stated the organisation. 

“The portal is continuously being upgraded and developed with new features. As part of the portal, a total of 90 training and educational establishments have registered with Tamkeen, offering more than 1,100 courses. Tamkeen has also received 2,200 course requests through the portal, 1,788 in 2016 alone. Out of 78 training service providers approved by the Ministry of Labour, Tamkeen has registered 55,” it said. 

“If an enterprise would like to train its employees, they can view the courses provided by the training centres registered on the portal, and apply to receive training that will be provided by registered institutes. The training also provides wage subsidy support to the employees,” it explained.

 “If the enterprise would like to receive training without wage increments, it can request their employees to register for a professional certification that matches their needs under the umbrella of the training and wage support scheme. Tamkeen invested, and will continue to invest in training. It will continue to increase its investment. Tamkeen’s spending on training is usually double what is being spent by the specific councils. For example, in 2015, the specific councils invested BD7.5 million, while Tamkeen has invested BD13.5m,” Tamkeen added.