Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) officials said on Thursday at the National and International Industrial Symposium in Kabul that attention needs to be paid to training technical professionals in order to help grow the economy.

At the event, Ghulam Haider Shahamat, head of TVET said that in the last twenty years, little attention was paid to this sector. He said changes should be made to the technical training curriculum so that it is brought in line with international standards.

According to Shahamat, 60 percent of the country’s population is made up of young people, and 500,000 new people enter the labor market every year.

However, the officials of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MoIC) said at the symposium that the volume of trade in the country has increased from 13 to 22 percent.

“The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has had concrete and objective activities and achievements in the sectors of trade, industry, services, drafting legislative documents and commercial cooperation in the region with teamwork and in the light of policies, regulations and procedures,” said Abdul Salam Jawad, a spokesperson for the MoIC.

A German institute meanwhile said at the event that in the last ten months, they have studied the needs of the Afghan market and manufacturing companies, and they want to adjust the curriculum of technical and professional education according to these needs.

“We want to bring the education system that is in Germany to Kabul,” said Shakiba, the head of the German institution.

According to experts, Afghanistan’s academic and professional education system has many problems because what is taught in educational and professional centers does not match the needs of the market. Therefore, with each passing day, the number of unemployed people increases.