Gildo Matias José spoke this Thursday about the Development of Vocational Technical Education in Angola, in an action promoted by the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication.
The Secretary of State for Secondary Education said that the number of vocational technical training schools increased from 320 to 507 available between 2020 and 2024, also highlighting the increase in the number of teachers, with 45 thousand recruitments between 2018 and 2024, as well as an increase of around 50 percent in the number of students enrolled between 2019, with more than 256 thousand, and 2024, more than 522 thousand.
The minister highlighted that, for the 2024/2025 academic year, 55,902 places are available, a total of 128 courses and 601 institutions, including public, public-private and private, throughout the country.
Gildo Matias José said that there are several training needs in Angola, especially in the areas of services, industry, agriculture and health sciences.
Regarding cooperation with Portugal, the minister stressed that it is carried out in two components, namely the training and management of teaching staff, which includes a third edition of master's degrees and teaching methodology and the first edition of the doctoral program in teaching methodologies.
The other component concerns support for schools in the hotel and tourism sector.
"The country is determined to relaunch and make tourism a robust source of wealth promotion", he stressed.
The third cycle of the Saber Mais Program is already being implemented, which aims to support secondary-level teacher training schools, taking place in the provinces of Luanda and Bié, Gildo Matias José stressed.
In the area of health sciences, the Secretary of State for Secondary Education said that an evaluation of the training offer in the health sector is almost complete, where some shortcomings were found.
Despite improvements in terms of infrastructure and course offerings, there are challenges in terms of adjusting the offerings and public funding, i.e. resources to ensure that institutions continue to operate regularly.
"There is also the challenge of professional internships, which require very strong coordination with the business community. And, at a time when companies often have their own difficulties, it has sometimes been relatively difficult to find internships," he said.
"In this regard, what we have recommended to our managers is that they develop a good relationship with companies. It is important that our school managers strengthen their relationship with the business community," he added.
