Tunisia has regularly given significant priority to the vocational training sector, which has been experiencing a more or less significant boom for years.
It is in this regard that a thorough reform of the vocational training system remains a key factor to facilitate the integration of young Tunisians into the job market and create more work for the benefit of unemployed young people.
According to recent figures provided by the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment, Tunisia has 136 public vocational training centers with a capacity of 90 thousand young people offering 270 specialties. The private sector has 3 thousand centers hosting 40 thousand trainees.
Large companies interested in training in Tunisia The director general of the Tunisian Vocational Training Agency (ATFP), Marouane Ben Slimane, affirmed in a statement granted to Africanmanager, that large foreign companies send trainees to vocational training centers in Tunisia in order to take advantage of the Tunisian experience in the field of vocational training which offers various specialties.
He said that the number of vocational training places has increased from 21,800 training places in September 2023 to 22,270 in September 2024.
Tunisia is moving towards the opening of all closed vocational training centers, offering at least between 2 and 3 specializations, provided that the diversification of specializations is done gradually according to the availability of financial, logistical and human resources capacities, he further indicated.
He emphasized that the number of students and workers in training centers had fallen from 8,000 to 7,500 for various reasons, in particular the phenomenon of immigration or secondment in the public service.
Autumn training and new environmental specialties
The Tunisian Agency for Vocational Training (ATFP) is preparing to welcome 22,275 trainees for the autumn training session, which will start on September 16. Among them, about 3,000 new baccalaureate holders, said Marouane Ben Slimane.
This figure represents a slight increase compared to the previous session, when 21,800 students were registered.
Ben Slimane also announced the launch of a new specialization in carbon footprinting, an initiative aimed at helping Tunisian companies reduce their environmental footprint.
This training, funded by Switzerland and in collaboration with the private sector, is being launched in anticipation of the new environmental standards imposed by the European Union from January 2026.
These regulations will require its trading partners to comply with a maximum carbon footprint in order to gain access to the European market.
In addition, the apprenticeships on offer for the new school year cover a wide range of economic sectors, with hundreds of specializations available. New courses include the installation of optical fibers and the energy efficiency of electrical installations in the industrial, agricultural, residential and service sectors.
It should be recalled that the Tunisian government had announced a series of measures, including the inclusion of new vocational training courses in the university orientation guide, in order to attract new graduates to professional specialties in demand on the labor market.
The aim of this measure is to solve the problem of unemployment, strengthen and improve skills and create new specialties that meet the needs of the private sector.
