Qatarisation plan must be put on hold: experts
THE Ministry of Labour should suspend its programme of Qatarisation of jobs until a well-trained cadre of young Qatari men and women is available, participants in a seminar have unanimously urged.
The seminar on ‘Nationalisation of Jobs’ was organised by the Institute for Administrative Development in Doha, local Arabic daily Arrayah reports.
The participants said that until such a cadre of national youth emerged in the job market the policy of Qatarisation of jobs was nothing but “deadwood employment” because the incumbents were not equipped for the positions to which they were appointed.
The whole issue had to be studied carefully and there was an urgent need to work from the grassroots so as to evolve courses of study from the school to the university level in keeping with requirements of the job market, said the experts and representatives from the government and private sectors who took part in the discussions.
The yawning gap between the number of expatriates and nationals employed in diverse fields would remain until a strategic plan was chalked out and implemented, they said.
As many as 20,000 expatriates are employed every year compared to only 2,000 nationals.
The participants called for the setting up of a national body for the development of human resources. This body should among other things address the problem of evolving courses of study required for the job market. It should provide vital inputs to the Qatar Foundation and the University of Qatar so as to help them in planning the academic curriculum accordingly.
Among the notable speakers at the seminar was Dr Hind Joulu, director of finance and administration at the university. She said: “In the employment of nationals the emphasis seems to be on quantity and not quality. We need to carry out in-depth studies to identify the reasons for the failure of the policy of nationalisation of jobs.”
l A committee report says the pattern of Qatar’s indigenous population growth during the last three decades points to two disturbing trends: a declining fertility rate among women and a rise in the average age at which Qataris marry.
Arrayah has published the report released by the technical team of the standing committee on population highlighting various aspects of population growth in Qatar.
The report says the fertility rate among Qatari women has fallen from 5.7 in 1990 to 4 in 2007; and the average age at which Qataris marry is 26.4 years for men and 23.6 for women.
These trends do not augur well for a healthy growth of the indigenous population which is already low, the report says.
There has however been a significant increase in the indigenous population since the beginning of 2006 as a result of the grant of citizenship to a large number of expatriate men and women.
Giving statistics on deaths resulting from accidents, the report states that 81% of those who died in road accidents during the last year were Qatari nationals in the 15-24 age group. However, the number of expatriates who die in accidents at their workplace is very high in comparison to nationals.
The mortality rate among Qataris under 15 years is higher than for expatriates in that age group. The mortality rate for expatriates aged 25 to 59 is much higher than among Qatari nationals (64% and 26% respectively). However, at age 60 and above the rate is higher among Qataris than expatriates (48% and 14% respectively), the report says.
Highlighting the importance of the report, committee chairman Sheikh Hamad bin Jabor al-Thani said that it would help in working out strategic plans for the development of the population structure and in determining the country’s needs in the fields of health, education and social care.
via Gulf Times – Qatar’s top-selling English daily newspaper – Qatar.