Learning any new language can be a challenge, but speak the basics, and it’s a good start. At the Benghazi Institute that’s exactly what 25 students are currently doing through a Warriors Affairs Commission (WAC) Qader programme to train them in English and Information Technology (IT).
For some, their experience is very little. “This is their experience,” says one of the English teachers of the course, Ziad el-Agrbi, with a grin. The students begin by learning how to tell the time, ask for things while out shopping and basic greetings and introductions.
The aim of this course is to prepare the students to go abroad and study further. It teaches them about other cultures, how to deal with, interact and engage with other people.
After a 6-week introductory course in basic English, the students will then progress on to IT before the best 1,200 of a total of 1,500 will travel overseas to the U.S, United Kingdom and Malaysia to further their English and computer skills. Partnering with such corporations specialising in IT as Microsoft, Cisco and Adobe, the students will gain internationally recognised certification from these companies.
“By taking this opportunity, these young men are learning skills that will both help them, their families and a new Libyan society, helping the country as a whole. It’s an opportunity to secure a new and better life,” says Ahmed El Gool, Qader Programme Manager at the Warrior Affairs Commission. .
Qader provides essential, practical skills training that will give young people new opportunities for a better future for them and their families, while at the same time, offering training that is desperately needed in the Libyan labour market, equipping young people with the skills to help build a modern country.
“When they come back to Libya, they will have a good certification, which gives them a chance to excel, and the WAC is giving them the best possible opportunity to do this,” adds El Gool.
Back in the classroom, students practice their English aloud in a relaxed and good-spirited atmosphere. The basic elementary is repeated aloud and answered, before students spell their names as Mansour Alhawari, a teacher in another classroom, writes it down on a whiteboard.
“We teach them how to speak English, deal with daily life and to interact and communicate with other people so this prepares them for the 6 months they are overseas. Their speaking is good, so now we concentrate more on the spelling and writing, says Alhawari.
With Qader’s vocational training focused on employment sectors that most need developed skills, 2014 will deliver courses for over 5,000 registered WAC members to develop skills in a variety of employment sectors including mechanical and electrical engineering, construction, agriculture, and IT.
Karim Abdulrahman from Benghazi who before the revolution worked as a chef, fought on the front-lines during the uprising, losing friends and colleagues on the battlefield, says the course offers a special opportunity.
“Life is not easy, we need a good life, not easy, but good.” The course is good, he adds, I want to write better English, speak more and learn more, I want to work in IT and have ideas in this, if I get the chance.”