Participants in youth-oriented debate say they were taught valuable life lesson

AMMAN — Three youngsters, who last week took part in a debate between students from various universities on the best higher education streams to secure a brighter future, said the event was a valuable experience.

The three took part in the first debate that was entitled “University Education vs Vocational and Technical Education”, which was attended by HRH Crown Prince Hussein at the King Hussein Business Park on Wednesday.

The event, which was attended by around 500 young men and women from various governorates, was organised by the Crown Prince Foundation (CPF) in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates-based Arab Youth Centre (AYC).

“This experience increased my understanding of many important topics because I underwent training, which will help me in the future to focus more on my career and goals in life,” said 19-year-old Raghad Drouby.

"This experience also opened my eyes to voluntary work," the Marketing student told The Jordan Times.

“I am really grateful for the CPF’s initiative that encouraged us to engage in this important debate, because it made me realise the importance of voluntary work and doing good things for our community and country,” Drouby said.

Basima Raghad, 19, said the experience helped her realise the importance of focusing on “the needs of the labour market when wanting to seek a higher education”.

“This initiative helped us know how to work as a team and to focus on the benefits of the vocational training and the fact the traditional education is contributing in wasting the time and resources of companies who organise training for their newly-employed personnel.”

Meanwhile, Rajai Ghadban, who came from Zarqa to take part in the debate, said this was a “new and unique experience for him”.

“This experience helped us expand our horizons and learn new information and experience about the education sector,” Ghadban, 19, told The Jordan Times.

The Physical Education student also voiced his appreciation that Crown Prince Hussein attended the debate session with them.

“Crown Prince Hussein's presence with us during the debate makes us feel that we, the young generation, have the unified will of working together to better advance the future of our country,” Ghadban said.

The event was attended by the Emirati Minister of State for Youth Affairs Shamma Mazrui.

At the end of the debate, Prince Hussein expressed his admiration and pride at the level of “civilised discussion that Jordanian youth presented to express their opinions”, stressing the importance of developing youth’s capabilities and skills, as well as strengthening their role in development.

The debate was divided between two teams: the affirmative team, which supported academic and university education, and the competitive team, which supported vocational and technical education.

Four students from each team listed the pros and cons of each type of education and how they perceived it would help them in their future work and life.

The affirmative team lobbied for university education as the key to establishing an individual’s career and the path that will set the basis for individuals wanting to enrol in vocational and technical professions.

The competitive team also argued that technical and vocational education helps individuals immediately establish if they are qualified for a certain job, while university education values individuals mostly on their exams and grades.

Meanwhile, the affirmative team saw that the labour market was in dire need of technical individuals to fill in the gap. Therefore, they deemed vocational and technical education as the basis for their future successes.