A/67/310 education institutions offering flexible admission and programmes for professional specialization; improving quality of teaching materials and introducing curriculum reforms; and expanding the availability of opportunities for technical and vocational education and training within the education system, workplaces or the community at large. Special efforts should be made to ensure that national technical and vocational education seeks to meet international standards. 52. Technical and vocational education and training systems in a number of African countries are undergoing or have undergone reforms, with a number of countries adopting national policies and strategies for technical and vocational education and training (e.g., Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Ghana, Mali, the Niger, Nigeria and Senegal). 51 The African Union recommended promoting the integration of non-formal learning methodologies and literacy programmes into national technical and vocational education and training programmes, given that vast numbers of young people are outside the formal school system. 52 53. In recent years, several countries have also invested in skills development programmes aiming at contributing to the empowerment of young people and providing them with sustainable livelihoods that can lead to the establishment of personal business. 53 For example, India has developed an ambitious National Policy on Skill Development, with a target of 500 million skilled workers by 2022. In Belgium, the Vocational Education Service (Flemish Community) aims to create the best possible qualification and development opportunities for individuals in vocational education as part of lifelong and life-wide learning. On the other hand, Ghana, Senegal and Swaziland, for example, have incorporated basic vocational skills into the lower or junior secondary school curriculum in an attempt to expose young people to pre-employment skills. 54 In Poland, the vocational training system has been reformed to improve the quality of vocational training and adapt the educational offer to the needs of a changing labour market. 55 Similarly, in Thailand, the vocational education system has been transformed and streamlined, creating pathways to tertiary education. 56 54. Bringing about transformation in technical and vocational education and training, an area of crucial importance, especially in regions where there is a predominance of informal economy at the national level, relates to linking vocations and trades to this sector. 55. It is also desirable that Governments streamline the technical and vocational education and training public institutional framework so as to coordinate national effort in this field better, in view of the fact that, within Governments, there are __________________ 51 52 53 54 55 56 16 International Growth Centre, “Lessons for Developing Countries from Experience with Technical and Vocational Education and Training”, Working Paper 11/1017 (2012), p. 29. Strategy to Revitalize Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Africa, Meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (Addis Ababa, 2007). Report on the implementation of the technical vocational education and training, Fifth ordinary session of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (Abuja, 2012), p. 8. Strategy to Revitalize Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Africa, Meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (Addis Ababa, 2007). Regulations of the Minister of National Education of 23 December 2008. Regulations, Commission of Vocational Education, 2009, Royal Gazette, vol. 129, chap. 56 (25 June 2012). 12-46486