Upskilling in Comoros

Local terms include formation professionnelle, cours de perfectionnement professionnel, formation permanente, recyclage, formation des adultes and validation des acquis. These describe different ways to update skills, deepen occupational knowledge, gain a new competence or recognise experience. Language learning is relevant only when it forms part of an adult-education or vocational pathway; language study by itself belongs to a separate subject area. The Ministry of National Education, Teaching, Research and Arts has responsibilities in the education system. The employment authorities have responsibilities under the vocational-training framework. The law provides for an Institut National de Formation Professionnelle (INFP) and three island commissions for Ngazidja, Ndzuani and Mwali. Other functional providers include the UDC Site Universitaire de Formation Permanente, the Institut Supérieur de Formation et de Recherche (ISFR), private institutions, companies, associations and project-based programmes. Their current offers differ by island and provider. Vocational training can generally be entered from age 17 and is not intended to run in parallel with a cycle of the Ministry of Education. Admission can include selection and career guidance. Informal apprentices are legally intended to gain access to equivalence, certification or validation of prior learning, but the operational rules and structures for this pathway are not confirmed. Applicants should therefore verify the current procedure with the responsible provider or authority rather than assume that work experience automatically produces a certificate. Training may take place through stages, public or private centres, company programmes and accelerated courses. The duration of a stage is set according to the applicable decree or programme. Private full-time, profit-making courses require ministerial approval through the Council of Ministers. An approval application is expected to state the staff qualifications, programme, timetable, selection method, participant numbers, costs and employment prospects. Approved providers remain subject to continuing labour-authority supervision. The INFP framework is intended to serve young people and adults across economic sectors and job levels, including accelerated training for unemployed or underemployed people and cooperation abroad when a needed offer is unavailable locally. A participant who completes a stage may take an end-of-stage examination and receive a Certificat de fin de stage or a Certificat de Formation Professionnelle, depending on the programme. A work contract may be suspended during the stage, while occupational-accident protection is addressed by the applicable rules. If the employer continues its contribution during the suspension, the centre may contribute for participants who are not employed, on a basis linked to the minimum wage. An unjustified withdrawal can create a repayment risk, so the contract and provider rules should be checked before enrolment. Non-formal options include adult-education centres, literacy programmes, écoles coraniques, language-promotion centres and local, cultural or associative structures. The Ministry determines access, content and certification requirements through ministerial orders. Functional literacy is a national priority and can be combined with vocational or livelihood skills. Financing may come from state grants, private donations, provider income and employer contributions. The legal framework sets the INFP contribution at 2% of total payroll, and scholarships for professionals are legally possible, but current participant fees, scholarship criteria and course calendars are not published in one verified national source. Participation in formal or non-formal education and training among people aged 25 to 64 was recorded at 4.1% in 2014 and 3.3% in 2020 in UNESCO UIS data. No values for 2021 to 2024 or current ICT-skill data were available in the research, and island-level differences are likely. IFADEM and IFEF, supported by AFD and PGEC, provide an example of continuing teacher development and pedagogical support, including eleven school projects in Anjouan. Regular CAP, BEP and technical baccalaureate programmes, initial vocational training and ordinary UDC degree or master programmes belong to initial education or tertiary study rather than this upskilling scope.