Brutal regime’s workers taught IT skills by troubled Scots exams body
Technologies ( TETEC) to train al l government employees in IT skills by 2020.
Six months later, it was announced the SQA would partner TETEC in providing the IT certification and about 44,000 of its officials have so far been trained.
Naomi McAul if fe of Amnesty International Scotland questioned the SQA’s international work.
She said: “It ’ s outrageous that the Saudi Arabian authorities continue to seek the death penalty for people as young as 10 – use of the death penalty against people under 18 at the time of the crime is a violation of international law.
“Scottish Government bodies should consider the impact of working in countries with records of repression.”
Last month, we revealed that the SQA was selling computing courses to a college with close links to the internationally reviled sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei.
Saudi Arabia and Brunei aren’t the only despotic regimes SQA engages with.
According to the US think-tank the Cato Institute, the SQA does business with 11 countries in the bottom half of its Human Freedom Index of 152 countries, including Bahrain, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Brunei and China.
A consultant who worked in the Middle East with the quango said: “I do not know of any other qualification body that immerses itself so much in foreign work.
“Surely the SQA’s main role is to care for the needs of the Scottish learners? It’s a task they are no longer doing successfully.”
An SQA spokesman said: “SQA strongly opposes all forms of human rights abuse and unlawful discrimination.
“Education is a positive force for change in influencing wider society, as well as the lives and economic mobility of learners. Our international activity promotes Scottish values.
“We carry out extensive assessments before working in a country and take the advice of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
“SQA approves all centres to the same Scottish standard, no matter where they are based.
“TETEC is a privately- owned centre in Saudi Arab ia , accredited by SQA, to deliver a short, customised IT skills course.” The Scottish Government said: “The SQA has globally recognised expertise in qualifications development and is in an ideal position to provide other countries with help to establish and improve their qualifications systems. “This is for the benefit of learners in these countries.” UK firms have been criticised for supplying arms to Saudi Arabia that have been used in Yemen. Parts of smart bombs are made in Glenrothes.