This Day in History (1989): Saudi Job-Skill Instructors Honored at Graduation Ceremonies

From the May 17, 1989, edition of The Arabian Sun

The Saudi Job-Skills Instructor Training Certification program, while still small and very selective, represents a quantum leap in Saudization of the company — Saudi instructors teaching Saudi trainees. On May 16, the fourth class of 10 Saudi job-skills instructors graduated from the program, bringing the number of graduates to 57 since the program’s inception in 1985.

The certification program is sponsored by the Training Department and is conducted at Ras Tanura Job-Skills Training Center by Northern / Central Area Training. Seven courses take the certified craftsman or operator, with at least five years of field experience, from his original occupation to a new profession — that of job-skills instructor or trainer. Each trainee is selected for the program by his department manager.

“This year Training has reached out to the line organizations and welcomed selected trainee instructors from the Southern Area Community Services and Mechanical Services Shops departments to participate in this training program,” says Ali M. Dialdin, general manager of Training.

The 10-month program consists of seven months devoted to classroom instruction and the final three months to on-the-job instruction and training. Major objectives of the program are to improve the trainee’s abilities in communication skill and develop his skills of analysis, conceptualization, idea implementation, planning and organization.

Upon graduation these men join the staff of instructors who train Saudi employees enrolled in Aramco’s industrial training program.

Caption for top photo: Graduate Fahad H. al-Mansour, center, explains the operations of a pneumatic positioner in moving a control vavle to fellow graduates, from left, Salih H. al-Salem, Yousuf H. bu-Hulaigah, Khalid S. al-Fuahid, and Mohammed T. al-Dohky.

Also on this day

2007 — Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953

2006 — The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef

1997 — Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo

1980 — General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law

1973 — Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate

1969 — Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure

1954 — The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, outlawing racial segregation in public schools

1940 — World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium

1902 – Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer

1900 — The children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States

1756 — Seven Years' War formally begins when Great Britain declares war on France