Riyadh, (IANS) : More than 10,000 Saudi women have received mobile phone repairing training to improve the employment chances of females, the media reported on Monday.

The free training was provided by the Technical and Vocational Training Cooperation to 10,769 female students studying at 19 collages in different parts of the country, Xinhua news agency reported.

A spokesperson for the cooperation said the training was part of a plan to localise jobs in the communication sector.

The cooperation also offers training on sales, consumer services and advanced repairing of smart phones.

He said the trained women were able to work at mobile phone shops after gaining the basic skills for such job and they can also obtain licenses to start their own businesses.

Saudi Arabia has been taking many steps to open new opportunities for recruiting women, including the distance work scheme that allows women to work from home.