08.08.2022 Ankara
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and the Ministry of National Education signed a cooperation protocol for companies to benefit more from vocational training centers.
Hisarcıklıoğlu
and Özer made the opening speeches of the Vocational Training Centers
Cooperation Protocol Ceremony at TOBB Conference Hall. TOBB President M. Rifat
Hisarcıklıoğlu, stating that the private sector should benefit more from
vocational training centers, said, “In this context, I invite our young people
to enroll in vocational training centers and our employers to accept students
from vocational training centers.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu,
in his speech at the ceremony, said that they believe that the priority issue
of the country is education.
Referring to
what TOBB has done in the field of education, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “As the
private sector, we were complaining about not being able to find qualified
employees and that vocational training did not meet the needs. We wanted to
increase public-private sector cooperation in vocational education and
strengthen the role of the private sector. We wanted vocational training to be
the most important tool in meeting the human resources of the private sector.
This has been on our agenda for 20 years. We have received both great support
and important actions from our Minister Mahmut Özer in this regard.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu,
pointing out that vocational education has become a center of attraction in the
world of education again, said that the occupancy rate in vocational high
schools across Turkey is 95 percent in 2022 LGS.
- Financial
support provided to every student in the centers
Hisarcıklıoğlu
invited Turkey's major companies to accept intern students and graduates from
vocational high schools and continued:
“Today, we will
take a new step to increase the cooperation of vocational training centers,
which are the rising value of vocational education, and our chamber-exchanges
and members. With the support of our Minister, the number of students in
vocational training centers has increased significantly. We see vocational
training centers as an opportunity for our young people who are not in employment
and training. State support for students in vocational training centers has
been increased and the burdens on employers have been lifted. Our state
provides support at the rate of 1/3 of the minimum wage for each student in
vocational training centers, and in the last year this support increases to
half of the minimum wage.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu,
calling on the private sector to benefit more from vocational training centers,
said, “In this context, I invite our young people to enroll in vocational
training centers and our employers to accept students from vocational training
centers.”
The cooperation
protocol envisages the pairing of vocational training centers with the chambers
and commodity exchanges affiliated to TOBB, increasing the number of students
in these centers, and recruiting more students from these centers to the member
companies of the chamber-commodity exchange.
- Minister
of National Education Mahmut Özer
Minister of
National Education Mahmut Özer stated that thanks to the cooperation with the Union
of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), the youth unemployment
rate will be reduced to 15 percent, which is the OECD average, in addition to
raising the human resources needed by the country.
In his speech
at the ceremony, Minister Özer stated that TOBB is the biggest stakeholders in
education and reminded that the “81 Vocational and Technical Anatolian High
Schools Project in 81 provinces”, which is the first move in the restoration of
vocational education, was also implemented with TOBB.
Noting that the
production capacity in vocational education has increased, Özer emphasized the
importance of education by producing. Özer said, “In order for the student to
learn, he / she should put his/her hand on the production line in the real
business environment and take an active part in all processes. As the Ministry,
we do not claim to 'Let us leave education aside, let us produce, let us
compete with the market.' Our concern is to build production capacity as a link
in that chain in a way that will strengthen the cycle of education, production
and employment.”
Reminding that
high school diploma opportunities were introduced to vocational training
centers, Özer underlined that an attractive mechanism was created for both
employers and students with the regulation made in the Vocational Education Law
No. 3308 on December 25, 2021. Özer said, “We cannot keep up with the figures.
The number of apprentices and apprentices in this country, which was 159,000 on
December 25, 2021, has reached 600,888 as of today. By the end of the year, our
goal is to bring 1 million young people together with vocational training
centers. We can throw the words that have been bothering us for years, 'I can't
find the apprentice or journeyman I am looking for,' into the dustbin of
history.”