Today, Prime Minister Edi Rama visited the vocational school “Petro Sota” in Fier, and talked with students and teaching staff about the increasing importance of vocational training in the labor market. The Prime Minister considered secondary vocational education a real alternative to general education in order to provide jobs tomorrow.
“This year we started to see a significant turnaround that will be consolidated in the coming years as a historic turning point of the path for education and employment of young Albanians, a turnaround that takes the country in the right direction, along with the young people, who will not have just one way anymore, but they will have also another option.
This option is vocational education. This is not a secondhand option, but rather a real alternative to general education to provide jobs tomorrow. In fact, if we look at the labor force survey, the employment rate of those who complete vocational education is almost equal to the employment rate of those who finish university. 65% of those who complete vocational education find jobs as do 67% of those who completed university. Meanwhile, the employment rate of those who complete general secondary school is 20% lower than the employment rate of those who completed vocational education.”
According to the Prime Minister, this new approach has radically changed the model of vocational education in Albania, by adapting the German model where 40% of learning in vocational education consists in practice at local enterprises. We are on the right path, the Prime Minister said, but there are still many challenges ahead.
“Of course, there is still much to do, and not only what has not been done, but also what has been done backwards for years, cannot be redone better and immediately in just 18 months of this journey we have started together. But, one thing is sure: we are on right track and step by step, as results we are receiving show us, and we will succeed in getting where the new generation of Albanians deserves and where we all together are committed.”
The Prime Minister said that enhancing vocational education will be one of the important directions of joint work with the local government and in this regard, he noted the importance of the new administrative-territorial organization.
“A thorough reorganization of the territorial map across the Republic of Albania from the administrative point of view, after 21 June will allow municipalities to have more responsibility, cover a much larger territory, have much more needs and face many more challenges. Be convinced that vocational education will be one of the most important points of our work together with local authorities, and will enable us to do more than before every year, and do in a few years for vocational education and real employment of young people what was not done in the past 20 years.”
In conclusion, the Prime Minister invited parents to consider vocational education as a real opportunity for a safer tomorrow for their children.