THE FUTURE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE LIES IN TRADES AND PRACTICAL PROFESSIONS

VLASENICA, MAY 21 /SRNA/ - Deficit occupations and skilled trades are a secure path toward building a successful professional and family future for young people, participants of panel discussion on dual education emphasized today in Vlasenica.

Tijana Rađević Drljača, head of the Department for Secondary Vocational Education and Adult Education at the Ministry of Education and Culture of Republika Srpska, stressed that this field has significantly improved, as evidenced by the large increase in the number of students receiving practical training with employers, as well as the increase in participating employers themselves. “Compared to the period five years ago, today we have 14 times more students attending practical training and as many as 20 times more employers involved in this process,” Drljača told the press. Drljača noted that the Ministry has created a quality legislative framework clearly regulating the dual education system. Željko Vidić, secretary of the Council for Agriculture and Food Industry at the Regional Chamber of Commerce Bijeljina, pointed out that for years, together with institutions, they have been actively working on improving dual education as one of the key solutions to the labour shortage issue. He said today’s discussion was an opportunity for business owners to become familiar with the legislative framework and to hear examples of good practice. “The Chamber’s message to companies, parents, and children is that, in a time of major migration trends and enormous technological progress, the future for young people lies in trades and practical professions. Examples from practice show that within these occupations it is possible to build a highly respectable career and a successful future,” Vidić said. Krešimir Bodrožić, owner of TIKT Manufaktura from Gradiška, said the company employs 100 workers and has been operating within the dual education system for years. “Dual education is certainly the best way to familiarize young people with the economic system while they are still in school. Every year we have between 25 and 30 students in dual education, and out of the 10 graduates who completed practical training with us last year, nine remained to work at the company,” Bodrožić said. The principal of the Milorad Vlačić Secondary School Centre in Vlasenica, Svjetlana Lazić, said that everyone’s goal is to stop the departure of young people by providing them with working conditions. Lazić said they began implementing dual education last year and, in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce, succeeded in training five mentors. The organisers of today’s panel discussion in Vlasenica were the Regional Chamber of Commerce Bijeljina and Dual Education the Council, which operates within the chamber.