During a working trip to the Dnipropetrovsk region, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the state educational institution "Kryvyi Rih Training and Retraining Center for Construction Workers", where measures to develop vocational education in Ukraine were presented to him.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that until recently no one in our country was interested in the topic of personnel training for the state. And the current government is changing that. In accordance with the President's decree, the government is preparing a number of measures for the development of higher education in Ukraine. At the same time, no less important topic is professional education, the Head of State said.
"Today our priority is the revival of Ukrainian industry. I was born in Kryvyi Rih. We understand what industry is. We understand that the industry feeds the city and provides jobs," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The President of Ukraine believes that a new approach to the state policy in the field of industry should be implemented. After all, there is a very powerful potential throughout the country, which is almost lost.
"We really want to bring back Ukraine's industrial glory. I believe that we have every opportunity for that. And it is impossible to do that without staff, without professional people, without our Ukrainians - educated industrialists," the President said.
Separately, the Head of State noted that at present the problem of availability of jobs in our country is more pressing than wages of workers: wages are quite high at enterprises.
The destruction of jobs and our strategic enterprises that compete on the world market was Ukraine's policy before, the President stressed.
"The profession of workers must become prestigious. We must respect the work of these people. We must understand that these people can really restore Ukraine's industry. Many industries in our country are still underdeveloped or neglected," the President said.
Acting Minister of Education and Science Serhiy Shkarlet noted that the crisis in vocational education is caused by certain global factors, including the demographic decline, which is observed both in Ukraine and in the world (the best Ukrainian specialists went abroad to fill the vacancies that appeared), the growth of labor migration, the availability of education abroad, the social demands of young people for the first job, the growing influence of social networks on the prestige of the working profession. Therefore, there is a need to modernize vocational education for sustainable development of society.
In this regard, the Ministry of Education and Science presents a plan to modernize vocational education developed pursuant to the initiative of the President of Ukraine. Serhiy Shkarlet noted that to date, 754 vocational education institutions have confirmed their readiness to reform.
According to the Minister, the modernization plan envisages the creation of an effective system of management and financing of vocational education institutions, which requires optimization of the existing network of institutions, which has already begun with participation of local authorities and local self-government bodies, and completion of the transfer of institutions from state to municipal ownership.
"A new model of governance in the field of vocational education will be proposed at the regional level with the obligatory involvement of all stakeholders," Serhiy Shkarlet said.
The plan also envisages updating the educational and social infrastructure of vocational education institutions with the involvement of investments, as only 6% of such institutions have been renovated.
"Pursuant to the President's instructions, yesterday, at a regular government meeting, 100 million hryvnias of subvention were redistributed for 21 regional budgets and 8 cities of regional significance for the development of training and qualification centers," the minister said.
In addition, the development of public-private partnership in the field of vocational education is envisaged to improve the quality of education by involving employers in training. In particular, it goes about creation of educational and practical centers with the help of businesses which need workers.
The plan also envisages the promotion of vocational education and the creation of a flexible system of consulting young people on obtaining such education.
After the presentation, the President of Ukraine stressed that the best first step to promote vocational education is to increase scholarships and demonstrate by increasing the number of jobs how children start working in the specialty after graduation.
"These should be special contracts, agreements and a register of companies, where people will actually see the increase in the number of jobs. It is necessary for people to see it. And conditions in which children study (are also important - ed.)," the President noted.
