Adult education will be verified

Citizens will be qualified according to employers’ needs

The Law on Adult Education projects concrete criteria for jobs, help by the state and acknowledgement of the work of workers’ universities and night schools for adults that have not completed their education and that would like to retrain. The regulation should enter into governmental procedure in April. However, those employed in workers’ universities doubt that the law will “be passed” with an explanation that so far there have been attempts to arrange the issues in that sphere, but unsuccessfully. The Ministry of Education and the commissions from the workers’ universities have made a working version of the law. Experiences from Croatia have been used, but in the department they say that the law should be completed and apart from the Croatian, they will have to rely on the Hungarian experience, too. The objective of the adult education is an opportunity for acquiring appropriate educational level for everyone and for all adult groups and gaining knowledge, skills and attitudes that will be in accordance with the requirements of the society and the labor market. According to the working version of the law, the tasks of the adult education are the following: completion of at least obligatory education, enabling for employment the adults who have not completed education for first level of expert qualifications, retraining and qualification, training of employed and unemployed adults, education and acquiring knowledge and skills that comply with individuals’ personal capabilities and age, to initiate interest in adult education and to provide the basis for lifelong learning.

“Adults acquire education according to the programs for primary, secondary and higher education, adjusted to their needs and opportunities. The adults can educate themselves and improve, specialize and broaden their knowledge and skills in accordance with the formal education and they can be organized within educational institutions verified for these programs. Adults can constantly self-educate themselves, improve and acquire knowledge, skills and general cultural education in their families, through the media, associations, internet…The special programs for adult education are for populations’ literacy, mother and foreign language, retraining, qualification, entrepreneurship and management, creative expression and participation in cultural and artistic events, information-communication technologies, environmental maintenance and protection, active citizenship, basic knowledge of science and technology” – is written in the working version of the law on adult education.

The programs will be passed by the institution for adult education. They will be carried out through regular teaching, consultative-instructional teaching, correspondence-consultative teaching, open teaching, distance learning. It will be realized by teachers, professors, associates. The teaching staff will have the right and obligation for constant expert improvement, as well as improvement for work with adults.

“The adults will prove their knowledge by taking exams. The exams will be organized and carried out by the institution for adult education that is realizing the program for acquiring knowledge, skills and capabilities, except state secondary school graduation exam, school graduation exam and the final exam in secondary education. A certificate is given for the knowledge and gained skills. The title, contents and the form of the certificate is prescribed by the Minister of Education. A participant in the program for adult education can be any person older than 15 and a status of a student in the program is gained by entering the program” – it is written in the law.

In the country there are seven workers’ universities and three adult schools registered and working for years. In the workers’ universities they greet the initiative for legal regulation of their work. Verification and certification of their work is the contribution they see with the law for adult education. The main reason that the Ministry of Education is working on such law is the need for the citizens to retrain in accordance with the labor market’s need. According to some data by the Employment Agency from 2006, in the country there were 173.223 unqualified citizens. There were 13.387 registered semi-qualified and 62.305 citizens registered as a qualified staff. In 2006 there were 364.463 registered unemployed in the country.

“Some trades will have to be phased out, especially in the secondary vocational schools, as they are not actual at the labor market. For example, a strategy will be prepared for development of textile industry. Thus, the occupation weaver will be phased out and instead, a fashion designer will be opened, as weavers in this country are not really required” – they comment in the Ministry of Education.

The attitude of the employed in the workers’ university in Prilep and Probistip also shows that the law for adult education is supported by the workers’ universities.

“The law needs to be completed. It is to order the chaos that rules this sector. Nowadays everyone can open a school of foreign languages, neither having the appropriate room nor staff. We hope that the law will arrange these things. Our certificates will finally be recognized. So far the institutions have tacitly recognized them, but we think that it should be institutionalized. The non-governmental sector will have the role as a trainer. But their work will also be verified and certified” – they say in the Workers’ University in Prilep.

 

People who have completed university work as electricians and hairdressers

Due to the poverty and unemployment, a lot of citizens with higher education attend retraining courses for bare existence. Due to the needs for knowledge of foreign language and computers, more adult employees are forced to qualify. Those with incomplete primary and secondary education have the need and the desire to complete their education as they get older.

“I have graduated at the Faculty of Economy in Prilep, but I have been unemployed for five years. I have completed English and computer courses, hoping to find a job in some company. But it has not happened. I have been active in some non-governmental organizations, but the projects have finished and now I am at home. I am planning to join a hairdresser’s and beautician’s course, as it has been actual in the town recently. It is better for me to open my own shop, rather than works as a shop assistant. At least I will be my own boss. At the same time I am planning to have a practice in some of the hairdresser’s, to be easier for me. I have given a small fortune for the courses and I hope that it will pay off” – comments a 29-year old girl from Prilep.

In the workers’ university in Prilep they say that such examples are quite common. They say that they also organize secondary education, in spite of the fact that they mostly deal with courses for completion of primary education and retraining. The lack of money and making out in financing the work is the main problem they are facing. Until 2001 the Ministry of Education covered 50% of the costs of the workers’ universities. After that, the institutions find finances by themselves.

“It happens that citizens who in puberty were not interested in secondary education and who did not complete it due to problems, to come now and ask for help to enter the same school they used to go to. As they are older people, they are ashamed to go directly in the school and to ask to return and finish it, so they ask us for help. That is why we say that we organize secondary education, too. Citizens come who due to their companies’ needs have to speak a foreign language and work with computers. Companies in Prilep used to be financially more powerful and to pay the courses to their employees. But in the last year or two it is not the case. The economic situation in Prilep is catastrophic. Tutunski kombinat, for example, was one of our biggest collaborators and user of our services. Unfortunately, now it is not the case. Most of the students are with higher education, young graduated people. But as they cannot find a job, they attend courses to retrain” – they explain in the Workers’ University in Prilep.

Part of the finances comes from donors. Due to the Roma Decade, part of the money comes from donors for qualification of citizens from that nationality.

“We used to offer help to those made redundant. But it is not the case any more. Courses are very cheap and as a result we cannot organize them as it should be. For example, cooks’ courses cannot be organized with 5,000 denars per student. And we do not have conditions. We are trying to do our best. Now, for example, information scientists will be required. The law will help to connect with the labor market and to follow the market trends more easily” – they think.

In the workers’ university in Probistip there is a center for primary education for adults, as well as a center for adult retraining. They say that for the last two-three years the number of adults who have a need to complete primary education in the Workers’ university has reduced. In the school year 2005/06 there were only eight students. For the other courses the attendance is about 14 students.

“As a result of the weak economic power, in the smaller towns the courses offered by the workers’ universities are twice cheaper. The qualification courses are from 5,000 to 6,000 denars. The completion of primary education is about 3,000 denars. For comparison, at the Workers’ university in Skopje some courses are about 17,000 denars. Due to the social aspect, the workers’ universities in the smaller towns cannot offer the appropriate quality.

The interest for citizens’ retraining and qualification is bigger. Builders, hairdressers, white goods, are some of the most required occupations and there is a high interest in them. There is also a high interest in foreign languages and computer courses, especially within employees in small and medium enterprises. There are some who work in car services and they go to the workers’ universities only to confirm their knowledge and get a certificate. There are 220 occupations. The students are at the age of 25-30 and older. There are citizens who have completed higher education, but want to attend courses in white goods, hairdressers and beauticians. They are skeptical that the law for adult education will be passed soon as a result of the unsuccessful attempts for such regulation in the past years” – they say in the Workers’ University in Probistip.