Vocational training needs to be close to practical requirements.

(Baonghean) - Speaking with Nghe An Newspaper, Mr. Dang Cao Thang - Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs emphasized that to be truly effective, vocational training for rural workers must be close to practical requirements.

Carpentry contributes to creating jobs and increasing income for rural workers. Photo: Thanh Le

PV:Recently, vocational training for rural workers in Nghe An has achieved some initial results, but also encountered many difficulties. Could you give more specific information about this issue?

Comrade Dang Cao Thang:In the period 2012 - 2016, the whole province organized vocational training for 404,562 people. Of which, the number of rural workers supported to learn vocational skills according to Decision No. 1956/QD-TT of the Prime Minister on vocational training for rural workers was 41,654 people. Notably, after learning vocational skills, the number of rural workers who had new jobs or continued to do their old jobs but with higher productivity and income reached 74.1%.

Although the quality of training is assessed as quite good, the shortcomings in both factors including the occupational structure and the number of learners are not close to the actual needs of the locality, leading to a situation where there is still a shortage in places and a surplus in places. Many workers, despite having been trained, still have difficulty finding stable jobs. Or many jobs can only be maintained for a short time, after which workers are likely to lose their jobs or have to change jobs due to many fluctuations in the market. For example, according to our survey, in Phuc Thanh commune (Yen Thanh), out of 6,000 people of working age, only over 10% have stable jobs in craft villages. The rest have to work freelance or go to work far away.

Along with that, the facilities for teaching and learning are still lacking, poor and outdated; funding for vocational training is still limited; the determination of the list of annual training occupations is still scattered. Vocational training for rural areas is mainly based on the vocational training needs of workers, but has not been linked to the socio-economic development strategy of localities. In addition, the vocational training mentality of the people is not yet positive and determined; there are too few businesses operating in the area... Therefore, finding a sustainable direction in training at vocational establishments and localities is a difficult problem.

PV:At the recent national conference on vocational training for rural workers, the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs questioned whether there was a situation of “beating the drum to register” when a commune had 600 workers registering to learn pig castration, and another commune had a few dozen people registering to learn motorbike repair. Obviously, the gap between training and practice is still quite large. Public opinion believes that with the current method of rural vocational training, it is difficult to talk about changing the quality of labor, if not to say it is wasteful?

Comrade Dang Cao Thang:We admit that in the early stages of implementing the Vocational Training Project for Rural Workers, there was a phenomenon of mass, fad-like vocational training; following the style of "training whatever is available" without assessing whether it was truly suitable for the local situation and the ability of workers to find jobs suitable for their profession.

In addition, there is a waste in the infrastructure of vocational schools. Many classes in agriculture such as cultivation, plant protection, animal husbandry and veterinary medicine have to borrow halls from villages or people's houses to teach, because people do not want to go to the center to study agriculture because it is too far away, so classes have to be opened right in the village, while vocational facilities with large investments are not effective.

The Government's policy in the period of 2016 - 2020 is not to organize vocational training for rural workers when the workplace and income level after vocational training cannot be predicted. This is a correct policy to end the situation of vocational training following the trend and chasing quantity as before; creating a change in people's awareness, from participating in vocational training with the goal of eliminating hunger and reducing poverty to grasping science and skills to improve life and income.

Incense making profession. Photo: Thanh Le

PV:Statistics show that currently vocational training only attracts 25% of young workers, aged 18-35, in rural areas to participate. This shows that rural workers are not very interested in vocational training. Can you tell us the reason?

Comrade Dang Cao Thang:The reason why young workers rarely participate in vocational training courses in rural areas is because a part of young workers in rural areas participate in formal training programs such as intermediate and college levels. Every year, the enrollment rate in intermediate and college schools usually has 70-80% of students from rural areas. Another reason is that they go to work in industrial parks and export processing zones without training or go to work in other localities. Many of them do not see vocational training as necessary for their career and self-employment, do not trust the quality of vocational training, do not have real information to know about the State's policy on vocational training, so they are not interested in participating in vocational training.

PV:So, in your opinion, what solutions and policies are needed to change rural workers' awareness of vocational training?

Comrade Dang Cao Thang:Vocational training for rural workers is a major policy of the Party and the State and has received the attention and support of farmers. This is a difficult task in the implementation process, requiring the synchronous and drastic participation of related sectors and localities.

In my opinion, there are some issues here that need to be clearly assigned and decentralized. We need to have a vocational training plan that is close to actual requirements, especially the stage of surveying vocational training needs, the list of training occupations and building reasonable training cost norms for occupations, ensuring that the trained occupations meet quality requirements.

In addition, it is necessary to strengthen propaganda and consultation activities so that rural workers can clearly identify which vocational training is truly suitable and effective, linked to the requirements of local socio-economic development, and at the same time linked to the needs of workers in finding jobs. On the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen inspection and supervision activities and promote post-vocational support policies for rural workers.

In the period of 2016 - 2020, vocational training for rural workers is included in the National Target Program on New Rural Development with the goal of vocational training for 5.5 million rural workers; after training, at least 80% of students will have new jobs or continue to work in their old jobs with higher productivity and income. That requires us to have a sustainable strategy and direction to help people understand the value of vocational training and work. And, if we can do that, the province's target of having 50 - 70% of rural workers trained by 2020 is not difficult.

PV:Thank you for the discussion!

Thanh Le

(Perform)