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Turkish Daily News
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Vocational classes with jobs guarantee canceled due to lack of interest
Durmuş SEVİNDİK
ZONGULDAK – Doğan News Agency

Carpentry and ceramic classes in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak that guaranteed a job on completion were canceled last Friday due to lack of interest.

According to the program, launched by the local employment ministry and Çanakçılar ceramic factory in the Gökçebey region as part of the World Bank-funded Privatization Social Support Project, each unskilled, unemployed person who attended the program would get YTL 17 per day to attend classes with a job guaranteed upon successful completion of the course.

The Zonguldak branch of the Labor Ministry sent invitations to 100 unemployed people who had applied to them asking them to show up Aug. 15 at the factory.

However, only six people who applied showed up for the carpentry course and four for the ceramics one. The 60-day courses required at least 10 students per course so the program was canceled.

The local employment director, Cemal Yiğit, said the organizers were very surprised by the lack of interest, noting that their efforts were aimed at providing professional training to unskilled and unemployed people, with each student getting YTL 1,045 at the end of the program. Those who completed the course would begin work at the factory, he said.

�This really upset us. The state launches the training program, gives them a salary and guarantees a job, but no one's interested,� he said.

He noted that a previous program, held in cooperation with the local chamber of tradesmen, had provided 40 students with jobs.