Syrian refugees under temporary protection in Turkey will have extended access to vocational training centers through social and economic cohesion projects, according to National Education Ministry.
The country carries out projects on the social and economic integration of Syrian refugees under temporary protection through vocational training, a statement by the ministry said.
The latest situation in the projects and new steps to be taken for the integration of Syrian refugees were discussed at a meeting chaired by Mahmut Ozer, the deputy education minister responsible for vocational and technical education.
Improvements in the Vocational Training Program for Employment and Social and Economic Adaptation Project through Vocational and Technical Education projects and steps to extending the access of Syrian refugees to vocational training centers that promote social and economic cohesion and employability were also evaluated.
Explaining that they have focused on social and economic cohesion through vocational and technical education in the last three years, Ozer said they have also carried out international projects.
While Syrian students receive education once a week at vocational training centers, the other days they receive occupational skill training in the businesses, he noted.
The vocational training center also supports students with one-third of the minimum wage for four years of education, he added.
Currently, 3,000 of around 150,000 students in these centers, accounting for 2% of the total, are Syrians, Ozer said, noting that their goal this year is to increase this rate to 10%.
Ozer underlined at the meeting that Turkey hosts the highest number of Syrian refugees in the world.
He emphasized that significant progress has been made in the access of school-age Syrian children to education, adding that many projects have been successfully implemented to raise the schooling rate at all levels.
Ozer also said more Syrian students study in Turkey than the total number of students in many European countries.
Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011 when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million remain displaced, according to UN estimates.
Turkey hosts more than 3.6 million refugees -- more than any country in the world./aa
