< strong > Reopen Workshop School, a living opportunity for youth at risk of exclusion < / strong >
Content of the News
A total of 218 youth from San Felipe, El Chordillo, Santa Ana and Calidonia have responded to the call for the fifth version of the Workshop School "Learning by doing," after a five-year parentheses after the end of its last cycle in 2018, focused on teaching traditional jobs related to the safeguard of cultural heritage, with no tuition costs for its participants.
According to a report from the Casco Antiguo office (OCA), 52 per cent of all registered persons are women and half of them have been enrolled and have not completed their basic education, have been unemployed and have been studied.
Yessenia Sánchez, director of the OCA expressed that "the aim of this project is to have a positive impact on the lives of young people by benefiting them through traditional jobs related to the safeguard of cultural heritage and with technical training from some jobs of the Cultural and Creative Industries, with the assurance that schools are best place to develop their skills and strengths and thus become a young population sensitive to cultural heritage and to be formally integrated into the labour system."
"A real witness to how the Workshop School has positively affected the lives of the youth who have passed by, it's José, who graduated from welding for property elements and currently works with the Panama Canal Authority as a welder and is leading up a race at the University of Technology of Panama," emphasized Yessenia Sánchez.
The Workshop School is an instrument of public cultural policy and a life project that opens up an opportunity for employment to young people at risk of exclusion from 16 to 25 years old who are outside the educational system. Through their training, accompaniment and guidance in traditional jobs where they will learn about the conservation of our heritage and its value, with real employment opportunities, applying a training methodology that combines theory with practice and strengthening soft skills.
Under this program, registered young people will be able to get a technician in two years, enabling them to learn a heritage-related profession, and there will also be short jobs up to four months in Creative and Cultural Industries (gastronomy, digital production and so forth) that will serve as a maintenance for their quality of life.
The studies to be offered are welding, hardware, tourist and heritage guide, gastronomy, creation of digital content, carpentry, electricity, plumbing and cultural landscape.
It has as its strategic partners the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), in strategic partnership with the Ministry of Culture, the National Institute for Training and Training for Human Development (INADEH), the Ministry of Education (MEDUCA), the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES), the Ministry of Labour and Labour Development (MITREL) and the San Felipe Communal Board.
