Specialists point to lack of vocational education standards

As there are no education standards in vocational education institutions, these institutions have to devise their own programs for specialty disciplines. As a result, the specialists are trained differently. Related issues were discussed in a roundtable meeting centering on the modernization of vocational education by social partnerships, Info-Prim Neo reports. ”We face many problems. We do not have curriculum because we do not have education standards that would be obligatory and would represent a foundation for all the institutions. We do not have education standards because we do not have occupational standards that would define the labor market requirements. The legislation does not say exactly who should work out these standards,” said Violeta Mija, head of the Education Ministry’s National Center for Vocational Education Development. There is also a wide discrepancy between the supply and demand on the labor marker in certain areas of activity. The participants in the discussions said there should be created a mechanism for regulating the relations between the vocational education institutions on the one hand and the economic entities on the other hand. Octavian Vasilachi, head of the Education Ministry’s Secondary and Vocational Education Division, said the modernization of vocational education would lead to the approval and revision of legislative documents. There must be adopted an Education Code and revised a series of regulations of these institutions. Octavian Vasilachi also said that the vocation education institutions should be appropriately outfitted with equipment so that the students know how to work with technology and there should be designed an efficient mechanism for cooperation between education institutions, economic entities, the local public authorities and NGOs so as to organize internships at companies and later employ the learners. In Moldova, there are 47 vocational schools, 13 handicraft schools and six handicraft schools set up inside penitentiaries, two professional high schools and two private professional high schools. About 20,000 students study at the 70 institutions.