OPENING CEREMONY OF 2013 COMENIUS SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS PROJECTS

Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bağış participated in the Opening Ceremony of 2013 Comenius School Partnerships Projects and stated that the Turkish National Agency is the first in Europe in terms of the number of applications for projects among 33 countries, carrying out Comenius Program.

In his speech for the meeting which was held in Istanbul Haliç Congress Center and also participated by Prof. Dr. Nabi Avcı, the Minister of National Education, Bagis underlined that the Ministry for EU Affairs encourages vocational education through several training programs and said: “Most of our children, who do not have any chance before to visit our metropolitan cities such as Ankara, İstanbul and İzmir were able to travel across the most outstanding cities in the world in order to receive vocational training and they improved their knowledge.

Stating that Comenius Program is based on an approach as “If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough”, Bagis said that such projects taught them how to catch fish.

Bagis mentioned the progress in terms of sending the students abroad via EU funds and said: “Last year, there were 61 thousand people who went to Europe for training. 61 thousand negotiators eliminated their prejudices about the accession process. We have a more ambitious target this year. It is 70 thousands.

Also touching on democratization package, Bagis said that Turkey set sail for a new period in training. He recorded that a new generation emerged, which has given up the learn-by-rote education system and now questions the unknown. Bagis also mentioned the proverb, “The skill of an artisan is worth a thousand gold coins” and said: A nation which embodies such proverbs should attach importance to vocational education; although this issue has been ignored for long, now there is no barrier within this respect.

Source: AA