News
10/18/2022 01:03
The Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European affairs and chief negotiator with the European Union, Bojan Maricik, at today's explanatory screening for Chapter 26, "Education and Culture", in his opening statement said that the Government recognizes the importance of education, training and youth programs, as key bearers of development policies that contribute to economic growth and the creation of new jobs.
Maricik referred to the reforms and the current activities and projects that are being worked on in the field of education and culture, emphasizing the reform in vocational education, the purpose of which is to prepare young people to respond to the demands of the labour market.
- This includes the establishment of Regional Centres for Vocational Education and Science. Within the framework of constant efforts to improve the quality of education, according to the Strategy for Adult Education 2019-2023, one of the most important priorities is the establishment of a system for the recognition of informal learning, which will enable people to acquire a qualification and have greater inclusion in the labour market, Maricik said.
In terms of youth policies, he emphasized that the authorities continue to establish Youth Centres in every municipality to support young people, that the Law on Youth Participation and Youth Policies has been adopted, and he also announced that a new Youth Strategy 2023-2027 is being prepared.
- Regarding EU programs in this area, North Macedonia is a very successful participant. We have signed and started implementing the agreements for participation in Erasmus + and the European Solidarity Corps, for the new financial cycle. The Erasmus+ program is managed with a significant commitment rate and absorption capacity. Within the framework of 2014-2020, 4199 grants were awarded, involving over 32,000 participants, and 37 million euros were paid, Maricik pointed out.
In this section, the director of the National Agency for European Programs and Mobility, Marko Gjorgievski, emphasized that the National Agency is dedicated to promoting the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps Programs, by organizing workshops for good information and familiarization with the programs.
- We create opportunities for everyone, especially young people. Through National Training Teams in Vocational Education, we are preparing for the next year - Year of Skills at the European level. "Inclusion in the programs, Explore the EU and Sport bring us closer together and highlight the numerous opportunities for everyone," said director Gjorgievski.
In the field of culture, the chief negotiator with the EU, Maricik, said that the Ministry of Culture remains committed to the Creative Europe program, as one of the main European projects to support European cultural cooperation expressed through cultural creations and the unification of diversity, within which 14 projects are supported. with a total amount of about 2.5 million euros in grants, while 3 projects with 142,000 euros are supported within the MEDIA subprogram.
Two explanatory screening meetings are being held today in Brussels for Chapter 26 "Education and Culture" and Chapter 19, "Employment and Social Policy", at which the European Commission will present the new corpus of EU legislation adopted in the period after 2018/19.