In Madagascar, 60% of the 23.8 million inhabitants are aged under 25. The employment of young people is therefore crucial. But training is not valued, because they often lack practical experience. "There are very few machines available to students and the ones we have date back to 1990. The training will suffer a lot," says Josoa Ramamonjisoa, Director of the National Training Centre for Employment.
The work of restructuring the Ministerial building is therefore a small but important activity, a good practical result of collaboration between the Salesian CNDC and the "FormaPro-BTP project", funded by the Agence Française pour le Développement. This is a project that aims to modernize training in the construction and building industry, and the improvement of skills offered in different Professional Schools, both at practical and theoretical level.
The CNDC is one of the four Salesian Professional Schools in Madagascar. Half of the young people who study there come from vulnerable situations, and undergo a change in their life, first through a process developed in educational rehabilitation centres of other NGOs in the area, and then through the Salesian education and vocational training, to promote their full social integration and inclusion in the workforce.
The Salesians are direct legal guardians of some of the students because their families are far away or absent; the work that is done with them is therefore not only related to vocational training, but also a psycho-social support for their reintegration.
"In addition, the Labour Office has been present in the centre for over ten years with the aim of helping all the young people who finish their training to enter the professional world," adds Paola Schinelli, from the Office of Planning and Development of the Salesians in Madagascar.
"Through operations such as this, the boys are confronted with real working conditions, must meet deadlines and the required quality. It is an excellent exercise for them," says one of the instructors, Roger Rabenisoelson.
"I decided to follow the training course to realize my dream: to be in charge of a building site,” said 17-year-old Pascal Rakotonirina, the student who is in charge of the work.
Source: Le Monde
