OCT. 22, 2018

President Piñera kicks off agenda to modernize technical-professional education “This is the force that is going to move our country”

The plan includes creating more Bicentenary Schools that specialize in technical education, expanding free education benefits in higher education, and offering international internships and scholarships for professional development and training. The President also defended the proposed Safe Classroom legislation and asked parliamentarians to say whether they support the bill.

On Monday, students joined President Sebastián Piñera at Instituto Cumbre de Cóndores in Santiago where he kicked off the Modernizing Technical-Professional Education agenda, intended to position Chile as an excellent competitive option.

“Technical-professional education is the force that is going to move our country toward development — comprehensive, inclusive, sustainable development. That is why we are strongly committed,” said President Piñera, who was accompanied by Education Minister Marcela Cubillos and Labor Minister Nicolás Monckeberg.

The plan aims to promote education-work policies to improve the quality of education. Policies include creating more Bicentenary Schools that specialize in technical education, creating internships and scholarships outside Chile, and pushing for the creation of technical-professional schools outside Santiago.

The proposed legislation would expand free education benefits to students in the lowest 70% income bracket who opt for technical-professional education, benefiting more than 13,000 students.

The objective is to create a coordinated system that integrates technical-professional programs in high school and higher education with practical training. Such a system would respond to social needs and the needs of productive sectors by forging pathways between these different educational and work stages. The agenda seeks to facilitate access in order to encourage more young people to choose technical-professional training for their development.

“We want to be able to integrate high school-level technical-professional education and advanced technical-professional education with the production world. That trilogy will allow us to make a difference,” said the President, who explained the initiative to a classroom of students.

Three of every four jobs in Chile are for technical-professional personnel. This trend is even more pronounced in global markets where Technical-Professional Training is seen as a better response to the discussion on productivity.

After the event, the President mentioned the administration’s proposed Safe Classroom (Aula Segura) legislation, which seeks to bring peace, safety and tranquility to the school community following the recent episodes of school violence. “This administration is going to use the full force of the law to take on those who believe they have the right to destroy their own schools,” he explained.

He also called on parliamentarians to say whether they will support the proposed legislation. “Parliamentarians cannot be neutral on this issue; they are going to have to choose. Voting on the Safe Classroom legislation is good way to show which side they are on,” he said.

The following are the highlights of Modernizing Technical-Professional Education:

1. Expanding the network of Bicentenary Schools, with an emphasis on those that provide technical-professional training.

2. Expanding free higher education benefits to Technical Training Centers and Professional Institutes for students belonging to the 70% lowest-income households who opt for technical-professional training. This will benefit an additional 13,000 students.

3. Creating a multidisciplinary Technical-Professional Advisory Council which will enable strategy and content design.

4. Creating a georeferenced map of technical-professional schools, listing the specialties offered at each institution. Regional round tables will also be held with productive sectors to improve the quality of technical-professional training.

5. Optimizing internships and scholarships outside Chile as part of the One Thousand Technical-Professional Internships (Mil Pasantías Técnico Profesional) program.

6. Increasing the quality of technical training. Strong support will be lent to training centers in the Maule, Araucanía, Tarapacá, Coquimbo and Los Lagos regions. Progress on other centers will also continue.

7. Incorporating specific quality standards for technical-professional training.