Dual education, an extra chance at employment

Students who participate in dual education have a greater chance of employment after completing their studies than those who do not choose this system, but for its development, public policies are needed at the Government level to encourage the development of the private sector, said Iulian Cristache, expert in educational policies. Present at a debate on education and professional training, organized by the Coalition for Freedom of Trade and Communication - CLCC, Cristache declared: "Connecting education with the labor market would, theoretically, represent a great plus. This dual education, as he shows , can be connected very well if we have some public policies at the level of the Government that encourage the development of the private sector. In the counties there are no industrial platforms, large private economic agents, that request partnerships at the level of the school inspectorates and hire the future ones on the labor market. students". He emphasized that there are good practices in this sense in Braşov, Oradea, where there is a developed economy, but not in counties like Teleorman, where the economy is "on the ground": "It is clear that students who participate in dual education have a greater chance of employment after completing the studies. There are companies that say: "Sir, I come with a group of 10 students, I pay a few thousand lei for them - and after the internship and school are over - they have no obligation to come to me to get hired". On the other hand, there are agents who say: "This is very good, because it is possible that by the time the internship is over, I won't be able to hire him anymore". On the other hand, there are parents who do not want to sign a contract with the obligation to employ their children, where the economic agent spends some money to be able to absorb the labor force". Iulian Cristache also spoke about the lack of educational infrastructure, given that there are units that do not have the necessary equipment or the equipment is old: "I also spoke with economic agents who had an opening and they told me: "There are engineers who come from the Polytechnic and I ask them some questions and I know absolutely nothing". Unfortunately, neither do the engineers, but to take a child who went either willingly, because he was advised by his family, or forced because they don't have backgrounds entrance to theoretical high schools, which does not have a knowledge base of mathematics, geometry, drawing. You have to know how to multiply, you have to know how to divide, you simply cannot hire them, even if I can qualify them on the spot of work".

In his opinion, dual education is often perceived as an inferior option, "which is not right at all": "Certainly, not all students can go to a theoretical education, not all will become doctors, engineers, etc. These children must to be counseled, starting from the 5th grade, the 6th grade, in which some of them have to follow such a route, which is not at all shameful. Here is a problem, with the poor public image it is often perceived as an inferior option, which is not okay at all. If I look into the pockets of tradesmen, to tell you directly, tradesmen currently earn better than many engineers in the labor market, not compared to doctors, because now doctors have started to earn well, maybe better than many of the lawyers, who are not all at the high level. Tradesmen today, if you look at builders, if you look at a plumber, at an auto mechanic, there are people who earn a lot of money". He believes that parents' mentalities must be changed.