The virtual exhibition of the 1st solidarity event of Vocational Training Programme for Employment (VET4JOB), conducted in cooperation with the Directorate General of Vocational and Technical Education of the Ministry of National Education DG TVET and the Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen (TESK), and supported by the European Union, was opened to visit on May 9, on the Europe Day. Solidarity event, which melts the concepts such as solidarity, sustainability, environment, cooperation, and social adaptation, which constitute the principles of the European Union in the same pot, is among the most prominent activities of VET4JOB.
“Apprentice Student Vocational Solidarity Activities” carried out within the scope of VET4JOB, briefly referred to as the Solidarity event, started with the aim of enabling apprentice students to develop and implement environmentally sensitive social entrepreneurship projects in teams. For guidance, the students, teachers, and master trainers in VET4JOB Solidarity teams were given training on sustainability, design-oriented thinking, social benefit, team work and effective presentation.
Apprentice Student Vocational Skills Solidarity Activities
The first Apprentice Student Vocational Skills Solidarity Activity started in Kizilcahamam, Ankara on October 5-7, 2022. In the training attended by apprentice students, teachers and master trainers from Ankara, Izmir, Kayseri, and Konya, all content was designed in an interactive and dynamic structure. Students started their training by learning the concept of “collective” After a colorful acquaintance phase, they learned new information about the current state of the planet and sustainability through games. Before the training, the main theme of which was sustainability, flasks were presented to the students to raise the awareness of leaving less waste in nature. Apprentice students quickly adopted this message and used their flasks when they were thirsty.
The second training activity within the scope of solidarity was carried out in Adana on December 6-8, 2022. Apprentice students, teachers and qualified instructors from Adana, Mersin, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, and Hatay met. As in the previous meeting, their studies focused on ecological, economic, and social sustainability. While thinking design-oriented, they used their dexterity in teams and floated the ships they designed. In the post-study evaluation, they elaborated on issues such as the challenges and advantages of being a team, the inefficiency of doing business without planning, and the importance of time management.
The third Apprenticeship Student Vocational Skills Solidarity Activity was held in Abant, Bolu on January 9-11, with the participation of the Bursa, Istanbul, and Kocaeli teams, who returned to their respective cities to design and implement their projects with the newly acquired knowledge and perspectives. At the end of the training, Hac Fayad, an apprentice student from Bornova Vocational Training Center, answered to the question “What did you learn in Solidarity?” as follows: “I was very surprised by what I learned about our planet. I did not know that we had done so much damage to the world”, reflecting the students’ astonishment at what they learned. Please check the previous issue of Cevher to find out what the apprentice students conveyed after the Solidarity Training.
VET4JOB Solidarity teams, with the support of their newly acquired capacity and the members of their community, rolled up their sleeves to realize social benefit-oriented activities. Thus, the way to the exhibition started with training and continued with the teams returning to their homes, determining the project topics, planning, and implementing the projects. On May 9, the 1st Solidarity Exhibition was opened to visit. Click here to visit the exhibition with the posters describing the projects implemented within the scope of solidarity.
The First Solidarity Exhibition
The First Solidarity Exhibition contains posters and videos embedded into posters explaining the projects of Siteler and OSTIM MEM teams from Ankara, Ahi Evran, 100. Yil MEM and Aykent MTAL teams from Konya, Bornova, Karabaglar MEM and Nevvar Salih Isgoren MTAL teams from Izmir, and Osman Dusungel and Ayse Baldoktu MEM teams from Kayseri.
Ankara Siteler Vocational Training Center raised awareness for reusing denim products that are out of use of all students and teachers of the school, as well as individuals around the school, with their project titled “From Blue to Green: “Unused Jeans Turn into Bags” The team implemented an exemplary zero-waste project aimed at raising awareness for reuse by designing and sewing bags using out-of-use jeans. In this way, they invited the participants and the people to zero-waste studies to be carried out at the social level. In fact, 70 design bags were produced by converting 20 kg of textile waste during the project, preventing the use of 3.2 kg of chemicals, and saving 2 thousand liters of water.
The team of Ankara OSTİM Vocational Training Center developed a project titled “I Sort Waste, I Support Economy” in order to recycle with waste separation and increase social awareness with technological design and creation. Within the scope of the project, a sensor waste sorting machine with a capacity to separate 700 kg of waste was produced by using some parts produced using 3D printers as well as idle machine parts.
The team of Konya Ahi Evran Vocational Training Center carried out a project called “Boss Apprentice Student” The aim of this project is to raise awareness about respect, trust and non-violent communication and strengthen communication between schools and businesses. In addition to informative studies, visual materials for schools and businesses were produced in the implementation of the project, which also included a large survey.
Solidarity team from Konya 100. Yıl Vocational Training Center developed a project called “Wasted Money” with the aim of increasing social awareness on energy saving and conscious electricity consumption. They made “reactive power compensation” in order to prevent reactive penalty payments in the electricity bills of two schools cooperated under this project. Thus, 3,200 kilowatts of energy were saved and a total penalty payment of TRY 7,500 was avoided.
The team of Konya Karatay Aykent Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School is engaged in soilless agriculture at the school garden aiming to strengthen its ties with our planet. At the same time, they announced their efforts and drew attention to sustainability in the school newspaper they distributed in and around the school. The Name of their Project: “We Meet Soilless Agriculture, We Make a Difference with Our School Newspaper” The team, which achieved their objective of doing soilless agriculture through the mini greenhouse system they established, not only grew 20 kilos of lettuce, but also saved 2,160 liters of water. They print their school newspapers in limited numbers and mostly share it digitally, also aiming to reduce the use of water and chemicals required for printing to prevent tree cutting.
Izmir Bornova Vocational Training Center implemented a project titled “Think Before Throwing; Do not Throw but Recycle, and Support” to question the waste issue and increase social awareness and cooperation, and provided and installed waste collection boxes to the school, and hold an information seminar about plastic waste. So far, 50 kg of plastic waste bottles were collected and income was generated for 2 children in need.
Izmir Karabaglar Vocational Training Center carried out a study to provide social benefits for the neighborhood where the school is located. In order to meet the hair, nail care and hygiene of underage disadvantaged children who cannot access hair, nail care and hygiene services, they implemented the project titled “We’re here to Add Beauty to Your Beauty” In this context, the children in need in the vicinity of the school were identified, and interviews were conducted with some of the children and parents, and the children and young people were provided with haircut, hair design, and hand and nail care services.
Nevvar Salih Isgoren Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School from Izmir aimed to increase social awareness and cooperation by establishing a circular waste system with their project titled “We Convert Our Food Waste into Green Plant and Our Waste Oils into Soap” which show an example of solidarity with teachers, school employees, guests of the school-affiliated practice hotel, and local artisans. Realizing that there are many raw foods waste going to the garbage in the food and beverage workshops of their school, in the kitchen of the practice hotel affiliated to the school and in the workplaces of the artisans who produce food in the vicinity, the team made awareness studies about raw food waste by taking advantage of such waste. Besides, within the scope of their project, they collected 70 kilos of waste oil and used it to produce 30 kilos of soap, and included worms in their project to make compost with 130 kilos of food waste.
The Solidarity team of Kayseri Osman Dusungel Vocational Training Center developed a project that offered an example of solidarity with students with special needs in a special education institution near their school with their project titles “Take and Mix, Do and Fix” First, the team identified and obtained textile waste, and then, re-evaluated this waste and produced 200 pencil boxes and presented them to students with special needs following an induction event. During the project, 30 kilos of textile waste were recycled, 5 kilos of chemicals were avoided and 3 thousand liters of water was saved.
Ayse Baldoktu Vocational Training Center from Kayseri made workplace arrangements in order to reduce water consumption with the solidarity of students, teachers and the employees of a restaurant in Kayseri with their project titled “Respect for the Environment, Green and Nature” developed in order to keep the environment and nature clean, and keep the living species in the surroundings alive and tree the environment, allowing the remaining food in the aforementioned restaurant to be separated as animal share and ensuring cooperation with municipal animal shelters. Within the scope of this project, tree seeds were collected, germinated, and then planted in suitable places during a nature trip.
All the projects of Solidarity have produced very meaningful results that make faces smile. Please click to visit the exhibition!
