The business world and the education community met at IZTO

Izmir Chamber of Commerce (İZTO) brought together the national education directors of Izmir provinces and districts with the representatives of the business world. Hosting the 'Provincial and District Directors of National Education Meeting', IZTO laid the foundation of a structure where business world and national education managers will meet on a common ground and produce projects and create a strong synergy for the youth. A cooperation protocol was signed between the Provincial Directorate of National Education and Izmir University of Economics (IUE), which aims to carry out studies in the academic and scientific field. Mahmut Özgener, Chairman of IZTO Executive Board and President of IUE Board of Trustees stated that they attach great importance to communication between the education community and the business world. Özgener said, “The synergy created by our meeting with the Chamber, University and Provincial Directorate of National Education will open many doors of cooperation in the field of education.”

Mahmut Özgener, Chairman of IZTO Executive Board, Murat Mücahit Yentür, Provincial Director of National Education, 30 district directors of national education, IUE Rector Prof. Dr. Murat Aşkar, Selami Özpoyraz, President of IZTO Council, IZTO Executive Board Members Adil Özyiğit, Mehmet Şahin Çakan and Serdar Gökhan Arıkan, and members of the assembly and committee attended the meeting.  Leading names of the Izmir business world, who took part in the professional committees of IZTO, had the opportunity to convey their suggestions regarding the work to be done in the field of vocational education to the Director Yentür.

IzQ PROJECT WILL CREATE A SPACE FOR CHILDREN

Delivering the opening speech of the meeting, Chairman Özgener said, “Experts report that 60 percent of the current occupations may disappear in the coming years. We live in an era where technology advances very rapidly. At this point, we, as the Chamber, are carrying out different projects. The 'IzQ Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center', which we plan to open in the first quarter of this year, will create an important space to explain the importance of digitalization especially to the children in the K12 age group. The cooperation with the Directorate of National Education in this regard is very valuable. On the basis of the education we aim to provide to children, whom we can define as the children of a new age, with IzQ project and to the youth with Izmir University of Economics, is to do our best for them to renew themselves throughout life, to always have the most up-to-date and accurate information, and to step into life better equipped.”

HUMAN RESOURCE NEEDS

Emphasizing that the most common complaint from the members is the difficulties in meeting the technical and intermediate staff needs, Chairman Özgener said, “The fact that the human resources are equipped, adequate and competent as expected during recruitment can only be achieved with a good training that is compatible with current economic and commercial conditions. At this point, the ‘Vocational Education Cooperation Protocol’ signed in 2019 between the Ministry of National Education and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey is a very correct step. Within the scope of the protocol, we take part in the management of Çınarlı Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, which was selected as a pilot school in our province together with other chambers and commodity exchanges. We have also created a Vocational Education Work Group within our chamber. The group aims to create a model system where we can contribute to the placement of the right personnel for the right job.”

WE MUST CREATE NEW TECHNOLOGY, NEW BENEFIT

Drawing attention to the importance of education, Murat Mücahit Yentür, Izmir Provincial Director of National Education, said that they have undertaken a great responsibility to build Turkey's future. Director Yentür said, “We have 700 thousand students and 52 thousand teachers in Izmir. We are working to provide them with the best educational environment. Just learning knowledge is not enough. It is our biggest duty to produce information and to reach different areas by making analysis of information. It is necessary to produce new technologies and create a new benefit. Recently, the budget allocated to education in our country has expanded, teacher employment has been increased, the physical conditions of schools have been improved and many cooperations have been developed in various fields. We are aware of our responsibilities, and we continue to work dynamically with the awareness of the importance of producing science and technology.”

EVERY CHILD IS PRECIOUS

Highlighting the importance of being able to understand the needs of the real world and developments in the world accurately, Izmir Provincial Director of National Education Yentür said, “We must use the information correctly. Education of youth also concerns the business world, sociological structure and social change. You can look at today's high schools to see a picture of the next 30 years. We would like to thank Izmir Chamber of Commerce for their support. We have to become like a family. Every month, we will hold evaluation meetings together; we will open our schools to you. The business world is welcome in all workshops of our schools. Every child is precious. It is very important to determine the abilities of children starting from the pre-school period. We all have a responsibility to prepare our children and youth for the future.”

EXAMPLARY PROJECTS

An important cooperation was realized that will offer many new opportunities to young people at the meeting, which laid the groundwork for further strengthening the communication between the education community and the business world. A cooperation protocol was signed between Izmir University of Economics and Izmir Provincial Directorate of National Education on education within the scope of the 11th Development Plan prepared by the Presidential Directorate of Strategy and Budget. The protocol, prepared with the aim of producing projects that will set an example for Turkey by conducting joint studies in the academic and scientific fields, was signed by Chairman Özgener, Director Yentür and Rector Aşkar.

The protocol signed between IUE and Izmir Provincial Directorate of National Education aims to increase the quality of education and to share information and experiences. Within the scope of the protocol, trainings will be planned for public and private institution teachers, administrators, students and employees of the Provincial Directorate of National Education in Izmir, international and local projects will be developed. Joint efforts will be made for face-to-face and online training. It will be ensured that secondary school students participate in scientific activities at IUE and benefit from the research and laboratory facilities of the University. Joint projects will be produced to increase 21^st century skills for education administrators. Activities will be organized in schools in order to increase the interest of students in the fields of art, sports, nutrition and technology and to develop their skills in these fields. Additionally, Medet Ekşi, Izmir Provincial Vice Director of National Education, delivered a presentation on vocational education at the meeting.