A young woman in a classroom at the SOS Teaching Center in Tema, Ghana…
I was pleased to read how the SOS Vocational Training Centres put a little more thought into their vocational training. They offer training that is designed to fit the needs of the local community.
- Lisa
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A young woman in a classroom at the SOS Teaching Center in Tema, Ghana
I was pleased to read how the SOS Vocational Training Centres put a little more thought into their vocational training. They offer training that is designed to fit the needs of the local community.
A wide range of courses are available, from the established trades such as carpentry, joinery and plumbing to agricultural occupations, home economics and business skills. A number of centres also offer youth a basic training in information technology and media. The curricula and length of the various courses again depend on the situation in the individual country. Some of the centres sell their products or services on the local markets.
Where the ultimate problem is poverty, SOS Children's Villages provides young people with grants for them to attend an SOS Vocational Training Centre, as in the case of eighteen-year-old Barion* from Zimbabwe. He lost his parents when he was very small and was raised by his grandparents, who were agricultural labourers. As a result of his traumatic experiences and acute financial difficulties at home, his schooling was limited to just a few years. With the help of a scholarship from SOS Children's Villages, however, he was able to attend a course in agriculture at the SOS Vocational Training Centre in Bindura. The scholarship covered food and lodging as well as the school fees. The knowledge of farming and stockbreeding he acquired at the centre will enable Barion to build up and run his own small farm in later life.*The name has been changed "SOS Children's Villages is very much aware of the multiple facets of education and training: learning at home in a stable environment and in society, teaching at school, vocational training and preparation for an independent life. It is our belief that investing in education and training is fundamental to the fight against poverty." Margaret Nkrumah, Principal of the Ghana International College
- Mary
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Setting the tables as part of the Vocational Training in Tema, Ghana
SOS Children's Villages also runs international colleges in Ghana and Costa Rica where students study for the International Baccalaureate. That enables young people from all over Africa and Latin America to enjoy a high standard of education that qualifies them to enrol in almost every university of the world. In addition to their studies, students at the SOS Children's Village International Colleges contribute to various community aid programmes, teaching children to read and write whose parents cannot afford to send them to school, for example, or working with street children, helping to build new schools, etc.
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