A Cooperation Protocol on the Akhi Culture and the National Production Movement was signed between MÜSİAD, the İstanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education and the Education Support Platform.
A cooperation protocol was signed between the İstanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education, the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) and the Education Support Platform with the aim of carrying out educational, social and cultural activities that will support the Akhi culture, of providing support for work in this field, and of sharing experience and knowledge.
Prepared by taking into account the needs of the labour market, the protocol will ensure that issues focused on technology, equipment, human resources, R&D, production and the like relating to the creation of the qualified workforce that is needed, as well as work concerning the Akhi culture, are placed on the agenda and assessed in a multidimensional manner.
The signing ceremony, held at the MÜSİAD Head Office, was attended by İstanbul Provincial Director of National Education Levent Yazıcı, MÜSİAD President Abdurrahman Kaan and Education Support Platform İstanbul Branch President Seçkin Turan, as well as by the relevant members of the board of directors, committee chairmen, assembly members and school principals.
The scope of the protocol was determined as the renewal of the education and training programmes delivered in schools so as to encompass the Akhi culture, the preparation of a curriculum for presenting the Akhi culture as course content, and the preparation of the materials required for this training and their submission to the ministry. Within the scope of the signed protocol, training sessions aimed at introducing the Akhi culture to teachers and students will be organized in schools. Under the agreement, decisions were also taken on such matters as the parties supporting each other's activities as far as possible, the institutions jointly undertaking all kinds of scientific, academic, social and cultural work within the framework of vocational education, and carrying out joint activities with the aim of developing projects.
“We Are Always Ready to Support Vocational Education, Which Is a Matter of National Concern”
Saying, “We are always ready to support vocational education, which is a matter of national concern,” MÜSİAD President Abdurrahman Kaan made a statement regarding the protocol. Kaan said, “As MÜSİAD, we will work tirelessly and with faith in order to spread to the whole world the ancient culture we inherited from our forefathers.” Noting that only young people raised with the Anatolian leaven can lead the way to a better world, Kaan said: “ I must state that we are pleased to contribute to the in-service and on-the-job training of the instructors and administrators of our vocational education institutions. We must work our young people like precious ore and enable them to shine. For this, skills training and internship practices in enterprises must be carried out in real production environments. We believe that it is our young people who, with their capabilities and achievements, will make our country shine. As MÜSİAD, we have emphasized the importance of education at every opportunity since the day we were founded. Today we have engineers, doctors and scientists who are recognized worldwide and have achieved important successes. We know that the leaven of this country has the power to raise many more. We take every step with this belief. We have great confidence in our Türkiye, in our young people and in our bright children. I hope that the Cooperation Protocol on the Akhi Culture and the National Production Movement will be auspicious for strong tomorrows on the path to a Producing Türkiye.”
“Efforts to develop vocational and technical education are highly important for our strong tomorrows.”
Stating that the Akhi culture is highly important in vocational education, İstanbul Provincial Director of National Education Levent Yazıcı said:
The cooperation protocol signed with MÜSİAD will contribute to the development of qualified vocational education, and of the establishment and equipping of workshops and laboratories on a voluntary basis. We continue our education and training activities with the understanding of producing schools in vocational education. Efforts to develop vocational and technical education are highly important for our strong tomorrows. The outputs of the process of updating the framework curricula that incorporate the Akhi culture and of preparing training materials will genuinely be a major gain in themselves. Today we hope that the cooperation protocol we have signed with MÜSİAD and the Education Support Platform, whose roots run deep in Anatolia's Akhi culture and consciousness and which work for greater investment in education and in human resources, will make a positive contribution to the activities carried out by the two institutions, and in this respect we attach the utmost importance to it.”
Stating that the purpose and framework of the protocol are very comprehensive, Education Support Platform İstanbul Branch President Seçkin Turan said that supporting the establishment of workshops/laboratories at the vocational education institutions covered by the protocol is important in its own right. Turan said: “It is important to carry out the curriculum preparation work to be proposed and shaped by the Akhi culture, to prepare the training content and to create internship opportunities. The protocol will make a major contribution to the vocational activities and projects to be carried out for training the qualified workforce that the sector needs and for technical education. I thank everyone who contributed to such a protocol, which includes communication and cooperation activities with the stakeholders of the ecosystem in terms of training qualified students and supporting their future employment.”
MÜSİAD Workforce Planning and Vocational and Technical Education Committee Chairman Ali Gökhan Er, for his part, said: “We believe that the cooperation protocol signed here today will contribute to our young people being raised within the Akhi culture and with a national understanding, and will play an important role in raising morally upright young people skilled in the professions sought by the business world”
The vocational and technical education institutions covered by the cooperation, which will remain valid for 10 years, are as follows: Beşiktaş İstanbul Technical University Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, Esenler Vocational Education Centre, Eyüpsultan Alibeyköy Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, Kartal Atalar Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, Pendik Teknopark İstanbul Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School and Üsküdar Bağlarbaşı Marketing and Retail Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School.
In line with the protocol, which covers a ten-year period, in-service training and workshops will also be organized within the framework of the protocol, which encompasses awareness-raising activities through events such as career days, guidance, competitions and trips aimed at vocational and technical education. Changes and additions may be made during the period the protocol is in force, should the parties deem it necessary and reach agreement.