12-08-16    Equal access to education, linkage between school, labour market among EU-funded projects

 Following the approval of the European Commission, all preconditions have been met for the implementation of four crucial programmes, from kindergarten to lifelong learning, of the Education Ministry’s National Strategic Reference Framework projects.

The programme include projects to reduce dropout rates and guarantee equal access to education from kindergarten to through high school; improve the quality of and access to tertiary education;  to ensure equal access to lifelong learning programmes for all age brackets; and to strengthen  the linkage between education and vocational training and the real  market.

With the meeting of all of the conditionalities, all four of the projects are fully activated.

The four EU-funded actions are, more analytically, as follows:

1. Upon submission of the required strategic policy framework, which was a precondition, a programme to reduce the school dropout rate and to establish students’ equal access at all levels of education, from kindergarten to high school, will go forward. The project also involves providing equal access to educational opportunities for reintegration in education and vocational training.

1. Following the submission and recent approval of a Greek national and regional strategic framework for bolstering and improving access to tertiary education, this new programme will improve the quality, effectiveness and access to tertiary or equivalent education.  The aim is to improve the level of studies and success, especially for disabled students.

1. A project to improve equal access to Lifelong Learning programmes for people in all age groups will be implemented, following  the recent approval of the regional and national strategic framework. Access may be achieved with formal, informal or atypical structures, and it aims to upgrade the knowledge, skills, and capabilities  of the workforce, while promoting flexible learning possibilities, through professional orientation and certification of skills.

1.  The fourth project aims to improve the linkage between the educational programme or  vocational training and the labour market. This facilitates the transition to the labour market and it strengthens the quality of vocational education and training. This is achieved through mechanisms that foresee the need for skills,  the adjustment of curriculums and the development of learning systems geared to work.