Vocational High School Graduates in Kocaeli Guaranteed Employment

Vocational High School in Kocaeli Guarantees Employment for Graduates KOCAELİ (AA) - GEBKİM Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School (MTAL), opened in 2018 by the GEBKİM OSB Education, Research and Health Foundation in Kocaeli Gebze Chemistry Specialized Organized Industrial Zone (GEBKİM OSB), provides employment guarantees in the chemistry sector to its students educated through 13 laboratories. GEBKİM Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School was put into operation in 2018 in the Dilovası district by the GEBKİM OSB Education, Research and Health Foundation, where companies engaged in chemical production are located. The high school offers its students 8 chemistry laboratories, 4 industrial automation laboratories, 1 computer laboratory, production facilities and an attached quality control unit, workshops, a conference hall, a library with 10,000 book capacity, a cafeteria, dance and art workshops, an "English street" specially designed for English language education, and free shuttle services, meals and clothing support for students from outside the district. At the school, which has been designated as a Research and Development Centre and where a 150-square-meter pilot production facility was established, students produced 150 tons of cleaning materials over the past month. GEBKİM also facilitates student internships abroad through an Erasmus accreditation agreement. While industrialists continue to support the high school, priority will be given to graduates in hiring. Industrialists are eagerly awaiting the graduation of students who have received training with chemistry infrastructure and integrated with technology. GEBKİM OSB and GEBKİM Education, Research and Health Foundation Board Chairman Vefa İbrahim Aracı told AA correspondent that there are companies operating in the chemical industry in Kocaeli and the surrounding region, and said that they made investments by establishing laboratories at the school. Stating that they provide free shuttle services, meals and clothing support to students, Aracı emphasized that industrialists in GEBKİM OSB are committed to this work. Aracı noted that industrialists in GEBKİM OSB contribute to familiarizing students with the industry through activities such as internships and sectoral visits, adding, "We have launched a campaign to contribute to vaccination work at the school. We will give our vaccinated students tools that will facilitate their education. The chemical industry is developing in Turkey. We have new investments in our OSB. There is serious interest from abroad. Among these are Russia, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. We will carry out these projects with these colleagues because if you do not have intermediate personnel, you will face a shortage of people to put these projects into operation. We need personnel raised in this culture so that we can also transfer the know-how we possess." he said.

Members Also Want to See Students in Their Own Businesses

Aracı, stating that they have begun the establishment of a Technology Development Centre at GEBKİM OSB, said they aimed for students at the school to work both during internships and in summer months at this centre. Aracı said that approximately 70 percent of intermediate personnel working in the sector are not graduates of vocational high school chemistry programs. Speaking about difficulties in finding intermediate personnel, Aracı stated: "We saw during the COVID-19 period that we need to enter basic chemicals. As GEBKİM, we want to produce some areas that are not produced in Turkey or products that are produced in small quantities. For that reason, I believe that our friends who finish school will find jobs in places with better terms than university graduates. On my own behalf, I am eager for those who graduate from this school. When we took over the school, there were students studying. We are waiting for the 2nd graduates. Those graduates will be friends who started with us. Within 2 years we will begin to reap the fruits of this. First of all, I am waiting patiently; our foundation member colleagues are investing effort in the school. Our members want to see those young people in their own businesses."