The Digital Fair for Secondary Vocational Education is an initiative implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, in order to promote and advance secondary vocational education and training. In order to inform the ninth graders and their parents about the opportunities offered by the secondary education for acquiring professional skills and gainful employment after graduation, the project Education for Employment in North Macedonia – E4E@мк and the Macedonian Civic Education Center have organized the digital fair for secondary vocational education.

Faced with the COVID pandemic, a digital fair for secondary vocational education is for the time being the safest form of informing the ninth-graders across the country and their parents about the opportunities offered by the secondary vocational schools and the companies. In the future, a F2F fair for secondary vocational education will be organized, where companies and vocational schools will enable students to be part of a certain profession, through practical examples and realistic application of the profession.

Via illustrative examples out of great number of occupations that are today extremely in demand in the labor market, the digital fair emphasizes the possibility of making a career choice through vocational education, through which the student gets the opportunity for practical training in a company and support from trained mentors. Through video sessions, the young people are acquainted with the educational programs of several secondary vocational schools, and have the opportunity to follow specific examples of successful high school students who by choosing secondary vocational education have become successful electrical and mechanical technicians, cooks, and mechatronics and transport technicians.

The digital fair includes open discussions on topics related to future career choices, as well as presentations on education and training opportunities offered by companies that have dual classes in multiple secondary vocational schools. The entire program is designed in a fun, interesting and interactive way to bring secondary vocational education closer to young people that are to complete primary education.

The Digital Fair is a platform for introducing future high school students to the wide selection of professions offered by secondary vocational education and more importantly the offer of career opportunities. The Digital Fair together with the Social Dialogue and the Campaign “Learn smart, work skillfully” contribute to the objective of more young people gaining quality vocational education and training that leads to better and gainful employment.

The Digital Fair for Secondary Vocational Education is available at the following links:
Day One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6QX_j2ueX0
Day Two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIlgWWJWFHo

Very soon, the Digital Fair will be available in all languages of instruction in the Republic of North Macedonia.