MEC authorities visited the CECAP and seek to promote the proposal
Authorities from the Ministry of Education and Culture visited and toured the premises where the Educational Training, Art and Production Center of the city of Melo operates.
There the National Coordinator of the CECAP Program announced that in this period of Government they will seek to reaffirm this non-formal education proposal with two objectives: on the one hand, that young people rejoin the formal educational system and, on the other, that they can reintegrate into the labor market after their graduation.
“CECAP Melo is one of the 22 Centers that the Program has at this moment. We are ending the year, a year with many learnings, with many children participating, in some way seeing again the CECAP Melo experience that has been evolving year after year” said Isabel Alende to the media.
“The CECAP continues, we have some ideas to strengthen the educational trajectories of the children, to be able to accompany them when the children leave CECAP, an enormous challenge that we have. Then, maintain the Program and also explore a little what the young people say” held.
He commented that this year two surveys were carried out among the students, one on climate and another on learning. There the students have raised the possibility of expanding the offer of Workshops and having longer hours. “It is time to think about them and see if we can start there in February” he stated.
NEXT TO THE FORMAL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
He recalled that, in particular, in CECAP Melo a proposal is being implemented that is being executed with UTU through the Higher Technical School. This is the Rediscover Program where children graduate with approved Basic Secondary Education.
“The challenge for these young people is to continue the Baccalaureate. What we want is for them to be able to finish the entire Secondary Education Cycle” Alende pointed out.
“The other challenge is given by those young people who do not engage in educational continuity proposals. There is the issue of work and employment as a challenge and a need for young people. In this we also have to be able to project their educational trajectories and their work trajectories in parallel” he pointed out.
According to data from the INE Continuous Household Survey, around 16% of young people are not linked to formal education. This is a higher percentage than that recorded in the south of the country because as we move away from the capital this problem worsens. “Yes, we know that there are more students who want to go to CECAP than there are possibilities for places in CECAP.” he admitted. “That is an enormous challenge. This shows that the target population of the Program, young people between 14 and 20 years old who have not finished basic education, is there, that is, there are students to be able to continue working” revealed.
“For many years we have been working with this perspective where the educational trajectory does not matter if it is from a non-formal or formal education proposal. That is why we have sought these accreditation mechanisms with the ANEP” expressed the National Coordinator of the CECAP Program.
23 CENTERS IN 2026
“We come from Treinta y Tres because the CECAP there was closed in the previous Administration because there was no agreement with the Departmental Government” reported. “It is key to have an open CECAP that what is happening here today happens. Although there is another partner which is the INAU, the main partner is the Municipality” he remarked. “In Treinta y Tres it was not possible to agree and yesterday we agreed again that in February educational activities will be resumed to reach 23 CECAP throughout the country” broad.
“On December 9, the CECAP building in Tacuarembó will be inaugurated, a Center that has already operated throughout this year in another location” he pointed out.
“This way, next year we will be 23 again” highlighted Isabel Alende, National Coordinator of the CECAP Program of the MEC.
