The expired quarantine raised doubts about the training financed by the Employment Service

As Lina (name changed, known person-ed.) Wrote to the editorial office in the letter, she was still undergoing training in the country and began training for the Baltic University of Technology (BIT) under a funded program by the Department of Employment. Service.

As emphasized before the launch, it was argued that the training would take place remotely, as the country had a state of emergency and quarantine, and the launch of the science program, regardless of the situation, would also allow for distance learning. In its whole. distance, but the added conditions suddenly changed.

“Just over a week ago, all the students were unexpectedly informed of that since July 26. there will be a return to classes, that is, to the BIT facilities, and contact training will be provided.

It turns out that there is some order from the OCTs that training must be done by contact, since the quarantine has been lifted in the country, but no one has been warned that distance education will no longer lead to distance education, so that most people from different cities chose this training, planned their time and the like.

And now it was unexpectedly announced that it is mandatory to return to study classes: for those who live in Vilnius or its district, for the Vilnius branch of the BIT, for those who are in Kaunas or the Kaunas district, for Kaunas, for the which are from and around Klaipeda, up to the Klaipeda branch.

But the fact is that the groups come from several Lithuanian cities and those that are not from large cities or districts do not finance training trips in the OCTs ”, the girl was angry in the letter.

According to her, people chose distance education for personal reasons, let’s say because they are raising children and cannot come, they do not have the means to travel long distances.

It is true, the girl added that the formative study program grants students scholarships of 300 euros, but they, as Lina assured, are dedicated to living.

“Also, why now that COVID-19 infections are on the rise again, do people have to go and risk their health?

After all, the conference can also be viewed remotely from home, as has been done so far, ”Lina considered.

The editorial staff contacted Milda Jankauskiene, OCT spokesperson. She explained the situation.

“In the organization of vocational training and retraining, the Employment Service follows the applicable laws and the provisions approved by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports.

The possibility of distance learning was provided during quarantine with strict contact restrictions.

After the quarantine, distance learning is no longer organized, so all educational institutions were asked to resume contact training, ”he said.

It is true that according to the legal acts supervised by the Ministry of Education and Sports, the VET provider cannot organize more than 30 percent of the allotted time for the implementation of the entire VET program or module remotely.

“The Employment Service is also guided by these provisions and will allow distance learning to be completed remotely if a VET participant so wishes,” he said, but cautioned that this was not a basis for training providers to train new ones. groups of participants through distance education.

“We remind you that if the training takes place outside the participants’ place of residence, they are reimbursed for the costs of going and back to the training institution.

In order to organize the recycling process in a more flexible way, the Employment Service has already presented proposals to modify the legal acts by offering the possibility of studying and acquiring degrees both remotely ”, said M. Jankauskienė.