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By Jayson Cruz Luna Reporter
Spain is poised to launch a
P300-million social program, called Escuela Taller, that aims to
provide vocational training to young residents of Intramuros and
contribute to the historic district’s rehabilitation, Madrid’s
envoy to Manila said.
The program, whose name
translates to “school workshop,” is part of Spain’s grand plan
to reestablish a presence in the Asia-Pacific region, Ambassador
Luis Arias told The Manila Times in an exclusive roundtable
interview Tuesday. He added that Spain, which colonized the
Philippines for more than 350 years, cannot look at the region
without considering its “special relationship” with this
country.
The Spaniards built Intramuros,
which literally means “inside the walls,” in the 16th century.
It is the oldest district in Manila, the Philippine capital, and is
among the legacies of the colonial period.
Escuela Taller aims to take in
100 students for two years of training, Arias said, adding that the
program was inspired by the similar one that worked well in Spain.
(Taller, incidentally, is pronounced “talyer” in Filipino.)
“As part of addressing the
problems during our democratic period in Spain, we started Escuela
Taller to address the unemployment problem in the country,” Arias
said. “We build something [and] at the same time we teach our
people. We have started with this system, which proved to be
successful.”
Participants in the program will
be trained in plumbing, carpentry, sewing and other vocational
skills, Arias said. The workshop will be carried out in cooperation
with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, the
Intramuros Administration, the National Commission for Culture and
the Arts, the Department of Education, and the Department of Social
Welfare and Development.
The skills development program
starts in May. The participants will be selected with the help of
the Social Welfare department and a steering committee comprised of
members from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and
the Intramuros Administration. Part of the program includes
rehabilitating Intramuros.
“We feel that we need to do
something on Intramuros,”Arias said. “It needs restoration. We
are working with Filipinos little by little to restore Intramuros.
After restoring it through the program, people will also benefit
because they will be trained in different craftsmanship to earn a
living.”
The government of Spain will be
spending at least 600,000 euros (about P300 million) for the
program.
Arias said most of the Spain’s
projects have a social component, because they want to make an
impact on eradicating poverty.
Spain may be 16,000 kilometers
away from the Philippines, but the two countries are similar not
only in language but also in their culture and history, he said,
adding that because of this, Spain wants to develop closer ties with
the Philippines. He added that 71 percent of their development
cooperation work is in the Philippines.
The envoy said Escuela Taller is
just part of a more bigger project of their government toward the
entire region—Plan Asia.
The program aims to strengthen
ties and friendship between Spain and Asian countries. Plan Asia
also intends to identify the fields of interest where Spain can help
developing countries by sharing technical expertise in aquaculture
and fisheries, infrastructure development, the energy sector and
others.
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