site.btaMechanical Engineering Companies in Silistra to Offer Scholarships to Combat Labour Shortage

Mechanical engineering companies in Silistra suffer from a lack of welders and turners, shows a BTA check. 

Representatives of the industry are adamant that planned admissions of the Vocational High School of Mechanics in Silistra have not met demand for years. To deal with the problem, employers in the region are ready to offer scholarships, paid internship opportunities and future employment contracts to young people who wish to study these professions.

Engineer Sabcho Sabchev has been part of the mechanical engineering sector for more than 30 years and owns a company, which employs between 250 and 300 people in the region. According to him, in order to find enough workers it would take about 25 students with the right education and attitude to start working in the company as soon as possible, which cannot happen. "We have to educate people ourselves, which takes about a year and a half, and usually they are aged over 50," said Sabchev.

Other companies in the sector face similar difficulties. Georgi Gaidarov is the owner of a machine-building enterprise in the region and says that the welders who work there have reached retirement age long ago. "These people are not eternal, and for many years the vocational schools in the region have not produced such personnel", said Gaidarov. According to him, no one in Bulgaria wants to talk about the problems in the mechanical engineering sector, adding that schools offer a variety of subjects in order to attract more students, but that traditional fields, like mechanical engineering were thrown out of the curriculum because not enough students were interested in them.

"This is a real craft that is valued not only in our country, but also in many places around the world. People will find work in these professions both in the East and in the West", noted Sabchev. He emphasised that the profession is quite modernised and no longer based on hard physical labor. "Everything is done under technological processes, where the machines are program-controlled," added Sabchev.

In order to deal with the labour shortage, employers in the Silistra region will help create classes for welders and turners at the local Vocational High School of Mechanics. They will pay monthly scholarships in the amount of one-third of the minimum wage, and are ready to provide opportunities for paid internships and financial assistance for studying at a higher educational institution. In return, students will have to sign 3-year employment contracts with the companies.

High school Principal Tatyana Kindzhakova stated that training in these specialties has indeed not been offered in recent years, but that the school has decided to give it another try in order to comply with the needs of the businesses. "The training course will take 3 years to complete, and students will receive a degree in the specialty", Kindzhakova said. Students will also receive scholarships from the school, which Kindzhakova hopes will increase students' interest.

Because of state regulations for the professions of welders and turners, it will be necessary that at least nine students enroll in each speciality in order for classes to be formed. To guarantee quality training in the new specialties, employers from the region have contacted representatives of the University of Ruse and the Technical University of Gabrovo, where teachers from the Vocational High School in Silistra will have the possibility to obtain additional qualifications.