Vocational education must provide skills to create and manage technology - president

RIGA - Vocational education must provide the skills to create and manage technology, President Edgars Rinkevics said during a visit to Riga State Technical School on Tuesday.

As the president's spokesman Martins Dregeris told LETA, during the visit, Rinkevics got acquainted with the training process and met with the administration, teachers and students of the technical school.

The president visited the school's technology and innovation center where students have practical classes in technical and engineering fields.

"Technology itself does not develop the economy - it is done by people who know how to work with it," Rinkevics said after the visit to Riga State Technical School.

He noted that Riga State Technical School consistently develops the curriculum so that young people can learn modern technologies, but this work must be continued and strengthened in cooperation with businesses.

During the visit, the president also learned about the business initiatives of the technical school's students. Student training enterprises are operating at the school, giving young people the opportunity to develop their ideas and technological solutions.

The student training company Plix has developed injection molding equipment for recycling plastic waste, and will represent Latvia in an international competition of student enterprises.

In a conversation with the technical school's administration, Rinkevics discussed the importance of vocational education in the development of the Latvian economy and cooperation with companies that help young people acquire the skills needed in the labor market.

Riga State Technical School is one of the largest vocational education institutions in Latvia, which for more than a century has been preparing qualified specialists in technical and engineering industries.