By Yuksel Serdar Oguz
ANKARA
Young Syrian refugees in Turkey's western province Bursa get free training by local authorities and institutions to achieve integration into society.
'Give Me a Hand for Refugees', a social responsibility project initiated by Nilufer district governorship in last October, provides Turkish lessons, vocational training, computer usage, hairdressing and make-up classes, and integration classes for Syrian refugees between 18-35-year-old to help them communicate with Turkish locals and be employed.
"The first aims of training are to support Syrian refugees to learn Turkish and get a job to survive without donations," project coordinator Umut Berker Sevilmis said.
Sevilmiş said they have 50 trainees --25 females and 25 males-- and "all of them can now speak and write Turkish good enough."
"The lessons are basically for young Syrians who are in quest of a job, and more than 50 percent of attendees have been employed even before the classes are completed," he adds.
Sponsored by US State Department via Embassy to Ankara, all the courses are given at Nilufer Public Education Center and Gorukle Vocational and Technical High School located near the areas which Syrian refugees are highly populated in Bursa.
"Each participant has received 480 hours of lessons in total throughout the last six months," Sevilmis stated.
"Turkish culture and daily life are also taught in lessons," he says underlining the classes are not only for communication and employment but also for full integration.
The classes are planned within a curriculum and after the project is completed, the program of the training will be shared with Ministry of National Education and local authorities to sustain the classes for Syrian refugees who continue their education at public schools in Turkey.
More than 3 million Syrian people seek asylum in Turkey either in refugee camps or outside.
Public institutions provide basic needs of the Syrians living in camps, and local authorities and non-governmental organizations take responsibility for the refugees living out of the camps, Sevilmis said.
