YANGON, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's first vocational training center for ethnic community under the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Special Fund (2022) will promote socio-economic lives of ethnic peoples, U Min Aye Ko, director general of the department of ethnic rights under the ethnic affairs ministry, told Xinhua on Friday.
The course was the first vocational one for ethnic groups in Myanmar. Not only vocational courses but also ethnic affairs courses will be taught, he said.
The project was initiated with the aim of developing socio-economic lives of ethnic peoples in Shan state, exchanging cultures between ethnic peoples, promoting regional peace and reducing poverty among Mekong region countries.
The training courses such as agricultural technology, consumer product manufacturing, traditional ethnic utensils making, traditional ethnic food cooking and many others will be offered at the center, which opened on Feb. 5.
This year, motorcycle repair course and computer course will be provided. The motorcycle repair course was opened with 20 trainees on the opening day of the training center.
Efforts were being made to open computer courses in the coming weeks.
Students attending the motorcycle repair course shared how the course improve their livelihoods.
Naing Linn, 23, from Danu ethnic group, said, "I took a motorcycle repair course to make a living. This course is not only for my career but also to meet motorcycle repair needs of our village."
Saw Yan Naing, 22, from Intha ethnic group, said, "I am interested in repairing motorcycles. And, there are no many motorcycle repair people in our village. If we find some fault with motorcycle, it takes time to get to repair shop. So, this course really helped".
Ba Htay, 20, from Taungyo ethnic group, said, "We need motorcycle technicians in our village. So, I had the course to meet the demands of our village."
According to the director general, the Shan state government provided the trainees with tools related to motorcycle repair. After completing the course, they will be ready to do motorcycle repair work outdoors.
"There is a vocational training center in Kunming, China. Later we link up with this center and promote exchanges to open more training centers in the future," U Min Aye Ko said.
