Today, practical training began at the company BIMAL in Brčko for five fourth-grade students of the Public Institution Agricultural and Medical School, majoring in food processing technician.
Maida Tursunović, Lejla Čabrić, Anđela Đurić, Jasmina Hadžić, and Anes Čizmo will, during the second semester, within the framework of the curriculum, in the field of fats and oils technology, practically learn how oil is produced at the only oil factory in Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIMAL in Brčko. Through the company’s facilities – Silo, Pressing and Extraction Plant, Refinery and Bottling Plant, as well as the Laboratory – they will learn the flow of the production process and product quality testing.
The beginning of the practical training at the company BIMAL was also attended by Senad Osmanović, Head of the Department of Education, and Srđan Kisić, Head of the Subdepartment for Secondary Education, as well as Vedrana Dragičević, Deputy Director of the Agricultural and Medical School, and Slađana Arsenić Đurić, Coordinator of Practical Training.
Addressing those present, Head Osmanović said that the Department of Education has initiated the procedure for the adoption of the Law on Dual Education in the Brčko District of BiH, with the aim of aligning the necessary process of practical training and the needs of the labor market for personnel in the coming period.
“This is an example of good practice implemented by the Department of Education in cooperation with companies in the District. One of such companies is BIMAL, where our students have the opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge in practical, real-life conditions,” said Senad Osmanović, Head of the Department of Education of the Government of the Brčko District of BiH.
Jelena Lugonja, Group PR Manager, emphasized that this is the third consecutive year in which companies that are members of the STUDEN Holding, in cooperation with secondary schools and the Department of Education in Brčko, are implementing practical training for final-year students.
“Already in the first year, we had one employment, that is, a student who was on practical training received a job offer and remained employed. Our business group will gladly take part in the formation of a modern dual education system in the Brčko District of BiH, which follows the needs of the labor market and enables individual development of young people. We believe that curricula in secondary schools should be aligned with the needs of the economy, that is, that theory and practice should be in harmony, as well as that a system should be developed that recognizes and encourages the best students for further advancement,” said Jelena Lugonja on behalf of the company BIMAL.
Slađana Arsenić Đurić, a teacher of the technological group of subjects and coordinator of practical training, expressed great gratitude to everyone who worked on the preparation of the practical training plan, which follows the curriculum.
“Our school operates under the EU VET program, that is, we devote great attention and focus to practical training, because our goal is active learning and the acquisition of functional knowledge for our students, who have already completed the necessary theoretical knowledge in oil and fat technology and quality control, and now have the opportunity to complement their theoretical prior knowledge with practical experience and prepare for their future jobs,” Arsenić Đurić emphasized.
Student Maida Tursunović also expressed great gratitude for this opportunity, emphasizing that she expects high-quality practical training.
“I am looking forward to carrying out the practical training. I believe it will contribute to my existing knowledge and skills, that I will go to university prepared and with good prior knowledge, so I am grateful for this opportunity, because food technology is a good and broad field in which development never stops,” says Maida.
On the very first day, the students received work uniforms and completed the necessary training in the areas of occupational safety, fire protection, ecology and hygiene, as well as corporate quality management, and took a short tour of the production facilities in which they will carry out practical training until the end of April.