A 12.5 million lira Didim Culinary Academy Project has been created with the aim to train up and supply qualified personnel for the area’s tourism sector.
The high-tech kitchen has been completed with the establishment of a workshop-academy within the Didim Public Education Centre.
Didim Chamber of Commerce President Hilmi Erbaş, Board of Directors and Assembly Members, Public Education Centre Director Oktay Doğanlı, and HEM administrators and teachers gave a tour of the completed training kitchen to members of the press, providing information about the project and the technical details of the kitchen.
Düriye Gönen Kaya, the Food and Beverage Services Teacher at the Centre and the project’s Education Coordinator, stated that the Didim Culinary Academy is a project that will guide Didim tourism, saying: “Our project was realized with the support of the Didim Chamber of Commerce and the Southern Aegean Development Agency.
“Our trainees will see the modern equipment inside for the first time here. Afterwards, they will work in five-star hotels. Our primary goal is to find a solution to the problem of qualified personnel in Didim tourism.
“Our second goal is to provide employment for young unemployed people and women. Young unemployed people and women will be prioritized during the project, and other trainings related to gastronomy can be provided afterwards. We would like to thank everyone who contributed, especially our President of the Didim Chamber of Commerce.”
Centre Director Oktay Doğanlı stated that the main goal of the project is to provide vocational training to individuals who lack social security, are unemployed, and have no income. He explained that they check applicants’ social security status via e-government, conduct preliminary interviews, and prioritize young people in accepting trainees.
After completing their training, trainees receive skill certificates and are then employed in hotels. Doğanlı added that trainees will work in hotels that have made employment commitments through the Chamber of Commerce, the Tourism Association, and DİTAB (Didim Tourism Association), and that while continuing their work, they can take journeyman and then master craftsman exams at the Vocational Training Centre.
Chamber of Commerce President Erbaş stated that the main goal of the project is to provide employment and vocational training in the tourism and food and beverage sectors. He expressed their desire to integrate unemployed individuals into the workforce by providing them with vocational training.
He addes that the District Governorship and the Provincial National Education Directorate are project partners, as well as the Vocational School, Tourism Association, and DİTAP.
“To date, we have spent approximately 12.5 million Turkish Lira on this project. Approximately 1.6 million Lira of this came from the South Aegean Development Agency, around 3.5 million Lira from our Chamber’s budget, and around 7 million Lira from the contributions of our members, friends, and business people,” he said. “I would like to especially thank our members who contributed to this project.”
Erbaş concluded by stating that they had presented the request for the official opening to the Governor of Aydın, Yakup Canbolat, and that the Governor had suggested that the Tourism Week event be held there.
The project aims to train and integrate into the tourism sector those who have left formal education at any level for various reasons, as well as young unemployed women and those without a profession, through culinary and pastry course certificate programs.
For training applications, please contact the Didim Public Education Center at 0256 811 44 43.