(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries with CNOS-FAP, the National Salesian Center for Vocational Training and Ongoing Education, have entered into a partnership with Yamaha to provide skills training in the automotive and motorsports field at the Don Bosco Social Works Vocational Training Center in Sesto San Giovanni near Milan, Italy.

At the end of 2019, the Don Bosco Center created a special program to begin teaching its students repair work on Yamaha two-wheeled vehicles, thanks to a prestigious collaboration with the Yamaha Technical School. Yamaha will work to qualify Salesian education and its tools and instrumental resources, such as laboratories, classrooms and technical equipment, to raise the professional, technological and operational skills of both its teachers and students.

“The Don Bosco Social Works of Sesto is characterized by the extremely high level of preparation of its students and is one of the few to have a specialization dedicated to two-wheeled vehicles,” explained Father Elio Cesari, the Don Bosco Center’s director. “The collaboration with Yamaha creates the opportunity for our children to work with cutting-edge equipment and be able to have an educational experience thanks to the rapport, teamwork and sharing of our value systems.”

As part of this partnership, during the fourth year of study, the best students will be offered training internships at Yamaha and in the Yamaha Assistance Network to create and foster their experience in the workforce.

“We want to create professional technical figures trained with Yamaha standards and who able to answer to a rapidly changing market, thanks to creating a path where school and company work together,” said Andrea Colombi, a Yamaha manager for Italy.

In Italy, young people who are unemployed and not in school or training programs represent 20 percent of the population. Vocational training is an educational path that serves as a highly effective bridge between work and school.

Salesian programs across Italy help youth who are unable to attend school and others who drop out to work at the few jobs available to them. A growing number of children work as laborers on farms and others have turned to the sex trade to help support their families. Those in poverty often live without adequate shelter, hot water, regular meals and health care.

Italy, Europe’s third-largest economy, has close to 2 million children living in poverty, according to UNICEF. The poverty rate has risen in the wake of Europe’s economic crisis. Unemployment is at its highest level since the late 1970s with the overall jobless rate at 12.5 percent and youth unemployment as high as 41 percent.

According to UNICEF, a growing number of youth are living away from their families in temporary shelters and within government and charity programs because of inadequate support from or neglect by their families. Salesian programs work to combat these challenges by providing shelter, nutrition, education and workforce development services for youth in need.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Italy – Yamaha and Salesians together to give young people more opportunities

Salesian Missions – Italy

UNICEF – Italy Poverty