KS & BIP TRAINING YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS IN KOSOVO
From skipping school to Summer Camp
New teaching methodology and practical approach for 3 Municipalities; 4 Schools; 8 Teachers; 30 Companies; 120 students.
Kosovo – Beginning of December 2007, period of big political expectation for the region, but not that important for 120 students of vocational schools from three Kosovo municipalities: Fushe Kosova, Drinas and Obilic. KS (The Norwegian Association of Local Municipalities) & BIP Norway, organized the Second Young Entrepreneurs Fair in Kosovo for 30 student companies under the supervision of 8 teachers. Teachers and students, with the assistance of KS & BIP, organized two-day Fair, as the final face of the one year work on development of business plan.
BIP’s approach to the business plan development brought the new teaching methodology into selected vocational schools. Replacing the traditional ex-cathedra teaching approach, where teacher is in the center of the learning process, with modern teaching methodology, where teacher has the role as the consultant and moderator keeping the students in the center of the learning process.
Schools in three Kosovo municipalities, even being vocational and technical schools, are not providing any practical teaching for their students. BIP’s extra-curricula program of business plan development provided the practical teaching and was met with enthusiasm from all sides: teachers, students and BIP & KS.
Bringing new teaching methodology in schools changed the way of teachers’ behavior as well as the behavior of students.
During the Student Enterprise Fair, KS & BIP representatives were approached by grateful parents who said that their sons were skipping school before BIP introduced the Program for business development, but now they are members of the winning student company that will participate at the BIP’s Summer Camp in Montenegro in 2008.
Traditional approach for decreasing of the number of school drop-outs could have been organized through dialog with educational authorities, but sometimes the complex problems could be solved by simple solutions. BIP’s practical business plan development initiated the higher interest in education among young people. Young people organized companies offering the small solutions for the everyday problem – electricity blackouts. Out of 30 companies seven offered different solutions for the alternative electricity sources: from the solar plates, over the door lights, to the book-holder light.
The experienced gained in Kosovo proves that even the small changes in the educational approach can have significant impact on students future life and the society they live in.
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