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Aust'n state increases education places for asylum seekers by 500 pct

Xinhua, September 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Victorian government has announced that it would increase further education places for asylum seekers by 500 percent -- from 300 to 1500.

Daniel Andrews' state government said on Thursday it would provide an additional 11 million U.S. dollars over the next two years for asylum seekers on temporary protection visas to study in areas lacking in skilled workers.

The funding injection would increase Technical and Further Education (TAFE) places available to asylum seekers every year to 1500, with an emphasis on aged care and hospitality training.

Asylum Seeker Resource Center (ASRC) chief executive, Kon Karapanagiotidis, said that education pathways give asylum seekers a chance to assimilate into society and called on other states to follow Victoria's lead in making TAFE available to refugees.

"Without access to education and training and those pathways, it's almost impossible for people to survive,"Karapanagiotidis told the ABC on Thursday.

"They get trapped in a cycle of poverty, homelessness and destitution, so those pathways are life changing and lifesaving.

"People seeking asylum don't want charity, they just want to contribute, work hard and put food on the table."

"So what I would love to see are simply pathways and a fair go."

The ASRC will oversee the expansion and provide programs in regional Victoria to educate training providers on how best to support the students.

Karapanagiotidis said that the existing education program had been a resounding success."We've placed 751 people into TAFE and of them 92 percent have successfully completed it,"he said.

"That's your highest success rate for any community, Australian citizen or refugee, going around."

Steve Herbert, Victoria's Skills Minister, said that the expansion was in the best interests of the asylum seekers and the Victorian workforce.

"It's not in anyone's interests for these people to be simply sitting around being unproductive,"Herbert said. "This will provide them with the opportunity to get proper training, proper skills and play their part in the Victorian workforce."

Victoria has the largest asylum seeker population in Australia with 11,000 of the state's 35,000 refugees calling the state home. Endit