Pronatec will reach all 246 municipalities in Goiás.
The governments of Goiás and the federal government are expanding their partnership in the area of professional training, going beyond the 47 existing course slots; the program is aimed at low-income workers, the unemployed, and people receiving income transfer benefits.
Goiás247_ The state and federal governments expanded their partnership in the National Program for Access to Technical Education and Employment (Pronatec) at a meeting held at the Pedro Ludovico Teixeira Palace this morning. Pronatec is a professional qualification program that currently serves 118 municipalities in Goiás and has already offered 47 course places. Through the signing of an adhesion agreement with the federal government, Goiás will receive more places to serve all 246 municipalities with vocational courses. In the state, the partnership is also consolidated with the offering units of the so-called 'S' system and federal institutes. The Secretariat of Citizenship and Labor will carry out the agreement with the providers, and the Secretariat of Science and Technology (SecTec) will also be responsible for offering courses.
Low-income workers, the unemployed, and people receiving federal and state income transfer programs will be eligible, provided they are registered in the so-called CadÚnico, the national registry of low-income individuals. In Goiás, according to Governor Marconi Perillo, beneficiaries of the Renda Cidadã program will also be included, in addition to those receiving the federal Bolsa Família program. He highlighted the fact that the number of places is unlimited. According to Luiz Muller, director of productive inclusion at the Extraordinary Secretariat for Overcoming Extreme Poverty, of the Ministry of Social Development and Fight against Hunger, the resources come from the National Fund for the Development of Education (FNDE), and there is no counterpart from the states and municipalities, but the availability of places is the responsibility of state and municipal managers.
He emphasized that, in Goiás, social assistance is already being linked to the area of Labor, which, according to him, is very advantageous compared to numerous other states. "Goiás will be a reference in Pronatec," he said. The Secretary of Citizenship and Labor, Henrique Arantes, said that the courses will be offered according to the specific needs of each municipality. "Each municipality has its own peculiarities. Sometimes one needs baking, another wants construction. Therefore, the mayors will have a large role in this process," he explained.
The governor briefly outlined the history of income transfer programs initiated in Goiás during his first term in office in 1999. He stated that the first step was taken when he decided to replace basic food baskets with magnetic cards, giving autonomy and greater dignity to low-income people. The subsequent steps, he emphasized, were even more successful, with the creation of the University Scholarship, People's Bank, and Citizen's Income programs.
He thanked the federal government, addressing Luiz Muller, for the existence of the Bolsa Família program in the state. “Our programs are much more modest, but Bolsa Família helped us reduce the expenses the state maintained at that time,” he said. “And in the third government, we came to the conclusion that there should be a new generation of social programs, and so we gave a very special focus to the Bolsa Futuro program, which opens this window for qualification and professional training. We are already training 50 people,” he informed. And he asked for the mayors' commitment: “You need to be aware of the importance of social assistance and job training, and we need everyone's support.”