12. Adult education

Adult education is done both in and out of school. In schools, one form of adult education is the regular part-time education. The most popular form is the vocational secondary part-time education. Although between 1980 and 1991 the number of students in part-time education fell by 50%, in the past few years the demand for this form has been increasing. In 1994/95, 81,204 people learned in part-time secondary education, over 56% of them were under 19. This type of adult education is becoming an alternative to the regular full-time education receiving a growing number of youngsters under 19.

The post-secondary sector is flourishing. In 1993/94, 18 higher educational institutions launched 128 post-secondary 1- or 2-year-long courses with tuition fee. Secondary schools also offer courses of the post-secondary type. This kind of course can improve the chances of the school-leavers in the labour market.

Another form of adult education is labour market training. The Labour Centre registered 1,873 courses as provided by 411 institutions in 1994. Training, supported by the state, is run in the Retraining Centres. In 1994, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Labour, training courses were favoured by the younger generation. Half of the participants were under 25, two-thirds of them were under 35. Eighty five per cent have had some kind of secondary or higher qualification before the training.