Don Bosco Philippines South Province

The Salesian Vocational Training Centre and the school came into existence in Valdocco to meet specific needs of youth and integrate them within an overall project of education and evangelisation of the young, especially those most in need. Motivated by a desire to ensure their dignity and their future, Don Bosco set up trade workshops, at the same time, helping his youngsters fi nd work and entering into contracts for them with a view to preventing exploitation. The Salesian Brother vocation enriched and enhanced this service.

This is the matrix of the current VTC which is concerned with promoting the human, Christian and professional formation of the young. This proposal responds to the predispositions, abilities and perspectives of many of them who at the end of their basic training, wish to get a job. Vocational training is an effective tool for holistic human development and an effective preventive measure for youth problems, as well as promoting Christian leadership in society and development in the business world.

Ever attentive to the needs of the young, Don Bosco extended his commitment by developing the Salesian school. He sensed that the school was an essential tool for education, a meeting point between culture and faith.

We consider the school as a privileged cultural mediation in education; an institution for the formation of personality which we cannot do without because it conveys a concept of the world, the human person and of history (cf. The Catholic School, no.8). The school environment has developed considerably in the Congregation in response to the needs of the young people themselves, of society and of the Church. It has become a movement of educators firmly established in the school area.

There are also Pre-Vocational Training Centres with a special set- up and varied proposals: career guidance, education and training, updating, upgrading, integration and social and work reintegration, promotion of social-minded enterprise. They contribute to the personal success of each individual and cater to a wide range of target groups: young people in their compulsory schooling stage, young people and adults seeking employment; young people in problematic situations or school drop-outs; migrants or apprentices. These include a highly personalised opportunity to facilitate re-entry into formal schooling or to be initiated into work. In fact, this pre-vocational training includes a series of provisions designed to make individuals aware of the working environment and prepare them to better confront their subsequent entry into the new occupation.