Open-door policy
28/04/2008
A leather technology institute in Cotacachi, Ecuador, is to put in place an open-door policy to attract more young people.
The area has a long tradition of producing leather and making leathergoods, but student numbers at the centre have been going down.
The director of the centre, Hugo Navarro, has said that some parents have tried to put their children off the idea of working in a trade, pushing them instead towards professional jobs. He pointed out, however, that leathergoods attracted tourists to Cotacachi and brought life to the town.
He has arranged for school pupils to visit the centre before they make their final decisions about what jobs they would like to do. On these visits, local schoolchildren have seen a display of goods that students at the centre have produced and heard them talk about their ambitions for setting up their own companies almost as soon as they finish training.
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