6 - Le Souen, VENDREDI 20 ma! 1994

Your provincial government has unveiled a forward-looking
skills training plan for British Columbia, called Skills Now.

Skills Now will give British Columbians real skills -
for the real world. Skills we'll need to take advantage of
the new jobs in B.C.’s changing economy.

That means making high school more relevant to

2. Opening more doors — and the right
doors — to college and university, helping more young
women and men keep ahead in our changing world.

3. Retraining workers closer to home, ensuring
new skills for new jobs.

4. Moving the unemployed from welfare to the
workforce, by building on people’s strengths and abilities.

For each of these building blocks, new programs

Jobs will go vacant in B.C. because
we simply don't have the skills.

the world of work. Increasing access to college and
university for young men and women. And
ensuring working British Columbians have the new

skills for new jobs.

Skills Now: A new partnership

Skills Now is bringing together those who know
best what skills are needed in today’s world
of work, and. how best to teach them.
The B.C. government is cre-
ating a new partnership with business,
labour, educators and communities.
Working together, we are
finding new, practical ways to increase access to

the skills in demand today and tomorrow.

The four building blocks

Over the next two years, Skills Now will invest $200
million of new money into four building blocks:

1. Linking high schools to the workplace, so more

students graduate with real skills for the real world.

will be coming on stream over the coming months, while
others will be further developed with the Skills Now part
nership. Watch for future Skills Now announcements, so

you can plan ahead and take advantage of these programs.

Linking high school to the workplace

Skills Now will help young people get real skills for the
real world while they are still in high school:
e Extending classroom
boundaries, with more opportunities
for work experience and apprenticeship
preparation, and high school credits for
real skills learned outside the school.

¢ Linking with colleges and universities by
awarding students post-secondary credits while attending
high school.

e More high school graduates, through expanded
stay-in-school initiatives, plus innovative programs to encour-
age drop-outs to complete their high school education.

e Putting students on the information highway

through a Provincial Learning Network which will link