Education, Science, Research and Sports Minister Dušan Čaplovič has allocated almost €28 million to a national requalification project for already-employed people, which, apart from other things, includes e-learning courses on goat and sheep rearing, as well as face massaging, said Independent (former SDKU-DS) MP Miroslav Beblavý on Tuesday. The e-learning courses alone should cost €12.4 million, which according to Beblavý is more than the ministry allocates for all textbooks in Slovak schools. Beblavý added that the national project involves a post-box company close to the Smer-SD party.
“With Dušan Čaplovič, a scenario is being repeated in which a national project brings schools only very little while money is wasted - or I dare say stolen by officials and chosen contractors. But this project is extreme in this respect, as it delivers nothing to schools at all”, declared Beblavý. The national project, called 'Continuing Education and Counselling for Adults as a Tool for Better Employability on the Labour Market', is being carried out by the National Institute of Lifelong Learning and is largely financed from EU funds. According to Beblavý, the Institute has already placed three big orders within the project without tenders. One of the orders, for example, concerned a media and campaign plan worth €239,000. It was given to a company named Media Impact Solutions. "This firm based in Brezno [Banská Bystrica region] is owned by a post-box company in London”, said Beblavý. The company, which has recently changed its name, has in the past already received another state order from state-run health-insurer Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (VsZP) and was also successful in the Kosice-European Capital of Culture 2013 project. “It's a firm with a very good relationship with Smer-SD representatives”, added Beblavý, stating that a total of €3.7 million within the national project will be spent on campaigns. According to Education Ministry spokesperson Michal Kaliňák however, Beblavý's claims are nonsense. The educational programmes were created in line with the needs defined by representatives of employees and the education sector. “In total, 45 training programmes with 124 modules have been created”, said Kaliňák, who added that the training programme for goat-breeders is one of 124 modules created in line with a request from the Slovak Agricultural and Food Chamber that reflects recent requirements in the agricultural sector.
