Azerbaijan expanding vocational education with new facilities in Karabakh

Director of the Azerbaijani State Agency for Vocational Education Jeyhun Karimov has announced that vocational education institutions are currently being planned for Gubadli, Zangilan, Aghdam, and Shusha as part of the “First State Programme for the Great Return”.

“A new vocational education facility is under construction in Fuzuli,” Karimov said during a briefing on July 29, Caliber.Az reports citing the local media.

Karimov highlighted that in the 2023–2024 academic year, 1,200 former internally displaced people (IDPs) are enrolled in vocational education institutions.

He also mentioned that the Shusha State Vocational Education Centre will introduce three new specialties: stone architectural monument restoration, artistic embroidery, and musical instrument craftsmanship.

The Shusha State Vocational Education Centre, which is designed to accommodate 400 students, features 12 workshops and a dormitory with 86 beds. Additionally, the Fuzuli State Vocational Training Centre, planned for 850 students, will include 34 workshops and a dormitory for 100 residents.

As a result of the Azerbaijani army’s brilliant victory in the second Karabakh war under the leadership of Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev the former IDPs are able to return to their homeland voluntarily and safely after 30 years.

According to the decree signed in November 2022 by President Aliyev approving the "First State programme on the Great Return to Azerbaijan's liberated territories”, a total of 280,000 hectares (692,000 acres) of lands in the Karabakh and East Zangazur regions will be readied for resettlement by 2026.

By 2026, a total of 34,500 families will be relocated to the Karabakh and East Zangazur regions. To accommodate them, 34,500 apartments and private houses will be built by 2026.