The city of Idlib incubated the second branch of “Shine” Academy, after it was opened on February 10, as an extension for the main center in the city of Maarrat al-Nu’man, which has been open for two years now.

The Academy manages the Informatics Department in Maarrat al-Nu’man. The programs duration is one full year, four days a week and six hors a day, in addition to other shorter training programs, the most prominent of which are: Management, Projects Management, Social Health, Special Education, Languages and other programs.

Engineer Mohammad Mimaar, the Academic Director of “Shine” Organization, said that the branch in Maarrat al-Nu’man was opened two years ago and covered the southern countryside of Idlib and the Northern countryside of Hama, confirming to Enab Baladi that the center provides “distinct” educational services in the area.

Aiming to complete the experiment, the Idlib Branch began with three diplomas, the duration of each of them is two months (two days a week and six hours a day), before the opening of the academic branch in the city, according to Mimaar.

The diplomas of computer sciences and maintenance, as well as journalism were chosen to be presented in the new branch, after a poll about the male and female students’ demands in the area was conducted. According to the engineer, the number of the beneficiaries of the Academy’s services reached 45 students; “as a starting point,” each diploma would receive 15 students.

Mimaar pointed out that, later own, the door would be open to launch more diplomas and training courses and to receive a larger number of students.

Rania Qaysar, an activist in the field of social empowerment and the Director of the Academy, told Enab Baladi that the Academy aims to equip male and female students with the needed skills, teach them and then indulge them in the labor market, in a rapid manner in two or three months.

According to Qaysar, “the students lack certain skills,” pointing out to the fact that “the initiative lies within the frame of social empowerment, to help Syrian people reach the international labor market as a competitor.”

The Academy’s Director described Syrian human resources as “raw diamonds that require habitation only,” stressing that “what we need from our students is to excel in all that they do.”

Dozens of students benefited from the “Shine” training programs, according to the people whom Enab Baladi interviewed. The first class of students in the Informatics Department graduated in last May.

Abdu al-Azam, one of the graduate students and who is currently working as a laboratory trustee, said that the Academy “depends on modern educational methods, for they afford a chance for practical application and follow latest updates, pointing out that “he is working according to what he learned and is developing himself.”

The young man said that the Academy “offers certificates that allow their holders to get job opportunities in a short period after completing the curriculum according the plan.”

Nour al-Huda al-Jundi graduated from the same department. Today, she works in the field of website design, which she has been taught in the Academy, assuring Enab Baladi that she is today utilizing and benefiting from all the practical dimensions of the educational process.

“Shine” Academy (Humanitarian Institute for National Empowerment) is licensed in Idlib and accredited in the United States of America since its establishment in 2015. It provides services in the fields of training, education, relief and sustainable development covering the northern countryside of Hama, Idlib and rural Aleppo.