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The educational project, unique in scope and scope, wanted by Confindustria Ceramica to defuse negative stereotypes about tile factories and bring children closer to companies and processes of ceramic manufacturing, before they make the choice of higher education.
It was named “Sì Ceramica!” and it is the latest initiative in chronological order – as well as the first structured one aimed at pupils under 14, in the Confindustria association system – of the battle that Sassuolo entrepreneurs are carrying out to raise awareness of job opportunities and growth that the sector offers to young people , with its 128 tile manufacturing companies that generate a turnover of 7.2 billion euros, 90% of which is concentrated in Emilia-Romagna but 85% of which is exported throughout the world.
And it is here, around the Emilian tile valley, that the lack of skills is becoming the first obstacle to growth, «despite the training activities we are developing with high schools, ITS, IFTS and universities, including a master’s degree level that has reached its third edition”, underlines Luca Mussini, president of the Confindustria Ceramica Training commission, presenting the project yesterday.
Even in the Sassuolo district, the perception of children and their families is often wrong, distorted and far from the reality of what is now an Italian ceramic company. «We are talking about companies with first-rate technological equipment – specifies Mussini – which invest over 5% of their turnover every year, with peaks of 10%, in innovation and in Made in Italy 4.0 systems which represent the “Best available techniques”, the best standards at an international level, also for sustainability, dust-free and a lot of digitalisation”.
“Yes Ceramic!” aims to inform and train children aged 11 and above on the opportunities that exist in the ceramic industries through the collaboration of teachers, to also speak to their families, anticipating the time of school orientation. «The educational project unfolds in a digital quiz game that challenges first-year students on a journey into the world of ceramics to learn about its mechanisms, understand its concepts and fundamental words (slip is the mixture of water and clay not a character from Barbapapà and the atomized material is sand, ed.) and then develops into orientation courses for boys and girls in second and eighth grade, with the possibility of guided visits to ceramic factories and museums”, he explains Giulio Saltarelli, partner of D&F, a communications company specialized in corporate activities aimed at schools, which has built a three-year plan that will involve 500 lower secondary schools in Parma, Reggio Emilia, Bologna, Ferrara, Modena and Ravenna.