Xinjiang training center grads refute rumors from West

Question 5: According to some foreign media, the vocational education and training centers used vocational training as a cover to force the trainees to work and make products. Could you please let the trainees talk about it? Did such things happen in their training centers?

Answer: I am Tusunisa Ali, and I am a graduate of Hotan County Vocational Education and Training Center. The center had never imposed forced labor on us. All the training courses were for us to acquire vocational ability, so that we could find jobs successfully and live better lives.

The courses included livestock breeding, beauty treatment and hairdressing, computer operation, tailoring, business marketing, costume designing and hotel management. The trainees selected courses according to their interests. I love beauty and wearing pretty clothes. I wanted to dress up myself so I chose the tailoring course, hoping to make pretty clothes for myself and earn money with the tailoring skills to support my family and take better care of my mom.

The tailoring class combined theoretical teaching and hands-on training. Only after we had finished the theoretical studies of straight lines, pressure lines, keyholes, button attaching, knot tying and binding-off did we start the practical operations. At first, I was very clumsy at the hands-on training class. But the teachers patiently taught us by doing, and we practiced repeatedly until we got it. Later, I could make good straight lines, circle lines and square lines, and solve different problems in the sewing process. I heard that some people described our hands-on training as forced labor. It is sheer nonsense. If we only learned about the theories without practical training, we could never learn the tailoring skills or make suitable clothes. Besides, we used off-cuts of clothing to practice, so how could we make finished products? We practiced for our future better lives, so how come it was called forced labor?

After I graduated, I worked at a clothing company with the help of the labor market. I signed a labor contract with the company. With my proficient tailoring skills, now I am the manager of a workshop. I can earn 4,000 yuan a month, which has improved my family's living conditions and enabled us to live a happy life.