The Schifani government focuses on young people and does so with a three-year plan of 94.5 million euros of the European Social Fund Plus 2021-2027 for the activation of 300 education and professional training courses (IEFP) intended in Sicily to an audience of 8,100 students.
With notice 26 of 2025, published by the Department of Education and Professional Training, in fact, the Sicilian Region has defined, in the context of the figures provided for in the national repertoire, the training offer of the 2025-2028 cycle for the achievement of a professional qualification, recognized and spent at national and European level, through three-year courses provided both in ordinary and in dual mode, with the possibility of apprenticeship contracts first level.
“With this plan – says the president of the Sicilian region, Renato Schifani – my government stands two priority objectives: support young people who choose an alternative qualification path to the school and provide them with the possibility of acquiring skills that can be truly spent in the labor market, through the modulation of a training more adherent to the needs of the business world”.
The courses, activated on the island by training bodies accredited by the Region, are intended for young people aged 14 and over, who want to follow an alternative path to high school, and allow children to fulfill the training obligation and to acquire skills that can be spent in the labor market. The activities of the first year will begin on September 15, coinciding with the opening of the school year.
Furthermore, the notice is part of the regional framework of the strengthening actions of the technical and professional education supply chain, aims to reduce the imbalance between demand and demand of work, aims to give continuity and followed by the strategy of the national recovery and resilience plan and, more generally, to the national plan of new skills. A further objective, in implementation of the strategy adopted by the Region as part of the ESF+ 2021-2027 for “a social and more inclusive Europe”, is to ensure equality of access to education and training also to disadvantaged subjects and people with disabilities.
“This announcement, the result of a path started in recent months with the social partners and training bodies – says the regional councilor for professional education and training, Mimmo Turano – represents a real revolution in the IEFP system. The simplifications provided for by the new Council procedure, which have been introduced by the EU directives, in fact, streamline the technical administrative process necessary to access funding. The notice regulates the IEFP courses ensuring training continuity for each school year and until the qualification is achieved in 2028, it puts in place an action to combat school dispersion and promotes youth employability, giving our children an alternative to the fulfillment of the school compulsory and the possibility of acquiring professional skills that can be expected immediately to the labor market, even in a perspective of European mobility “.
Financial endowment and selection procedure
In line with the Assessorial Decree 15 of 2025, the financial endowment for the 2025-2028 cycle is divided as follows: 48.8 million euros for 155 IEFP courses of the so-called line A (16.2 million per year); 37.8 million for 120 courses in line B (12.6 million per year) and 7.8 million for 25 courses in line C (2.6 million per year). The training bodies, accredited and in possession of the requirements provided for by regional law 23 of 2019 may apply for financing.
The selection procedure is divided into two steps. The first phase concerns the “Constitution of the catalog of the IEFP 2025-2028 training offer 2025-2028”. The second is aimed at the “executive design”, with counter procedure. For the first phase, the applications must be submitted from 8 am on June 19 to 18 on 30 June 2025; For the second phase (executive designs), however, from 8 on 17 July to 18 of July 28, 2025. The loan is assigned according to the chronological order of presentation of the executive designs in the context of only one of the 3 lines provided, selected in an alternative way (A or B or C) within the maximum limit of the courses that can be financed for single line.
The courses will have a duration of 1,056 hours a year, the attendance obligation is foreseen, while to be admitted to the second year or to the final examination of professional qualification it is necessary to attend at least 75% of the annual hours of the training course.