A worker poses next to a pile of iced sugar at a vocational training center in Hotan's Yutian county, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, on October 20. Photo: Fan Lingzhi/GT

Cities in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are providing vocational training to local residents.

Hotan is one of the four areas in southern Xinjiang that have in the past struggled to combat terrorist activities and the spread of religious extremism.

The Global Times recently visited a vocational training center in Hotan's Yutian county. A sign outside the center reads, "Turn people who need jobs into people who have the necessary skills for the jobs."

"The education center made me feel like I was back in school," said a trainee, speaking about many of his peers, staff, and corporate representatives in the program.

Many of the trainees were previously poisoned by extremist ideas. Some even were coerced or lured into terrorism. Their behavior has broken the Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law, Anti-Terrorism Law and other relevant laws and regulations.

The local government therefore offers education-oriented free vocational training sessions for these people to improve their skills and a chance to learn Putonghua.

The trainees emphasized that the skills they acquire from the reeducation can help pull them out of poverty.

The center's training facilities include a printing factory, tea factory, shoe factory and other enterprises. The basic monthly salary is usually 1,500 yuan ($216) plus an extra bonus.

For children whose parents are working in the center, there is a daycare service and school for children, only a few minutes away from the factory.

Luo Hongmei, chief of the Party committee of the Yutian Educational Bureau, told the Global Times that previously, some children had no chance to be sent to schools by their parents, who have been influenced by religious extremism.

"But now they have become more open - we can always see their smiling faces. Their personal hygiene has improved… they have also performed well in their studies … all of these things lay a solid foundation for their future development," Luo said.

A trainee packs tea leaves at the vocational training center. Photo: Fan Lingzhi/ GT

Female trainees make shoes in the training center. Photo: Fan Lingzhi/ GT

Workers pack local specialties at the food factory in the center. Photo: Fan Lingzhi/ GT

Women trainees play volleyball at the playground. Photo: Fan Lingzhi/ GT