Education Minister recognises need for more proactive movement in TVET
Education Minister, Priya Manickchand emphasising the scope of Technical Education and Vocational Training (TVET).
The Education Ministry is moving forward steadily in the advancement and promotion of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). In March of this year, a two-day stakeholder consultation was held, and gave the participants the opportunity to peruse the policy document, ask questions and make suggestions. Today, a three-day workshop followed, facilitated by representatives of Dunn, Pierre Barnett and Associates Ltd. a Jamaican company.
Stakeholders gathered at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) where a workshop was held for the development of a policy for Technical Education and Vocational Training (TVET).
The policy referred to is the TVET Guyana Vision 2020 which seeks to facilitate a regional and concerted approach that guides TVET reform in operations, administration, stakeholder involvement, funding and certification within the Council, and secondary education. Additionally, it aims at ensuring that TVET is given prominence as a requirement necessary for further education and workforce development, social progress and employment.
University of Technology, Jamaica-Senior Director, Planning and Operations- Denise Stephenson-Hammil, who is also the lead facilitator, in her presentation at the event held at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), outlined that the workshop will be done in two phases of planning for Guyana’s national TVET policy; these would be the analysis and the actual planning phase. This would see the stakeholders looking at the internal and external situations and operational environment of TVET in Guyana, with particular emphasis on the key stakeholder groups which includes employers.
The other two representatives from Dunn, Pierre Barnett and Associates Ltd. who are also involved in the workshop are Executive Director, Paulette Dunn-Pierre and Chief Technical Director, Clover Barnett.
Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand stressed that the development of the TVET policy plan is an important move. “We are at a very good place right now to have this workshop, and to implement whatever will be decided here over the next three days,” she said.
The Minister acknowledged that the ground work has been laid for TVET to take off in Guyana. “We have as a country recognised the need for a more proactive movement in the area of TVET as a result of which we have built institutions, and we have signed onto the programme for doing TVET…so the vision to take us to the place where we want us to be was laid by the PPP/C government and that vision remains,” she said.
Minister Manickchand noted that the Education Ministry is tasked with ensuring that the government’s vision for TVET becomes a reality.
In introspection, as to whether or not what needs to be done is carried out, the Minister implored that the workshop not be a talk shop, but that the discussions be practical regarding the local situation, how it can work with the availability and lack of resources and how it serves the needs of the beneficiaries.
“For me, I am not happy with where we are with TVET, and that is not to lay blame at anybody’s door…I think that’s why we’re here today to move forward, but we are much better than this and we can be much better than this,” she emphasised.
Minister Manickchand drew a practical position and outlined what she anticipates from the offering of TVET at the secondary level. These include students having a deep interest in pursuing further studies, students certified as being competent (a CVQ type competency in a specific area), students being able to continue their studies in the institutions built to facilitate TVET, and that they leave certified and competent at that level, and are absorbed into the workforce of the country so that they can contribute to Guyana’s continued development.
Chairman of the TVET Council, Clinton Williams addressing the gathering.
Importantly, the stakeholders were encouraged to look at how the most vulnerable groups, particularly females, can be attracted to TVET.
Chairman, Guyana Council for TVET – Clinton Williams recognised that internationally the rate of any country’s economic development is intrinsically linked to its productivity, and international competitiveness, and concomitantly its capacity to build and sustain a competent workforce.
“For this reason, the policy document of TVET refers to its vision as Education for Employment, and its mission statement as ‘conceptualisation, coordination and/or delivery of modular competency based education and training, in order to create and/or sustain a workforce that is accredited to be internationally competitive,” he said.
Williams highlighted that the project is being implemented at a time when the Council is in the process of introducing several innovative mechanisms for TVET nationally which include the implementation of competency based education and training programmes at formal and non-formal institutions, a national strategy for assessment and certification and quality assurance guidelines for Guyana to be recognised as an accreditation body for the CVQs.
Williams pointed out that sectors that contribute significantly to Guyana’s GDP have been experiencing skill shortages due to skill poaching and migration. It is against this background that a survey will be conducted by the Council in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics. Arrangements are also being finalised for the implementation of a comprehensive Inter American Development Bank (IDB) funded labour market intelligence survey. The latter will assess the manufacturing, forestry, hospitality, commerce and engineering and construction sectors.
ACEO-Technical, Patrick Chinedu who focused on the TVET Guyana Vision 2020 framework, emphasised that 80 percent of jobs in the world today involve TVET skills. He also recognises the need for stigma to be removed from TVET. Chinedu was referring to the view that who students who do not perform well academically pursue TVET programmes. It is therefore important to note that pursuing TVET programmes require a strong background in Maths, Science and even English Language.
Chinedu outlined several concepts that should be considered; an integrated system that offers the opportunity for lifelong learning, the establishment of a centralised unit that can oversee all TVET training in Guyana, setting up a system that is based on competences and occupational standards set by or in collaboration with industries, catering for varying learning abilities and potential, integrating concepts of internship and entrepreneurship, and stipulating safety, quality and excellency.
The motto for the proposed plan is ‘Skill is Wealth’ in this regard 15 action plan points were outlined. These include safety, student recruitment, retention and completion, governance, financial support and its sustainability, human resource development and sustainability, process and procedures (written and communicated), environmental concerns, students and staff wellness, records input, storage and retrieval, awareness and information creation, dissemination and marketing, TVET employers’ alliance, and the introduction of TVET at the nursery and primary levels.
The key areas in the policy are governance and management of TVET, curriculum and syllabus development, delivery and assessment of TVET programme, financing TVET, monitoring and evaluation, the legal framework and policy implementation plan.