THE Carnegie School of Home Economics (CSHE) on Tuesday launched a nutrition for dietary assistants programme as part of the school’s 85th anniversary celebrations.
According to Principal (ag) Myrna Lee, the initiative to offer the programme at Carnegie was the brainchild of outgoing Principal Penelope Harris.

Harris gave an overview of the programme at the launch in the compound of the school, in the presence of Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings, board members, lecturers and students.

According to Harris, the programme is aimed at creating a skilled labour force that will meet the local demand for dietary assistants. It is of two year’s duration and students will be tutored in the areas of food safety and hygiene, basic nutrition, meal management and catering, nutrition in life cycle, food service management and general education, among other courses.

She said at the end of the programme, graduates will obtain a diploma that will allow them to further their studies to the degree level at a university.
In addition, the diploma will qualify the graduated students to work in the kitchens of hospitals, hospices, colleges and universities.

“Dietary assistants are employed at local hospitals to oversee the preparation of meals for patients in accordance with the direction of a qualified dietician or nutritionist. They are also involved in educating clients on their nutritional requirements,” Harris said.

The entry level requirements for the programme are four Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects with Grades One to Four, inclusive of Mathematics, English, Food and Nutrition and one Science subject; persons over 25 years with experience working in the fields; successful completion of the one-year household management course; or CVQ (Caribbean Vocational Qualification) Level One in Commercial Food Preparation.

The next batch of students for the programme will commence training in September 2019.

CANNOT BE IGNORED
Meanwhile, in her feature address, the Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings said according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a healthy diet prevents against malnutrition and non-communicable diseases. She said that among the top 10 non-communicable diseases that affect Guyanese are diabetes, hypertension and heart failure.

Minister Cummings explained that the prevalence of these diseases is partially related to nutrition. She said the CSHE has recognised the lack of dietary professionals and highlighted that graduates of the programme will be able to work along with registered dieticians.

Further, she said that her ministry acknowledges that good nutrition is important for healthy lifestyle. Minister Cummings added that healthy people are more productive and are important to the further development of Guyana.

Also hailing the initiative was Director (ag) of the Council for Technical Vocational Education and Training (CTVET) Jerry Simpson. He said that CTVET is responsible for programmes that are offered in post-secondary institutions.

Simpson said he hopes the programme will be tabled shortly to be awarded a Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ). Simpson committed CTVET’s willingness to obtain the services of an external verifier to assess the new programme and congratulated the CSHE on making such a bold step.

Outside of launching this dynamic new programme, the CSHE also launched the “Water Day-Wednesday”.

This was done with the hope of creating a new healthy trend among Guyanese by encouraging them to choose water as their preferred beverage every Wednesday.
Gillian Trim from the Food Policy Division within the Ministry of Public Health encouraged those in attendance to take up the challenge by highlighting several benefits of drinking water.

These include weight loss, flushing of toxins, headache remedy and improved physical performance. The importance of water in one’s diet was further emphasised by a skit performed by students of the CSHE and Radha Singh.

Among other presentations was a promotional talk from Mignon Maynard-Sancho, Coordinator of the University of the Southern Caribbean (USC). She said the USC remains committed to being a partner of the CSHE in terms of offering higher qualification programmes.