MoE launches leadership retreat
Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson and Assistant Chief Education Officer (ACEO)-Technical, Patrick Chinedu Onwuzirike (front row, centre) pose with all the participants of the retreat
Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson and Assistant Chief Education Officer (ACEO)-Technical, Patrick Chinedu Onwuzirike (front row, centre) pose with all the participants of the retreat

– to help create tech-savvy future leaders

THE Ministry of Education (MoE) is seeking to develop competency in Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to boost national competitiveness, especially in the wake of oil discovery in Guyana.

On Monday, the MoE launched and began its Leadership Retreat for 50 selected leaders from TVET institutions countrywide at the Lake Mainstay Resort, under the theme: “Promoting operational excellence through the development of next-generation leaders in TVET to boost national competitiveness.”

Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson

Here, the leaders have been tasked with the responsibility of transforming the sector so that it may benefit the younger population, poised to take over leadership and management. Speaking at the launch, Chief Education Officer (CEO) Marcel Hutson posited, “Guyana needs you at this point in time. We are at the brink of greatness, but we cannot breakthrough unless we have people who are committed and dedicated to a particular plan and purpose.”

TVET is critical to any society, Hutson said and added that TVET offers some distinct advantages to society. For him, “It allows the nation to adapt to the necessary changes needed in a knowledge-based society.”

Resultantly, this event was conceptualised because there are a myriad of issues plaguing the TVET sector, ranging from the lack of communication and collaboration, poor leadership and stigma towards persons pursuing studies in the sector, which need to be ironed out. Here, he advanced that there are key things that are needed in the sector: proper planning, organisation and goal-setting; synergy within and among the institutions; a succession plan and generally, commitment to developing Guyanese youth for the betterment of Guyana.

Importantly, he bemoaned that particularly with the development of the oil industry, Guyana needs a skilled workforce. And he noted that this is not limited to those with an academic prowess but skilled manpower at all levels of society. “We don’t want to have people to be importing brains,” Hutson stressed and advanced, “We have brains here, we have the required people here but what is missing is the commitment and the dedication to a very good cause.”

The CEO also addressed that there seems to be disparities that exist between the TVET institutions across Guyana, but highlighted that all the institutions are receiving the same training and share the same status and as such, there must be no disparity and gap because of leadership.

Providing an overview of the retreat was Assistant Chief Education Officer (ACEO)- Technical, Patrick Chinedu Onwuzirike, who noted that the TVET sector has shown development but the work is far from over.

The training is specifically geared at developing Guyana’s human capital in the context of the envisaged ‘Green Economy’ and according to Onwuzuruke, “Guyana is poised for a transformed economy and the development of the requisite local capacity [rests] squarely on TVET.”

A section of the participants from the leadership retreat

Onwuzirike also highlighted that it is the development of technical skills needed to drive industry and commerce that led to China’s economic development. This, according to him, has proved true for all developed nations. As such, he shared the CEO’s sentiments that TVET should not be looked down upon because it is critical to Guyana’s development.

And while there is focus on reshaping the quality and content of TVET education, the sessions will be focussed on honing internal leadership for the technical institutions.

As the ACEO said, “This one-week retreat will therefore begin the process of a succession plan for the next 15 years to ensure that for every TVET post-secondary institution, there is a pool of leaders we can at any material time, tap into to fill a vacancy.” This is due to cognisance that persons who have for many years been at the helm of the institutions may depart from their positions at any time.

To this end, the officer affirmed it is envisaged that there will be a cadre of promising young leaders and stressed, “It is therefore necessary to ensure that you are strategically positioned to take on the mantle of leadership at any time.”

Chief Instructor (ag.) from the Leonora Technical and Vocational Training centre, Delphine Bakker told the Guyana Chronicle that she hopes this workshop will make her a better leader so that she will be able to deliver better quality education.

At her centre, the challenges aforementioned have manifested themselves and according to her, persons frown upon learning a skill because it is seen as a pursuit for “dropouts”. And though it is a post-secondary institution, she said that some students have issues with literacy and numeracy. Bakker, however, recognised that helping the adolescents requires a concerted but collective effort and said, “I am making a pledge to apply what I’ve learnt to myself and to share it with others [because] it is about all of us.”

Similarly, Principal (ag.) of the Carnegie School of Home Economics, Myrna Lee shared that synergy across the TVET stakeholders is critical and out of the workshop, she hopes to create those relationships so that the institutes may support each other.

The retreat will address various topics, all geared at improving TVET and will conclude on Friday, July 20.

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