-in light of national, and global changes
EDUCATION Minister Shaik Baksh has said skills building must remain relevant in light of national and global changes and demands.
He was speaking on Tuesday at the start of a two-day workshop for the enhancement of Guyana’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). “Skills building is very, very important. The thrust of the Education Sector is to build competencies at the various levels. Once we do this, we have expanded opportunities across the country,” Baksh said at Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown, where he addressed the gathering including Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) officials, Ministry of Education staffers and other stakeholders.
Recently, the Ministry, in keeping with its vision to expand TVET, secured US$9.6M funding from the CDB for the construction of two technical institutions in Regions Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands) and Five (Mahaica/Berbice).
The institutions are expected to be complete in nine months after work starts and will house 200 students each and some of the money will be used in other areas for capacity building.
The two schools will supplement the 10 already in existence and increase access to skills training and further promote interest in this area.
In that context, Baksh told the Tuesday forum there is need for highly skilled personnel in both the public and private sectors.
He said that changes globally and nationally, with the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), will create demand for skills at different levels.
“We have to ensure that what we are doing is relevant. It is important that we are meeting the needs of industries,” Baksh said.
He pointed out that a manpower needs analysis will have to be done to determine the human resource requirements over a target period of between 10 and 20 years.
“This is overdue and, therefore, we will have to move in this direction. Under this project, we hope that some funds can be made available to assist in this area to get an idea of the needs in new skills areas,” Baksh said.
According to him, some work has been done, including curriculum revision to facilitate the changes.
He said one such change was the Ministry’s intervention at the Government Technical Institute (GTI) where instructions in shorthand were still being done in an age of Information Technology (IT).

Discontinue
“There are certain skills that we will have to discontinue. We have to make training relevant and this project will do that. It will provide and expand access to TVET,” Baksh reiterated.
He said building the two new institutes is taking TVET into previously unserved regions.
“While we build competencies and provide skills, we are, at the same time, providing the human resource base to better serve the country,” Baksh said.
He said, apart from that, the Education Sector’s moves also took into consideration the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ).
“Guyana is on its way to becoming a CVQ country,” Baksh said about the system that will facilitate the movement of artisans and other skilled persons in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
The qualification will be accessible to persons already in the workforce as well as students in secondary schools across the Caribbean region. Those already in the workforce will be required to attend designated centres for assessment.
Baksh said the TVET programme is part of the Ministry’s strategic plan and offers students an alternative pathway to make a positive contribution to the development of their country.
Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, who also spoke on Tuesday, concurred with his colleague that the TVET programme has an important role in the development of Guyana.
He emphasised the importance of matching the skills needed by the public and  private sectors with those in the workforce.
“We are pursuing a better match,” Singh posited.
He said there are eager youths interested in pursuing TVET opportunities and sectors, including the Private Sector, need access to quality skills in large numbers.
Singh said it is a conundrum that the efforts of the Government, through the Education Sector, are seeking to address.
“Projects like this address this conundrum,” he maintained.
Singh acknowledged the need to produce skill sets that meet the needs demanded by industries operating in the country.
In this manner, he said, Guyana will have a better prepared economy to respond to new and emerging opportunities, such as those in the rapidly advancing Information Communication Technology (ICT) arena.
CDB Representative, Ms. Yvonne Moses-Grant, who was also present, agreed that the TVET programme has many benefits to not only the individual student but the country as a whole, too.

Paradigm
“Through TVET, the paradigm of technology and education is brought sharply into focus,” she said, noting that TVET enhances the student’s marketability.
Grant said it also assumes critical importance in a country facing economic crisis.
“The project will allow the delivery of the highest level of technical and vocational training and the systems will also be enhanced through the development of strengthening of different aspects of delivery,” she said.
In her view, this is only a drop in the bucket of what is really needed but she pledged the support of CDB and encouraged the Guyana Government to apply for additional resources, which could be facilitated through a special development fund, even as the current project is being implemented.
Grant said the CDB loan of US$9.6M is to be repaid with two per cent interest over a period of 30 years, with a grace period of 10 years.
She revealed that, since 2003, Guyana secured the benefit of 34 projects in education, at a cost of US$2.6M and since 2006 an additional sum of US$600,000 has been expended on 25 skills training programmes.