Education Ministry hosts collaborative consultation on hospitality institute
THE Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) hosted a stakeholder consultation, at the Pegasus Hotel, in Kingston, Georgetown, on the development of a hospitality institute in Guyana. The one-day discourse involved representatives of the host ministry, Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG), Carnegie School of Home Economics and the Private Sector.
They, together, discussed the findings and recommendations of visiting consultant, Mrs. Bernice Critchlow-Earle, Director of the Barbados Hospitality Training Institute.
The main aim of the assemblage was to review the current state of hospitality training in this country and determine the feasibility of establishing a specialised institution for the delivery of related training locally.
Minister of Education, Mr. Shaik Baksh said the vision of having such an institution here is an important one, which would satisfy the skills needs of the country in light of the growing tourism industry.
He noted that the initiative meshes with several key areas of current focus by his ministry, including the Entrepreneurship Programme, Hospitality Skills Development Programme and the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Programme, which will be complimented by the One Laptop per Family (OLPF) project.
Baksh said training in those fields is of vital importance and called on all institutions to respond, aggressively, in fulfilling the demands made by the Private Sector.
“We have to ensure we provide opportunities for all of the youths coming out of the school system, so that they could take up employment in key areas,” he said.
Baksh emphasised the import of the quality of the training being provided now at institutions such as Carnegie.
“The question is, if Carnegie can be developed into a hospitality institute in terms of its present programmes and offerings, the standards must be raised to higher levels which would lead on to the University of Guyana,” he posited.
In that regard he maintained the necessity for quality assurance as it relates to several key functions, including operations and programmes offered there.
Alluding to the overall impact of such an institution to the continued growth and development of the Tourism Sector, Baksh said: “With the development taking place in Guyana in the tourism sector, we have to prepare our human resources at all levels to take on this important function, so that visitors will be encouraged to return.”

Consensus
He explained that, after the consultation, the consensus will be presented to Cabinet, following which there will be a request for funding, taking into account human resources and infrastructural development.
“We will then have to decide if we will allow Carnegie to continue at that basic level or establish a new school. We need to consider what route we should take,” Baksh stated.
He expressed gratitude to the CDB for its support, not only to this initiative but in the past.
GTA Director, Mr. Indranauth Haralsingh remarked that the industry is very competitive and, as such, the service difference is one of the attributes which could give ‘Destination Guyana – The Amazon Adventure’ an advantage.
He said Guyana is now a more popular destination and has been featured internationally, including by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Discovery Channel, which has contributed to increased arrivals in the country.
“Our visitors and tourists have expectations and we must meet and exceed the need to enhance the quality of our human resource base which has become of critical importance in the development paradigm,” Haralsingh said.
He said: “The provision of quality education and training has been given high priority by the Government of Guyana and the establishment of the Hospitality Training Institute will contribute, significantly, to the manpower for the high end tourism market and the rapidly expanding tourism and hospitality sector.”
Haralsingh said the institute will assist in determining the most appropriate approach to the provision of hospitality education and training and provide prospective tourism partners in the industry, all seeking to contribute to national and regional development.
CDB representative in Guyana, Dr. Idamay Denny said the initiative was embarked upon with the overall aim of lifting the state of hospitality training in this country.
“CDB collaborated with the Ministry of Education to develop some terms of reference for a consultancy that would look at the feasibility of establishing this institute,” she explained.
Denny said the role of consultant Critchlow-Earle included the examination of key areas, among them to review current training in the sector, the quality of it, examination of the skills gap, determination of new programmes, developing projections of manpower and training needs and, most importantly, to advise on the role of Carnegie in the entire process.
Denny said the report would then determine if an institution, separate from Carnegie, would be established or if Carnegie, itself, would become the new institution.
She said one of the important aspects of the process is the consultation exercise, which will give the opportunity for the relevant stakeholders to share their input as it relates to the successful development of the hospitality institute in Guyana.