Guyana to benefit from Cdn$20M TVET grant
GUYANA is one of 12 Member States which will benefit from a Cdn$20M grant under the CARICOM Education For Employment (C-EFE) programme to advance their Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) agendas. The five-year initiative, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), is being executed by the Association for Caribbean Community Colleges (ACCC).
A release said, recently, a delegation from ACCC, including representatives from the Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies (CANTA), briefed Education Minister Shaik Baksh on the status of the exercise at his Lot 26 Brickdam, Georgetown office and were informed about Guyana’s readiness to be a beneficiary, with the focus on addressing key areas of TVET need.
The release said those needs, among other things, include, the retooling of TVET centres which were not included in the present programme design, development of a labour market strategy for information sharing, support for training of teachers in TVET, quality assurance, accreditation and certification, open and distance learning and the integration of technology in the teaching and learning process.
The visiting team will be here, again, from July, to commence work on the programme in the last quarter of this year’s execution and a specialist is expected to pilot the local component.
The C-EFE is geared to support Caribbean educational and training institutions to move from a generally more traditional, academic, supply driven system to a more responsive, applied, demand driven system that equips learners with skills for jobs of the future.
The ultimate outcome is increased economic growth through a more competitive, productive and gender equitable workforce in the Caribbean.
The release said the programme was co-designed by ACCC and CIDA and partners in the process include regional bodies, national ministries, institutions providing skills for employment, accrediting bodies and representatives from employers associations.
The regional project supports the consolidation and growth of the existing regional bodies and standards into engines of collaboration, efficiency and growth in the training sector.