Technical and vocational education in today’s world has become an integral part of education systems, unlike what entailed in the past, where it was a mere appendage or incidental to education systems.
Consequently, there is an increasing emphasis on technical and vocational education across the globe.
Our government has long recognised and acknowledged the critical role of technical education in socio-economic development and, as such, has implemented tangible measures and steps in this regard.
The government through the Ministry of Education has formulated a policy on Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) and has entered into a financial arrangement with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to the tune of US$9.6M to fund projects pertaining to technical education facilities.
Ever since, several technical institutes have been built or are being built in the rural communities in order to decentralise TVET and ensure that those students are afforded the same opportunities as their urban counterparts.
The latest such facility was commissioned only a few days ago at Leonora on the West Coast Demerara. It was constructed at a cost of $427.5M and can accommodate 250 full-time students and 200 part-time students.
The institute is also outfitted with an information technology laboratory with 60 computers, along with other laboratories which will see students being trained in areas such as mechanical and electrical engineering, welding, carpentry and masonry.
Minister of Education Shaik Baksh, at the commissioning, said that it was a proud day for Region 3 and the current administration, as the government has fulfilled yet another promise.
“Over the past ten years there have been movements in all directions of the education sector, inspite of what those with negative outlooks say,” Baksh said.
Baksh also said construction of the Technical Institute and Vocational Training Centre at Leonora and another in Region 5 is part of a collaborative project by the Government of Guyana and the Caribbean Development Bank.

This, he says, is added investment for the education sector which will see untold number of Guyanese benefitting and having access to quality education; and for students who are more technically inclined, they too can safeguard their future because of such initiatives.
“We have narrowed the skills gap in Guyana as every year investments were made to technical institutes and skills training centres, for them to have a more practical delivery of courses which will see, not only school drop- outs, but also those technically inclined, being granted the opportunity to fulfil their studies,” Baksh said.
It is therefore evident that TVET in Guyana is on a firm footing and in the not too distant future it would become accessible to all our youths, regardless of their geographic location, similar to how primary education is now universal, while secondary education is on track to become universal in a few years.

Technical education will become increasingly critical as the demand for skills increase in the process of increased economic and industrial growth and, therefore, the government’s approach to TVET could be deemed a visionary one.
TVET will also contribute to the efforts at empowering the poor and narrowing of the rich-poor gap which seems to be widening globally.

Perhaps, UNESCO’s Director-General,Federico Mayor best sums up how critical is TVET to economic advancement when, addressing a UNESCO conference highlighting the challenges of the 21st century, he said: “Education is the single most powerful means to improve the quality of life, the single most powerful weapon against poverty and intolerance. Education builds a culture of peace. Governments need to be more aware of the social and economic relevance of skills and provide technical and vocational education with a commensurate share of social investment.”

In a reference to current events, Mr. Mayor denounced “the brutality of ethnic extermination” which is forcing people to flee their homeland, and insisted that similarly – albeit “less visibly” – hunger and poverty are “expelling thousands of people from their homeland every day.”
Instead of fulfilling repeated pledges by developed countries to assist the developing world, “a loan-based system has been applied with the result of widening – not narrowing – the gap between the rich and the poor.”

Global trends have indicated a need for a knowledge based and skilled labour market, and Guyana is certainly progressing on the right path.