CONSULTANCY and training firm, JTW Management Institute, is providing City and Guilds certified English courses designed especially for use in the workplace.

Guyana is among many Caribbean countries where performance in English Language is very poor and seems to be getting worse, with the result that employers are now faced with having to make a huge investment in training to make staff functional in English Language in the workplace.
And especially for those businesses which engage in international transactions, there is an even greater effort under way to ensure that all staff members can use proper English. The Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) results continue to show poor results. In Guyana in 2012, for English Language 47% of the entries achieved Grade 1 to 3 as compared to 67% in 2011. In Jamaica in English, the pass rate in 2012 fell to 63.9% from 64.9% in 2011.
Moreover, understanding English Language is a sine qua non for the study of both Science and Technology.  And since English is the language of modern technology, this skill crisis has to be addressed frontally and  immediately,  as it has a direct impact on the success of Guyana’s development programmes and will stymie progress and impede the efficient delivery of goods and services to an expectant population.
The current crisis cannot be attributed solely to deficiencies in teaching or the ability of the students to master English Language.  It would be a closer gauge of reality if it is understood that the students as well as their teachers are functioning in a social environment which is profoundly different from that which obtained in the immediate post-independence period.
We live in a world of computers, text messages, Tablets, iPads and Nooks. These technological instruments have had a decisive impact on the understanding and teaching of the English Language. For example, education experts have already noted that while many students might have the ability to send and receive text messages, they have difficulty in writing and understanding the English Language in its formal sense. In fact, it can be said that for most children the language of technology is quite different from the formal language which is taught in school.
It has also been observed that the reading culture which has been the backbone of education development in Guyana has almost disappeared. It is rare nowadays to find many students who are readers of books or e-Books. The art of reading has been replaced with an obsession for relaying messages on Facebook or Twitter or for the acquisition of knowledge from Google rather than a book itself.
Registration is in progress for the September semester. Interested persons/employers can contact the Waterloo Street Office of the Institute via email:  jtwmanagement9@gmail.com.