FINANCE Minister Winston Jordan has assured that payment of the subvention to the Critchlow Labour College (CLC), long withheld by the former Administration on ground that the CLC management had been guilty of poor accountability for funds provided, will be resumed.

Moreover, the other worker education institution, owned by the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), will also be given a subvention.

Minister Jordan said: “The return of these subventions is in keeping with our campaign promise to give a subvention to each trade union to assist it to train its workers for a rapidly changing job market and work environment.”

The former Administration had also said that in addition to the CLC’s state of non-accountability, Government representatives and University of Guyana representatives had been excluded from sitting on the CLC Board of Directors.

Prior to the previous Administration withdrawing the subvention the CLC was receiving, that workers’ education institution had been offering the following courses: Certificate in Industrial and Social Studies, Communication and Effective Speaking, Advanced Diploma in Project Management, Further Access to Education, Care for the Elderly, Advanced Mental Health I and II, Sewing, Project Management, and Occupational Safety and Health.

Over the many years of its establishment in 1968, thousands of students have benefited from these training courses, and have used them as stepping stones to accessing higher institutions of learning. In its heyday, the CLC even boasted campuses in Linden and Berbice.

Before the subvention was withdrawn, the CLC had made it possible for thousands of second-chance students — such as teenaged mothers — to get another chance to get their lives back into array.
(Clifford Stanley)