The Leonora Technical Institute offers certification in several disciplines
– But high transportation cost, lack of accommodation force some out

By Neil Marks

Technical institutes have a not so glamorous reputation. They are often considered “trade school” for school dropouts, slow learners, and backbenchers.
It’s the baggage that Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has carried for too long, says Eon Nicholson, the principal of the Leonora Technical Institute, located at West Coast Demerara.
He has been the principal since the Institute opened back in 2012. Before that, he was at the Linden Technical Institute for two decades.
He can tell you of the student from Linden who eventually went on to study robotics overseas, and countless other examples to show that TVET is not for dunces.
“Could I ask a doctor or a professor in psychology to build a cell phone? Who services the equipment the doctor has to use?”
That is not to say that the Institute does not cater for school dropouts and those whom teachers put in the “slow learners” bracket.
“TVET produces the brightest persons, but we start off being called the dumb ones.
“But who keeps the plane flying?”
Mr Nicholson believes that those who are dismissed as backbenchers are being failed by the system and it is not that they are not willing to learn.
“The system is not finding the best way to get to these people. I have learnt that people learn at different rates using different methodologies.
“Some can learn in abstract. The education system is designed for learning in the extract system, but not everyone can transfer that knowledge.”
With TVE T, he says while the abstract method is taught, the focus is on the “concrete” method.
“For some people, if they can touch it, feel it and manipulate it, then there is nothing that can stop them.
“They can think and come up with creative ways of solving problems.”

The Leonora Technical Institute was designed to accommodate 200 students, but at the moment has 180 students, because there is no masonry class because of a lack of instructors.
Mr Nicholson says the Institute has found it difficult to attract qualified instructors.
“A lot of persons are masons, but they are without certification,” he says. The Institute is trying to meet this deficiency by offering “prior learning” for those who practice.
It’s a competency based programme where those experienced in a particular field can attend the institute and get certification.
“They can come into the institute, do an assessment and we feel the gaps that need to be filled.” For example, a mason may know to do plastering, but may not be able to do overhead plastering or apply troweltex. The Institute will fill those gaps.

The Institute caters for those who work during the day, and so the 5-9 evening classes can lead them to certification.
“In any society, it is important to have certification, no matter what skill you have.
“You will get employment, but a person with a certificate will be promoted faster that a person without a certificate in any environment.
“Demonstration a skill is good, but having certification is better.
“Having the skill and the certification makes you the man, or the woman.”
The certificate offered by the Institute is the National Vocation Qualification, but Mr Nicholson says the Ministry of Education is moving in the direction of Caribbean Vocational Qualification, which would enable graduates to land a job in any Caribbean country.

Challenges
Students who attend the institute come from the Essequibo Islands – Hogg Island, Leguan, Wakenaam – and as far as Wales on the West Bank Demerara.
But one of the main problems that leads to dropout is the cost of transportation.
The Ministry of Education has promised the institute a bus to assist in the transportation of persons coming from far-flung areas.
“There are a lot of students who drop out because they cannot afford to come. They may come for the first term, and when we follow up, they say they can’t afford to.”
Sometimes, Mr Nicholson says, some students and staff members have assisted children with transportation and meals.
“They sometimes don’t say anything to you, but when you see them you know something is wrong, because they are just not performing as they usually would.
“It’s either they didn’t eat in the morning or don’t have lunch.”
Another the problem the Institute faces is accommodation for children from the islands and from other far flung areas.
The past government, through Minister of Education Priya Manickchand, had sought to secure a place to accommodate students, but the building owner raised the rent three times within one month, and he also wanted to stipulate who should stay at the place.
“They didn’t want this kind of person and that kind of person,” he noted, and so the idea was abandoned.
“You can’t go into an arrangement like that; we are catering for students, we are not catering for a race.”
As such, Mr Nicholson is petitioning the government for a dormitory to house students. He said that sometimes students find accommodation at relatives, but in some cases, the arrangement collapses.

The Police, along with the business community and religious leaders have been seeking to help.
Through a programme called Police Education and Training Project, the Institute hosts a short training programme during the July-August school holidays.
Students who attend the programme from the islands and other far flung areas have their accommodation and expenses catered for and they have the option of joining the institute on their own after.

Last year 94 persons took the programme and 50% stayed on at the institute.
This year, 71 persons graduated from the programme. Some of the students use what they learn as a way of preparing for the CXC examinations.
“For me, this is giving them a second chance; it may be the best and only chance some have and out of it we may have engineers and all sorts of high-skilled and qualified persons.”
Nigel Sumbir, 18, dropped out of school when his parents moved from the Essequibo Coast to Hogg Island.
Until recently, he was working at a sawmill but the head-teacher of the school told him of the summer programme. And so he signed up.
Sumbir is one of the students who has continued at the institute, doing the programme in Metal Work engineering, and is being accommodated by relatives.
Currently, the Leonora Institute offers Data Operations (Computer Science), Office Administration, Welding, Electrical Installation, Motor Mechanics 1&2, Carpentry and Joinery, and Metal Work Engineering.