THE Ministry of Education (MoE) on Thursday signed a US$250,000 contract with Deen + Partners in association with CEP and Leverage Consulting Limited for the design of Guyana’s first modern Hospitality Training Institute.

Deen Kamaludeen signed on behalf of the contracting company while MoE Permanent Secretary, Adele Clarke, signed on behalf of the ministry.

Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry, noted the importance of the project, particularly with oil and gas coming on stream in 2020.

Funded through collaboration between the Caribbean Development Bank and the Government of Guyana, the institute is being constructed in response to the growing demand for services in the hospitality sector in Guyana.

The design phase is expected to take some five months. Once completed, the institute is expected to mimic a mini-four star hotel with provision for fine dining, banquet halls, classrooms and recreational facilities such as a tennis court and swimming pool.

“One of the problems that persons have been complaining about for a long time is that the hospitality sector in Guyana is very poor and this hopes to resolve that by formalising the way we do things. So, no longer will we have a lot of untrained persons in the hospitality sector. When they are trained, they will receive accreditation. This would allow them to practice anywhere in the Region. Waitresses, tour guides, bartenders, you would now be certified,” explained MoE Project Coordinator, Theron Siebs.

Siebs noted that even as the ministry is looking at the structural component of the institute, it is already putting measures in place to ensure the school will have the necessary human resource.

Four persons have already signed on for scholarships to attend the Barbados Community College, with two persons pursuing degrees in hospitality management, while the other two will be doing degrees in fine arts.

Siebs is coordinator of the Guyana Skills Development and Employability Project, of which construction of the hospitality institute is one of six components.

Another component includes the upgrading of some six secondary schools to provide vocational training to students, along with regular academic programmes.
The students would be able to undergo certified vocational examinations while also preparing to sit subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

“It’s a five-year project. The loan was signed in 2017 and work started in January 2018. The project has six components. The emphasis is universal access to technical and vocational education. Thus, the hospitality focus apart, the institute is expected to build capacity and offer technical and vocational training at the CVQ Levels one and two. So, apart from writing your CXC, you can write an occupational area at the secondary level,” Siebs explained.