— Guyana heading in the right direction, says expert

THE government has collectively allocated over $3.6 billion towards the development of various areas in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), which includes $2.5 billion towards the strengthening of programmes at the post-secondary level.

Some $420.5 million will go towards training of 1,000 workers in a wide range of oil and gas areas and $448.5 million for the Board of Industrial Training (BIT).

The sum of $260 million has also been budgeted to commence works on the flagship Guyana Technical Training College (GTTC), which will see the GuySuCo Port Mourant Training Centre transformed into the country’s National Oil and Gas Institute, which will also be incorporating training in the tourism and hospitality sector.

These developments and more were announced by Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, when he presented the 2022 national budget to the National Assembly last Wednesday.

Commending the allocation for post-secondary TVET institutions and the emphasis being placed on TVET by government, Director of the TVET Council, Patrick Chinedu Onwuzirike, praised the direction TVET is heading in Guyana.

“The money for post-secondary TVET is a movement upward from what we had gotten previously. I am excited about what I heard, and I am excited about where TVET is going in Guyana,” Onwuzirike commented in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle.

He noted that aside from increasing investment in the area, government’s continued emphasis on the importance of TVET is also doing its part to contribute to changing the Guyanese public perception of TVET.

“To me I saw that presentation [by Dr. Singh] as one of the most eloquently put together presentation on TVET coming from a government minister. More statements like what the minister made at the budget presentation and more involvement of the Guyana population to understand what TVET can do for them [is needed],” Onwuzirike said.

TVET refers to those aspects of the educational process involving, in addition to general education, the study of technologies and related sciences, and the acquisition of practical skills.

Onwuzirike explained that many Guyanese still see TVET as an area that persons only turn to when then cannot make it academically and are left without options, noting, “That has been our concern over the years.”

However, with the rise of Guyana’s oil and gas industry, TVET skills are considered a significant area in the advancing of Guyana’s capacity to fill many jobs in this developing sector. As such, TVET development has taken centre stage over the past few years, seeing massive investment on the part of the government.

HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT
“Government has identified human capital development through technical and vocational skills as one of the critical impetuses for our development agenda. Guyana’s rapid development trajectory requires a skilled, qualified and innovative population, capable of meeting the needs of our labour market,” Dr. Singh highlighted during his budget speech.

Dr. Singh informed that, in 2022, the government plans to undertake an analysis of TVET institutions with the aim of streamlining them and modernising their curriculum to make them more relevant to contemporary needs, with manpower planning for national requirements guiding the content of the training offered.

This year, Guyana will see the first batch of 129 students across nine secondary schools completing the pilot Level 1 Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) programme across various skills, including crop production, furniture making, electrical installation and masonry.

Construction of the tourism and hospitality institute, as well as the preparation of draft curriculum, is also slated to commence this year. Also towards development in TVET, the Kato and the Linden Technical Institute dormitories are expected to be completed this year, as part of a $6.6 billion allocation under the Ministry of Education’s budget for the construction, rehabilitation, extension, and maintenance of educational facilities.

The $420.5 million allocation to train 1,000 workers in several skill areas needed in the oil and gas industry will include the training and certification of welders, stevedores and heavy vehicle operators, among others. Though the programme caters for just 1,000 workers in 2022, it will continue into the medium-term with a target of a total of 4,500 persons being trained over the next four years.

For the BIT, which falls under the Ministry of Labour (MoL), the allocated $448.5 million will go towards continued training programmes to build on the 3,086 persons who were trained by the agency in 2021.

“Altogether, these technical vocational skills training will result in almost 10,000 persons being available to enter the job market during 2022, and the government will be focusing on ensuring that trainees are gainfully employed,” Dr. Singh emphasised.

Government’s continued investment in TVET is part of its overall continued investment in education, and human capacity development of Guyanese as a whole.
“Improved access, quality and relevance are essential to raising Guyana’s human capital to the levels needed to advance and sustain the imminent transformative economic and social development,” Dr. Singh had said.