COGNISANT that many students leave school without the skills necessary to properly conduct themselves in the world of work, the Ministry of Labour (MoL) is preparing to roll out a “Work Readiness Programme” in secondary schools across the country.
The programme will be specifically targeting Grade 10 and 11 students who are writing the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE).
Proper work ethics and responsibility, resume and curriculum vitae-writing, application writing, and how to dress for and conduct themselves at job interviews are just a few of the areas that the ministry hopes to address through this programme.
Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton recently told the Guyana Chronicle that the programme will help to make the students job-ready by the time they complete their secondary education.
“The programme is to prepare young people, fifth form and sixth form students who are writing CSEC and CAPE, for the world of work. My experience is that these students are not prepared for the world of work. They might have the CXCs but this is work and so we will run a programme in the secondary schools preparing young people for the world of work,” Hamilton said.
The programme will be run through the ministry’s Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA) and the Board of Industrial Training (BIT).
Minister Hamilton explained to this publication that the two departments are currently working out the framework of the programme, after which the ministry will reach out to the Ministry of Education (MoE) seeking the necessary permission to engage the students.
“I suspect in a couple of weeks we should have all of that concluded,” Minister Hamilton said.
The minister noted that it was following the re-establishment of the MoL in 2020, when he assumed office, that he realised that many young people sending in applications were not aware of how to go about properly structuring their applications or how to conduct themselves, even though they would have excelled at the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) exams.
“People had good CXC… 11 Grade Ones, but for some of the CVs, the bottom is at the top and the top is at the bottom. I had instances where people sent an application with no signature. I had instances of people even using penmanship to make an application. I have had people come to see me requesting a job and they come in their designer jeans, females coming with armless and not properly dressed,” the minister said.
With the ministry being responsible, through the CRMA, with job placement and preparing persons for that placement, the minister thought it best to address the issue from the school level.
“I think we have failed them by thinking that because they have all of these CXCs they are prepared for the world of work. My assessment is that they are not that prepared as regards how they can engage and be successful. And that might be the reason why many of them are as qualified as they are would have been unsuccessful. And we all want to help and I believe we have a responsibility,” he said.
