Seventy-three persons are now eligible to apply for new jobs in the East Berbice- Corentyne area (Region 6) and on the West Coast of Berbice (Region 5) after successfully completing courses in fifteen subject areas at the New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI).
Best graduation student Tamesha Lewis
At the NATI 45th Convocation and Prize Giving Ceremony hosted on Wednesday last, graduands received certificates to signal qualification in courses that fall under the Building department, Business department and Electrical and Engineering department.
This year’s overall performance indicated an improvement by four per cent compared to 2016, and is the second highest over the past five years, with the best results being recorded in 2015 at 85 percent, according to NATI Principal, Maxine Thompson.
However, this was not achieved without difficulties being experienced in some subject areas.
The Building department yielded a 47 per cent success rate in 2017, with a ten percent decrease in performance when compared to 2016.
Thompson related that the Engineering department achieved a 96 per cent success rate in 2017, which is two per cent more than in 2016.
One hundred percent passes were achieved in Electrical, Electronics and Fitting and Machining.
“The Business Department achieved 76 per cent success in 2017. This is a 34 per cent increase in performance when compared to 2016’s performance. Eighteen percent of candidates were referred in 2017. This is four percent less than the overall candidates’ performance in 2016. Thirty-seven percent each were from the Building and Business departments, and twenty-six percent were from the Science Department. Eleven percent of candidates failed in 2017, this represents a three percent increase over 2016. Seventy-three percent of candidates who failed were from the Science Department, eighteen percent were from the Engineering Department, and nine percent from the Building Department,” Thompson said in her report.
The principal noted that Science and Technology proved to be problematic in the Engineering Department.
Thompson explained that NATI commenced piloting seven courses using the competency Based Mode of education delivery (CBE) in September 2014.
Problems such as students’ resistance and reluctance to be responsible for their learning, lecturers’ confusion, lack of adequate equipment, and other facilities in keeping with the required standards were encountered.
According to Thompson, another major problem stemmed from confusion regarding approval for NATI to commence piloting these programmes, resulting in an impasse.
Following interventions from concerned members of the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), as well as stakeholders’ sessions that were held.
The Electrical programme was given approval by CTVET, following which ten students were issued Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) Level 1 certification in May, 2017.
“I am happy to report that students in Welding, Motor Vehicle Repairs, Masonry, Plumbing and General Office Administration, occupational areas were assessed and a total of fifty-two individuals are among the graduation class of 2017, and will be issued with the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) Level 1.”
She said it is the administration’s hope that with these awards now being issued to students, the learners would be motivated to work harder to complete their respective programmes. Also, students who would have discontinued their programme out of frustration will return to complete their respective occupational area, thus be able to be assessed and certified, she added.
Meanwhile, Founder and Managing Director of GeoTech Vision, Valerie Grant, spoke at the convocation ceremony and urged graduands to apply the knowledge and skills they have learnt during their time at the institution, in a manner that would make them ambassadors for their alma mater.
Tamesha Lewis graduated as the valedictorian, and took to the podium to share a few final words. During her inspirational speech, Lewis expressed gratitude to family members and colleagues for their invaluable support during her years at NATI. She described those years as challenging, yet successful in the end.
She stressed that success comes only through hard work, while urging her colleagues to endeavour to make themselves more marketable, and to not just close that chapter, but rather to invest in the training they have received in order to increase their gain.
The Government Technical Institute was established in 1951 and is now the leading technical institute in Guyana. It is committed to offering quality training to clients with the availability of high quality facilities, qualified staff at two locations-Georgetown and New Amsterdam, Berbice.
