Education institution helping to give school dropouts another chance

The College of Excellence Management and Business (CEMB) in collaboration with Critchlow Labour College has launched its ABE Endorsed and Awards, High School Diploma in Matriculation Studies (Grade 9/CSEC Level, English, Mathematics, Law, Principles of Business, Accounts and Management) with the aim of putting young and mature students on the path to university and/or the world of work.

Principal of the institution, Dr Stanley Paul said that the institution recognised the fact that one of the issues in Guyana is the rate of school “dropouts”. Statistics show, he added, that at least five students drop out every day from secondary schools. Hence, the programme was designed to eradicate this issue.
“We realised there is a segment for persons who exiting these secondary schools at Grade Nine without any formal qualifications so we have decided to develop this high school diploma and got ABE-UK, involved to give the qualification clout. “
Moreover, not being satisfied with ABE’s Endorsement alone, he said he wrote to the Education and Public Service Ministers and “requested them to recognise the qualification where they did a comparative study resulting in them formally accepting the qualification as a Grade Nine exit qualification”.
Further, he added that the programmes are globally recognised giving the holder the opportunity to transition to CSEC or an entry-level job in the public and Private Sector.
“Because the qualification coming from ABE-UK. They can seamlessly transition over to ABE level four or level five or they can go into a degree programme because ABE has affiliation with over three hundred different universities so those universities would recognise the qualification as well,” he added.
Tesha Bourne, a student in the programme, shared with this publication that she joined the programme to develop her knowledge to be more productive and retain a job.