Guyana has technical training gaps to fill – CTVET Director

…says OHS has hundreds of skills, Guyana teaching only 17

Guyana has some way to go when it comes to its technical vocational training, a point emphasised on Saturday during an oil and gas forum when a Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET) official revealed how behind other countries Guyana really is.

According to CTVET Director Floyd Scott, one of several presenters at the forum in Albouystown, Guyana is missing hundreds of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) skills from its technical and vocational curriculums.
“There is currently in the region of Occupational Health and Safety standards, 250 skills. In Guyana, within our TVET institutions, we only have 17 occupational skills being taught. So if there is a need for a skill outside of that 17, the foreigners will come.”
Scott also revealed that during a recent meeting of the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT), he learned that they were now issuing skilled certificates to categories of workers.
“The agriculture workers, security workers and domestic household… What was interesting is that what the skilled certificates mean, it’s a work permit to travel throughout the Caricom region. Guyanese cannot get it…because that certification is not afforded in Guyana.”
“With oil and gas, you will see tourism. You will see a lot of hotels. You will see the need for people to be daycare workers. And the foreigners aren’t going to come and ask you to work for them because you look good. They want to know you are capable of doing the job.”
Local content and what it will do for Guyana has been a burning question since the announcement of oil in the Stabroek Block. After Exxon first tempered expectations by saying that few job opportunities will be created by oil, it has since said that it will help with local content delivery.
One measure it has taken is to set up a Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD). A prevailing complaint has been that Guyanese are losing out to foreigners when it comes to local content, especially as the Local Content Policy is still to be in effect.
However, there have been steps taken to beef up Guyana’s capacity to train students in technical and vocational skills. Last year, an agreement was signed between the Education Ministry and the Organisation of American States (OAS).
This signing ceremony was attended by a representative from the OAS, Jean Ricot Dormeus; Education Minister Nicolette Henry; Assistant Chief Education Officer Patrick Chenadu; Permanent Secretary of the Education Ministry, Vibert Welch; and the Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Foreign Affairs, Vanessa Dickenson.
Ricot Dormeus, in remarks, stated that along with this agreement, Guyana has also benefited from a scholarship programme established by the OAS to boost technical and vocational training in secondary and post-secondary institutions.
“It comes under the umbrella of quality, inclusive, equitable education promoted by the Development Corporation Fund managed by the OAS,” Dormeus said.
Implementation of this programme will assist in the production of skilled individuals — a necessity in today’s society – and further enhance the sustainable development factor.
“Our people need good jobs and good technical [and] vocational education. They will be able to secure good jobs and even set up a business of their own in the future so that the [country improves and the economy grows],” Dormeus had added.