On January 31, 2022, the Ministry of Education registered its first batch of students into the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) programme totalling 119 students from eight schools across Guyana.
This was announced by Assistant Chief Education Officer (Technical), Ms. Marcia Paddy at a workshop that began today for CVQ Assessors. The three-day workshop is being held at the Guyana Industrial Training Centre (GITC).
This is the first batch of secondary school students to be participating in the CVQ programme. The programme will target four disciplines, crops and soil, commercial food preparation, fabric decoration and furniture making.
The assessors participating in the workshop are teachers who are already in the education system at the Secondary level who will be teaching students and conducting a continuous assessment of their work to ensure readiness and competence. The purpose of the workshop which will end on February 3, 2022, is to standardize the assessment mechanism so that all students who are participating can be evaluated in the same way. The final assessment will be done later this year by external assessors from the Caribbean Examinations Council.
According to Ms. Paddy preparations for this current batch of students commenced in 2019 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “However, with the support and the driving force of all stakeholders we have finally reached this milestone,” Ms. Paddy noted.
She said that Guyana is at an important juncture where Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has been identified as one of the main pillars of national development and therefore the importance to train our human resources to ensure effective implementation cannot be underestimated.
“Guyana is on an upward trajectory, and skills training forms the core of this aspect of development which affords young people alternative career pathways into industries. With the discovery of oil in not only Guyana there is a greater need for us to invest and prepare our young people in TVET,” she remarked.
The ACEO (T) said that TVET programmes have made real differences in the lives of countless young people across Guyana by helping them to build confidence and develop leadership skills by allowing students to utilize their unique gifts and talents.
Chief Education Officer, Dr. Marcel Hutson who led the main discourse this morning told the assessors that educators are the vanguards of the Technical and Vocational Education program in Guyana. As such, he said, every effort must be made to ensure that it is delivered at its highest standard so that students can benefit.
He said that every child is entitled to a good quality of life and he believes that TVET has the propensity to open doors for those students to fulfil their potential and purpose. (Ministry of Education Release)
