Education and Youth Empowerment acknowledged as high priority

By Melissa Bryant
Reporter~SKNVibes.com

Minister of Finance Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris

The increase was announced yesterday (Dec. 16) during the reading of the Federation’s 2009 Budget by Minister of Finance Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris.

He revealed the government’s intention to implement a National Skills Training and Certification Programme, which would address the immediate employment needs of unemployed youths between 18 and 35 years of age. The programme is funded under the PetroCaribe initiative of the Venezuelan government.

“The objective of this programme is to provide unemployed young people with basic employable skills, behaviours and attitude training to satisfy the acute shortage of skilled artisans that now exists.

“Youth will be trained in areas such as carpentry, welding, air conditioning and refrigeration, crop production, plumbing, data entry processing, computer graphics design, motor vehicle body repairs and hospitality services. Training will be delivered through classroom lessons, hands-on vocational training and job attachments in local businesses,” Harris said. ~~Adz:Right~~

He further stated that persons who complete the programme would be fully equipped to be productive workers and would be able to either find gainful employment in the private sector or become entrepreneurs and start their own businesses.

He also announced the expansion and diversification of the school curriculum, the expansion of existing computer laboratories and the construction of new ones, increased focus and prominence on technical and vocational education and training, emphasis being placed on the development of entrepreneurial skills, and the integration of information and communication technologies in the teaching of various subjects.

“The programmes at the Advanced Vocational Educational Centre (AVEC) will be reformed in order to enable it to even more effectively deliver programmes that are relevant to the development needs of our Federation.

“Efforts will continue in respect of the transitioning of the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) into a semi-autonomous institution. There will also be continued efforts to establish and strengthen alliances between the CFBC and various regional and international institutions. Our aim is to make tertiary education easily available to a greater proportion of our population, including our young people in particular.

Harris pointed to the implementation of the European Union funded IT Based Teaching and Management Project and the construction of the Saddlers Secondary School as other measures that would benefit students around the island.