Significant developments are occurring in education with the certification of several skills, says Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Senator Harry Husbands.
Addressing teachers who, today, received iPads in Phase Two of the Media Resource Department???s (MRD) Tablet Pilot Project at the Elsie Payne Complex, Mr. Husbands drew attention to the Ministry of Education???s emphasis on certifying many of the skills which ???ordinary Barbadians possessed??? through the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ).
He noted that Government had embarked on a programme through the Human Resource Development project and implemented by the Competency-Based Training Fund (CBTF), to certify persons who possessed a variety of skills.
???They are offering training leading to the CVQ. That certification can be carried to any employer in Barbados, in the Caribbean and anywhere in the world to say ???I am a plumber; these are the skills that I possess???,??? said Senator Husbands, noting that what was significant about the CBTF???s programme was that it not only covered traditional skills like plumbing, carpentry, refrigeration, air conditioning and electrical [work] but animation and agriculture.
Explaining that this was another aspect of education and training in which Government was involved, Senator Husbands stressed that Government had to cater to the development needs of the country and had to engage in some level of borrowing from organisations such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which was assisting with the CBTF.
He added that the new skills gained would allow persons to find employment and help pay the taxes required to allow for repayment of the IDB loan.
???Certification, as much as some of us in this new-age period may frown upon it, is extremely important. You may be working at Company Y and you may have worked there for the last 20 to 25 years and you may not be certified in anything and that may be fine. But once you leave Company Y, in order to get a job somewhere else, the employer always likes to see [some form of certification], not only know of your skills and knowledge.
???It becomes much easier for an employer to use along with your skills and knowledge some certification of these skills that you possess. It becomes even more important if you leave Barbados to go to work in the Caribbean, Europe or some other part of the world ??? certification is important,??? the Parliamentary Secretary stressed.??
joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb