Educational qualifications should not be the sole determining factor in considering persons for promotion within the public service.
Minister of Home Affairs and Information, Wilfred Abrahams, made this point as he signaled his intention to make representation to the Prime Minister, that a person’s experience in an area should also be taken into account when being considered for a post.
The Minister was addressing the opening ceremony of an Institutional Strengthening Clinic for officers of the Barbados Immigration Department recently.
“This is about people better themselves to take advantage and move onto the next step. The reward is the increase in their knowledge base,” he said, noting officers were not obliged to attend the training.
However, he said those who successfully completed the training programme, which will be conducted once weekly over the next six weeks, would each receive a certificate that would be placed on their record.
Mr. Abrahams noted this was also in keeping with Government’s thrust towards a merit-based performance appraisal system.
“We are in a position where people in departments act for a while without qualifications for the post. It is something we need to address as a Government. If someone acts in post for a long time and do not have the paper qualifications, but acts for years, they must be competent to do the job,” he suggested.
He said there was a need to move away from the emphasis on qualifications that “hold back” persons from elevating in departments because they lacked the educational opportunities new entrants may have. “Experience must count for something,” he stressed.
The Minister commended the Immigration Department’s middle managers for seeking out ways to advance and improve the capabilities of staff and urged participants to attend the clinics and absorb the knowledge being shared.
Mr. Abrahams disclosed that he was looking to provide as many advancement and improvement opportunities as possible for the department.
Mr. Abrahams said the Immigration Department was at a “delicate stage” with its Chief Immigration Officer, Margaret Inniss being asked to stay on to allow for the smooth transition of the new policy and handover to her successor. He noted that several officers in key positions were also expected to retire in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Ms. Inniss explained the training would expose immigration officers to a number of areas including legislation, policy, emotional intelligence, career development and border certificate.
She also stated there were plans to build out an in-house training academy for immigration officers and security personnel who worked with the department overtime.