Since the Competency-Based Training Fund (CBTF) Management Unit (CMU) was established in October 2013 to support the development of technical and vocational education and training (TVET), it has implemented three competitive cycles; received 106 proposals and selected 25 of these for funding worth over US $6.5 million.
Manager of the CMU, Anderson Lowe, highlighted the successes of the CBTF recently as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) embarked on its July 27 to 31 administrative mission to assess the progress of work being undertaken under the Government Of Barbados/IDB Skills For The Future Program by the Ministry of Education, Science Technology and Innovation.
A key objective of the mission is to review progress on the various components of the loan and the Annual Operating Plan for 2015, particularly the status of the Fund.??Speaking to the media following an assessment of training at the Barbados Port Inc, Mr. Lowe noted that the Unit???s goal was to bring the private sector and training institutions together to form partnerships to develop education that was relevant to the Barbadian economy.
Explaining that the participation from the public and private training institutions had been ???very good???, Mr. Lowe said practically every institution had sent the CMU a proposal. He added that private sector participation had also been good, with industry sectors well represented for training.
???We have had both existing industries as well as the emerging industries. We have had tourism and hospitality, renewable energy, health and wellness, agriculture, furniture, animation, construction, stevedoring and management and customer service, some of the more popular programmes,??? he said.
Stressing that it was an assessment as well as a training programme, Mr. Lowe noted that it included certification, and the first set of these had been issued to 17 persons in the area of amenity horticulture.
According to him, over the next 18 months, assessment and certification of trainees should increase. ???We expect that process to pick up as we go forward. It has been a bit slow up to now but we got together with the TVET Council to implement an assessment and certification programme to make sure as the trainees become trained, that we have a timeline to ensure when they are going to be assessed and certified,??? the Manager explained.
As at the end of June, 1,158 trainees were accounted for under the CBTF, with 664 having completed training and 494 still in training. Additionally, 14 occupational standards have been used within the training.
joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb