WorldSkills Barbados is seeking to develop a schools??? competition as an ???incubator??? for the national biennial skills contest.

Senior Technical Officer and WorldSkills Coordinator, Paul Puckerin, made this assertion today when event sponsor, Guardian Life of the Caribbean, presented the winners of the competition with their cheques.

Thanking Guardian Life of the Caribbean for ???taking a bold step in lending support and embracing the initiative wholeheartedly???, Mr. Puckerin said that the organisers of the WorldSkills Barbados, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council, was also seeking to expand the competition areas. Currently there are five contest categories: hairdressing, beauty therapy, automotive technology, culinary arts and garment making.

???The TVET Council sees the WorldSkills Barbados Competition as another opportunity to continue our emphasis on quality training,??? he said, pointing out that the inter-regional and universal competitions: Worldskills Americas and WorldSkills International were regarded as leading global authorities for professional skills development and for setting international standards of excellence.

???They provide an invaluable means of exchange and comparison of world-class competency standards in the industrial traces and service sectors of the global economy,??? the Senior Technical Officer said.

He added that Barbadian representative, Rukiya Clarke, had won bronze in the recent WorldSkills Americas contest held in Bogota, Colombia.?????WorldSkills Barbados is, therefore, part of this country???s efforts to ensure that our workforce has the necessary knowledge, skills and competencies to compete at the global level. It provides the opportunity for our young people to see that they can compete successfully with the best the world has to offer,??? Mr. Puckerin asserted.

Integrated Marketing Communications Officer of Guardian Life of the Caribbean, Shelly Miller, said supporting WorldSkills Barbados was a part of the company???s commitment to assist communities with poverty eradication.?????This year, our focus is children and children???s education: Certainly the partnership that we have done with the TVET Council augurs well for what our path is for 2014, she noted.

The winners of WorldSkills Barbados 2014 are: Samantha Yearwood, Garment Making; Darius Shepherd, Automotive Technology; Tahira Hurdle, Ladies and Men???s Hairdressing; Adisia Sargeant, Beauty Therapy and Omari Lamming, Culinary Arts.

shamkoe.pile@barbados.gov.bb

Author: Shamkoe Pil??

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