The Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) program will be introduced at all secondary schools on the island in the new school term.
This information was revealed by Education Minister, Petter Saint Jean.
TVET is concerned with the acquisition of knowledge and skills for the world of work and it includes Apprenticeship Training, Vocational Education and Technical Education.
The program was already introduced at the Dominica Grammar School (DGS), North East Comprehensive and Goodwill Secondary schools but will be extended to all schools, Saint Jean said.
“We introduced TVET at three of our secondary schools and this new term we are looking forward to introducing TVET at all our secondary schools whether government owned or assisted and the Dominica State College (DSC),” he said.
He said the DSC will be the key in the whole process of delivering TVET to the Dominican public.
“Also, we looked at the whole issue of Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) where individuals within not just the school setting, but also the workforce are certified and they become more marketable and can function not only in the Dominican setting but regionally and internationally,” the education minister noted.
Meanwhile, as far as human resource development is concerned Saint Jean said the government has made it possible for a high percentage of young Dominicans to receive university education in the past year.
“The government of Dominica and the Ministry of Education have expended just about $7-million assisting students across the country to attain that level of education,” he explained. “We saw the completion of the major first phase of the redevelopment of the Dominica State College (DSC) that has transformed the college into a modern facility. We also saw the commencement of work on the Newtown Primary School, the Dominica Grammar School’s final stage and we started designs for the new Goodwill Secondary School.”
According to him, there has been a focus on teacher development and training, “and under the Dominica Education Enhancement Project (DEEP) we were able to train a number of our teachers in various fields. Some of these teachers have returned on island and are now functioning, so overall we have had a very successful rate.”
He stated further that the ministry of education is positioned to bring about change in the attitudes of individuals within the workforce because “the whole general workforce needs to undergo in paradigm shift as far as attitudes are concerned.”
So Petter you are re-instating what a predecessor dismantled? Still, better late than never.
Bit of an unfortunate moniker though TVET, a creole patois speaker may pronounce it as TWET.
Will honesty and integrity be also a core subject schools Petter?
Technical vocational education was introduced into the secondary school program in Grand Bay, Castle Bruce, Goodwill, etc. Material was developed as far back as 1988 when secondary education commenced in those communities. In Grand Bay, for example, the emphasis was on agriculture, home economics and electricity. The program needed more resources and better facilities but it was a good start and the very reason for expanding secondary education to these rural and sub-urban areas.
Mr. Herbert Sabaroache was the coordinator of that program in the Ministry of Education and he was quite enthusiastic about it. Curriculum material was developed in coordination with the other Windward Islands and the goal was to move forward towards regionally, and eventually, internationally recognized certification. Government administrations changed and the programs died and then reintroduced as new and innovative programs instead of building on the foundation that Sabaroache and others built.
I suggest none of us hold our breath while waiting for this programme to get to the assisted schools, especially the Catholic assisted schools.
Talk talk talk.!
Mr. Petter Saint. Jean is absolutely right. There has to be a paradigm shift and it is not only with the workforce within the ministry of education but with the entire Skerrit administration. It is good to train young people but it is better to create the opportunities for employment after they are trained.
Is our government training our young people for employment regionally and internationally as Mr. Saint Jean alluded earlier in his speech?
I have heard nothing about job creation.
Keep doing the same things over and over and saying the same things over and over that should just about do the trick!
Well done movecwith the times
This is a very good idea. At least those that aren’t academically oriented can be diverted into a program that will give them some work skills by the time that they get out of school. Now all that is needed is the jobs to employ them.
“academically oriented” aka Hard Heads. This is what most people think , that only academic failures should pursue a trade. When I left secondary school and went on to a technical institution,much of the work there was harder than what I had experienced at Secondary school.But you know what ?, myself and all the other hard heads mastered it as we saw the real need for it. A recent topic in the British press was , ‘Degree or Apprenticeship?” In these days I would still settle for an Apprenticeship.
C&G, I totally agree with you. TVET is NOT for the hard-headed or those we tend to label as “not academically inclined”. In TVET courses, students are still expected to read and write and measure and keep records and do all what is expected of them. Only now, teaching/learning is done mostly as practicals and they mostly learn what they NEED to learn at the time.
So we need to let go of the idea that TVET is only for “weak students”. There are NO weak students with TVET.