The Department of Continuing Education (DCE) of the Dominica State College (DSC) will on Thursday, 22nd September, 2011, at 3:30 pm, at the Bath Estate Campus, formally launch its Safer Building course. The course which DSC is delivering in association with the Dominica Office of Disaster Management, and with support from the Caribbean Disaster & Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) started on 30th August and will run until the 4th of October, 2011. 15 builders and contractors from various parts of Dominica are currently enrolled in the course.
The Safer Buildings course is designed to train builders and contractors in the techniques for constructing safer residential buildings. It is delivered over a period of five weeks for a total of 30 contact hours and there will be an additional seven site visits for observation, demonstration and practice of the knowledge and skills taught in the classroom setting. The course covers critical aspects of residential buildings including: roofs, walls, floors, foundations, pre-construction planning and post construction maintenance. Successful participants will become certified to construct of Safe Buildings.
Local professionals with wide experience in the construction of safe residential buildings will facilitate the course. The facilitators were all trained in instructional strategies in June this year at the DSC. Their professional training, experience and recently acquired skills in andragogy equip them for effective instructional delivery. The 10 facilitators who successfully completed the andragogy course will be presented with their certificate of competence at the launching ceremony on 22nd September.
The curriculum for the Safer Buildings Course was developed by CDEMA. CDEMA is providing financial and technical support to the DSC to deliver the course, which will be of the highest quality. This course has already been offered in St. Lucia, Grenada, Belize and the British Virgin Islands. A representative from CDEMA will address the Launching Ceremony.
The College believes that this Safer Buildings Course is critically important for Dominica. Like every other country in the Caribbean, Dominica is exposed, continuously, to natural hazards such as hurricanes. It is necessary that contractors learn the skills and techniques required to make our buildings more resistant to natural hazards.
DSC and the Office of Disaster Management, expects all builders and contractors to take full advantage of this course which will put them on par with other’s in the Caribbean where the same course is offered.
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