Over six thousand young persons from four Caribbean islands namely, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada will receive certified training under the Skills for Youth Employment (SkYE) programme.
That’s according to SkYe’s Dominica Coordinator, Jules Pascal.
SkYe is a UK government-funded programme which is collaborating with the Dominica Technical Vocational Educational and Training (DTVET) council and is expected to train over 1800 young Dominicans in various working skill areas by March 2022.
Pascal said the programme has been designed and developed to respond to employer needs and enhance workforce development through the expansion of skills sets through the provision of TVET certified training in many areas such as Hospitality, Entrepreneurship, Auto Mechanics, Building Trades and Wood Craft.
The programme caters for three components in the training package which includes the higher level training (training young persons who are already employed and are looking to upgrade their skills), entry-level skills (persons who just graduated from school and are not employed) and management and capacity building.
Pascal said SkYE will assist trainees in becoming more productive and inclusive in the workforce.
“SkYE will deliver certified training in technical and vocational education in the region. As a result of that, the young people, who will be between the ages of 15-30, will be engaged in various training programmes,” he stated.
He noted that SKYE has been engaging and contracting public and private Training Providers in the country to deliver the training package.
Already contracted are the Youth Development Division, Dominica Youth Business Trust (DYBT), Achievement Learning Center, while it is expected that very shortly other institutions including the Dominica State College( DSC), Business Training Center ( BTC) and the Adult Education Division (AED) are expected to be engaged.
“The training also makes provision for disadvantaged young people and persons with disabilities by making it a requirement that at least 10% of the training places would be offered to persons with challenges/disabilities with special trainers to meet their needs.”
Pascal added that trainees will have to meet training requirements and standards as defined by the certifying authority or the National Training Authority (NTA) – the DTVET council, in order to qualify for the National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ’s).
This would then qualify persons to obtain employment in the region since all NTA’s are guided and operated by the same Quality Assurance procedures.
The implementation of the programme began in March 2019. However, according to Pascal, the consultations, research and design work were undertaken during an eight-month period in 2018.
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