Manning: Govt to award tech/voc scholarships

GOVERNMENT will soon award scholarships for graduates of technical and vocational institutions to pursue further education both locally and abroad. The announcement was made yesterday by Prime Minister Patrick Manning, when he officially opened the $32 million Laven-tille Technology and Continuing Education Centre, Eastern Main Road, Laventille. He said the Centre would “usher  in a new world of opportunities for residents of Laventille.”

Labelled the “godfather and grandfather” of the area by MP Fitzgerald Hinds, the PM said he expected the new facility, which formerly housed the Rum Bond, would “set the tone for the enhancement of the valuable human resources” in the Sea Lots and Beetham communities. He said he expected users of the Centre to participate fully in the programmes offered, as the Centre would “significantly increase the availability of ready-to-work skills of an appropriately high and marketable quality.” Manning said initial efforts would concentrate on the construction and automotive industries, in which there are current shortages. He said while there existed vacancies in professional areas, they were void, not because of a lack of people, but rather a lack of training programmes.

He said the next step was government’s intention to “introduce a system of scholarships and bursaries for graduates of the tech/voc system of secondary schools, and graduates of  this and similar institutions, to study at home at the UWI, at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) and abroad at some of  the better technical institutions that exist in developed countries.” The PM also urged employers to support initiatives to access the pool of graduates when they become available, pointing out that the Centre would continue the tradition of apprenticeship programmes, with the element of hands-on practicability, which had “been missing for too long.”

Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education, Colm Imbert, in his address, said he believed that everyone, regardless of their status or background, must get an opportunity for progressive educational opportunities. He said the Centre cost “approximately $32 million, inclusive of $16 million for state-of-the-art equipment” and was a “beacon of progress.” The Centre which was refurbished in 14 months, currently has hundreds of trainees in both full and part-time programmes which are all certified to international standards, said Imbert. He said a variety of short courses would soon be offered.