After much delay in the passage of the Education Act and the establishment of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council, the members of that body, though long selected, have finally been installed.
Their formal installation took place at La Vue Boutique Inn and Conference Centre on Thursday, November 7, and was chaired by Mrs Dawn Reid, Education Planner.
The TVET Council comprises the following persons: Mr Carlton Pickering, Chairman; Mr Karl Woodley, Deputy Chairman; Mr RawleHazell, Ms Jeritza Samuel, Mrs Charmaine Rey-Richardson, Ms Perrinet Hodge and Mr Wilbert Fleming. The four ex-officio members are Mrs Rhonda Connor, Chief Education Officer; Professor Delroy Louden, President of the Anguilla Community College; Mrs Aunika Webster-Lake, Labour Commissioner; and Mrs Janice Mckeag Richardson.
The certificates of appointment were presented to them by the Minister of Education, Hon Jerome Roberts, and Mrs Chanelle Petty Barrett, Permanent Secretary, Education.
The functions of the Council include the following: advising the Minister on policy relating to technical and vocational education and training; preparing and implementing plans for technical and vocational education and training in accordance with national policies and economic needs; coordinating technical and vocational education and training at all levels of the education system; establishing standards for technical and vocational education and training; and establishing training priorities, qualifications and accreditation.
Mr Roberts commended the members of the TVET Council on their achievements so far, including the development of a Qualifications Framework and the training of a number of persons to assess the competencies of students in various occupational areas. “This is an important shift for Anguilla as it means that certification in a particular skill will eventually be a requirement for entering the job market and, by extension, there ought to be improvements in the standard of work,” he observed. “It also means that employers will be better able to assess the level of competence of potential employees as well as be in a position to request certification to gain employment.”
The feature speaker was Mr David Carty, a former Director of Tourism, Teacher, Parliamentary Secretary for Education, Speaker of the House of Assembly and now a professional boat builder and owner of Rebel Marine – a boat manufacturing and exporting company. Mr Carty pointed to himself as someone whose work required some of the technical skills and applications being offered by TVET to students and workmen on the island.
“TVET, and the mandate that it has, can help the Government and Anguilla, and, in particular, the educators to be passionate about creating a new Anguillian who understands technical education in the way it should,” Mr Carty stressed. “We are in a new world, a competitive world and, for Anguilla to be truly sustainable, there must be diversity in the businesses it creates – and for that diversity to be successful we need technical and able Anguillians to produce. TVET is working towards grounding an education and making our workforce a much more diverse skilled-based community.”
TVET Council Chairman, Mr Pickering, identified some areas of its work as including a strategic plan, a draft policy, regulations for a National Qualification Framework and a National Public Awareness initiative. He pointed out that the Council was hoping to see a satisfactory allocation of funding in the 2014 budget. He complained that the Council was occupying a small room at the Department of Youth and Culture which was inadequate for its proper accommodation and functioning. He also stated that there was a need for at least two employees to undertake the day to day functions and requirements of the office of the TVET Council.
“There is a growing recognition to expand technical and vocational education and training through the various arms of the education system in Anguilla, with the aim of making skills training flexible, relevant, inclusive and sustainable,” Mr Pickering added.
Congratulatory remarks were extended to the members of the TVET Council by Ms Colleen Gumbs, Director of Human Resources at CuisinArt Golf Resort & Spa which has been of much assistance to the Ministry and Department of Education. Ms Colleen Horsford, Education Officer, Examinations, delivered the Closing Remarks and Vote of Thanks.
