6043 occupational skills generated countrywide via BIT programmes

6043 occupational skills generated countrywide via BIT programmes – Chairman

Jul 19, 2016 News

Over the past three years the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) has focused on intensifying the delivery

Chairman of BIT, Clinton Williams

of relevant occupational, technical and vocational skills training, with a view to addressing entry level occupational skills demand for current and emerging industries and services.
According to the Chairman of BIT, Clinton Williams, as a result of a total of their continuous training opportunities, 6043 occupational skills have been generated countrywide in 2016.
“That brings to a total of over 20,000 Tech Voc Skills from the inception of the NTYPE Programmes in 2006. As regards the traditional 105 Years Old Apprenticeship Programmes, 97 highly skilled craftsmen Skills have been produced and the number of Masters (Apprenticeship Service Providers) has increased from fifteen in 2013 and seventeen in 2016,” Williams said in a statement on the achievements of the BIT.
The BIT official outlined the NTYPE Programmes are executed in all of the Regions in Guyana with the exception of Region 8, which is expected to come on stream later this year.
Williams said that for the past three years, the BIT has offered training with a view to addressing entry level occupational skills demand for current and emerging industries/Services, both in the Public and Private Sector.
“For this period, emphasis was placed on vulnerable groups such as school dropouts, youths from depressed communities (including Hinterland Regions) single parents and the differently abled.”
According to the Chairman, key institutions in Region six such as the Upper Corentyne Industrial Training Centre (UCITC), the Guysuco Training Centre – Port Mourant and NGOs such as the national award winning Roadside Baptist Skills Training Centre, have enabled significant improvements in qualitative deliverance of programmes.
“In addition, we shall continue our quest to implement cost reduction strategies; thereby, increasing intake via optimizing utilization of publicly owned facilities such as technical and vocational institutions, and Practical Instruction Centers (Ministry of Education) and recognized NGO’s at the expense of privately owned facilities.”
“We are convinced that these actions have not only positively impacted employment generation, entrepreneurship and empowerment, but also contributed to poverty alleviation and crime prevention. These programmes therefore, should be viewed as vital socio economic initiatives at this juncture of the current administration interventions to provide a good life for all of the people of Guyana.”
In Region Six, BIT’s partnership with the UCITC on the Saturday class programme, Williams said, produced development of technical competencies to now three batches of graduates.
A total of 347 persons has since benefitted from the programme from its advent in 2014 to present. The main skill profiles for which training was conducted were Engineering, Building Construction, Health Services, Home Economics and Forestry.
“Region Six is also home to the Roadside Baptist Skills Training Centre, (RBSTC) an institution which the BIT and the Ministry of Social Protection have proudly collaborated with for more than four years. In addition to generating employable skills in personal computer repairs and maintenance, electrical installation and plumbing among others, the RBSTC also partners with the Ministry on topical issues facing today’s youth including suicide prevention, gender based violence.”
The ratio of female to male graduates was 55:45 in 2015. BIT continues to target those sectors for which demand was greatest. Over the three-year period the BIT established closer collaboration with Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA) and Technical Vocational and Education Training (TVET), in order to obtain credible labour market data in the determination of realistic demand and by extension, offering continuing career guidance to all of our Trainees.
Williams noted that the Heavy Equipment Operation (HDEO) Programme has been leading in this regard with over 50 persons trained at the programme at the UCITC.

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