Finalists told to aim for gold

 

Senator Dr. the Hon. Esther Byer-Suckoo has thrown her full support behind the TVET Council’s partnership with the Barbados Manufacturers’ Association (BMA) to host WorldSkills Barbados as a joint initiative with BMEX 2016.
 
“This move will provide another avenue whereby young people can be exposed to business and industry,” the Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development said at the Media Launch of the competition, which revealed the 20 finalists who will be competing in the areas of Hairdressing, Garment Making, Culinary Arts and Automotive Technology.
 
“It will help to inculcate in them the early appreciation of the necessary connections between training, skills development, the workforce, and entrepreneurship and business. In a very real sense, this experience will help our trainees to appreciate how training outcomes are manifested in the economy.”
 
According to the Senator, the WorldSkills competition fully complements the mandate of the TVET Council to promote competency-based technical and vocational education and training based on recognised standards.
 
She therefore believes that the WorldSkills Barbados Competition fits right in with the country’s Human Resource Development Strategy which has, as part of its mandate, the strengthening of the national TVET system through the provision of effective, high quality, demand-driven, education and training.
 
During the launch held at Almond Bay Complex, Hastings, Christ Church on Tuesday, Senator Byer-Suckoo also took the opportunity to congratulate the finalists who will be working towards the WorldSkills Americas regional competition. Barbados participated in WorldSkills Americas in 2012, reaping success when sole representative, Barbados Vocational Training Board’s (BVTB) Akeila Chapman, copped the silver medal in the ladies and men’s hairdressing category. Competing in the hairdressing category again in 2014, Barbados won bronze that time with Rukiya Clarke of Semaj International School of Cosmetology and Trichology.
 
“I look forward to the day when we are able to show the world the high quality of Barbados’ trainees by winning gold medals at WorldSkills Americas and WorldSkills International in the four skill areas now offered at the national competition: Hairdressing, Culinary Arts, Garment Making and Automotive Technology.
 
“Ultimately, I would like to think that we can send competitors to take part in as many as possible of the nearly 50 skill areas available internationally at WorldSkills because that would reflect both the diversity and the quality of the skills sets of Barbados’ workforce and economy,” she pointed out. (TL)

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