BVTB director wants more investment

Director of the Barbados Vocational Training Board (BVTB), Henderson Thompson, is pleading with Government and private sector entities to assist vocational institutions in their bid to expand services for skilled workers who are currently seeking certification.

“One of our popular programmes for instance, is in International Cuisine. We have over 300 persons applying, but we can only take 16. So we really need to expand because we are frustrating young people who want to train, but we can’t provide the opportunity or the space. This is why we asked [the Government] for a plantation, and we hope we will be successful,” Thompson said.

With a proven track record in producing some of the most highly skilled workers on the island, Thompson believes that the history of the BVTB, with the work it has done so far, should be enough to warrant more investment in the space.

“We have been able to educate young people, who are now working overseas and doing very well. We have some cooks and chefs working [internationally] out of our International Cuisine programme, and we have been punching pretty well in terms of our achievements. We are very much involved in the WorldSkills competitions and so on and we have done very well in Brazil. We will continue to hone our skills and take on the wider international community one of these days. Right now [however] we are looking at expanding our programmes because the demands for our programmes have outstripped what we can offer,” he explained.