Call for review and modification of admissions policy of TVET institutions

“THE purpose of [Technical, Vocational and Educational Training] TVET institutions and how they are structured and their admittance policies are in need of review and modification.”

Such a view was expressed by Senior Programme/ Research Officer at The Open Campus, The University of the West Indies, Dr. Glenford Howe. He gave last Tuesday’s lecture on the topic, “Education For Empowerment – Reconceptualising Caribbean Education For Inclusive Social And Economic Development”.

Responding to the question asked by an audience member of whether the TVET institution – the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic (SJPP) – should be upgraded, he stated: “We have a situation where people say that ‘Well, if you upgrade the technical and vocational college you automatically somehow disadvantaging the people who have no A Levels and so forth because of a lot of the colleges [and] a lot of the TVET institutions were set up to gather people who didn’t have those sort of qualifications’, but these are different times and I believe that we have to develop the institution in such a way that they can cater to people who do not have any O’ Levels and people who actually have five, six [or] seven O’ Levels.”

He also told the gathering at the Queen’s Park Steel Shed, “It makes no sense to keep an institution stagnant in one place and saying that, ‘Oh well, this institution will only cater for this category of people.’ That institution is capable of so much more.”
Further seeking to debunk the false perception that “TVET is for school drop-outs and poor performers”, during the lecture he made the case for why TVETs should be inclusive and accessible.

“Changes in the economies and labour markets have significantly increased the importance of TVET in the region. For thousands of young people and adults across the region TVET is their best hope for achieving personal and family socio-economic fulfilment. This makes TVET of paramount importance to all countries in the Caribbean since it provides the education, training, assessment and certification that is relevant to successful participation in the region’s labour markets. TVET for example is critical to rectifying the perennial complaints by employers that the region’s school leavers and graduates are not sufficiently hands-on, by providing them with practical learning experiences including apprenticeships, mentorships and work-based learning.” (MG)