TVET professional development goes online
CARICOM Vocational Qualifications (CVQs) Assessors, Verifiers and Instructors now have access to online training, to enhance their capacity to ensure that artisans attain the occupational standards required for work within the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
This week, the Caribbean Association of National Training Authorities (CANTA) launched a CARICOM Vocational Qualifications Online Training Programme, enabling the continuity of TVET professional development at a distance.
Described as a watershed moment in CANTA’s existence, it is the result of collaboration involving the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the National Training Authorities (NTAs) of Grenada, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat.
Programme Manager for Human Resource Development at the CARICOM Secretariat, Dr. Laurette Bristol, chaired the launch event. She lauded the contribution of Immediate Past President of CANTA, Ms. Pauline Whiteman, for advancing the landmark development for CANTA, the apex body for TVET development in the Region.
Ms. Whiteman, she said, “served strategically in getting us to this moment of action, focusing on visibility, sustainability and the impact of CANTA as a regional institution”.
Current Chair of CANTA, Mr. Henderson Eastmond, noted that the launch of the Online CVQs Training Programme represented “an important milestone in the work of CANTA.”
Explaining its importance, he said it would strengthen the work of NTAs that do not have enough resources to conduct face-to-face training, and build Member States’ capacity to implement CVQs.
It is an example of regional co-operation, he said, commending the course developers drawn from Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Grenada NTAs. He said training with the online programme will commence next month.
Chair of CARICOM Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD), the Hon. Jeffrey Lloyd, Minister of Education of The Bahamas, congratulated CANTA for “having the insight to provide courses that will provide valuable certification”.