Passing grade

THE Competency Based Training Fund (CBTF) has received a passing grade.

Education Lead Specialist with the Inter-American Development Bank, Dr. Sabine Reible-Aubourg, said from the time the project was launched several years ago, there was an overwhelming response to the call for proposals that exceeded expectations. She said with an ongoing evaluation of the project, it is clear that the type of training that is being delivered as part of the CBTF is of high quality.

“It has its criteria. You have to apply as a partnership as a training provider in the private sector entity, then the training has to be competency based and it has to result in certification. That necessity to result in certification is really priceless. We also hope that in the long run, we see a closer collaboration between the training institutions and the private sector.

“We can also see right now that the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council has adopted some of these measures from the CBTF in the employment training fund and wants to adopt more measures as they go along,” Dr. Reible-Aubourg said.

Yesterday, the Education Lead Specialist spoke about the CBTF project, following a tour of the Lester Vaughan School in Cane Garden, St. Thomas, where she and a team from the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation visited to see how the School Improvement Grant, funded by the Inter-American Development Bank under the Skills For the Future Programme, is being used.

The CBTF is a key component of the Skills for The Future Programme sponsored by the Barbados Government with loan funding from the Inter-American Development Bank. This programme supports the Barbados Human Resource Development (HRD) Strategy by aiming to improve the quality and relevance of secondary education and the effectiveness of TVET.

The CBTF commenced in August 2014, and will award grants up to $500 000 each to partnerships between employers and training providers on a competition basis. The partnerships will have until November 2018 to complete the competency based training programme leading to a National/Caribbean Vocational Qualifications certification. (AH)

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