THE ISLAND’S secondary schools will soon be the new starting point for the TVET Council as it looks to increase its intake of participants in the World Skills competition.
This was revealed by senior technical officer at TVET and Worldskills Barbados Competition coordinator Paul Puckerin, at the presentation to a number of successful participants in WorldSkills Barbados at Guardian Life yesterday.
He explained that the TVET Council was looking to expand its skill areas and target groups in time for the 2016 version of the international competition.
“To this end, we will develop a schools competition which will be seen as the incubator for national skills competition. By this, we mean we will engage the students in the secondary schools in some of the skill areas so that we can become a feeder for the actual skills competition for 2016,” Puckerin explained.
His comments came on the heels of Rukiya Clarke, a student of Semaj International School of Cosmetology and Trichology, bringing home a bronze medal from the WorldSkills Americas competition in Colombia.
Puckerin noted that Clarke, along with local winners in WorldSkills Barbados, Samanthe Yearwood, Darius Shepherd, Tahira Hurdle, Fabian Bishop, Adisa Sargeant and Omari Lamming, had demonstrated that they could meet the WorldSkills criteria which were based on internationally recognised standards.
As he thanked Guardian Life for its support, he said the TVET Council would be looking to “formalise a strategic alliance” with Guardian Life for the strengthening of future WorldSkills competitions.
Meanwhile, branch manager of Guardian Life of the Caribbean Ltd, Amado Marcano, who noted his company was pleased to partner with WorldSkills Barbados, said the island had many young people with potential.
“People go to school and they learn math and English and some learn sciences and some learn languages. But then, there are some people who go outside of the box and they develop some special skills,” he said.
Marcano advised the winners not to blame or make excuses, to be committed, passionate about what they did and to have a purpose. (HLE)
