From left: Claire Jordan, Registrar at the Barbados Vocational Training Board ; Yolande Howard, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development; Senator the Honourable Esther Byer Suckoo, Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development; and Yvonne Blenman, Deputy Chair of the BVTB, during the graduation ceremony.
The demand for most of the Barbados Vocational Training Board’s (BVTB) programme is far outstretching their physical capacity to accommodate them; as a result, they are asking for more help.
This comment was made by the Director of Training, Henderson Thompson, as he gave a speech during the Board’s second graduation ceremony, which took place at the Lester Vaughn Secondary School on Saturday night. He noted that across their seven centres, they accommodated 450 trainees altogether, however, the growing increase of persons interested in their programmes has revealed the need to expand their capacity.
“This year, 585 persons applied, either online or by database, for Bar and Restaurant, the class can only accommodate 13 trainees per year. International Cooking, 433 persons applied but we can only accommodate 18 persons. Care of the Elderly, 300 persons applied but only 16 can be accommodated. House keeping, 235 persons applied, we can only accommodate 17. Electric Installation, 157 persons applied but we only have two classes of 16 trainees. Heavy duty truck driving, 314 persons applied but we can only take seven per year. Cosmetology, a very popular programme, 299 persons applied; we can only accommodate 16 a year,” he said.
Thompson noted that these statistics revealed that the BVTB was only able to accept five per cent of their submissions and this matter needed to be urgently addressed.
Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, Senator, the Honourable Esther Byer Suckoo agreed that this problem desperately needed to be addressed.
“We have to expand capacity because as you’ve noticed, the demand for vocational training has certainly increased. The Director said that they were only able to accommodate five per cent of the persons who were interested in the programmes, so that means that with the demand we can make a bid for more space and more resources so that the Board can build capacity,” she said.
The Minister revealed that they heard from the Ministry of Housing, Lands and Rural Development and they responded to the request made on behalf of the Board for land. She expressed that they hope to proceed smoothly so that the expansions could begin.