More students to benefit from business skills training

Business and entrepreneurial skills training will be offered to all students under the Secondary Competency Certificate Programme (SCCP) at List C and List D schools from this year.

And Education Officer in the Education Ministry’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Unit, Marilyn Davis, said as of this month, the SCCP curriculum will incorporate a business subject.

Appearing as a guest on the webinar- Education Spotlight- she said this is in an effort to rebrand the programme to adjust to the transformation of the country and citizens’ needs.

The SCCP is designed for students to easily integrate into the workforce after completing training.

It focuses on enhancing quality and relevance in the area of technical and vocational education in Grades Nine and 10.

Davis said, “It (SCCP) is done at some schools, but from this academic year it will be done at all List C and D schools. We are trying to refashion SCCP so it can be more interesting.”

She added, “What we found is that many of the C and D schools’ students leave at a certain Grade, most times Nine and 10, so we don’t want to put citizens out into the country without a secondary certification so SCCP is kind of filling that gap.”

She said that students will be offered the curriculum, along with the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) curriculum. Hence, they will have more qualifications to acquire jobs after school.

David highlighted that SCCP is commonly known for the TVET subjects, but the business aspect will “make entrepreneurship optional for students.”

“Business launch and entrepreneurial skills is becoming very important. Along with the core subjects, each student is allowed another elective, a TVET subject for SCCP,” she explained.