Some secondary students being trained in office admin, data operations

Students from junior secondary schools and the secondary level of primary schools, what are called list C and D school, are being introduced to General Office Administration and Data Operations to prepare them for the working world.

Education officer at the Technical and Vocational Education Unit (TVET), Amelia Persaud, during the Education Spotlight Programme on Wednesday, said the subject areas were introduced to the curriculum in September.

The TVET Unit, under the Ministry of Education, has over the years provided training courses for secondary school children and it focuses on enhancing quality and relevance in the area of technical and vocational education in Grades Nine and Ten. Students are offered the curriculum along with the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) curriculum, therefore acquiring more qualifications for jobs after school.

“When it comes to CVQ (Caribbean Vocational Qualification), I am proud to say that we are introducing business. For business, we have General Office Administration and that is a level one programme and we have Data Operations level One. What is special about these programmes is the practical aspects they are going to have,” Persaud announced.

Generally, a persons must be complete 28 Units in these areas before they can be certified for work. For General Office Administration, it is 13 mandatory Units and 15 electives. However, Persaud explained that the courses are student friendly and can be completed over the course of Grades Nine and Ten.

“We have designed the programme in such a way that it allows students to complete 15 of these units in Grade nine and the remainder in Grade 10. And we are clustering it, so it will not be 28 assessments being done. Some of the units are related and they will be merged and done together,” Persaud said.

In September, Education Officer in the Education Ministry’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Unit, Marilyn Davis, said business and entrepreneurial skills training started for students under the Secondary Competency Certificate Programme (SCCP) at List C and List D schools.

This was a move to assist students with easy transition into office jobs and make entrepreneurship optional for them.

According to Persaud, students who complete this curriculum will be able to take up roles in entrepreneurship, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Executive Assistant and ideal business candidates for banks and ministries.

“We always make sure that whatever programems we are doing, we have continuity. For General Office Administration, as well as Data Operations, you will note we have TVET institutions across Guyana that are doing Level Two and Level One programmes that these students can continue,” Persaud further noted.

Notably, the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (C-TVET) in Guyana this year embarked on an initiative to provide certification for workers. It has teamed up with the Ministry of Labour to find ways of systematically assessing workers’ skills and providing regionally recognised certification that would boost their chances at becoming gainfully employed in Guyana’s expanding economy.