DSC and ECCB call for technical education and contemporary skills relevant to the labour market. The calls were made by president of the Dominica State College (DSC), Dr. Donald Peters, and director-general/governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), Timothy Antoine. The educational and professional leaders believe higher participation in technical skills is needed to advance Dominica to the next level.
Peters told participants at a TVET forum for small contractors and suppliers that technical education is the main hope of development for a country. He said everyone must acquire technical skills since these are necessary for nation-building, and that a course at the DSC will background their knowledge and skills in this area of national need.
ECCB’s Timothy Antoine bared his mind after the results of the 2019 CSEC exam were released. He said it is not too wholesome for people to celebrate who scores the most subjects in which schools while they have the overwhelming problems of unemployment to still grapple with.
“I am deeply concerned about our obsession with subjects rather than skills,” Antoine said. “I find it difficult to accept that we could go on and on for bragging rights about who gets the most subjects in our schools, and not worry about how we are connecting with the labour market, and what these children are going to do…when they finish school.”
The ECCB governor said the society should help students and youths everywhere to focus on digital skills such as coding, artificial intelligence, and cognitive reasoning because these are what are needed for the modern-day world to move ahead. He said unless youths are set up to explore these relevant areas, they are headed for frustration in the future.
According to Antoine, the evolution of skills today goes beyond the four walls of a classroom, to the input of economists, the private sector, the civil society, and the youths in the communities. He disclosed that it is wasteful to spend so much on education if the thrust and quality of the education does not address the present and future needs of society in a rapidly changing world.
“And the truth is, more than just teaching or training for twenty-first-century skills, is a mindset that…requires us to have that agility where we continue to re-skill,” he added.
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