Grenada is preparing the ground to host a Grenada Skills Competition in 2018. This project is the brainchild of the Grenada National Training Agency (GNTA). The GNTA has been closely following the WorldSkills International Competition which has been in existence since 1947. WorldSkills is the World Championship of Skills aimed at showcasing and displaying excellence in technical and vocational skills among youths. The competition is held every two years in a different country around the world.
The 44th competition was held this past October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and the GNTA was happy to send two representatives as observers to the competition and associated technical education conference as part of the overall positioning of Grenada to participate in the near future in this renowned world event. The two observers were Garvin Glasgow and Sonia Japal-Aban.
In furtherance of this goal, a Grenada Skills Competition Stakeholders Workshop was held at the Radisson Hotel to begin the planning process for the local leg of the competition and to start building awareness and sensitizing various stakeholders including potential business sponsors, government officials, training providers and the media as to what would be required to host a successful Skills Competition.
Welcoming participants at the Workshop, Chief Executive Officer of the GNTA, Mr. Kingsley L. Morgan noted that this is all part of process towards building a TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) system, Fit for Purpose. He said the NTA could not do it alone and needed to engage stakeholders to ensure this happens. He said such a competition, will not only improve the quality of the TVET system but the quality of the TVET graduates overall as they will sharpen their skills while in a competitive mode.
The Workshop was facilitated by Dr. Marcia Rowe-Amonde, a senior Director at the Human Employment and Resource Training (HEART) Agency of Jamaica. She shared with participants Jamaica’s experiences as a competitor in WorldSkills International over the past few years.
A special feature of the Workshop, were the testimonials shared via Skype by the Barbadian participant, Akeil Craig-Browne, who received the Best of Nation award at WorldSkills 2017, and Dario Walcott, the Barbados Worldskills Technical Coordinator.
The Workshop ended with stakeholders answering a number of questions to help direct the way forward in planning this major Skills event for Grenada.
