The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

The Ministry of Education is adding robotics and sustainable energy as topics to its high school curriculum in a bid to further reduce workforce skills gaps in industries The Bahamas wants to develop.

Keyshan Bastian, assistant director of career and technical education at the Ministry of Education, yesterday told a webinar organised by The Bahamas Engineers, Architects and Allied Professionals (BEAAP) that the Government has moved to purchase the necessary equipment in these areas so students can begin to develop “field skills”.

Meanwhile Leonard Sands, former president of the Bahamian Contractors Association (BCA), said the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) was doing an “awesome” job in all the courses it offers but not to the level that someone would have to do “commercial framing partitions”. He said The Bahamas “doesn’t have that skill-set being trained to deliver what the industry needs right now”.

“What is really impressive is the electrical, plumbing and air conditioning (MEP) taught at BTVI and being taken by students,” Mr Sands added. “They’re getting swept up every time they graduate.

“I think it needs to be applauded. I think the public needs to know that if you send your young man or woman to BTVI, and they complete the study on mechanical, electrical and plumbing, they will find employment on any number of construction projects that that skill set is demanded. It’s been absorbed very aggressively. That’s what I’ve seen in the last five years.”

Dr Robert W Robertson, BTVI’s president, told the same webinar: “We want to explore what role the Government and educational institutions - through high schools - can play in improving skills, acquisition and development within the (construction) sector. Finally, we want to hear what role private industry can play in improving training for students and employees alike.”

He added that urbanisation, globalisation and technology are all impacting skills development in the construction field. Dr Robertson said: “All of these are impacting The Bahamas. We have seen competitiveness reports; there was some discussion about a skills gap survey in the Bahamas..

“We did one in 2019. We found that more than 60 percent of respondents, most of whom are in the construction or management sector generally, essentially said we are not able to find quality people in our search for individuals to work in our industry.”

Pointing to international skills gap studies from the Society of Human Resource Management, which found that 75 percent of managers identified with this problem, Dr Robertson added: “This represents US data but it will impact The Bahamas because one of the things is, with respect to training, if you train people well and they can’t find jobs in The Bahamas, they’ll go elsewhere.

“So a skills gap in Canada or the US will generate some interest in recruitment anywhere those skills are.” Dr Robertson said BTVI has undergone several cross-training initiatives, and with university enrollment declining there is an increase in professional education geared towards short certification courses.

He added: “We’re applying this at BTVI, and with a record number of 6,000 students now at BTVI, we are also using a certification from the US that is globally accepted for the trades called the National Centre for Construction Education and Research (NCCR).

“We visited Valencia College a couple of years ago, and found NCCR. We found that the graduates from the NCCR programme from Valencia College were in excess of 95 percent, and most people coming into or out of the NCCR programme were employed immediately.

“The emphasis on practical skills in our global certifications include NCCR, but also City and Guilds, as we did a training programme in support of the Freeport port a year ago with engineering. It was a City and Guilds certified course. We’ve had a pass rate of 82 percent, which was pretty good.”