The Kuru Kuru Training Centre has seen an increase in the number of hinterland students registered for the 2008-2009 programme.
Senior Training Officer at the Centre Wilbert Garnette made this disclosure during a recent interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA). The Soesdyke/ Linden Highway Centre, which provides vocational training programmes for youths ages 16 to 26, currently accommodates 177 students from across the regions.
It provides ten-month residential training programmes in Business Studies, Carpentry, Electrical Installation, Joinery, Masonry, Motor Mechanics, Plumbing and Sheet Metal, Welding and Fabri-cation. Garnette said the centre is pleased that more hinterland students has responded to its programmes.
Garnette said the centre had courted students from far-flung areas such as Region One as students from Region Four have the option of applying to the Govern-ment Technical Institute. “This new idea was tossed around and it was agreed that this would be the way the institution will be going in the future. We want to expose the hinterland students to the technical aspect of the various skills at Kuru Kuru,” he explained. Over 800 young people have applied for the 2008-2009 programme and of the 177 accepted, 132 are male.
Garnette said the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport had noted with concern the institution’s level of intake compared to the number of applications, and intends to change this situation next year. “I can assure you that from next year, our intake is likely to be just around 250 because we intend to bring on board sewing and tailoring and agriculture as skills,” Garnette told GINA.
A new teaching methodology focusing on competency-based training has been adopted at the institution in keeping with the many changes being made in Guyana and the Caribbean.
Garnett said the centre has revised and updated its curriculum method and has taken on a systematic approach to teaching so that a student who leaves after six months to attend another institution, can continue with the skills learned at the institution. The centre is one of the first technical institutions to have implemented this programme and over the years, along with its sister agency at Sophia has produced students with employable skills who have been able to realise their ambitions.
“These students are usually in high demand after graduation because of their excellent performance during the six-week work attachment which is facilitated by 29 government and private agencies,” GINA said.
During the 2007-2008 programme, about 40% of the students sent on work attachment gained employment, Garnette added.
