PM Kamla opens Tobago technology centre, promises "a world of opportunity"

The Ministry of tertiary education on Friday opened the Tobago Technology Centre in Canaan, which will provide employment-ready graduates with the requisite skills to succeed in their chosen fields.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar formally opened the facility, which is the first Workforce Assessment Centre in Tobago.

"It is a place where persons who have expertise and skills can come and be assessed to get a certificate," she said.

The centre will assess skills and provide certification at the national level. The documents would be recognised within the Caricom region.

"What is important as well is that if you do not obtain the certificate the centre will then provide the training to bring you up to get your certification," she said.

Persad-Bissessar also spoke about her government's performance in the year since it took office. "Over these 12 months, my Government has developed a reputation for furnishing our citizens with the means to access and attain success through education and training," she said.

"From the start of our term in office to date, we have delivered on a number of promises we made with the intention of empowering our people with the tools required to succeed."

She reminded her audience of the initiative to give thousands of laptop computers to first formers in high school, adding that because of that Trinidad and Tobago has climbed 16 points in the ranking of the World technology Index.
No country has ever climbed 16 points in one year, she said.

Speaking about the centre she said it would be used for a temporary integrated campus to start classes in September 2011 while the government builds a permanent home for the campus.

"If we wait for the construction of the integrated campus then it might be a year or two or three before it can be completed. But in the mean time let the people of Tobago, young and the not so young access tertiary education here at this centre from the UWI, from COSTAATT, from the UTT."

The Prime Minister promised the children of Tobago "a world of opportunity" as her government and the people work together to develop a secure, prosperous and sustainable nation.

She added, "We do so confident is our ability to move our nation forward, Trinidad and Tobago - side by side - and together as we stated ever so clearly in our promise to you the people."