Published by Youri Kemp, The Nassau Guardian, August 20th, 2024
The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers’ Confederation’s (BCCEC) labor division head said yesterday it’s good that the Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) results are improving and added that the National Apprenticeship Programme will fill gaps in the poor examination results.
Peter Goudie, who is also the deputy chair of the National Tripartite Council (NTC), told Guardian Business there are “two sides to this BGCSE story”.
“The first is that I am glad that the results are improving, but it is still not great,” he said.
Goudie added, “The apprenticeship program is going to help fill in the gaps with this because in the apprenticeship program, we teach them soft skills and if necessary, skills to help them improve their Math and English skills and then with the apprenticeship program you won’t be able to graduate unless you are accredited.
“We have an accreditation requirement in the apprenticeship program, so it really is going to help a lot of people who don’t have the full education and soft skills and everything they would need for the workplace. It is hugely important.”
Parliament passed the Apprenticeship Bill, 2024, in April with Minister of Labour and the Public Service Pia Glover-Rolle touting it as a solution to build a more skilled and productive workforce.
Under the act, a National Apprentice Board and a National Apprenticeship Unit will be established to “build skills and capacity in the labor market and enable apprentices to make seamless transitions from education to work”.
“This bill represents a key step in building the foundation for a National Apprenticeship Programme that will provide certified employee recognized paid training and development opportunities in high demand fields,” said Glover-Rolle at the time.
The program is geared at complementing the work of the schools in preparing students for the labor force.
On Friday, Ministry of Education officials reported that of the 5,935 students from 107 centers who were registered to sit the Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Examinations (BGCSE) this year, 653 or 11 percent of them received a grade of C or higher in five or more subjects.
Officials also reported that in 2024, 431 students received at least a grade C or better in Mathematics, English and a science subject. This represents 7.26 percent of individuals who sat the exams.
But officials say some students sit different exams in different years, so the results may not be a true reflection of the combination of subjects they have been successful in.
Minister of Education Glenys Hanna Martin declared that the 2024 results “are by and large showing promising sparks”.
She said A grades increased by over two percent over a five-year period. B grades increased by 1.5 percent over a five-year period and there was over half a percent increase in Cs.
Hanna-Martin said there were decreases in Ds, Es, Fs, and Gs.
Goudie said, “We’re not making the strides I think we can do. I’m really happy the results are better, I really am, but I think there is a lot more we can do.”
He also said, “I can’t put the BCCEC view out on additional training initiatives, but you can say that I as a member of the NTC that the chamber is going to be meeting with the Ministry of Education very soon, and we will have discussions with them on how we can improve the BGCSE results.”
Goudie added, “We’ve got to have more people coming out of the education system with diplomas, with passes than only 50 percent of them having leaving certificates. That’s not good enough.”
Read the entire news report here >>>https://www.thenassauguardian.com/business/chamber-says-apprenticeship-program-will-fill-the-gaps-in-bgcse-results/article_ca6c0080-5e71-11ef-ae6d-eb425612730b.html
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