“It fits nicely into it [Annual Scholarship Programme] in that we have been encouraging persons not to look at the traditional area of study, but more to look at where we are going in terms of a nation and, to find areas of studies in those particular fields,” said Minister Richards during an interview with ZIZ radio and television on Sunday, July 14. “We have said to persons for example: engineering that is a preference for the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, as opposed to fields such as business management… so it fits well into it in terms of the short term aspect of it.”
Minister Richards noted that opportunities offered under the TVET programme are important because there are persons who would want to obtain training in certain skilled areas.
“It is not everyone who wants to go away to study for four or five years and there are some areas where you don’t have to do four or five years to get a degree in order to be skilled in those particular areas. So, for persons to be able to do… three months of training, six months or even two years of training and be certified in those particular areas of course, we are appreciative of that,” said the education minister.
He added that the programme has already been implemented to some extent.
“We have actually already pursued some aspects of training. Late last year (2018) for example, we had about six persons who went off to do studies in hospitality and we should have a next six persons going off to Taiwan very shortly to do similar course in the hospitality field—some to do with cooking – so they would learn the art of Taiwanese cooking for example – and some, we are also targeting in terms of persons working in the hotel industry,” said Deputy Prime Minister Richards.
