THE NATIONAL Council on Technical Vocational Education and Training, (NCTVET) has conferred its highest award on Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke for excellence in the field of education.NCTVET, the assessment and certification arm of the HEART Trust/NTA, conferred the level five National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NVQJ) on Sir Howard on Tuesday night during the official opening ceremony of the national skills competition at the National Indoors Sports Complex in Kingston.
TRACK RECORD
Chairman of NCTVET, Dr. Rae Davis, who made the presentation, highlighted the governor-general's excellent work in politics, agriculture, culture, and community work but said the award was being made in the field of education because of Sir Howard's sustained track record of major achievements in that sector.
A former school teacher, Sir Howard served at various levels of the education sector for decades, rising to the top post of Minister of Education.
In his response, Sir Howard said he was overwhelmed that the NCTVET chose him as the first person to receive their highest NVQ-J, which is recognised throughout CARICOM and in Commonwealth countries. He praised the HEART Trust/NTA for its continued commitment to train and certify the Jamaican workforce to global standards.
The governor-general also made a rallying cry for more of the nation's boys to take education and training seriously, noting that girls were outnumbering boys by a wide margin in almost every sector of the economy.
WORLD SKILLS COMPETITION
Sir Howard officially declared open the national skills competition - Skills Jamaica 2005 - which closed at the National Arena yesterday.
Also at the opening ceremony, it was announced that Jamaica would send its first-ever delegation to the World Skills Competition, which will be held from May 25 to June 1, 2005 in Helsinki, Finland.
Jamaica will compete in four skill areas in the global competition.
