AVEC Students to Reap Benefits of Second Chance Institution Programme

(EMU) – St. Kitts, August 9th, 2013: The Advanced Vocational Education Centre (AVEC) has been approved by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) as a Second Chance Institution (SCI).

The goal of the Strengthening Second Chance Institutions Programme is to establish a sustainable avenue to support second chance education for at risk youth to enable them to gain access to portable certification and to contribute to the social and economic development of their country and the region.

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) obtained a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to execute the project to strengthen Second Chance Institutions over the period 2013-2015.

Objectives of the programme include building strategic alliances with stakeholders, creating a quality management culture and environment as well as expanding access to technology in education to facilitate e-learning.

Director at AVEC, Clyde Christopher, in an interview with the Education Media Unit indicated that he is pleased with the expected outcomes of the programme in light of the increased focus on Technical and Vocational fields.

He added that the Ministry of Education is in full support of CXC’s efforts to increase marketability and employability through certification in the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC) and the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ).

Stakeholder Meetings are planned for the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. These will take place at the University of the West Indies Open Campus on August 26 and 27 respectively.

Dr. Didacus Jules, Registrar of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and Mr. David Worrell, Programme Coordinator for the SSCEP will lead the discussions on these occasions.

Also scheduled for August and September are activities to assess the selected Second Chance Institutions. These include pre-readiness audits, quality audits, quality management systems training and competency based training.

Other territories in the region which are involved in the Second Chance Programme include Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.