GTI gets $6.2M instruments to advance learning techniques

The Government Technical Institute (GTI) received several instruments, valuing some $6.2 million to advance the learning techniques of persons undergoing the land surveying programme there.

Financed by Guyana’s Redd Plus Fund, the gesture forms part of the Sustainable Land Management and Development project.

Education Minister, Priya Manickchand said the government is keen on intensifying intervention and matching investment at technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions countrywide.

The minister made the statement during a small handing-over ceremony, at State House, Wednesday morning.

“You are going to see a renewed rollout of how we treat TVET even from the primary level in our country. We aim to ensure that every student exiting high school is competent in at least one TVET area, and that tells you of our understanding.”

Minister Manickchand stated that the gifts came at a perfect time when the government is expanding the GTI to accommodate about 1000 persons from March 2023.

“We are very glad that we are getting this addition to our facilities. We believe it is important… not only to come in and do the book work and pass it but have skill even as you go through the programme and then exit with skills,” the minister noted.

Meanwhile, the sustainable land development project was implemented by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) in partnership with the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

FAO’s representative in Guyana, Dr. Gillian Smith said the current undertaking is part of a. comprehensive and ambitious land management agenda.

“Under the vision of GL&SC and the government, this project is doing its part to support updated base maps for several administrative regions. Support is being provided in the modernising efforts that are being made for land administration and lease management system and processes…” she underscored.

For capacity building, the project is also offering scholarships to 20 new students in the academic year commencing this September.

The students will partake in field attachment with the GL&SC, allowing them to underpin the theoretical foundations they will receive, with practical experience.

Another component of the project is the work being done to address patterns of land degradation. It also aims to help with the identification and prioritization of land restoration practices.

The motive could directly support the target of the Low Carbon Development Strategy to restore up to 200,000 hectares of land by 2030.

“We note that Guyana has consistently prioritise human capacity building in everything it has been doing, and we note that Guyana recognises the critical contribution that this makes to sustainable development in general, and particularly how it complements all of the infrastructure investment that is being done here,” the FAO representative added.

Specifically in Guyana, Dr. Smith posited that human resource is essential in achieving land management and sustainable land growth.

For many years, GTI has produced experts in land surveying, many of whom are now leaders or managers at either the GL&SC or other agencies across Guyana.

With five more land mapping specialists being officially sworn-in on August 10, Guyana now has 603 land surveyors registered at the GL&SC, since 1892.

The full-time land surveying course offered by the GTI caters to students who serve an interest in the art and science of establishing or reestablishing corners, lines, boundaries, and monuments of real property. 

The students must complete the Land Surveyors Examination, as required by Section Seven of the Land Surveyors Act, Chapter 97:01.