Labour Ministry launches online life skills training programme with Coursera

An online life skills training programme was launched on Tuesday to further upskill the nation’s human resources and advance accessibility countrywide, particularly in hinterland areas.

The programme is the collaborative effort of the Ministry of Labour- Board of Industrial Training (BIT) and Coursera, a global online course provider.

Delivering brief remarks, Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton highlighted the importance of having theoretical skills to back up the technical skills persons may have.

“You cannot be a good plumber if you don’t know how to do a bill of quantities. If you don’t have an understanding of English or mathematics you will lose out on a job as skilful as you are,” Minister Hamilton stated during the online launch held at the ministry.

At the time of the launch, more than 115 beneficiaries seized the opportunity to register for the online life training programme.

Coursera will provide training to BIT beneficiaries in four mandatory areas including Literacy, Numeracy, Health and Wellness, and Entrepreneurship.

Once the mandatory courses are completed, participants will be permitted via their license to pursue any course that aligns with their skills or interests.

The minister further said the collaboration intends to bring more quality to the training courses being offered through BIT to fulfil the deficit of technical skills that exist.

Director of the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) Jacob Opadeyi also shared the importance of acquiring the skills being offered through this programme, noting that once learned no one can take it away.

“Life skills are skills nobody can take away from you once you have learned it and when I look at the programme that has been created for this initiative, they are skills that everybody should have in their back pockets to improve their livelihood,” Professor Opadeyi emphasised.

Additionally, the Coursera is easy to use and provides applicants with the necessary guidelines needed to sign up and complete the training programme.

This includes a downloading feature that allows participants to download the course via computer or app in the event of poor internet access. It also has notes, a translator, a summary, and a 24-hour live chat feature to make learning easier.

Interested persons are encouraged to visit the Board of Industrial Training office, with their Identification Card to register. Once this stage is completed, the applicant’s information will be added to the Coursera online platform, where Coursera representatives will carry out the final registration stage.

For persons who are not participants of BIT and are interested in the programme, the CEO of BIT, Richard Maugh assured that the ministry is always willing to give persons the opportunity to empower and upskill themselves.

“So once persons make contact with us, I am sure that we will be willing to have them registered to benefit from these programmes,” he said.

Despite the heavy focus on providing training opportunities, the ministry also has a Central Recruitment and Man Power Agency (CRMA), which has a database of companies registered to assist individuals in finding a job that matches their qualifications and experience.

Persons are encouraged to utilise that platform.

In addition, presentations were made by Coursera Implementation Manager, Manuela Hinestroza and Coursera Customer Success Manager, Jeff Kaplan.