Businesses to accept certificates gained from online courses

The Education Ministry, the Public Service Ministry and the Private Sector Commission on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will allow for businesses and the public sector to accept the certificates from thousands of Guyanese who have completed the Commonwealth of Learning and Coursera workforce recovery programme.

The Coursera programme was launched to assist persons during the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme offers over 4,000 courses in various fields from ivy leagues universities around the world. Some 35,000 Guyanese have registered for the programme; 17,500 are active on the platform and 970 have so far graduated.

The MOU between the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Service and the Private Sector Commission was signed at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development in Kingston, Georgetown.

“Persons started asking us if their certificates will be recognized and we started exploring that with both the private sector and the government head of the public sector, which is the Minister of Public Service, and both parties are prepared to do several things – to drive the programme, that is, to let their members know about it and also recognise the certificates,” Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said.

The private sector will further have access to a database of these qualified persons and hire them when there is a need for particular skills.

“So various bodies of the private sector whenever they are looking for particular skills to hire they will consult this database that we will give them of persons who have graduated,” the Minister said.

Chairman of the Private Sector Commission Nicholas Boyer said the pandemic has brought with it weaknesses in the structure of the labour force and this initiative will help to revitalize it.

“The MoU represents words, but the actions behind the MoU represents people, it represents people who want to empower themselves for what is going on in a coronavirus pandemic and what is going to happen after a coronavirus pandemic to the Guyanese economy,” Boyer said.

The deadline to be registered for the programme is October 31 and once persons register through the Ministry of Education, the programme, including the certificates, is absolutely free.

In normal circumstances, persons are required to pay for their certificates.