Record 800 secondary students certified with job skills in 2025

Guyana recorded a major milestone in technical education last year, with 800 Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) certificates awarded to secondary school students.

Ritesh Tularam, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Technical), on Thursday said this is the largest amount of certificates awarded for secondary schools in the country’s history.

“We have moved from nine schools to 94 schools in this country…Last year Guyana recorded for the first time in its history, 800 CVQ certificates at the secondary school level,” Tularam said.

Tularam, who was a guest speaker at the commemoration of Guyana Industrial Training Centre’s 60^th anniversary, said this achievement reflects years of expansion and transformation in the sector, as the government continues to invest heavily in skills-based training.

This year’s national budget has set aside $3 billion to further reshape and modernise technical education across the country.

According to Tularam, the investment is aimed at transforming, reshaping, realigning, repositioning and redefining how technical education is delivered, ensuring it meets the demands of a modern workforce.

He pointed to significant progress already made, including the construction of six new state-of-the-art Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, designed to provide more equitable access to quality training.

“We have seen massive expansions as it relates to providing equitable, quality and relevance in technical education with the construction of six new state-of-the-art TVET institutions across the country.

“We are on the verge of realising universal secondary education, we can safely say that at this time we have realised universal technical education,” he said.

The expansion of programmes has also been substantial. From just four CVQ programmes previously available, the country now offers 24, alongside a dramatic increase in participating schools from nine to 94 nationwide.

“Every single region within this beautiful country… one can have access to quality, relevant and equitable training,” he said.

He added that efforts are also underway to advance CVQ certification from Level One to Level Three. He said these developments signal a clear shift towards equipping young people with practical skills, positioning them to better contribute to national development.