East Port of Spain residents graduate from skills programmes

On Thursday, 68 participants graduated from a programme hosted by the East Port of Spain (EPOS) Development Company Ltd. The company is an agency of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and sought to develop skills in EPOS people.

A media release said the ceremony celebrated EPOS residents who were trained and prepared for the world of work. The participants, through EPOS’ Education to Production Construction Skills Based Training Programme, completed six training modules delivered over four and seven months. Subjects covered included: carpentry, electrical installation, masonry, plumbing, welding and heavy-equipment operation.

The release said Thursday's graduating class was the third cohort to complete the programme.

Minister in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Adrian Leonce said, “We would like to be able to increase the number of student intakes because of the overwhelming response we received for the programme, and we give the undertaking that we will explore that possibility.”

Leonce also commented on the company's graduation exercise two weeks earlier, which celebrated 128 participants who completed six social and economic programmes: cooking with confidence; essentials of social media marketing; innovative parenting; conversational TT sign language and deaf culture; conversational Spanish and Latin American culture; and, song, script and screen: music video production.

The release said managing director of the EPOS Development Company Dr Deborah Thomas-Austin acknowledged the programme's important role as well as the role other EPOS social and economic programmes play in the regeneration and improvement of East Port of Spain.

Chairman of the board of EPOS Chinua Alleyne commented on the increased female participation and noted the programme's importance in realising the company's mandate, the release said.

The EPOS Development Company Ltd expressed its appreciation for the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC) and MIT-IT, which served as facilitators to the programme and delivered services that it said changed the lives of participants.