A Curriculum Specialist within the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Unit at the Ministry of Education has announced that the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) is now accessible at secondary school level.  

Marie Solange Augier said that only 20 percent of secondary school leavers are able to access tertiary level education, and a high percentage remain unemployed due to the lack of a certified skill. As a result CVQ, the technical, skill based qualification, has been introduced at secondary schools.

“We want to ensure that the students are now coming out with skills because you may realize that, for example, even the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College is limited in terms of the qualifications that they offer. They offer associate degrees but what about all those students that want to get into specific areas.

Under the CVQ program, students are doing jewellery making using seeds found in Saint Lucia. They are also doing fabric design.  Some students that are doing crop production, that is specific in agriculture and there are students doing general construction. Some schools that have also shown interest in electrical installation. So they are targeting those areas at the foundation level."

With the introduction of the qualification at secondary school level, CVQs are now part of the Caribbean Qualification Framework which aligns them at grade level with CSEC/ CXC.